One look at Christine Dolce--with her trademark smile-snarl, a diamond piercing below her lower lip, her body so sculpted it looks like a weapon--and there's no mistaking her for a shrinking violet. Chances are you've seen her, admired her. She has gained a certain fame, or at least notoriety, for being herself on MySpace, where she is known as Forbidden. Two years ago she was working as a Chanel makeup girl at a department store when a friend suggested she put up a profile on the new site. "I was like, 'I don't know, it sounds kind of cheesy,'" she says. Nonetheless, the southern California native was one of MySpace's first 20,000 members, and her pics quickly got attention. Now the 25-year-old has nearly a million "friends," and her home page is one of the most visited on the MySpace network. Think of it as a vote of confidence for the coolest girl in school, only this school has about 90 million people.
Sow where did Christine get the handle Forbidden? She dated a big jock in high school who was known for being the jealous type. "His attitude was 'Don't even think about it or I'll punch you in the face!' People would say, 'What's up with the forbidden fruit?' Guys always want what they can't have. They want to take a bite out of the apple." Christine frequently gets recognized on the street for being the Forbidden girl on MySpace, and she says she's dated people she's met on the site. "You have a far greater chance of meeting someone you connect with there than you would going to a club, where the only guys who seem to have the courage to approach me are the drunk ones with nothing to lose," she says. "On the Internet you can get to know somebody a bit more. As sexual as I am on the site, in person I don't give that out until someone takes the time to see behind the exterior. Then my sexuality shines through." So far Forbidden is infamous just for being infamous. Though she's launched her own website, forbiddenxo.com, and a line of jeans called Destroyed Denim (customers send in their jeans and she custom "destroys" them), she says she's only getting started. She's not swimming in cash. She's never been to Mexico, never seen her favorite band, Nine Inch Nails. "Everybody thinks I live this lush lifestyle, but it hasn't happened yet." She flashes that trademark smile-snarl. "Yet."
