The British beauty has replaced Megan Fox in the third installment of the action franchise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but she wasn't prepared for the battering her body would take from performing some of her own stunts during the shoot.

So The Transporter star Statham bought Huntington-Whiteley top-of-the-range pads to protect her from serious injury, while still looking sexy.

She says, "I came (home) from filming covered in bruises... He was like, 'You've got to wear your stunt pads!' He sent me razor-thin gel stunt pads... 'cause the regular ones make you look like a football player."

And Statham's thoughtful present has paid off - Huntington-Whiteley was recently voted the sexiest woman in the world by readers of both men's magazines Maxim and FHM.