Brande Roderick Talks Her Name, Her Fame and Her Time With Trump
The 2001 Playmate of the Year sets the record straight
2001 Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick
I grew up in Northern California wine country and moved to Los Angeles to be an actor. In the beginning, I slept on a couch and didn’t have a car. I was trying to fulfill a dream—I’d done some television prior to becoming a Playmate, shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Love Boat: The Next Wave, but Playboy was my big stepping-stone.
I’d always wanted to be a Playmate. When my mom was pregnant she saw a girl named Brande, spelled with an e, in her uncle’s copy of Playboy. My mom wanted me to be beautiful just like this woman, so she named me Brande. The very first time I met Hef—a mutual friend took me to the Mansion for Sunday-night movies—I explained the story of my name. Hef took me to his library, and we flipped through magazines to see if we could find this girl. We didn’t, but it was wonderful to meet him. The next time I saw him was at a nightclub in L.A. I said, “I’m the girl whose mom named her after a Playboy model!” He invited me to sit with him, and that’s when our friendship started.
I was Hef’s girlfriend for two years, starting in 1998, which I’ve never really talked about. He had a huge impact on my life. He taught me so much about the entertainment business and how to handle success. People assume he’s a party guy; what they don’t know is he was very loyal. When he was with me, he was with me. It was a time when you’d go to parties and hang out with people like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. We didn’t have camera phones or social media; we didn’t have to worry about TMZ.
My April 2000 Playmate pictorial was shot at a winery near where I grew up. I was in my element, stomping grapes. My family was even in one of the photos featured in the magazine; we still laugh about it. I got cast on Baywatch Hawaii shortly after I shot that pictorial. I moved to Hawaii to do the show and got to hang out on the beach and swim in the ocean all day.
I was Hef’s girlfriend for two years, starting in 1998, which I’ve never really talked about. He had a huge impact on my life. He taught me so much about the entertainment business and how to handle success. People assume he’s a party guy; what they don’t know is he was very loyal. When he was with me, he was with me. It was a time when you’d go to parties and hang out with people like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. We didn’t have camera phones or social media; we didn’t have to worry about TMZ.
My April 2000 Playmate pictorial was shot at a winery near where I grew up. I was in my element, stomping grapes. My family was even in one of the photos featured in the magazine; we still laugh about it. I got cast on Baywatch Hawaii shortly after I shot that pictorial. I moved to Hawaii to do the show and got to hang out on the beach and swim in the ocean all day.
When I lived at the Mansion I was like the mother hen, a mama bear; other Playmates would always come to me for advice.
Then I got the call from Marilyn Grabowski, Playboy’s photo editor, asking if I’d like to be 2001 Playmate of the Year. I said yes and hung up, screaming and jumping up and down in excitement with my girlfriend Stacy Kamano. The shoot was in St. Barts. I remember lying on a hammock on top of a cliff outside the house, looking at the water and feeling so thankful. I still felt shy, though, taking nude pictures in front of guys standing there with lighting equipment. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve always been on the conservative side. Being an actress helped me pose naked—I just put myself in the role, that beautiful sexy person, and played it.
When I auditioned for the movie Starsky & Hutch, Ben Stiller and the director, Todd Phillips, were in the room. They said, “Weren’t you on The Surreal Life?” I said yes, and they were like, “Oh my God, we love that show. We love Emmanuel Lewis!” So I thought, Hmmm. I went and got an autographed Emmanuel Lewis eight-by-10 head shot—“To my man Todd, hire my girl Brande”—and sent that to him. I got the part. Always go the extra mile to get what you want.
When I lived at the Mansion I was like the mother hen, a mama bear; other Playmates would always come to me for advice. After I did my first Celebrity Apprentice, I thought, Now’s the time to write a memoir. It became a 2010 self-help book based on my life experiences, called Bounce, Don’t Break. Jenny McCarthy reviewed it, and Donald Trump contributed something to it; so did Hef.
When I auditioned for the movie Starsky & Hutch, Ben Stiller and the director, Todd Phillips, were in the room. They said, “Weren’t you on The Surreal Life?” I said yes, and they were like, “Oh my God, we love that show. We love Emmanuel Lewis!” So I thought, Hmmm. I went and got an autographed Emmanuel Lewis eight-by-10 head shot—“To my man Todd, hire my girl Brande”—and sent that to him. I got the part. Always go the extra mile to get what you want.
When I lived at the Mansion I was like the mother hen, a mama bear; other Playmates would always come to me for advice. After I did my first Celebrity Apprentice, I thought, Now’s the time to write a memoir. It became a 2010 self-help book based on my life experiences, called Bounce, Don’t Break. Jenny McCarthy reviewed it, and Donald Trump contributed something to it; so did Hef.
Right around the 2016 election the media printed blatant lies, saying Donald had been constantly proposing to me on the set of Celebrity Apprentice. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Of course he flirts—he flirts with everyone—but he was nothing but respectful to me. He never acted the way the media tried to portray. I went to the inauguration, and it was an amazing experience. The energy there was just unbelievable.
Around that time I started to move away from entertainment. Part of it was because I had missed my youngest son’s first day of kindergarten because I was in Louisiana, shooting a movie. And that broke my heart. Being a mother is the best thing I’ve ever done, and I never wanted to miss anything again. I went back into real estate—I’d graduated from high school a year early and gotten my real estate license when I was 18. My website is YourCelebrityRealtor.com. I spent 20 years working to build up my name, so I’m going to use it! But I still need a creative outlet. To promote my listings, I make videos—I write out the shot list, I plan the script, I direct. So I still get to scratch that artistic itch. From time to time I’ll still do a TV show, like Battle of the Network Stars, or the occasional movie cameo.
Now I live in Temecula. I always wanted to have a vineyard and raise my kids with an upbringing similar to the one I had. I have five acres. It’s a wonderful way of life. We’re growing, and will eventually sell, the grapes. I plan to do my own rosé. I’m calling it Tara, first of all because my house kind of looks like the house in Gone With the Wind, but also because of what I’ve lived through. Going through divorce, rebuilding, starting from scratch and having strength—it’s like the sentiment from the movie: “I’ll never be hungry again.” Calling it Tara Vineyards symbolizes that comeback feeling for me. It’s not easy being a single mom and working full time, but I’ve always been very driven and motivated. I just get out there and do it.
Around that time I started to move away from entertainment. Part of it was because I had missed my youngest son’s first day of kindergarten because I was in Louisiana, shooting a movie. And that broke my heart. Being a mother is the best thing I’ve ever done, and I never wanted to miss anything again. I went back into real estate—I’d graduated from high school a year early and gotten my real estate license when I was 18. My website is YourCelebrityRealtor.com. I spent 20 years working to build up my name, so I’m going to use it! But I still need a creative outlet. To promote my listings, I make videos—I write out the shot list, I plan the script, I direct. So I still get to scratch that artistic itch. From time to time I’ll still do a TV show, like Battle of the Network Stars, or the occasional movie cameo.
Now I live in Temecula. I always wanted to have a vineyard and raise my kids with an upbringing similar to the one I had. I have five acres. It’s a wonderful way of life. We’re growing, and will eventually sell, the grapes. I plan to do my own rosé. I’m calling it Tara, first of all because my house kind of looks like the house in Gone With the Wind, but also because of what I’ve lived through. Going through divorce, rebuilding, starting from scratch and having strength—it’s like the sentiment from the movie: “I’ll never be hungry again.” Calling it Tara Vineyards symbolizes that comeback feeling for me. It’s not easy being a single mom and working full time, but I’ve always been very driven and motivated. I just get out there and do it.
From the Spring 2019 Playboy. See more of Brande in our NSFW gallery.
