Jenny McCarthy was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, as the second oldest daughter of Linda (Loheit),a courtroom custodian, and Daniel McCarthy, a steel mill foreman, to a family with Irish, Croatian, German, and Polish ancestry. She attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School before pursuing higher education at Southern Illinois University, where she studied nursing and psychology. However, due to financial constraints, she had to discontinue her studies.
To support herself, McCarthy began modeling and landed a chance to appear in Playboy magazine, becoming Miss October 1993 and eventually the 1994 Playmate of the Year. After relocating to Los Angeles, California, she started landing television hosting roles and acting parts in various projects, including BASEketball (1998),Scream 3 (2000),Scary Movie 3 (2003),The Drew Carey Show (1995),and her own sitcom, Jenny (1997). She also continued her modeling career.
McCarthy has one son, Evan Joseph, from her marriage to John Asher, who was diagnosed with autism in 2005. She is also an author, writing successful books on pregnancy, motherhood, and other topics.
After serving as a co-host on The View for one year, McCarthy currently hosts her own daily talk radio show, "Dirty, Sexy, Funny," on Sirius XM, and tours the country with her entourage of female comediennes, also known as "Dirty, Sexy, Funny." A 1-hour special featuring her comediennes and comedy vignettes is available on Netflix by searching for "Jenny McCarthy's Dirty Sexy Funny" (2014).
