Model of the Week: Karen McDougal by AskMen.com

Are you blind? Do we have to personally escort you to the optometrist for new glasses? The nerve of some people asking stupid questions...

Karen McDougal was Playboy's Miss December 1997, and subsequently Playmate of the Year in 1998.

Karen McDougal is a goddess. Let's face it, she is one of the most beautiful women in the world and if she looked like a female version of Shrek she'd likely never get a drop of ink in the media (though the fact that there existed a green female ogre in the first place would be newsworthy).

She was a former preschool teacher (why couldn't we ever have teachers like her?) who found her calling as a model. After winning a Venus International Swimwear competition, Karen sensed a bright future and continued pursuing her goals of becoming a formidable actress and model. That led to her posing in Playboy as Miss December 1997, and eventually the prestigious Playmate of the Year in 1998.

The nude gig gave Karen the kind of exposure and fortune that even 5000 auditions could not deliver. Not only did she set herself up financially ($100,000 paycheck plus the keys to a $100,000 Shelby Cobra), but she also got the name recognition needed to break into her second dream career, as an ubiquitous actress. Though her movie roles have consisted of token appearances on camera, Karen is adamant about continuing her acting career, including dabbling with the WWF.

Karen is a down-to-earth girl. You wouldn't expect less from a Mid-Western girl. Despite her hectic schedule and hobnobbing with the rich and famous, she remains a sweet and fun-loving woman. In fact, in high school she was nicknamed "Barbie" due to the image of perfection she projected.

Unlike other models who give lip service to worthy causes, Karen is sincere about her concern for breast cancer. She has used her celebrity status to increase awareness about the disease and is well aware of its consequences, having lost several aunts to the disease.

There are times when words are appropriate to describe a woman, and other times when you are just better off standing back and enjoying the view. Guess which of those moments this is?

If you count her Playboy videos as "roles," then she has a half-dozen film credits to her name, including an uncredited performance in Charlie's Angels alongside fellow bombshells Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz. Other than that, Karen's accomplishments can be written on a cocktail napkin.

The 5'8" curvaceous blue-eyed brunette has some strange fitness habits. She works out regularly and considers herself a fitness buff, but has a love for red meat, potatoes, and good old junk food (marriage material fellas). As for her natural beauty, she has been enhanced surgically, though it was only an increase of one cup size. Karen has always been well-endowed in that department.

Like you really care about her fashion sense? She could be wearing granny underwear on her head and we wouldn't blink twice. Basically, whatever she wears, she looks good in it. That is the advantage of having a body sculpted like... you guessed it, a "Barbie" doll.

"My dream date is a tall, dark, handsome, blue eyed man with a bubble butt who will whisk me away to Paris in a hot air balloon to wine me, dine me and..." - Karen McDougal

Karen McDougal was born March 23, 1971, in Gary, Indiana. She relocated to Sawyer, Michigan when she was 9 years old, along with her mother, 3 older brothers Bob, Dave and Jeff, and her younger sister Tina.

While you might assume that Karen was a tomboy, having been raised with 3 older brothers, she was very much a feminine young girl. As a child she was passionate about ballet, tap dancing, and spent her days as a girl scout.

Her high school days at River Valley High School were marked with cheerleading and clarinet playing, as Barbie (her nickname throughout high school) was part of the band. Despite her busy modeling days as an adult, Karen still tinkers with the clarinet.

Upon graduating high school in 1989, Karen attended Ferris State University, majoring in Elementary Education. After 2 years in university, Karen worked as a pre-kindergarten teacher in a Detroit suburb.

While teaching those lucky kindergarten kids, a friend of Karen's convinced her to join a swimsuit contest -- the Venus Swimwear International Model Search -- to be exact. Thanks to her friend's encouragement, Karen was selected as the newest Venus swimsuit model, which led to a whole world of opportunity for the former cheerleader.

Karen then headed to an international competition, where she met an assisting Playboy photographer. With a newfound desire to pursue an acting and modeling career, Karen crossed the US to go to California, for a test shoot for Hugh Hefner's famous magazine.

As luck and beauty would have it, Karen was named Playboy's Miss December in 1997, and 1998 Playmate of the Year. Karen was busy fulfilling her duties as 1998's Playboy Queen, such as appearing in the Playboy Video Centerfold: Playmate of the Year and Playboy Video Playmate Calendar and making the requisite appearances, before handing over the crown to 1999 Playmate of the Year, Heather Kozar.

Besides posing for Playboy, Karen stood before the camera for the Bora Bora Trading Company Catalogs, the 1999 Calendar from Andy Pearlman Studios, and Clariol Hair Care.

Karen signed a developmental contract with the WWF in 2000, and she has since appeared in the blockbuster Charlie's Angels (as a party girl), as well as 2001's The Arena. Karen co-stars in the latter with fellow former Playmate Lisa Dergan, as a gladiator.

While Karen is busy with modeling and acting, she uses her celebrity (thanks to Playboy) as an activist for the Breast Cancer Foundation. Since her family has a history with cancer, Karen wants to spread the importance of women going for mammograms, even if they have implants (which she does).

When she's not working, she spends her downtime with her cats Brittany and Brandy, going to the gym and shopping.

Although she's still working hard with modeling and auditions, Karen hopes to open a learning center for infants and preschoolers.

What else do you need to know?

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