Karen McDougal (born March 23, 1971) is an American model and actress. She is known for her appearances in Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month for December 1997 and Playmate of the Year of 1998. In 2001, the readers of Playboy voted McDougal "No. 2 Sexiest Playmate of the 1990s."McDougal taught pre-kindergarten before winning a swimwear competition and beginning her career as a glamour, promotional, and swimsuit model. Since her appearances in Playboy, she has extended her career into a wide variety of appearances in mainstream media, including other magazine modeling, television commercials, and minor acting, with mixed success. She has been a successful fitness model, with multiple magazine appearances including being the first woman to appear on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. She starred in The Arena, a direct-to-video film, and inspired the creation of a fantasy art statuette and a doll. She is interested in pursuing work as a television host.
McDougal is a fitness enthusiast, since childhood ballet study and high school sports, and still noted for ability to perform the straddle split in modeling sessions. She is an avid motorcycle and car collector. Since her Playmate days, she has maintained a largely private social life, though in 2007 the paparazzi reported her dating actor Bruce Willis.
Biography
Early life and education:
Although her Playmate datasheet stated she was born in Gary, Indiana, McDougal was actually born in Merrillville, Indiana, near Gary. She is of Cherokee Indian and Irish descent. McDougal is the first daughter in the family with 3 older brothers, Bob, Dave and Jeff, and a younger sister, Tina. Her mother, Carol, remarried when McDougal was 9 years old and the family moved to Sawyer, Michigan where she remained until college.
McDougal studied tap dance and ballet as a child. Her childhood dream, prior to teaching and modeling, was to become a ballerina. She attended River Valley High School and became a cheerleader, band member, color guard, volleyball and softball player, as well as Michigan state champion clarinet player for 4 years in a row in high school. Her high school nickname was "Barbie" due to her wholesome sweetness. After graduating high school in 1989, she attended Ferris State University at Big Rapids, Michigan, majoring in Elementary Education.
After 2 years of college, McDougal moved to a Detroit suburb where she taught pre-kindergarten, before being persuaded to try out for a swimsuit competition. One of her professional goals has always been to open a learning center for children, but she has put those plans on hold to focus on pursuing roles in acting and modelling.
Personal life:
McDougal relishes the thrill of speed as she is an avid motorcycle rider and car collector. Her first modelling assignment was being a promotional model at a Harley-Davidson bike show in Detroit. In 2004, she bought a pink custom-built motorcycle, and entered an Easyriders sponsored motorcycle competition in Pomona, where her motorcycle won the Best Radical Custom award. She also professes to be a chocoholic and junk food junkie even when she considers herself a "health nut". In her spare time, she works out 3 days a week to stay in shape. When she was Playmate of the Year of 1998, she had a healthy BMI of 19. Although she is a swimsuit model, she is not a proficient swimmer because of her aquaphobia. She is an animal lover and owned two cats: Brittany and Brandy. McDougal has 2 tattoos, one is a tattoo of a cat on the second toe of her right foot to honor her cats, the other is that of a cross behind her right ear as a reminder of her spirituality.
McDougal's family members initially did not support her decision to pose for Playboy. Eventually, they embraced the fact and her mother appeared in interview segments of her Playmate of the Year "Video Centerfold" as a sign of support. Her family has a history of breast cancer, and McDougal, who acknowledges having breast implants, is an advocate of breast cancer awareness. McDougal currently resides in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona. In an interview in 2007, McDougal stated that she is single. In the same year, she was dating actor Bruce Willis on different occasions. The media initially incorrectly identified McDougal as actress Tamara Feldman. In March 2008, McDougal appeared in a topless pictorial and interview in Spanish magazine Interviu discussing her relationship with Willis soon after he began dating model Emma Heming.
