If the unsinkable Jenny McCarthy isn't the hardest working former Playmate of the Year, she certainly has the most eclectic resume.

With Monday's news that McCarthy has signed a multiyear deal with Oprah Winfrey's production company, it would seem that she's just getting started.



McCarthy, a frequent guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," also has become a familiar face on its "Fridays Live" panel, where no topic is off limits. Of longtime boyfriend Jim Carrey, she said recently on the show, "The sex is still awesome."

The deal with Harpo is to develop various unnamed projects, including a syndicated talk show she would host. (Some of Winfrey's earlier proteges include Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray.)

McCarthy already is writing a blog at oprah.com called "Give It Up for Summer" -- "it" being sugar -- because, she writes, "I would always complain to my friends that I wish there were AA meetings for chocoholics."

McCarthy, 36, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, showed off her Mother McAuley High sweater in the pages of Playboy magazine in 1993. After an attention-getting stint hosting MTV's "Singled Out," she landed a short-lived sitcom called "Jenny" that co-starred another Chicagoan: Rafer Weigel, the son of sportscasting legend Tim.

McCarthy wrote a series of books about pregnancy and motherhood that were always funny, brutally frank and occasionally gross. In 2007, the tone shifted abruptly with her book Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism. In the book, she revealed that motherhood wasn't all laughs, and that her son Evan's autism took a toll on her marriage. (She is divorced from director John Asher.)

What would be some likely topics for her talk show?

• • Realistic beauty. She admits to small doses of Botox and has been a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers; she credits the system with helping to whittle down her weight after she topped 200 pounds during her pregnancy.

• • Marriage. McCarthy says she has no plans to marry Carrey. "We were very honest right from the start and said we don't need that piece of paper to prove our love," she said. "I'm so madly in love with him. To know that I'm with him because I want to be is the best secret."

• • Autism. The advocate believes that Evan has "recovered" from autism, with help from a drastically changed diet and alternative health techniques. McCarthy wants to raise autism awareness and urges caution in vaccinating children.

I have a new found respect for Jenny. She is not the bimbo persona she started out to be.

• • Marriage. McCarthy says she has no plans to marry Carrey. "We were very honest right from the start and said we don't need that piece of paper to prove our love," she said. "I'm so madly in love with him. To know that I'm with him because I want to be is the best secret."


I really do adore this couple.

I love her

I've always been a fan of Jenny's and I especially loved her sketch show on Mtv back in the day. I love beautiful women with senses of humor.