When Rebekka Armstrong was 18 she graced the pages of Playboy as a playmate. Her world was full of beautiful people, constant attention and sex. During her playmate years, Rebekka contracted HIV from unprotected sex while she was still in high school. Her bright, sexy future crumbled. “When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1989, I got very sick, very quickly,” Rebekka said. At one point, she was only 80 pounds.
In a desperate attempt to become healthy, she began to learn about fitness and nutrition in 2000. She started eating, something she had not done during her modeling days which were full of starvation and binging/purging, and working out. In 2002, Rebekka won the Muscle Beach Bodybuilding competition. “I started doing this to stay alive, but then I thought, ‘Hey, I want to show it off,’ ” she said.
Now Rebekka uses her past and her present to develop her own HIV/AIDS awareness programs. She is a beautiful example of strength, power and progress.