Stephanie Adams

Stephanie Adams (July 24, 1970 – May 18, 2018) was an American model and author. She was the November 1992 Playboy Playmate.

On May 18, 2018, Adams killed her seven-year-old son and herself. According to the New York City Police Department, Adams pushed her son out of a 25th-story window, before jumping herself.

Adams was born in Orange, New Jersey, and was raised by her aunts Joyce and Pearl, former models who encouraged her to begin modeling at the age of 16. She was of African American, Caucasian, and Cherokee ancestry, and claimed to be a direct descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

Adams graduated from Ophelia DeVore School of Charm and began a career as a model, appearing in photo shoots for Seventeen magazine, Venus Swimwear, and commercial advertisements for Clairol. She appeared as "Miss November 1992" in Playboy magazine while modeling for Wilhelmina Models. She later moved to Elite Model Management after becoming engaged to its CEO, John Casablancas.

Adams earned a bachelor's degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1992. She made a cameo appearance for the "Top 10" list on the Late Show with David Letterman on November 20, 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Playboy magazine. She appeared on the cover of The Village Voice in 2005.

In 1999, Adams founded Goddessy, according to her a portmanteau of "goddess" and "odyssey". She published her first book in 2003 and started her own publishing company in 2007. Following the death of her aunt from breast cancer in 2003, she dedicated more of her time to writing. That same year, she published a book dedicated to her deceased aunt titled He Only Takes The Best, followed by another book written in honor of her elderly Aunt Pearl titled Guardian. Adams produced about two dozen metaphysical books, astrology calendars and a tarot card set marketed under the Goddessy brand. She also published a novel titled Empress in 2004 featuring women in ancient Rome.

Adams was founder and CEO of the skin care product company Goddessy Organics. With her husband, she was co-owner of Wall Street Chiropractic and Wellness.

Early in her career, Adams was married to an Italian investment banker, but later divorced. In a February 2003 She magazine cover story, Adams came out as a lesbian, the first Playmate to have done so. In their 2004 "Best of" feature, The Village Voice declared her the "Best lesbian sex symbol", saying it was "hard to turn a page in a queer rag without seeing the willowy model peeking out in a bikini, or nothing at all". However, in 2009 Adams announced that she was engaged to marry a man, and about the same time, described herself in an interview as straight. After her marriage in 2010 to Charles V. Nicholai, a Manhattan chiropractor, Adams said she was retiring from public life and would spend most of her time privately with her husband and son.

In May 2006, during a dispute over where to drop her off, a New York City taxi driver called the police and falsely reported that Adams was armed with a gun and had threatened to shoot him. The taxi driver's license was subsequently revoked and he was fined $2,700 for the incident. Adams alleged that during the incident police threw her to the ground, causing injuries to her neck and back. Adams filed a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department in 2006. In February 2012, a jury awarded her $1.2 million, $400,000 more than had been sought by her lawyer, but the judge later reduced it to $373,000. Adams stated that she had "no animosity toward the NYPD".

On the evening of May 17, 2018, Adams with her seven-year-old son Vincent, checked into a 25th-floor penthouse in the Gotham Hotel on 46th Street in Manhattan. The next morning, both were found dead on a second-floor balcony in the hotel's rear courtyard. According to law enforcement officials, Adams and her husband were involved in a custody battle, and hours before checking into the hotel, Adams told the New York Post that her husband and his lawyer were preventing her from taking her son on vacation. The New York City Medical Examiner ruled the death of Stephanie as a suicide and the son as a homicide.