My Fifteen Minutes of Fame are Up. Not!"

Jessica Hahn is the very model of modern celebrity. She is famous for being famous. And the best thing is, she knows it. "People come up to me and say, 'I know you. Who are you? What are you famous for?' I say, 'I'm Jessica. I was created by the media.'" While the press, and Playboy, were indeed present at the creation, there are signs that Hahn is now managing her own evolution quite nicely. She first recaptured our attention with a knockout performance on Married ... with Children. Ironically, the show's execs had worried about approaching her. Would Hahn find the role of Ricki, a "shoe groupie" who turns up in salesman Al Bundy's bed, beneath her? No way, she told them, "I'll pretend he's a preacher." On the heels of that success came a recent HBO gig and other acting offers, along with her third Playboy pictorial—her most bounteous and beautiful so far. And that's no surprise: Jessica now exercises religiously to perfect her body. And, to keep her career in shape, she reads the trade papers and studies the TV to hone her celeb savvy. "Scandal fame is short-term," she says sagely, and she wants to earn the more lasting kind. She tapes messages for a 900 line, Love Phone, and does personal appearances to pay the bills. She would be the poster girl for the puritan work ethic if puritans didn't hate sex. As a veteran of the scandal wars, she even gets asked for advice by fellow shock troopers. Gennifer Flowers (Bill Clinton's professed amour) requested Jessica's opinion of her business cards, which featured a brightly lipsticked mouth. "I wanted to say, 'Lose the kiss lips, Gennifer.'"

Jessica has plenty of hard experience on which to base her advice. Five years ago she helped bring down preacher Jim Bakker's empire by relating how the televangelist mistreated her in an extramarital affair. Along the way, Jessica talked with Koppel, Donahue, Larry King, Geraldo, Howard Stern and anyone else who had a live mike, including Joan Rivers, who sent her roses. Jessica posed for Playboy, had Michael Jackson's cosmetic surgeon boost her bust, posed for Playboy again, spent almost a million bucks and decided she needed a job. Famous is fine, but you can't pay rent with an autograph unless it's on a valid check. In 1988 she became the sultry radio voice of KOY-FM in Phoenix for $350 a week, plus a car and a hotel room. Ratings zoomed, then fell. Dumped by KOY, she guested on airwaves coast to coast, earning $5000 to $7000 for a few days' chat. She was a cartoon celeb who made radio call letters ripple wildly on her T-shirt. "I was everyone's publicity stunt." But those gigs dried up. When she heard that Joan Rivers had told Stern, Hahn's radio guru, not to bring her to a party, allegedly saying, "I don't want any blow jobs at my Christmas party," Jessica was hurt—and offended. The still-religious Hahn says only half in jest, "You don't use the words blow job and Christmas in the same sentence." Soon Jessica went into the Arizona desert to shout at the sky. "I was stripped, physically and emotionally, pleading and praying and cursing God." That was the low point. Solace came from an uncannily appropriate source: A new preacher came into her life. Instead of the abusive Bakker, she took up with former minister turned gonzo comic Sam Kinison, with whom she had a stormy affair. Rising from despair, Jessica went to L.A. and made a hit video, Wild Thing, with Kinison and a Who's Who of rockers. It made her a name with the MTV generation. Sam and Jessica were soon trysting on Sunset Strip. One night they checked into a hotel. Jessica hoped to avoid attention, but Kinison stopped at the elevator and yelled to a gathering crowd, "Hey! I'm with Jessica! We're going upstairs, and guess what we're gonna do!" Kinison, famously hard living, died a hard death as well, perishing in a car crash earlier this year. Jessica eulogized him on Entertainment Tonight. For that, her critics call her shameless. Jessica does not disagree. "Hey, I lost my reputation a long time ago. Now I just try to do what's right. If I have to, I'll apologize later."