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Carré Otis (born September 28, 1968) is an American model and actress best known for her role as Emily Reed in Wild Orchid.

Biography

Carre Otis was born and raised in San Francisco, California along with her older sister Chrissie and her younger brother Jordan. Both of her parents were alcoholics and when she was ten, Carre began drinking herself.¹ Carre attended Marin Academy in San Rafael, California and the John Woolman School in Nevada City, California.²

Early modeling career

Carre began modeling at age 16 and was a top model from 1988-1992. At 18, she was already a heroin addict.³ She appeared on the covers and in a number of layouts in major fashion magazines.

Carre appeared in ads for Guess jeans (1988), Calvin Klein jeans ("biker chick" look, 1991), appeared in the 1996 Pirelli calendar, and also posed for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition (2000). Otis was also featured in 1990 and 2000 issues of Playboy magazine.

Acting career and marriage

She was briefly a cause célèbre following the release of the movie Wild Orchid (1990), due to rumors that she and co-star Mickey Rourke filmed an unsimulated sex scene. She married Rourke in 1992. They had a volatile marriage. Carre was a long-time heroin addict and Mickey helped her get off heroin for a while. Rourke was arrested for spousal abuse in 1994 and was banned from her fashion shows. The charges were later dropped. Carre said she tried to commit suicide three times prior to 1994 and was mixing everything-alcohol, downers, uppers, anti-depressants, heroin, and diet pills. They divorced in 1998. Otis said in 2001: "(we) had equally explosive personalities (and she had) her own depression. We were both drama addicts."⁴

Otis remarried in December 2005 to an environmental scientist. They have a daughter, Jade, born on November 11, 2006.

After Wild Orchid, her film career never took off, and her modelling career also stagnated as Otis struggled with her long-time anorexia,⁵ and attendant health issues, including heart seizures.

Plus sized modeling career

Her subsequent weight gain allowed her a new direction as a plus-size model, most notably as the face for iconic Marina Rinaldi clothing (of MaxMara Group) and in commentary and editorials for Mode Magazine; since then Otis has regained popularity as a spokesperson for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week in 2003. She also appeared periodically as a correspondent on Channel 4 News in San Francisco.²

In 2005, she represented the Breil jewellery line.⁶

References

External links

• Carré Otis at the Internet Movie Database