Israel's Barbie to say 'Ken'
Actress Yael Bar Zohar could wed fellow thespian boyfriend Guy Zuaretz 'by the end of the year'; Couple met on set of 90's soap opera
TEL AVIV - Boys don't cry, or do they? We'll see, as Israel's top television princess Yael Bar-Zohar may soon be off the market.
The former swimsuit model and soap opera actress has said “ken,” or “yes” in Hebrew, to boyfriend and fellow actor Guy Zuaretz, also a popular icon with Israeli ladies, who asked her to marry him, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has learned.
Bar Zohar’s agent, Boaz Ben-Zion, said: “I cannot deny it - I can only say I will be the happiest man in the world when it happens.”
Sources within the couple’s family said the two could be wed by the end of the year.
The voluptuous 25-year-old blonde met Zuaretz, 32, in the 1990s on the set of the “Ramat Aviv Gimmel” soap opera, which centered around the nonsensical lives of the so-called rich and glamorous in Tel Aviv’s upscale yuppie neighborhood. It has since been cancelled.
The two would later fall in love while playing the male and female lead of the national play “Mary Lou”. They eventually moved to live together in Tel Aviv. Bar Zohar and Zuaretz were often elected Israel’s Sexiest Couple in media polls.
Bar Zohar currently stars in “Telenovella Incorporated,” an Israeli soap opera named after the popular Spanish format, and is a top model in a print ad and television commercial campaign for the FOX clothing line. She began her career at age 15, when she starred in a nationwide swimsuit campaign.
Running lines and warming up
”We have perfect harmony as a couple," Bar Zohar said in recent interviews, referring to Zuaretz. “We both wake up at 5 a.m. and help each other learn our scripts. This is a great love. Fortunately, we have two television sets, so we watch each other’s shows. It works out perfectly.”
Zuaretz had told Israeli media recently that there was something “pure” about Bar Zohar that he found enchanting.
”I remember at first I didn’t let myself get close to Yaely beyond the stage, but I recognized within myself the potential of falling in love with her.”
He said he and Bar Zohar would warm up and do stretches together before rehearsal every morning.
”Still I said, ‘I don’t want to (fall for her), it’s not going to work for me.’ I stopped. Slowly, when the barriers gradually came down I was afraid, and then it happened.”
