Megan Fox 'Transformed'

June 16, 2009 — -- Becoming an actor is never good for a person's anonymity, and becoming a successful one can be even worse. Add good looks and a propensity to tell-all, and you have Megan Fox, the 23-year old co-star of the upcoming movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Like many celebrities, Fox has expressed a desire for a quieter life with less media intrusion, but those words seem to contradictory to not only her career choices but also her actions away from the big screen.

"She's the No. 1 sought after actress under 30, so the paps following of her is hard to avoid," said Maxine Page, west coast editor of Life and Style Weekly magazine. "But she also loves the attention and says outrageous things so people are going to be interested in her."

Within the past 24 hours, the bisexual Fox announced she is "single" after a second split from now ex-fiance Brian Austin Green and added that she now has her heart set on a Korean pop star, whom she referred to as "Korean Justin Timberlake named Rain," according to the English tabloid The Sun. She also managed to address the issue of topless photos of her recently leaked online by saying she knows who was responsible but karma negates the need to sue.

It's not the first bit of controversy she's faced on her quick rise to fame.

Though born in Tennessee, Fox angered much of middle America when she labeled them "bible beaters," and she left women's rights groups exasperated with her proclamation that women should feel empowered when treated as sex symbols.

And while her smoldering looks and sex appeal vaulted her to the No. 2 spot on this year's Maxim Hot 100 list, her physical appearance has also drawn attention in the news of weird category. Word that she has a genetic condition called "clubbed thumb" that left her thumb particularly short with a bulbous tip dominated tabloid headlines last week.

It's an intense media storm for Fox, who before landing the part of Mikaela Barnes in 2007's "Transformers," was a total unknown. And predictably for someone who rose so far so fast, some are already calling the Fox phenomenon overblown.

"I don't think much of Megan Fox," said Paula Froelich of the New York Post's Page Six and author of Mercury in Retrograde. "She's another pretty face -- a downmarket Angelina Jolie- who is prized for her physicality more than her acting ability."

Megan Fox's 'Transformers' Co-Star Shia LaBeouf

Once again acting opposite the heavily tattooed Fox in the second movie installment of the Transformers franchise is Shia LaBeouf, who himself is no stranger to tabloid headlines. Also 23, LaBeouf was suspended from driving last year after refusing to take a police breathalyzer after a smash in his F-150 pickup truck in Los Angeles.

LaBeouf recently revealed that the sexiest woman he knows is his mother and followed that up by telling Parade magazine that growing up he watched his parents have sex and is now an alcoholic.

Certainly the two combustible performers know how to stop the presses and, according to Life and Style's Maxine Page, it may be an unconscious battle for attention with an added twist of romance.

"What he said about his mother was creepy and it's almost like they (Fox and LaBeouf) are trying to outdo each other," Page told ABC News. "The rumors are that they're having an affair as Fox was seen leaving his place early one morning."

Whether the two are actually a pair, only they can say.

Despite, or perhaps because of the media firestrom that quickly follows the duo, the movie -- which opens June 24 -- is expected to be one of the highest grossing of the summer, due in no small part to the reputation of the co-stars.

"Although Megan Fox comes across as salacious and naughty, she seems to be avoiding all the young Hollywood drama of drink and nightclubs," said Alexa Dedlow, a consultant at Interscope Records TV and film division. "She's a somewhat promising actress though she hasn't been in anything too challenging as of yet, but LaBeouf I think is absolutely fantastic."

"He's gotten into drama but he's refreshingly honest, and descriptions of him as the next Tom Hanks are not at all far-fetched," Dedlow said.

Starring in a slew of films penned for release over the next two years, Fox has the opportunity to follow LaBeouf and become better known for her acting than she is for her magazine shoots. A look at down at her right forearm will provide both the perfect inspiration and the perfect warning of celebrity: it's a tattoo of Marilyn Monroe.