Papa's Girl

High Adventure, that's what excites me. But sometimes, the road has a few bumps. If you survive them, they make you tougher. Rolling with the punches, as my grandfather would say. When Playboy approached me about doing a pictorial, I was amused. I never thought of myself as the Playboy type--long, skinny legs, big boobs, perfect ass. But I took it as a compliment, a perfect launch for my new life. After all, I had been out of the public eye for a while. It had been a long way from Ketchum, Idaho. When I arrived in New York in 1974, my grandfather's name got me started. But I guess the fact that I had a certain lanky openness--Lord, I could get enthusiastic!--got me the rest. In a fairly short time, I was on the fast track with every Beautiful Person you could shake a stick at and had become a big-time model with a $1,000,000 contract as Fabergé's Babe. Then, in 1976, my little sister, Mariel, and I starred in the movie Lipstick, which didn't do well--and starting right about then, neither did I.

But I didn't know that. I kept going to Studio 54 (those of you too young to remember should know it was the place to drink, play and be seen) and enjoyed myself in a Seventies sort of way. It was glamourous and it was fun. Champagne and limousines became a way of life.

But I watched two marriages fail; I watched my younger sister become a star in Manhattan while my own career grew erratic. Among other things, I found myself drinking too much and I checked in for a 28-day stay at the Betty Ford Center. My fast living had caught up with me at last. Two years earlier, during Christmas, I'd had a terrible ski accident while testing the deep powder on an unskied slope in Gerlos, Austria. It wasn't the 40-foot drop that hurt; it was the boulder hidden under the powder that broke my first, third, fourth and fifth lower left lumbar vertebrae and shattered my pelvis. Recovering from that fall took almost six months in bed in London. Reading. Watching videos and drinking to ease the pain, because I was determined not to become addicted to pain pills. I put on about 75 pounds, and with the loss of my looks, I lost my confidence. It didn't help when some Italian paparazzi caught me swimming half-naked in Sardinia, when I was at my heaviest.

In the fall of 1987, I moved to New York, where I finally bottomed out and made that important telephone call myself. My first goal after "graduating" from Betty Ford was to get back in shape. I have always been an athlete, so I went right into training. I worked out almost every day with aerobics, bicycles, StairMasters and light weights. I also spent some time up in Sun Valley, where I had grown up. hiking and fishing in the summer and skiing in the winter. I changed my diet, eating only vegetables and fish, and began to drink almost a gallon of water a day ... a natural for an Aquarian.

After getting "the machine" in shape, it was time to get my career in shape, too. I acted in my first play, The Women, and had the vixen role of Crystal, which Joan Crawford played in the movie. I loved being a clever bitch.

I have always loved France and in the fall of 1988, I went to Paris for the fashion collections and landed a starring role in a French movie, Mass in C Minor, with Stéphane Audran. It was great to be back in front of the camera.

I was in Paris for nine months but missed home. So in September, I moved to Los Angeles. My confidence was back and it was time to work on what I like doing best--acting--where I like doing it, in the old U.S. of A.

I've started acting classes again and I have just signed to write a book about my journeys, including my most challenging one--taking control of my life.

Back to me and Playboy. I told the editors that if they wanted me to take my clothes off, they would have to take me somewhere special. I wanted to go on an adventure; adventure is my middle name. A friend recommended Belize and Guatemala. Belize is a new country, formerly British Honduras, east of Guatemala. It has some of the best scuba diving in the world because of the reefs offshore [Playboy's James R. Petersen wrote about his adventures there in the February issue].

Belize is entirely natural--the people and the place. Almost no tourists, but lots of fishermen and deserted beaches. We took little fishing boats to islands off the coast, where we felt as if we had gone back in time. Although we stayed in a charming hotel, The Belizean near San Pedro, we roughed it for the rest of our trip. No porters or room service. You'd better be able to carry your bags and catch your fish.

We took 17 planes in 13 days searching for perfect locations and adventures ... and we found them. I felt so peaceful on the beaches and in the water of Belize. I hope it shows. Across the border in Guatemala, we visited the Mayan ruins of Tikal, on the Temples of the Giant Jaguar overlooking the Temple of the Masks. The ruins have so much spiritual power. I meditated every day and I could feel their energy.

I can't tell you how good it feels to want to show off a little again. We all have periods in our life when we want to go public and want to stay private. I know I've juggled both of those impulses. Right now, with all that's happened recently, I'm ready to be seen again. And this trip to Belize and Guatemala was the perfect opportunity. It was the beginning of the next round. Rolling with the punches pays off only if you get a second chance. Thanks, Playboy.

Creative Consultant Zachary Zelig