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Kelly was Playmate of the Month for October 1981. Her pictorial was titledToughing It.
Kelly was born Kelly Ann Tough on Oct. 16, 1961, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. According to “The Playmate Book: Five Decades of Centerfolds,” Kelly was urged to pose for Playboy by high school friend Dorothy Stratten. She had been approached by Playboy scout Ken Honey while working at a pub.
In a 2021 interview with Canadian broadcaster Global News, Kelly said she had a troubled childhood, running away at times and even sleeping outside. “If it wasn’t for (Hugh Hefner), I think I would have gone down a really dark road and probably wouldn’t have made it into my 20s,” she said.
At Playboy Mansion West,Sondra Theodorebecame her best friend and she met celebrities like Robin Williams, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steven Martin, Kris Kristofferson and James Caan.
Kelly was a member of the Singing Playmates musical group, which had been formed by Sondra. Though, according to a story on playboy.com, she didn’t make the group on her first audition – or her second, when John Belushi escorted her to the Playboy Club in a limo. Kelly says she finally made the group after giving Sondra and Hugh Hefner a tape of herself performing a song she’d written about an ex-boyfriend.
Following her Playmate of the Month pictorial, Kelly was among the Playmates featured in the pictorialThe First Playmate Play-Offsin March 1983 and was featured on the cover of the same issue. She also appears in several Playboy videos.
Following her stint with Playboy, Kelly returned home. She told Global News that drugs and drug dealers became a big part of her life. She eventually beat her drug habit.
Kelly had two children. She was most recently living in British Columbia, where she was a self-taught artist.
