| Kari Ann Peniche | |
|---|---|
Kari Ann Peniche attending the Benchwarmer Valentines Party at Area, Hollywood, California, February 12, 2008. |
|
| Born | Kari Ann Peniche March 20, 1984 San Diego, California |
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) |
| Hair color | brown, blond highlights |
| Eye color | brown |
Kari Ann Peniche (pronounced Pe-nee-che)[1] (born March 20, 1984) is a former beauty queen and entertainer from Fairview, Oregon. She has held the Miss Oregon Teen USA and Miss United States Teen titles. She was stripped of the latter title after appearing nude in the November 2004 issue of Playboy magazine.
Peniche lived in San Diego before moving to Houston and then Oregon with her mother. She first attended a modeling class at age 12, and modeled in South Korea at ages 16 and 18. Since her Playboy pictorial, she has launched a fashion business, and has appeared on television and in movies. She has been the subject of several celebrity gossip stories, including a brief engagement to singer Aaron Carter, a quarrel with singer Mindy McCready, and the leak of a controversial home video involving actors Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart. She is also well known to television audiences for her appearances on the first season of Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, the third season of Celebrity Rehab, and a brief appearance on the second season of Sober House.
Contents |
Peniche was born in San Diego, California on March 20, 1984. Her father was a professional musician and songwriter from the Yucatán, Mexico. Her mother, Lee Ann Rosenbarger, is a business consultant; Peniche has two younger brothers, and grew up speaking Spanish with her father's family. After their parents divorced, the three children stayed with their mother, who was strict about schoolwork.[2]
She attended a modeling class when she was 12. After moving the family briefly to Houston, Texas, Peniche's mother remarried and moved them to a home on Blue Lake in Fairview, Oregon. At age 16 Peniche won a six week contract to model in Korea. She returned for another six week stint when she was 18.[2]
Peniche attended Portland Lutheran High School in Gresham, Oregon, where she was a cheerleader.[3] She graduated in 2001, and later attended Portland State University.[2] and UCLA.[4] In an interview with Steppin' Out magazine, Peniche said that she was sexually abused as a minor.[5]
Peniche won the Miss Oregon Teen USA 2002[6] title in November 2001. She competed in the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant but did not place.[7] At the end of her reign she crowned Tami Farrell as the new Miss Oregon Teen USA. The following year she represented Oregon in the Miss United States Teen pageant, which she won.[6] She was crowned November 10, 2003 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.[2] Peniche was considered an unconventional pageant winner, for her fashion and career choices.[2]
She was later stripped of her Miss United States Teen title after appearing nude in Playboy magazine.[8] Peniche claimed that there was nothing in her contract about not doing nude shoots, and since the issue did not hit stands until after her reign had ended, she did not think there would be an issue.
Peniche has gone on to host Xtreem, a Seattle-based cable television program featuring local bands and extreme sports, and the Boom Boom Huck Jam event.[2] She acted in Small Change, an independent film produced in Seattle,[2] and has appeared in other movies and TV shows.[9] She also launched a line of bikinis called "Strung Out" at Portland Fashion Week.[10][11][12]
In September 2006 Aaron Carter, then 18 years old, proposed to Peniche while they were onstage in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had known each other five days. Peniche, who had previously dated his older brother Nick, agreed. The engagement was broken off six days later.[13][14]
On August 17, 2009, a home video was posted on the website Gawker that showed Peniche with married couple and actors Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart. All three are naked, though the video does not contain any sexual acts.[5] Though it is unknown how the video was made public, it had been stored on a hard drive that was the subject of a dispute between Peniche and Mindy McCready during their time on Celebrity Rehab.[8]
Starting in November 2009, Peniche appeared as a patient on the VH1 television show Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, a documentary series about the treatment process for sexual addiction (filmed in April 2009) at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Peniche described herself as having hundreds of lovers, but being unable to emotionally connect with anyone or have any kind of relationship. Peniche's participation in the treatment program was marred by her aggressive and erratic behavior: verbally abusing the staff and other patients, refusing to participate in group discussions or obey rules, forcefully demanding that the staff fetch her fruit juice and bring it to her bedside, and accusing people of laughing at her when they clearly were not, and smiling uncontrollably even when she was discussing unpleasant topics. Dr. Drew Pinsky, the treating physician, became suspicious that she was using illicit substances such as methamphetamine or had been prior to being admitted, and the staff psychiatrist diagnosed her as having borderline personality disorder. It was indicated that both conditions require treatment before any treatment can be done for sexual addiction.[15] She was eventually discharged involuntarily for failing to comply with the program's guidelines. Pinsky offered her an alternative program at a psychiatric hospital nearby, but she refused,[16][17] and during the process of being evicted, she made suicidal gestures and became abusive toward the staff, throwing a container of water onto a technician, for example.
Later, during production of the third season of Celebrity Rehab, Peniche contacted Pinsky, asking for help. Pinsky explains that her aggressive behavior during Sex Rehab was derived from drugs she smuggled in a teddy bear, and were difficult to detect during drug testing because of the medication Peniche took for attention deficit disorder. Pinsky went to her residence, where Peniche showed him the crystal meth she was using. She was shown returning to the Pasadena Recovery Center at the end of that season's fourth episode. Executive producer John Irwin says her behavior had changed by her second appearance, though she did punch a cameraman at one point.[18][19][20][21] In her second stint at the Pasadena Recovery Center, Peniche again exhibited some problematic behavior, including conflict with the staff and other patients,[22] as well as violations of the facility's rules,[23] though she completed the program.
Peniche joined the cast of Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House, in which she went to living in a sober living facility, an interim step between rehab and returning to society. In the first episode, she became abusive toward the sober living manager, Jennifer Gimenez, and tested positive for methamphetamine.[24] Peniche revealed during the second episode that she was worried that her Rehab costar, Mindy McCready, who moved in with Peniche following Rehab, had access to sensitive materials on Peniche's computer. (It was later reported that the two argued over money and an accusation over a stolen hard drive containing the nude video featuring Peniche, Eric Dane, and Rebecca Gayheart.[25]) As Peniche was being filmed returning to her home to address this matter, she punched a cameraman in the eye, and was evicted from the sober living facility.[26] A few days later, Head Counselor Bob Forrest brought Peniche back to the facility to see if the residents would accept her return, but with the exception of resident Tom Sizemore, the residents declined Peniche's request to return, and she left amid criticism by Heidi Fleiss.[27]
| Preceded by Sarah Warner |
Miss Oregon Teen USA 2002 |
Succeeded by Tami Farrell |
|
||||||||||||||