Deborah Borkman

Coming from a Swedish-Japanese household with a strong mother and an absentee father, Deborah Borkman’s childhood was far from conventional in Painesville, OH. “My mother is one of the greatest women I know,” praises our Playmate of the Month. “She raised six children (two boys and four girls) unassisted for 16 busy years.” Deborah is the fourth child in her family, but she was the first to be born in the United States. When the boys of Painesville saw just how beautiful the exotic Borkman women were, Mom had her hands full vetting the neighborhood Romeos. “She has always tried to help everyone, and she's the kind of person with whom you can't be anything, but yourself,” says the busty, part-Asian beauty. “The Eurasian combination certainly gives you a different look.” A different look that every Painesville boy found irresistible and fought for the chance to land a date, but she says those men need to be prepared to have their hands full. “I have a fiery temper, but I can also be affectionate and sensuous,” admits our all-natural Miss July 1976. “Sex, to me, is a private matter; but if you relate to someone on a mental level, then the physical part just follows naturally. I am a natural woman who enjoys all the natural things in life—including my own fantasies.” Fantasies coming true for Debbie isn’t a common occurrence. The all-natural blonde has always found herself trying to defeat the odds and forge her own path in life starting off her with her decision to drop out of high school during her freshman year. “It was so violent they had armed guards in the corridors,” recalls our Playmate. “There was nothing for me in Painesville. All I thought about was getting away.” Working as a taxi dispatcher in Ohio followed by lifeguarding in Florida, Debbie had decided she would travel to Japan with her mother to visit her relatives, but would stay behind to work as a model. “My sisters accepted he traditional Japanese values—they all married and stayed home. But, my mother understood that I had to get away. Besides, she knew I could take care of myself,” says our Playmate of the Month. “I'd study the Japanese language, explore the world and fantasize more. I'd like to be a highly paid fashion model—and maybe do some films.” Life in Japan didn’t quite work out the way she had hoped it would so she flew to Los Angeles where almost immediately she found work as a model and—more importantly—became our Miss July 1976. “It’s sad that people would pick up a magazine just to look between someone’s legs, when there’s so much more to appreciate about nudity. I can admire the beauty of a healthy body, even when it’s a woman’s. And I don’t feel there’s anything dirty about posing for Playboy,” states our PMOM who recently traveled back to Ohio to visit her family and friends. “I saw all my old friends who had tried to discourage me from quitting school. I'd expected some of them to amount to something, but they were all just working and drinking, and they were all unhappy. I could remember feeling the same way—but at a much younger age.” The moral of this story is never try to hold Deborah Borkman back because she is destined for greatness beyond measure.