Debra Jensen

“How did this happen?” asks Debra Jensen, a sweetheart from Orange County who still cannot wrap her head around the unlikely way she became our Miss January 1978. “One day, I needed 50 cents for has to get home. I stopped a guy outside the Playboy building. He got down on his knees, kissed my feet and said, ‘I will give you 50 cents if you’ll agree to be the January Playmate.’ It was an offer so crazy I couldn’t refuse. So here I am.” Here she is—a five-foot, eight-inch blonde with an all-natural bust who was working part-time at a Baskin-Robbins when she found herself a few cents short from getting home. “I had your basic Orange County, Southern California, childhood. Cars with jacked-up rear ends, the works. At night, I would hang out with the Our Gang Van Club. Go to rallies, caravans with my boyfriend. Spend the night in the parking lot of Bob's Big Boy. Come home to find your family waiting on the front lawn,” explains our tall Playmate of the Month who was very young when we first found her looking for change. “You’ve got to realize that I just turned 19. I didn’t look like this a year ago. My body is as new to me as it is to you. I showed some of these pictures to my brother; he couldn’t believe his eyes. To him, I’m still a skinny kid.” Debra isn’t used to her busty figure yet, but Playboy photographers couldn’t comprehend that this blonde bombshell not only never thought about testing for Playmate, but they couldn’t understand how she didn’t see herself the way the world does. “At first, I was very shy. I kept blushing and hiding my face behind my hands. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to take my picture. But, the photographer kept teasing me and after a while, I started to have a little fun,” admits the beautiful model. “Working with Playboy really changed my life. Photographer Phillip Dixon is a darling. He taught me how to be comfortable with myself. When someone takes 3000 shots of your legs, you begin to believe that you have nice legs, that you could actually model. I'm hoping someone will call.” Someone else did call—along with becoming a Coppertone beauty, Debra became Mrs. Peter Criss when she married the KISS drummer in 1979. Today, the 70’s power couple are no longer an item, putting our Miss January 1978 back on the market. What does Debra Jensen want in a man? She wants someone as adventurous as she is and when it comes to the bedroom, he needs to be gentleman who doesn’t engage in locker-room gossip. “I don’t want to tell what I’m like in bed. I have a high ethic: I make love when I care to give, not to receive,” explains Debra who recently appeared on E!’s Girls Next Door. “I'm turned on by physically fit and athletically talented men, and those who take advantage of their talent and capabilities to the fullest.” Debra Jensen will always be the gorgeous woman who became a Playmate thanks to a lack of change in the right location.