chyna: playboy

You know her as Chyna, the leather-harnessed former Intercontinental Champion of the World Wrestling Federation, the woman who kicks men's butts, who has 14-inch biceps, who can bench-press 365 pounds and who says with glee, "I could take a man's head and squash it between my legs like a pumpkin!"

But she's really Joanie Laurer, a soft-spoken woman lives in the countryside of New Hampshire . "I love the utmost feminine things," she says, "like teddy bears, flowers, wearing makeup and jewelry. I like to be romanced." Joanie always knew her heart was in entertainment: "As a child, I wasn't necessarily athletic, but I was a ham. I was always dancing and singing and dressing up in costumes-anything to be in the spotlight."
Her childhood in Rochester , New York wasn't easy. "I was kicked out of the house when I was 15," she recalls.

"I had to grow up fast, and I started using fitness as my identity. I was doing the Jane Fonda fitness video three times a day. I could see my body developing, and even though my muscles made me seem different on a freakish level to some people, I knew inside it was a cool thing."

Joanie sculpted her body throughout college (where she earned a degree in Spanish literature) and through such adventures as selling beepers, auditioning for commercials and performing singing telegrams. "I really had stars in my eyes," she says, "but I knew mainstream entertainment wouldn't accept me, because I looked too big and strong and strange."

One night while watching wrestling, she says, "All of a sudden I decided that was what I was going to do." She tracked down wrestling legend Walter "Killer" Kowalksi and paid him $2000 to teach her to wrestle. Then she traveled the country to promote herself until she was discovered. "I was a pioneer because I did what few women could ever do."

Today Chyna's a superstar. She has a recurring role on Third Rock From the Sun. She has an autobiography, If They Only Knew (Judith Regan) and a WWF video called Chyna Fitness. But, she says, the pinnacle of her success is appearing in Playboy. "It's a powerful statement.

There haven't been a lot of women in Playboy who look like I do. I am not the norm for beauty. But this is who I am, and this is beautiful." She plans to continue to "give 110 percent" to her career for as long as possible, but she fantasizes about a personal life, too. "I want a husband, and I would love to have a family one day. But I'm not going to be the kind of woman who's at home with the kids. I'd put my baby on my hip and go do a movie. I'm a go-getter, and that's what makes my life exciting."