“I first saw Playboy when I was 12, what’s that—sixth grade? A kid was passing around a copy. I thought the Playmate was the epitome of beauty,” explains Debi Johnson. “I always hoped I would grow up to be special enough to be chosen.” Miss Johnson was born and raised in Torrance, CA where she was the only girl in her household which included three testosterone-driven brothers who weren’t too keen with boys in their neighborhood noticing how Debi blossomed into a beauty with a voluptuous figure overnight. “I have three brothers. Two are policemen; the third is a Marine Corps drill sergeant. They used to sit on the front porch, cleaning their BB guns, when my dates came over,” laughs the all-natural model with the luscious light-brown hair. “I grew up with a lot of love, in a very protected atmosphere.” Even though Miss Johnson was happy to be surrounded by her protective family, she eventually decided to break free of their brotherly love and moved to New York City. “There is such a difference between expectation and reality in New York City,” says the Playmate. “You’ve seen That Girl, with Marlo Thomas. She lived in an apartment by herself. It was clean. Right! When I moved to this city, I lived with five girls. Finally, I found a place and lived by myself—with no furniture. Just one skinny mattress in the corner. After a year, I was able to buy a coffee table.” While life in The Big Apple hasn’t always been kind to Debi, life took a turn for the better when she saw an ad for Playboy’s 30th Anniversary Playmate Search and auditioned for the title. “I thought, ‘What the hell.’ I can still remember the day Robert Fowler passed a copy of Playboy around the classroom. My nickname back then was Lurch. I took a look at the Playmate and thought for sure I would grow up to look like that,” explains Miss October 1984. “If Robert is still out there, reading this, hi. It was worth the wait. This has been an incredible experience for me.” Thank you, Robert for putting the idea of posing for Playboy in the mind of this gorgeous woman.