Lisa Matthews looks like an all-American girl, a point not lost on the photographers with whom she's such a popular model. One recently cast about for a prop that perfectly suited her appeal and automatically picked an American flag. Later, when the war in the Persian Gulf broke out, Lisa became concerned that the flag shot might be misinterpreted as exploitative--and insisted on reshooting it. That's typical of this year's Playmate of the Year. Sometimes Lisa seems so fresh-scrubbed and altogether pleasant you assume she's straight from some farm town that exists only in Garrison Keillor's imagination. There's even her unabashed love of animals--including her two pet chinchillas, Chester and Chelsea, and her dream of owning a cow named Hank. But Lisa is actually from Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles. It might not be a metropolis, but it's not Mayberry, either. "When I go on modeling auditions, a lot of people say to me, 'You're nice,' as if they expected me to be some sort of bitch. I guess growing up in Ventura County, you're not as competitive as if you'd grown up in L.A."
Her selection as Playmate of the Year was a natural, and it was endorsed by the enthusiasm of her fans. She received more than twice as many votes in the Playmate Phone-In as any other candidate.
Befitting her humbler side, Lisa admitted being stunned when she found out she was going to be Playmate of the Year. "I would have given me zero chance," she says. "Me? Playmate of the Year? Hey, I'm glad I got a month." Nonetheless, Lisa is probably a bit better prepared than some of her predecessors, since she has had some savvy coaching from Reneé Tenison, last year's Playmate of the Year, who is also her roommate in Los Angeles. The two met while staying at Playboy Mansion West (Lisa was working on her video centerfold; Reneé had come to town from her home in Idaho to shoot her P.M.O.Y. layout) and they became fast friends. Since Lisa has been busy modeling--and traveling to Mexico to shoot her Playmate of the Year layout--and Reneé commutes from Idaho, their apartment has yet to acquire that lived-in look. There's no artwork on the walls, and the kitchen would make Julia Child faint. "We have diet Coke, chocolate Teddy Grahams and a few cans of soup," says Lisa cheerfully. "I eat tons of junk food. I don't eat very healthily at all." She was famous during her P.M.O.Y. shoot for hiding candy around the set and ferreting it out between shots. Nor does Lisa bother to exercise. "I tried it. I would get on the treadmill for about an hour, but it bored the hell out of me. I'd rather take a walk outside." Lisa does get exercise on the dance floor. She and Reneé love to dance and frequently hit the local clubs, often with Playmate Cristy Thom in tow. "We're a regular United Nations," Lisa points out, "a black, an Asian and a blonde."
The three go unescorted: Reneé has a boyfriend in Idaho and Lisa is a reluctant dater. She has just broken up with one boyfriend and says, "I can't just go out on a date without really knowing someone. I get too nervous and then I call up and cancel, and then I feel really bad." For the moment, most of Lisa's energy is devoted to being Playmate of the Year. She's researching ways to invest her $100,000 cash prize and she's looking forward to her gala party at Playboy Mansion West. But she's not the only one--her 14-year-old brother, Trenton, is also excited. Lisa took him to the Mansion once before and introduced him to the First Lady of the house, Kimberley Conrad Hefner. "He thought it was the best place in the world," Lisa reports, "because he could get a chocolate shake whenever he wanted."
