Area native offers peak behind the ‘Velvet Rope’
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In some ways, Jennifer Walcott Archuleta has lived a storybook life.
The Youngstown native is married to former NFL safety and football commentator Adam Archuleta, has three children ranging in ages from 12 to 18 and splits her time between homes in Southern California and Arizona. Being selected as a Playboy centerfold in 2001 brought her national attention and a modeling career that included many magazine covers and television/movie appearances.
But what people didn't see on the magazine covers were the financial struggles, abusive relationships, boyfriends who got her entangled in criminal investigations, plastic surgery complications and many other less-than-glamorous experiences.
Archuleta, 50, shares it all in the self-published memoir "Beyond the Velvet Ropes," and she returns to the Mahoning Valley for a book signing from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at Barnes & Noble in Boardman.
During a telephone interview, Archuleta said she'd thought about writing a book for a long time, and one thing that finally made her do it was speaking at a charity event and talking about the assault she survived.
"People came up to me and they started telling me how my story helped them, and I started to realize that if I told all of my stories, that I could help people, whether it was the bad plastic surgery one, the insecurity one, the ADHD one, the abusive relationship one," she said. "I just think that those things are important. So many people try to hide their flaws and act like things are great, and that’s what 'Beyond the Velvet Rope' has meant to me. A lot of times people see the end game of my life. They didn’t see me working at 12 years old, eating crackers and water in Hollywood."
Archuleta said life in Youngstown prepared her for the struggles she faced before her successes came.
She grew up on Wakefield Avenue in Brownlee Woods and attended Woodrow Wilson High School until her senior year, when she went to Lowellville High School because her parents were concerned about problems at Wilson after South High School closed.
Her parents divorced and her mother worked at night, and Archuleta said she learned to take care of herself as well as her younger siblings.
"I was always a fighter," she said. "You looked at me the wrong way, you’re going to have trouble, even at 5 (foot) 4 (inches), 90 pounds. That’s the South Side of me. I didn’t put up with anything, and I certainly didn’t take no for an answer. I’m very persistent and I’m relentless."
When she was 18 years old, Archuleta left Youngstown for California where she struggled for years. Playboy wasn't something she pursued. She was hired to do makeup for an event at the Playboy mansion, where she met the magazine's founder, Hugh Hefner, who encouraged her to pose for test photos.
The opportunity came at a time when her personal life was reeling. Her boyfriend was arrested for drug trafficking. She wasn't a part of his activities, but she was investigated. Playboy opened doors for her at a time when everything else was imploding. While those choices led to some awkward conversations decades later with her now 18-year-old son, Archuleta said she had no regrets.
"For a while I started to hide from Playboy," she said. "If I thought I could have changed my name and been Mary Archuleta, I would have done it, but I started to think to myself, and I told my kids, at the time my back was against the wall. It was one of the only choices I had. I was in a lot of trouble, and there were a lot of bad things that could happen to me ... Every decision I made at that time, in that moment, was the best decision I could have made. Would I have made that decision at 40 with kids? No. Would I have made it if things were going better in my life in Hollywood? Probably not."
Archuleta credited her family, her strong Catholic upbringing and her resilience for surviving and learning from her past experiences in order to have her life today as a wife, mother, author, podcaster and co-founder of The Forever Angels, a nonprofit organization that aids families in need.
And she may be adding "film subject" to that list of roles. Archuleta said the official statement she's allowed to make is, "We are actively working on a deal with a production company for a feature film adaptation, and an announcement is on the horizon."
If and when that happens, Archuleta wants some of that movie to be filmed in her hometown, and she believes it's a story that will resonate with moviegoers as well as readers.
"I was always saving myself. My family probably would have come to my rescue, but that rescue would be, 'Just come home.' I saved myself throughout my whole life, and I think the people that are interested in the film love that it's a strong woman (story), a feel-good kind of movie."