Carnie Wilson is stepping out in a new skin, and the 35-year-old singer's enthusiasm about her transformation is infectious. "I went from a size 28 to a size six," she says. "I'm sure I'm the first woman to be featured in BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) and Playboy within five years. I was always the fat chick from Wilson Phillips or the 'funny fat girl.' Playboy is my final redemption." Back in 1999, the daughter of Beach Boys auteur Brian Wilson topped out at 298 pounds before deciding to undergo gastric bypass surgery to battle her life-threatening obesity. Carnie used to associate her addiction to food with the absence of her father. "Blaming people is a cowardly way to live your life, because you're not taking responsibility for your actions," she says. "My dad and I became friends and did a lot of healing before I had surgery. He's funny, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he's the strongest person I know." Her operation was broadcast live on the Internet for Spotlighthealth.com, an organization she continues to support by giving inspirational lectures. She's been shedding pounds--and dress sizes--ever since. Carnie wrote a book called I'm Still Hungry about her life since the operation, and she lets out a throaty cackle if you ask her about some of the content. "I wanted to call it Fuck! I'm Still Hungry, but it was toned down for obvious reasons," she says. "I loved the Playboy experience so much that I condensed my four-day journal about it into two chapters: 'To Pose or Not to Pose' and 'Does Anyone Else Feel a Draft in Here?' I originally wrote that I felt so horny--like one big vagina. The title of the book just says it--I'm hungry for it all." Carnie recently got together onstage with sister Wendy and Chynna Phillips for a Wilson Phillips benefit concert. The group's breezy California pop sound garnered platinum and multiplatinum albums featuring hits like Hold On and Release Me. Now the girls are back in the studio for the first time in more than a decade. "We've been writing and recording for three years," Carnie says. "The new songs are soulful, more like TLC. It's not about hit singles or selling millions of records anymore, even though that is nice. I'm all about wanting everything times five, but I've learned that I have to cross my legs and calm down." When Wilson Phillips was put on ice in the early Nineties, Carnie branched out with acting roles on The Sixties, Silk Stalkings and other TV shows, and hosted her own short-lived talk show as well. She met her husband, musician Rob Bonfiglio, three months before her weight-loss surgery. "When Rob and I met, it's not like he knew I wasn't fat," she says. "He loved my sense of humor, my face and my perfume. He also knew I wasn't afraid to be wild in bed, so I think that turned him on big time! When I was tempted to not take a walk or eat an extra piece of candy, Rob was a big motivator for me since he never went out with a fat girl. I just became more and more sexual. Being a risk taker is how you move on in your life and motivate people."
"I'm all about wanting everything times five, but I've learned that I have to cross my legs and calm down."
