Jenny McCarthy

Jennifer Ann "Jenny" McCarthy (born November 1, 1972) is an American model, comedian, actress, author and activist. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then parlayed her Playboy fame into a successful television and film acting career. Most recently, she has written books about parenting, and has become an activist promoting the controversial claims that vaccines cause autism and that chelation therapy helps cure it - both claims which are widely unrecognized or disputed by the medical community.

Chelsea Lately: Jenny McCarthy


Jenny McCarthy gets a little dirty w/ Carrie Keagan! uncensored


Jenny McCarthy on Howard Stern


Jenny McCarthy on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 1


Jenny McCarthy Bares All




Early life

McCarthy was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois to a middle-class Catholic family of Polish and Irish descent. She lived in the West Elsdon neighborhood of Chicago.[5][6] She is the second of four daughters; her sisters are named Lynette, Joanne and Amy. Her cousin is actress Melissa McCarthy of Gilmore Girls fame.[7] McCarthy's mother, Linda, was a housewife and courtroom custodian, and her father, Dan McCarthy, was a steel mill foreman.[8][9] She attended St. Turibius Grade School on Chicago's South Side.[citation needed] As a teenager, McCarthy attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School (whose school sweater she donned in the pages of Playboy) and was a cheerleader at both Brother Rice High School and St. Laurence High Schools,[10] although she has referred to herself as an "outcast" at her school.[11] After McCarthy graduated from high school, she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale to study nursing. She needed money to pay for college, so she decided to submit her picture to Playboy magazine to make money.[citation needed] She was accepted and became a model.
[edit]Career

[edit]Modeling and acting
Jenny McCarthy
Playboy centerfold appearance
October 1993
Preceded by Carrie Westcott
Succeeded by Julianna Young
Playmate of the Year
1994
Preceded by Anna Nicole Smith
Succeeded by Julie Lynn Cialini
Personal details
Born 1 November 1972
Measurements Bust: 38 in (97 cm)[1]
Waist: 24 in (61 cm)
Hips: 34 in (86 cm)
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Weight 120 lb (54 kg)[1]
After getting accepted by Playboy in 1993, the magazine wanted her to pose for the October issue. McCarthy was paid $20,000 for the photo shoot.[citation needed] McCarthy became the Playmate of the Month and later the Playmate of the Year. In 1994, thanks to this newfound attention and popularity, McCarthy moved to Los Angeles and, for a time, hosted Hot Rocks, a Playboy TV show featuring uncensored music videos.
In 1995, MTV chose McCarthy to be the host of a new dating show called Singled Out, for which she left Hot Rocks. Her job as a host was a success, and Playboy wanted her to do more modeling. That same year, she also appeared at WrestleMania XI as a guest valet for Shawn Michaels. She left after the match with the victor, WWF Heavyweight Champion Diesel. She returned to the WWE on the August 2, 2008 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event to thank the fans for supporting Generation Rescue, an autism advocacy organization. In 1996, McCarthy landed a small part in the comedy The Stupids. In 1997, McCarthy launched two shows. The first one was an MTV sketch comedy show The Jenny McCarthy Show, which was sufficiently popular for NBC to sign her for an eponymous sitcom later that year, Jenny. The latter show is generally considered a disappointment and was quickly canceled.[citation needed] Also in 1997, she appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy (the other cover featured Pamela Anderson). McCarthy also released an autobiography: Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book.[12]
In 1998, McCarthy's first major movie role was alongside Trey Parker and Matt Stone in the comedy BASEketball. The following year, she starred in Diamonds, a movie which was directed by her then-husband John Mallory Asher. In 2000, she had a role in the horror movie Scream 3, and three years later she parodied that role in horror film spoof Scary Movie 3 along with fellow Playmate and actress Pamela Anderson. In 2005, McCarthy produced, wrote, and starred in the movie Dirty Love, where she was again directed by her husband at the time, John Asher. In March 2006, she was given Razzie Awards for "Worst Actress", "Worst Screenplay", and "Worst Picture" for her work on Dirty Love, which also earned Asher a Razzie for "Worst Director."[citation needed]
In addition to her early TV fame on MTV and her short-lived, self-titled NBC sitcom, McCarthy has guest starred in a variety of other television shows including Stacked, Charmed, The Drew Carey Show, Wings, Fastlane, Two and a Half Men and Just Shoot Me!.[citation needed] She was the voice of Six in the third season of Canadian computer-animated science fiction cartoon Tripping the Rift. In 2005, McCarthy hosted a show on E! called Party at the Palms. The reality show, which was filmed at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, featured hotel guests, party goers, and celebrities.[citation needed]
McCarthy has continued her work with Playboy over the years, both as a model and in other capacities. She appeared on the cover of the magazine's January 2005 issue wearing a leopard skin version of the company's iconic "bunny suit" and was featured in a pictorial shot at Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in that same issue. She was the second woman (following Carmen Electra) and first former Playmate to become a celebrity photographer for the Playboy Cyber Club, where she photographed model Jennifer Madden.[citation needed]
Jenny's younger sister, Amy, has also posed for Playboy. She was a Cyber Girl of the Week and the Cyber Girl of the Month for January 2005.[13]
McCarthy currently stars in a five-episode online series, called In the Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Leah Remini.[14] The show is on MSN and is based on being a mother where users could submit their stories to have it made into real webisodes.
She has also appeared in two video games: playing the role of Agent Tanya in the video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, replacing Kari Wührer, and the fitness video game Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy.[15]
[edit]Public persona


April 4, 2005
The juxtaposition between McCarthy's classic all-American sex appeal - buxom, blue-eyed blonde with a pretty face - and her over-the-top comedic sensibilites - heavily focused on slapstick and toilet humor - has long been a trademark of her image, never shying away from looking silly or foolish for the sake of a laugh over sexiness. She once modeled for Candie's, a shoe company. In one magazine ad, McCarthy posed on a toilet seat with her underwear near her ankles. Cultural scholar Collin Gifford Brooke wrote that the ad's "taboo nature" brought it attention, while noting that the ad itself helped to weaken that taboo.[16] Another Candie's ad depicted McCarthy farting in a crowded elevator.[17][18]
A sketch on her MTV show centered on her character, a well-coiffed business woman, answering the question of "What did you have for lunch?" by seeming to force herself to vomit all over a table which she then ate. This was faked using special effects.
This theme was taken to a new extreme in her film Dirty Love, which featured McCarthy's character sitting in a massive pool of her own menstrual blood.[19]
[edit]Personal life

McCarthy began dating actor/director John Mallory Asher late in 1998.[20] The couple became engaged in January 1999, and married on September 11 of that year. They have a son, Evan Joseph, born on May 18, 2002. Evan was diagnosed with autism. In August 2005, McCarthy and Asher filed for divorce.
In December 2005, McCarthy began dating actor Jim Carrey. They did not make their relationship public until June 2006. She announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 2, 2008 that she and Carrey were then living together, but had no plans to marry, as they did not need a "piece of paper."[21] Carrey almost made a mock proposal to McCarthy as a promotion to the film Yes Man for Ellen's Twelve Days of Holidays. McCarthy and Carrey announced that they had split up in April 2010.[22]
Her brother-in-law is former NHL hockey player Dan Hinote. Dan is married to her younger sister Amy McCarthy, a former Playboy Cyber Girl.[23] She is also an avid Chicago White Sox fan.[24]
McCarthy is a vegan.[25]
[edit]Activism and autism controversy



Jenny McCarthy speaking at the 2008 Ante Up For Autism benefit
In May 2007, McCarthy announced that her son Evan was diagnosed with autism in 2005. Before claiming that her son's autism was caused by vaccination, McCarthy wrote that he was gifted, a "crystal child", and she an "indigo mom".[26] Evan's disorder began with seizures and his improvement occurred after the seizures were treated; symptoms experts have noted are more consistent with Landau–Kleffner syndrome, often misdiagnosed as autism.[27][28] McCarthy served as a spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) from June 2007 until October 2008.[29] She participated in fundraisers, online chats, and other activities for the non-profit organization to help families affected by autism spectrum disorders. Her first fundraiser for TACA, Ante Up for Autism,[30] was held on October 20, 2007, in Irvine, California. She is a prominent spokesperson and activist for the Generation Rescue foundation,[31] and serves on its Board of Directors as of January 2011.[32]
A study found 24% of parents placed "some trust" in information on vaccine safety from celebrities like Jenny McCarthy.[4]
McCarthy's book on the subject, Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, was published September 17, 2007. She stated both in her book and during her appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that her husband was unable to deal with their son's autism, which led to their divorce. In 2008, she appeared on a Larry King Live special dedicated to the subject, and argued that vaccines can trigger autism. No scientists were invited to speak in response.[33][34] In an April 27, 2010 PBS Frontline documentary, she was interviewed about the controversy between vaccine opponents and public health experts.[35][36]
McCarthy has also stated on talk shows and at rallies that chelation therapy helped her son recover from autism.[4] The underlying rationale for chelation, the speculation that mercury in vaccines causes autism, has been roundly rejected by scientific studies, with the National Institute of Mental Health concluding that autistic children are unlikely to receive any benefit to balance the risks of heart attack, stroke and cardiac arrest posed by the chelating agents used in the treatment.[37] Her son also received conventional, more effective treatment such as intensive behavioral therapy.[citation needed]
McCarthy's public presence, and vocal activism on the vaccination-autism controversy, led to her being awarded The James Randi Educational Foundation's Pigasus Award (granted for contributions to pseudoscience) for the 'Performer Who Has Fooled The Greatest Number of People with The Least Amount of Effort'. Randi stated in a video on the JREF's website that he did sympathize with the plight of McCarthy and her child, but admonished her for using her public presence in a way that may discourage parents from having their own children vaccinated.[38]
McCarthy's claims that vaccines cause autism are not supported by any medical evidence, and the original paper by Andrew Wakefield that formed the basis for the claims (and for whose book McCarthy wrote a foreword)[39] has been shown to be based on manipulated data and fraudulent research.[40][41][42][43] The BMJ published a 2011 article by journalist Brian Deer, based on information uncovered by Freedom of Information legislation after the British General Medical Council (GMC) inquiry into allegations of misconduct against Wakefield that led to him being struck from the medical record and his articles retracted, stating that Wakefield had planned a venture to profit from the MMR vaccine scare.[44][45][46][47]
Parental concerns over vaccines have led to decreased immunization rates and increased incidence of whooping cough and measles, a highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease.[48] Neil Cameron, a historian who specializes in the history of science, writing for The Montreal Gazette labeled the controversy a "failure of journalism" that resulted in unnecessary deaths, saying that The Lancet should not have published a study based on "statistically meaningless results" from only 12 cases and that a grapevine of worried parents and "nincompoop" celebrities fueled the widespread fears.[49]
Generation Rescue issued a statement that the "media circus" following the revelation of fraud and manipulation of data was "much ado about nothing",[50] which led USA Today to report that McCarthy had "taken a beating on Twitter".[51] Salon.com responded to Generation Rescue's statement with:[52]
"It's high time the woman who once said that 'I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe' took a step back and reconsidered the merits of that increasingly crackpot stance. And it's time she acknowledged that clinging to research that's been deemed patently fraudulent does not make one a 'mother warrior.' It makes her a menace."
In January 2011, McCarthy defended Wakefield, saying that he had listened to parents and that the controversy was "merely the allegations of a single British journalist named Brian Deer".[53]
[edit]Publications

Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book, an autobiography (Harpercollins, ISBN 978-0-06-039233-8).
Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth (ISBN 978-0-7382-0949-4)
Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth about the First Year of Mommyhood (ISBN 978-0-525-94883-4)
Life Laughs: The Naked Truth about Motherhood, Marriage, and Moving On (ISBN 978-0-525-94947-3)
Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism (ISBN 978-0-525-95011-0)
Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds (ISBN 978-0-525-95069-1)
Healing and Preventing Autism Co-written with Dr. Jerry Kartzinel. Dutton Adult, March 31, 2009. (ISBN 978-0-525-95103-2)
Love, Lust & Faking It: The Naked Truth About Sex, Lies, and True Romance (Harper, 2010)(ISBN 978-0062012982)
McCarthy is also an occasional columnist for FHM magazine and has also recently appeared in a commercial for Weight Watchers after successfully losing and maintaining her post-pregnancy weight by following the program.[citation needed]
[edit]Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead Blonde Nurse
1996 The Stupids Glamorous Actress
1998 BASEketball Yvette Denslow
1999 Diamonds Sugar
2000 Scream 3 Sarah Darling Candy Brooks
Python Francesca Garibaldi made for TV
2001 Thank Heaven Julia
2002 Crazy Little Thing Whitney Ann Barnsley
2003 Scary Movie 3 Katie Embry
2005 Dirty Love Rebecca Sommers
2006 Lingerie Bowl - made for TV
John Tucker Must Die Lori
Santa Baby Mary Class made for TV
2008 Wieners Ms. Isaac
Witless Protection Connie
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Agent Tanya video game
2009 Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe Mary Class made for TV
[edit]Television work
Mr. Show (1995)
Singled Out (host from 1995–1997)
Wings (1996)
Jenny (1997–1998)
Home Improvement (Guest Star on "Young at Heart") (1999)
The Big Breakfast (1998)
Honey Vicarro (2001) (unsold pilot)
Untitled Jenny McCarthy Project (2003) (unsold pilot)
Charmed (2003)
Less Than Perfect (2003)
Hope & Faith (2004)
Stacked (2005)
What I Like About You (2005)
The Bad Girl's Guide (2005) (canceled after 6 episodes)
Party @ the Palms (2005–2006)
One on One (2003–2004)
My Name Is Earl (2006)
Tripping the Rift (Voice of Six) (2006–2007)
Two and a Half Men (2007–2008, 2010)
Just Shoot Me (season 5 episode 6)
WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (Saturday Night's Main Event XXXVI, August 2, 2008, edition)
Chuck (Chuck Versus The Suburbs) (2009)

Source from Wikipedia.com