Rebekka Armstrong

Rebekka Armstrong
Born
Rebekka Lynn Armstrong

(1967-02-20) February 20, 1967 (age 57)
Ridgecrest, California, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)model, bodybuilder
Playboy centerfold appearance
September 1986
Preceded byAva Fabian
Succeeded byKatherine Hushaw

Rebekka Lynn Armstrong 1967-2019 was an American HIV/AIDS activist and former model and bodybuilder. She was Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1986. Eight years later, she was the first Playmate to publicly announce that she is HIV-positive.

Biography

Armstrong announced that she is HIV-positive in the September 1994 issue of The Advocate.[2] She said that she had known she was infected since 1989,[3] but spent two years after her diagnosis escaping into substance abuse. By the time of the publication of The Advocate article, she had come out as a lesbian and decided to educate others about HIV/AIDS, especially among lesbian and bisexual women. She said she was unsure of when she had contracted the virus, but might have as early as age 16.[4] Armstrong believes she may have contracted the HIV either through a blood transfusion after she was rushed into surgery following complications from an abortion, or it may have been from a heterosexual encounter with a man who later informed her he was HIV-positive due to his bisexual encounters. By the time she was interviewed in 1999 for AIDS Project Los Angeles she identified as bisexual and said she had been infected at 16 "to the best of my knowledge."[5] A University of Toledo events notice in 2004 said that Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Foundation assisted Armstrong financially on her AIDS-awareness campaign, the College Campus Safer Sex education program.[6]

In a 2013 speech to community college students in Spokane, Washington, Armstrong shared details about the early days of her illness, the aggressive AZT treatment that she endured, the good and bad times of that five-year period, and about her suicide attempt followed by a coma and a lengthy hospital stay.[7]

In addition to her former career as a model and her current activism, Armstrong has also competed as a bodybuilder.[8]

Bodybuilding contest history

  • 2004 Muscle Beach (Venice Beach, CA) – 1st (LW & overall)
  • 2004 NPC Los Angeles Championship – 1st (MW)
  • 2005 NPC Pittsburgh – 1st (MW & overall)
  • 2005 NPC Nationals – 12th (HW)[9]
  • 2009 NPC Los Angeles Championships - 1st (HW and overall)
  • 2009 NPC USA Championships - 7th (LHW)[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Rebekka Armstrong". Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  2. ^ Curtis, Polly (October 16, 2001). "A model example". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  3. ^ Howlett, Susan (December 29, 1994). "POSITIVE THINKING : In a Division of the Morgan Agency in Costa Mesa, Healthy-Looking Models Put Another Face on HIV and AIDS". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  4. ^ Kort, Michele (September 6, 1994). "Portrait of a Centerfold". The Advocate (663). Sam Watters: 41–48. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  5. ^ Forrest, Susan (November 1999). "A Bunny's Life". thebody.com. Remedy Health Media. Archived from the original on March 28, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2005.
  6. ^ Strunk, Jon (November 29, 2004). "HIV-Infected Playboy Playmate to Speak With UT Students About Safe Sex" (Event calendar). University of Toledo. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  7. ^ Rogers, Adrian (October 29, 2013). "Former model, Playboy playmate raises HIV awareness". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  8. ^ "Rebekka Armstrong featured in Leadership Workshop Series Sept. 23". The University of Louisiana at Monroe. September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  9. ^ Braun, Lori (November 18, 2010). "Rebekka Armstrong Gallery". femalemuscle.com. FemaleMuscle. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2014.