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So many times in this world we have heard the stereotype that blondes are where it is at. And it is difficult to deny the beauty brought to the table by gorgeous, busty blondes. Playboy has had a VERY long list of these beauties, but one of the best things the Big Bunny does is give us a nice buffet of beauties to ogle at. Prior to their ever being an online resource, we went to the forbidden pages of Playboy to check out the next hottest female (or Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue if you had limited access to the naked beauties). And that's when the smoking hot Carmella DeCesare comes into play. She isn't blonde, but instead, is one of those wickedly beautiful dark-haired beauties that is insanely hot and sexy.

In today's world, Carmella is a smoking hot MILF, but back in the day, she was a smoking hot aspiring model and future Playmate of the Year. Her beauty is rooted in her background, her intriguing blend of Southern European and Caribbean roots. Carmella was a free spirit, a woman who Playboy loved and accessed for many varying mediums and who incredibly went on to the wrestling world for a time. Carmella's journey is nothing short of amazing and that perfectly coincides with her body and looks. Let's dive into this incredible, and sometimes volatile, Bunny and find some pieces of information that may surprise you about her. These are 15 Things You Didn't Know About Carmella DeCesare and 15 insanely hot photos to go with them!

15. Early Years

Carmella may have grown up to be one of the most beautiful beauties to ever dawn the pages of Playboy, but she wasn't born a "perfect 10." She started out life as a small town girl from Westlake, Ohio. According to Carmella, she had a rough time in high school. It's always hard for us to look at a drop-dead gorgeous woman today and think about the rough teenage years, but Carmella admitted to having her share of issues. She was quoted as saying, "I was the girl everyone liked to tease." It is crazy to think that happened to a teenage Carmella, considering she struck Playboy gold as a 20-year-old, but high school can be cruel. Like many young teens, she dealt with her share of social issues early on. She claimed to only have 3 close friends who stuck by her side through those tough times.

14. The Look

Carmella has a few different qualities that jump out at people. First, when she initially got into Playboy, her breast size was more contained. That's a big deal because when you arrive and succeed at Playboy, normally you think of these models as having insane hourglass figures and tiny waists. That isn't always the case and Carmella had more incredible qualities than just a large set of assets. Her tanned, slightly olive skin is reminiscent of her intriguing blend of Italian and Puerto Rican descent. Her gorgeous blend of dark features and tan skin is sometimes a rarity inside the pages of Playboy. Her raw beauty is not something to ignore and helped establish her as someone to take notice of. She was incredibly fit and cut. When she first modeled for Playboy, she came in at a 34B-24-27 spread.

13. Hefner Saves the Day

Hugh Hefner saw in Carmella DeCesare a diamond in the rough. He was impressed with both her looks and her character. Instead of letting her disappear back to her small town, Hef made an offer to Carmella. Hefner invited Carmella out to a Playboy Mansion party to see if she wanted to rethink her position of being part of the Playboy family. Carmella couldn't refuse the man himself, and what could it hurt to go to a party? She so she went and had a blast. The atmosphere was completely different. The party was filled with supportive women who already were part of the Playboy family and Carmella felt at home. She could see her future and Hefner came to her asking if she would to a test shoot in Chicago. She happily accepted.

12. Playboy Comes Calling

Carmella has such raw appeal, Hefner wasn't about to let her walk away. As usual, he knew what beauty looked like and how to share it with the world. Carmella went out for her Chicago test shoot with Playboy and they were all impressed. She may have not won on the contest, but she sold herself and her looks with the Playboy higher-ups. With her hot test shoot, she was awarded February's Cyber Girl of the Month for 2003. This was a perfect stepping stone and allowed the Playboy viewers to drink up Carmella's appeal. And they not only liked what they saw, they wanted more. Playboy was more than happy to give them more, making Carmella Miss April 2003. And what an impact she had there, because she continued on to conquer the pages of the magazine, being awarded Playmate of the Year for 2014. Carmella's rise from the awkward teenager to being one of the most elite in Playboy's lore was complete. She had officially flipped the bird to her nay-sayers and done it in a massively victorious manner.

11. Toeing the Line

Carmella wasn't some hot bimbo that was hoping her looks would just take her far in life. Remember, she wore those large framed red glasses and got teased constantly as a young teen. She was a late bloomer. She studied and was a smart girl. While she was in the process of dreaming that a Playboy opportunity would materialize, she was also going to college. Carmella was studying business administration, not merely relying on the dreams before her. She wanted to get a college degree with the uncertainty with her modeling career. She was a marketing rep at the time when she learned of Playboy's open casting call. Her education would come in handy (more on that later). The point is, Carmella was no pushover and certainly no bimbo.

10. Strong Personality

Carmella grew up with her mother and stepfather. Through her middle and high school days, Carmella remembered having large red-framed glasses and a no style. It's hard to see these amazing looking women and remember that they were once mere mortals, but that's where we all come from. And Carmella's tough upbringing, going through life with a modern kind of family, she was always reminded by her mother and stepfather to stay strong. Carmella shared with Playboy that they (her mother and step-father) would tell her "Those boys who make fun of you are going to want to date you later." Carmella didn't believe them at first, but we can attest that they were 100% right. Carmella may have not realized it at the time, but the social struggles she was enduring would help build character that molded her tough spirit (which also got her into trouble later on in life...more on that to come).

9. The Girl Next Door

Fox television and Playboy got together to hatch a new television concept. They wanted to offer the discovery of a new Playmate through a reality television contest. The idea was to go through thousands of entrants and meet the potential Playmates in person and see who would be crowned the winner. The show was called The Girl Next Door: The Search For A Playboy Centerfold. When Carmella arrived on the show, she was looking forward to competing and having fun. She already had exacted some personal revenge against those who made fun of her just a few years prior in high school. Beating out thousands of other wannabe contestants provided Carmella with quite a bit of satisfaction. But coming to Los Angeles, California to compete on the show was a whole other world and Carmella struggled with it at first.

8. Moment of Truth

Carmella arrived in Los Angeles, California a small town girl with big Playboy dreams. She was on a wild ride of unexpected success and was looking forward to the opportunity of making a big splash. But when she arrived for her reality TV contest, she found that all the other girls were so competitive and cutthroat, that it took away from her desire to have a great time. Instead of bonding with the women who were vying for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she found that they were at each other's throats. With the claws out, Carmella pulled back and decided the contest wasn't for her. She wanted to leave and would be one of the two first contestants to drop off early. She was willing to walk away and that caught Hef's attention.

7. The Playboy Life

Carmella truly was enjoying her time and success with Playboy. She was still going to school during her time as Miss April 2003. And before she was anointed Playmate of the Month for 2004, Carmella was still living back in Ohio, going to school at night. Every so often Hugh Hefner would give her a call and fly her and her best friends out to the Playboy Mansion to party and have a good time. Carmella was treated like Playboy royalty and was truly enjoying the experience. Being so successful with Playboy and getting all of this attention was about to give Carmella another huge opportunity. Right after she was named Playmate of the Year for 2014, the WWE was calling and Carmella would answer that call.

6. The Wrestler

2004 was a huge year for Carmella. She was named Playmate of the Year and then got an offer from the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Carmella became a contestant on the WWE Diva Search. Just like her first interaction with the Playboy wannabe's back in Los Angeles, Carmella found this contest to be extremely competitive and filled with backstabbing women clamoring to get their taste of success. By this time, Carmella was used to it and was far more confident. She didn't back down one bit. She was one of the finalists. And when a fellow finalist, Maria Kanellis, got eliminated, Maria flipped Carmella the bird. Carmella found she could hold own, but would fall in the competition at the very end, finishing second. Carmella was still signed by the WWE and appeared in their Lingerie Pillow Fight. Carmella would lose in the fight and move on from wrestling shortly thereafter.

5. Carmella Gets Into Football

Jeff Garcia was a successful football quarterback. He had been the signal caller for both the 49ers, where he found most of his success, and then the Cleveland Browns. Obviously, Carmella, 22-years of age, knew exactly who Garcia was. He was the quarterback of her hometown football team. The two started dating amidst heavy criticism that Jeff Garcia was gay. The odd rumors never made any sense, but it got some media play because it was alleged by one of his former teammates, the unstable Terrell Owens. But Carmella proved to have some stability issues of her own when she went off on a woman named Kristen Hine inside a bar during the summer of 2004. Carmella wasn't about to lay down for anyone and life had taught her how to be tough and step up for herself. The incident would be a big deal.

4. Protecting Her House

If you are a battle-tested woman who is used to dealing with other tough hot girls, as Carmella did with the WWE and Playboy, you aren't about to lay down for a another woman who was allegedly sleeping with your man behind your back. Carmella stepped up face-to-face with the woman, Kristen Hine, and showed her who was boss. The assault occurred in Cleveland and Carmella already had a restraining order against her. Hine had supposedly been sleeping with Garcia just after Carmella felt she and Garcia were official. She didn't much like that and went off of the girl. Carmella would be acquitted of the assault charge but was found guilty of violating a restraining order. She had to complete 24 hours of community service. Make no mistake about it, this girl knows how to protect her house.

3. Carmella and Garcia Persevere

It was early in their relationship when Jeff Garcia was rumored to have cheated on Carmella with Kristen Hine who ended up on the wrong end of that situation. Garcia, an NFL quarterback, was forced to go to court and the whole situation went public. He was mortified as he got dragged into court to answer for the issues. He was quoted as saying, "It's embarrassing that I am here today, to be caught in a situation like this." Now, most relationships, especially public, would come to an end over a situation like this. But, hey, Jeff Garcia was a professional football player making big time money and Carmella was a hot Playboy model who was every man's envy. So, the two worked it out and on April 21st, 2007, they got married.

2. Married Life

In addition to her marriage, there have been other changes to Carmella's life. She has gotten a nice new set of boobs, upgrading from her B-sized natural chest. Over the years, Garcia and Carmella have had four children. Their first child was born on April 28th, 2008. They went on a massive baby spree from there, having one child a year for 4 straight years! (Now that is some awesome baby-making!) Their fourth and final child was born in December 2011. Some people talk about having children that are close in age, Carmella and Garcia certainly made that happen. Four kids in four years is quite an undertaking, but Carmella was seeking to settle down from her past and Garcia was moving on from the NFL. They both seemed to get exactly what they wanted in each other and have a happy and healthy family to this very day.

1. Carmella's All Grown Up

Going from an oddball young teen with thick glasses who got made fun of to becoming a Playboy model for the ages was quite the journey for Carmella. Her unexpected life has led her down a very interesting path where she has done it her way. She found personal success in not just her career, but her life, forging her role of a lifetime as a mother and wife. She started with Playboy when she was 20 but by the time her 20s were coming to a close, she was removing herself from the Playboy world. Instead, Carmella used her education to step up as Vice President of Jeff Garcia's charity, The Garcia Pass It On Foundation. Say what you will about the smoking hot Carmella DeCesare, she made a name for herself and has lived a successful life on her own terms. Now a happy mother and businessperson, she has found her present and future. Although she owes great thanks to Hef and Playboy, she won't be seen anytime soon in the pages of the famed magazine anytime soon. But we sure as heck can fondly look back and enjoy what she has already accomplished.

Sources: www.playboy.com; wikipedia.org