Playboy has been in my life since I was a double-D when I became a Playboy bunny in London at 18 years old and did a centerfold for Oui magazine, which was owned by Playboy. It was the most money I had ever made and it gave me the confidence I needed to make my own way in the world.
I worked at the Playboy Club serving cocktails in my bunny costume doing the signature ‘Bunny Dip’ move: lean backwards, bend at the knees with the left knee lifted and tucked behind the right leg! The key was to drop off the drinks without spilling them or spilling out of my costume.
When I came to LA, I got my first Playboy TV show called Pillow Previews with producer Jeff Pill (pictured above), where I interviewed sex symbols, along with my co-host Charlie my cat! Next I hosted my own segments on Inside Playboy which was a sexy version of Entertainment Tonight, and that was followed by my third contract to be “Playboy’s Sizzling Sex Cinema Girl” introducing sexy films, like Elvira did for horror films.
I have good memories of those days, and was thrilled when Playboy ran my first feature film called, Spaced Out which was distributed by Miramax. That gave me the opportunity to meet the now-famous producers Bob & Harvey Weinstein when they flew comedian Bob Saget and myself from L.A. to promote the film in Chicago. Bob was the campy voice of the spaceship’s computer and I played the ship’s ditzy engineer.
On the movie poster beside my name it says, “As seen in Oui and Playboy.”
When I decided to get my Doctorate in Human Sexuality and evolve my career from “sex symbol” to “sexpert”, my live seminar video The Power of Seduction became a featured selection in the Playboy Catalog, which is still their online shopping brand.
The last time I was at the Playboy Studios it was for Playboy Radio where I was interviewed along with Dr. John Gray about how to keep relationships passionate.
I also hosted Playboy celebrity Kendra Wilkinson and her husband Hank Baskett at an intimacy retreat for WE TV’s Kendra On Top to help save their marriage. Kendra was the star of E!’s Girls Next Door about life at the Playboy mansion, living with Hef and I know that he was near and dear to her heart.
Hugh Hefner not only launched my career, but was there every step of the way as I reinvented myself again and again, maintaining that Playboy family relationship. He taught me that “Life is too short to be living somebody else’s dream,” so I am grateful and he will be missed.
