These pictures are a celebration of a new life for me. A new beginning. For the first time in my life, someone took the time to ask, 'Jessica, what do you want?' No one had ever done that before, certainly not the church. Playboy did. That's why the pictures are as important as the story."
Jessica's comments while leafing through her family photo album: In the photo above left, "that's me at the age of three, outside my grandfather's house in East Rockaway, New York. My mother had recently married my stepfather--my father left us before my third birthday--and shortly after this picture was taken, we moved to Long Island, where I grew up." In the photo above right, "that's me at 11, after Communion in a Catholic church in Massapequa. Ironically, right across the street, in the direction I'm facing, was Massapequa Tabernacle Church, where I worked as a church secretary and where I met John Fletcher, the man who introduced me to Jim Bakker. One could say of this picture that I had Jesus behind me and hell in front of me." In the photo at right, "that's me and my little brother, Danny, in 1985. He was born when I was 12, and I just loved him from the day I first saw him. I didn't have much of a social life in school, so I used to rush home every day to take care of him. We were inseparable. He's 16 now, and he's supported me through all this." In the photo below right, "that's my mom and stepdad, in front of their house on Long Island. I think of him as my dad, because he raised me. Dad's extremely patriotic. The two things he loves most are my mother and his country." In the photo below left, "that's my mom, my grandfather, Danny and me. I was 21 when this was taken. That's what I looked like when I met Jim Bakker."
To do this in Playboy--which is probably the most ironic, the most farfetched idea for a church secretary--is probably unbelievable to people…. But I fought a long time to start feeling good about myself and my body again. I fought a long time to feel like a woman."
If people want to make fun of me, they can--I don't care. I am not living my life for them anymore. To me, this is a creation. I am not being immoral or anything. I am doing something that says, 'Jessica is not a robot. She is not to be used not to be used and thrown out. She is an individual.'
