“Nothing’s ever what you think it’s going to be. Nothing. Not one single thing in my whole life has ever been what I thought it was going to be.”
That’s how Kelly Tough describes her life’s journey, which has taken her from a troubled childhood, to the Playboy mansion, to the dark corners of the drug world, to a burgeoning career as an artist.
When she was young, the Coquitlam, B.C., native resorted to running away — couch surfing and even sleeping outside at times. While working at a pub, she was approached by Ken Honey, a scout for Playboy who helped get B.C. women into the pages of Hugh Hefner’s magazine. She received words of encouragement from Dorothy Stratten, the B.C.-born Playboy Playmate who was later murdered by her husband.
Tough was named Playmate of the Month in October 1981 and went to work for Hefner in Los Angeles.
“So if it wasn’t for him … I think I would have gone down a really dark road and probably wouldn’t have made it into my 20s,” she said of Hefner.
At the Playboy Mansion, she met celebrities like Robin Williams, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steven Martin, Kris Kristofferson and James Caan.
“First time I met him, he was ripping a phonebook in half,” she said of Caan.
She eventually returned home and drugs and drug dealers became dominant in her life. She said at one point in the 90s, a man pointed a gun pointed at her head, execution-style, but didn’t pull the trigger.
“The feeling I had was like, ‘I’m good,'” she recalled. “‘My sons know that I love them. This is going to be fast.’ And he changed his mind.”
Tough eventually beat her drug habit and discovered a passion for art.
“It’s like an obsession,” she said. “It just takes me away to a place that I really like to be.”
Her commissions have increased by the month. In addition to her art, she has also co-authored a book that has yet to be published.
“When I look back on my life, I smile. I just think I’m a really lucky girl,” she said.
“I’ve seen a lot of good things, a lot of bad things and I got through it and I found myself. I’m just really happy that’s the way my life’s turned out.”