Stephanie Adams US Playboy Playmate		Articles/Text Photos Links Add info
Stephanie Adams, the first Playboy Playmate to come out as a lesbian! 'She Magazine', 2003 February issue: (excerpt from article) "Pioneering Playmate" "I've always been more attracted to women physically and emotionally and spiritually," Adams says. While the coming-out process for most people can be fraught with confusion and takes years, Adams took a particularly long and winding road toward the full realization of her lesbian identity. "I've been around women my whole life," Adams points out. She says she could sense, on some level, an attraction to women even in her earlier modeling days when she was doing photo shoots for clients that included Seventeen and Miss Clairol. So when, exactly, did Adams finally break down and start dating women? "I pretty much did that even when I was dating guys!" she says, bursting into laughter. Surprisingly, it took a fellow Playmate, friend and lesbian to help Adams begin to seriously accept her own sexuality. "We’re so similar because she used to model, she works with playboy and she’s divorced so she’s been through the same transition that I went through," says Adams. "She’s sort of like a big sister for me. She helped me to go out and be out and come out as a lesbian." While many Playboy models are "openly bisexual," Adams says, none of them, including her friend, have come out openly as a lesbian, either in Playboy Magazine, to the media or to their fans. She can remember many interviews when she was asked about her preferences in men. "That was very difficult to have to answer" she says. Adams hopes to change that, and sees her decision to come out publicly as one step closer to the day when people will finally begin to understand that the stereotypes of models don’t always fit. "Just because you’re a pretty Playmate doesn’t mean you’re [necessarily] looking for a guy," she says. "You can also be gay." Even as she continued to date men on and off, Adams found herself going out to gay and lesbian places in New York City on a more regular basis. Then, one day, she met the woman she refers to as her soul mate. "Everything just sort of fell into place," Adams says. Denise, 35, remembers getting an e-mail last spring from a woman who had seen Denise’s profile online and claimed to be a Playboy model. Denise had been on the verge of swearing off Internet dating after one nightmare experience too many. "I got one of her Playboy pictures and I started laughing and thought either this is a real person, which is a one in a million chance, or she’s like 400 pounds, and I have another nightmare," Denise recalls with a chuckle. After about a week of e-mails and phone calls, the two women met for a lunch date in Manhattan. The lunch date lasted nine hours. Finally, Denise escorted Adams to a cab, kissed her on the cheek and didn’t see her for a week. "It was the longest week of my life," she says. "We’ve been together for 10 months now." Note: Stephanie and Denise have split up now. Stephanie is currently dating someone quite well known in the entertainment business, but she prefers to keep her name a secret. 'The Weekly News', October 9th 2003: (excerpt from article) "I hated when we had to get together with the boys school. It was annoying" When National Coming Out Day rolls around, Playboy centerfold Stephanie Adams will have nothing to hide. In a bold move for the admittedly private model-turned-author, she came out publicly earlier this year – making her the first openly lesbian Playboy Playmate. On Oct. 11, she’ll celebrate the gay holiday in South Florida – which holds fond memories from her modeling days – at an event hosted by the Women’s Alliance in Fort Lauderdale. The "OutProud" gathering will give her the opportunity to share her passion for writing with the community; Adams has completed seven books in the last year that deal with spirituality, metaphysics and astrology. "I’ve always been somewhat a part of the community, even before I came out. Most of my friends were gay and I used to go out with them to places and events, but the good thing now is that I’m very much true to myself and I’m more active in the community," Although she has retired from modeling to pursue other interests, Adams still maintains close ties with the magazine that named her Miss November 1992. She acts as a spokesperson or makes appearances at various Playboy parties and benefits throughout the year – a relationship that wasn’t affected when she revealed her sexual orientation. "I really didn’t know how they were going to react, but they were very supportive. Mr. Hefner was really nice. He said that if I ever wanted to have a party at his house or promote my books, including the lesbian books, I’m welcome to. He was really great." "Actually, Sandra Bernhard had a [women-only] party there, years ago, at his house. That was when I was visiting and I wasn’t out as yet, so I couldn’t really enjoy the party as much as I wanted I to," she adds, laughing. Adams lived in the Playboy Mansion one summer. "I didn't mind the work because afterward I would go back to the mansion and something was going on all the time, and that was fun," she says. (Adams acknowledges that there are plenty of female models who "appreciate other women," but emphasizes that she maintained her professionalism at all times.) In terms of her career, Adams says she’s always been the "controversial" one. As an example, she cites her decision walk out of Wilhelmina, the top modeling agency that represented her, when they expressed their displeasure over her intention to pose for Playboy. (She was snapped up by Elite.) Perhaps a better example is a broader look at her professional life. This is a woman who earned a bachelor’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University with an emphasis on business management and marketing in 1990 while she was modeling. (She impressed the dean with a 25-page thesis on managing her career.) And she has no aspirations to parlay modeling into acting, preferring the quiet pursuit of writing instead. In other words, forget about those model stereotypes. From the beginning, Adams has followed her own path. And, yes, she always had the sense that she was a lesbian. "I went to an all-girls school. Most girls that ended up being straight would complain that they were in an all-girls school. I never complained. I hated when we had to get together with the boys school. It was annoying," says Adams, who was married to a man at one point. "I really bonded with my ex-husband, but he was more like a best friend to me than anything. I was always truthful to people I dated and told them that there was a part of me that loved women. Eventually, I realized, ‘You know what? I like men, but as friends, and I love women as far as a relationship.’ "