Susan Smith is unlike many blonde-haired Playmates that walk through the Mansion’s doors. She was born and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin on a dairy farm where she often thought about leaving the cold for Sin City. “Las Vegas is the world’s most convenient city. It’s open 24 hours a day. You can shop for groceries at 3am,” explains Susan. “When I first discovered Southwest sunshine and dry heat, I decided this was for me.” The beautiful blonde moved to Las Vegas with her firefighter brother and decided to help pay for her half of the rent, she would be a saleswoman for the diesel-trucking industry, model and gamble. Upon seeing just how much work there was for a model like her—she’s tall, all-natural and has a busty figure that many in Las Vegas had to pay for—she decided the diesel trucks would have to sell themselves because she was made to be a fulltime model. “If I had a choice, I’d have this story concern the city-country split in my life. I go to Los Angeles to model. I’ve been to the clubs where everyone watches everyone be bored,” explains our Miss September 1981. “When I come back to Las Vegas, I just head for the hills to clean it out.” Juggling a lucrative modeling career, being our Playmate of the Month and traveling frequently between two party cities, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, can take its toll on the mind and body, but Susan credits karate for keeping her sane. She may be a karate-chopping Playmate with a black belt, but she insists the martial arts we see in the movies is nothing like what’s practiced in the dojo. “A lot of people get their notion of karate from the Bruce Lee movies, the Chuck Norris films. A lot of that stuff is flashy, trick photography,” explains our feisty Miss September 1981. “When you go up for your black belt, there are no more camera angles. You recite the poem of perseverance. You fight your way out of a corner. You don’t ever walk away thinking you’ve passed. It’s not simple cheap thrills, action. It is a discipline.” Susan Smith is a Playmate no one should ever double cross.

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