Carmella DeCesare

Carmella DeCesare
Born	Carmella Danielle DeCesare (1982-07-01) July 1, 1982 Avon Lake, Ohio, U.S.[1]
Nationality	American
Other names	Carmella Danielle Garcia
Occupation	model, professional wrestler
Spouse(s)	Jeff Garcia (m. 2007)
Children	4
Playboy centerfold appearance
April 2003
Preceded by	Pennelope Jimenez
Succeeded by	Laurie Fetter
Playmate of the Year
2004
Preceded by	Christina Santiago
Succeeded by	Tiffany Fallon
Personal details
Measurements	Bust: 34B in (86B cm)[1] Waist: 24 in (61 cm) Hips: 27 in (69 cm)
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Weight	130 lb (59 kg; 9.3 st)[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Carmella
Billed height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Billed weight	118 lb (54 kg)
Billed from	Avon Lake, Ohio
Trained by	WWE
Debut	November 18, 2004

Carmella Danielle Garcia ^[2] (née DeCesare ; born July 1, 1982)^[1] is an American model who was Playboy magazine's Miss April 2003 and Playmate of the Year for 2004. She is of Italian and Puerto Rican descent. She is also known for her time in WWE as a WWE Diva Search participant and professional wrestler. She was featured in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the players' wives feature.^[3][4]

Career

Modeling

She responded to Playboy's "Who Wants to Be a Playboy Centerfold?" search when it came to Cleveland and was selected as a finalist for the competition. She, however, had second thoughts and withdrew early in the taping of material for the Fox Network special that aired in the summer of 2002. DeCesare then changed her mind about posing for Playboy and was quickly named Cyber Girl of the Week in October 2002 and Cyber Girl of the Month in February 2003, before being selected as Playboy's Miss April in 2003.

She appeared in the 2005 Playmates at Play at the Playboy Mansion swimsuit calendar as calendar girl of March. The calendar was the inaugural Playmates at Play calendar and it was shot on the grounds of the Playboy Mansion in 2004. It was Playboy's first attempt at creating a non-nude swimsuit calendar featuring Playmates similar in style with those from Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. In 2005, DeCesare received breast implants. In an episode of the E! reality-TV series The Girls Next Door in August 2005, she said that her implants looked fake because they were new and had not fully settled.^[5]

She modeled in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.^[6]

Professional wrestling

DeCesare made her first World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) appearance as a contestant in the 2004 WWE Diva Search. She had a lot of enemies from the other finalists, such as Maria Kanellis, who flipped off DeCesare after she got eliminated from the contest. Contestants of the 2004 Diva Search claimed that she was the only one in the competition who wasn't there for the right reasons. DeCesare was the runner-up in the Diva Search, with Christy Hemme being crowned the winner.

Although Christy Hemme won, WWE hired a few of the finalists, such as Amy Weber, Candice Michelle, Joy Giovanni, Maria Kanellis, and Michelle McCool. DeCesare also remained with the company despite not winning the contest and entered into a feud with Christy Hemme, which had DeCesare portrayed as a jealous villainess. This eventually set up a Lingerie Pillow Fight match at Taboo Tuesday, which DeCesare lost.^[7] She was released a few weeks later.

Personal life

Arrest

On September 10, 2004, she pled not guilty to assault in a Cleveland, Ohio court after a fight in a bar on August 21, 2004 with a woman named Kristen Hine.^[8] She was acquitted of the assault charge on January 12, 2005 but found guilty of violating a restraining order. She was sentenced to do twenty-four hours of community service, given one year probation, and fined $150. During the trial, DeCesare testified that Jeff Garcia, her boyfriend and at that time the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, had been involved in an affair with Hine after DeCesare's and Garcia's relationship began.^[9] Garcia commented on the situation "It’s embarrassing that I am here today, to be caught up in a situation like this."^[10]

Marriage and current activities

On April 21, 2007, DeCesare married then-NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia^[11] at the CordeValle Resort in San Martin, California. They have a daughter named Presley who was born on April 28, 2008.^[12] The couple welcomed their second child, a son, in June 2009.^[13] The couple's third child, a son named Jax was born on September 21, 2010.^[14] In December 2011, they welcomed their last child, a daughter.

In a May 2007 interview with the Calgary Sun, Garcia hinted that since DeCesare is now his wife she will distance herself from Playboy.^[15] She is listed as the vice-president of Garcia's charity, the Garcia Pass It On Foundation.^[16]

References

Footnotes

• "Carmella DeCesare". Cleveland Magazine. v. 34, n. 1. January 2005. 71.
• Bill Lubinger. "PTA presidents, grandmas and actresses: Ohio-linked playmates have nothing to hide". The Plain Dealer. December 1, 2003.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carmella DeCesare.

• Carmella DeCesare at the Internet Movie Database
• Carmella DeCesare on Myspace