Fashion & Beauty

Katherine Webb is making a ‘Splash’

Katherine Webb is perched on her diving partner’s shoulders atop of a 33-foot diving platform.

They launch themselves off, splitting midair, and breaking the water in straight lines. After emerging from the pool, the crowd erupts into cheers and one of the judges awards a perfect 10, the first ever on ABC’s diving reality show “Splash.”

It’s not the first or last time Webb — who dates AJ McCarron, University of Alabama’s quarterback — has been called a perfect 10.

“Growing up, people told me that I was beautiful,” Webb, the former Miss Alabama USA, tells The Post in a voice rich with Southern sweetness.

“But it was hard for me because I was the tallest girl in class and looked a little different and was a little insecure.”

Today the 23-year-old sensation is posing poolside in LA, donning a frilly floral cover-up and pink bikini bottoms, looking more the swan than the awkward ugly duckling.

The insecurity seems to have vanished, due in no small part, surely, to stealing the show during the BCS championship game in January, in a moment that is now pop-culture lore. While McCarron’s squad was destroying Notre Dame, the camera panned to Webb, his girlfriend of just one month. Her girl-next-door looks prompted veteran ESPN sportscaster Brent Musburger, 73, to morph into a horny 16-year-old boy, creepily marveling, “What a beautiful woman. Wow. Whoa.” Football fans were as smitten as Musburger: “Katherine Webb” was Google’s second-highest search that evening. ESPN apologized, saying Musburger’s commentary went “too far.”

“I had no idea the camera was on me. I tried my best to handle it well. I was just there cheering for Alabama,” says the Montgomery, Ala., native. “AJ knows [Musburger] personally, and he’s had a very respectable career as a reporter. He just said some nice things about me. I agreed that he didn’t need to apologize.”

Why should she want an apology? Musburger’s catcalls catapulted her from struggling LA model who had retreated home to sort out her next career move to the object of national desire.

She has since posed for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, been featured in Vanity Fair (who called her a “modern day Cindy Crawford”) and is now scoring big in “Splash.” Although she was in the bottom two in the first episode, last week she became one of only two contestants (out of 11) to have scored a perfect 10.

She also landed a gig as correspondent for Inside Edition at the Super Bowl, where she stole the show as reporters bombarded her with questions instead of the players.

When fame came calling, she made her own call, to a contact from her pageant days — Donald Trump.

“I was hounded by the media the day after the game, and I needed advice. I met Mr. Trump doing Miss USA and knew he’d know what I should do,” says Webb. Trump wisely told her to go to the “Today” show first.

Her slingshot to fame has taught Webb a few things. Namely, to cover up her 5-foot-11 athletic frame.

“I was raised in a Christian household. In this business, you’re pressured to take off your clothes. God blessed me with the body that I have, but I want to be more classy and conservative. That’s why I wear a one-piece on ‘Splash,’ ” Webb says, “and you don’t want to have a wardrobe malfunction on national television.”

She hopes to follow in the footsteps of Kathy Ireland — a former Sports Illustrated model who has turned herself into a worldwide brand, licensing everything from furniture to wedding gowns.

She’s inspired by her close pal, former British and Italian Vogue cover star Kate Upton, who continues to edge her curves into a world where stick-thin mannequins rule.

“I really look up to her. I’d like to follow in her footsteps. [Working in high fashion] is every model’s aspiration.”

Between filming and modeling, Webb lives in Los Angeles, though she flies home every other weekend to see her beau.

“He’s a leader and has a dominant personality. But at the same time, he’s a teddy bear. We’re making it work,” says Webb.

And though she’s been to the Big Apple a few times for work, she’s not planning a move here. However, the stunner is keen to come back and enjoy the city’s cultural pursuits.

“I love shopping on Fifth Avenue and Broadway. [But] I need a tour guide,” she says.

Something tells us she’ll have no trouble finding a willing chaperone.

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