Carmella DeCesare
Carmella Garcia (née Carmella Danielle DeCesare , born July 1, 1982) 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 was featured in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the players’ wives feature.
Biography
Early life
DeCesare was born in Avon Lake, Ohio and lives in Manhattan Beach, California. She graduated from Avon Lake High School in 2000 and later worked at a title company in the Cleveland area.
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.
She modeled in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Television
She competed in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) $250,000 RAW Diva Search and came in second to Christy Hemme. Though she came in second, she developed as a jealous heel, and WWE decided to keep her temporarily. She competed in a match against Hemme at Taboo Tuesday in a losing effort and appeared several times on the WWE’s Raw show, until she was released by the company shortly thereafter. The song Carmella used as her theme while working with the WWE was “Body Talk” by Elize. She also appeared on the game shows Family Feud on May 10, 2004, the Howard Stern Show, and Street Smarts.
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. 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.
Marriage and current activities
DeCesare married Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia on April 21, 2007 at the CordeValle Resort in San Martin, California. They have a daughter, Presley, born April 28, 2008.
In a May 2007 interview with the Calgary Sun, Garcia intimated that since DeCesare is now his wife she will distance herself from Playboy. The article also reported that DeCesare was trying to get a job as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline reporter. DeCesare is listed as the vice-president of Garcia’s charity, the Garcia Pass It On Foundation.
Filmography
Television
- The Girls Next Door (2005-2006)
Sunday Night Heat (1998)
WWE Taboo Tuesday (2004)
Playboy Video Playmate Calendar 2005 (2004) (V)
WWF Raw Is War (2004)
Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates (2004) (V)
Raw Diva Search Casting Special (2004) (TV)
Howard Stern (2004)
Playboy Video Centerfold: Playmate of the Year Carmella DeCesare (2004) (V)
Family Feud (2004)
WWE $250,000 Raw Diva Search (2004) (V)
Street Smarts (1 episode, 2004)
Playboy Video Playmate Calendar 2004 (2003) (V)
Playboy: Who Wants to Be a Playboy Centerfold? (2002) (V)