Jessica White (born June 21, 1984) is an American fashion model, actress and television personality. She is best known for being a

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

runway model,

Maybelline Maybelline New York (formerly The Maybelline Company and Mabelline and Co.), trading as Maybelline ( ), is an American multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company, based in New York City. It was founded in Chicago ...

spokesperson and working for

CoverGirl CoverGirl is an American cosmetics brand founded in Maryland, United States, by the Noxzema Chemical Company. It was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1989 and later acquired by Coty, Inc. in 2016. The Noxell Company advertised this cosmetics li ...

, as well as her appearances in the ''

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue The ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine ''Sports Illustrated'' and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted cov ...

s.'' Outside of modeling, she has appeared on several television series, such as ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'', ''

Famously Single ''Famously Single'' is an American reality television series that premiered on June 14, 2016, on the E! network. The series follows eight single celebrities who all move in together and try to solve their romantic problems. Production The sh ...

Zoe Ever After ''Zoe Ever After'' is an American sitcom starring Brandy Norwood as Zoe Moon, a recent divorcee who starts her own cosmetics company. The show was Norwood's first leading role in a television series since '' Moesha'' (1996–2001) premiered twenty ...

'' and ''

Hip Hop Squares ''Hip Hop Squares'' is an American television game show originally hosted by Peter Rosenberg, which debuted on MTV2 on May 22, 2012. The show is a licensed format of CBS Television Distribution's ''Hollywood Squares'' (King World Productions, CBS ...

.''

Early life

White was born on June 21, 1984 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. Her father was a pastor and she sang in a church-driven girl group as a child. She attended Kensington High School.

Career

At the age of 12, White was scouted in her hometown of Buffalo, New York, and had gone to Personal Best modeling school at age sixteen. After modeling for one week, her first job was an editorial for ''Vogue'' after meeting

Anna Wintour Dame Anna Wintour (; born 3 November 1949) is a British journalist based in New York City who has served as editor-in-Chief of ''Vogue'' since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the artistic directo ...

. In Paris, she signed a contract with international modeling agency

IMG Models IMG Models is an international modeling agency headquartered in New York City and with additional offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Sydney. It is a subsidiary of the talent management company International Management Group. The comp ...

. She has modeled for several magazines, including ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

, W,

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', targeted at teenagers. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since ...

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

'' and ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

''. She has walked the runway for

Philipp Plein Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: "Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews. Surname * Adolf Philipp (1864 ...

, Alice Roi,

Baby Phat Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons is a privately held American apparel brand established in 1999 by fashion model, creative director, and entrepreneur, Kimora Lee Simmons. Initially launched as a womenswear offshoot of the menswear label, Phat F ...

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

Tracy Reese Tracy Reese (born February 12, 1964) is an American fashion designer who specializes in women's ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, and home fashions such as linens. She is a board member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, having b ...

Zang Toi Zang Toi (born 11 June 1961) is a Malaysian designer of Chinese descent, based in New York City. Early life He was born to an ethnic Hainanese family in the Kuala Krai district in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia on 11 June 1961. Toi left Malay ...

Sonia Rykiel Sonia Rykiel (; ; 25 May 1930 – 25 August 2016) was a French fashion designer and writer. She created the Poor Boy Sweater, which was featured on the cover of French ''Elle'' magazine. Her knitwear designs and new fashion techniques led her t ...

Alberta Ferretti Alberta Ferretti (; ) is an Italian fashion designer and dressmaker. She designs for her namesake brand Alberta Ferretti, and designed for Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti until 2014. Her showroom is in Milan, Italy but her studio is in her nati ...

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren, ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his co ...

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

and

DKNY DKNY is a New York City–based fashion house for men and women, founded in 1984 by Donna Karan. History Karan worked for 15 years at Anne Klein, including 10 as its head designer. In 1984 Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss were offered t ...

. She has appeared in advertisements for

Chloé Chloé () is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion. During the next year of 1953 Aghion joined forces with Jacques Lenoir, formally managing the business side of the brand, allowing Aghion to purely pursue the creativ ...

, Gap,

RocaWear Rocawear (Stylized Roc-A-Wear) is an American Clothing Brand founded in 1999 by Roc-A-Fella Records Co-Founders Damon Dash and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. The brand has had annual sales of $700 million. Rocawear expanded through licensing to sell affo ...

and Tommy Jeans. She has also modeled for

Joanne Gair Joanne Gair (born c. 1958), nicknamed Kiwi Jo (alternatively Kiwi Joe), is a New Zealand-born and -raised make-up artist and body painter whose body paintings have been featured in the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' from 1999 to 2017. S ...

body painting Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "h ...

works in these editions. She has appeared in music videos for

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a solo ...

Comin' To Your City ''Comin' to Your City'' is the second studio album by American country music duo Big & Rich, released in 2005. It features the hit singles " Comin' to Your City", "Never Mind Me", and " 8th of November", which peaked at number 21, number 34, and ...

"),

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

Change Clothes "Change Clothes" is the first official single from rapper Jay-Z's studio album '' The Black Album''. It featured additional vocals by Pharrell Williams (uncredited) and was produced by The Neptunes. The song reached No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...

"),

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...

The Sweetest Love "The Sweetest Love" is a song by American R&B singer Robin Thicke. The R&B ballad is the follow-up single to the moderately successful "Magic" and is the second official single from '' Something Else''. The song was released to radio on Septembe ...

"), and

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

Neighbors Know My Name "Neighbors Know My Name" is a song by American R&B singer Trey Songz. It was written by Songz with Patrick Hayes and Troy Taylor, who produced the song with John "$K" McGee. It was released to rhythmic and urban airplay as the fifth and final si ...

"). White had a small role as Bra Model in the crime comedy film ''

Big Momma's House 2 ''Big Momma's House 2'' is a 2006 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2000's ''Big Momma's House'' and the second installment of the ''Big Momma'' film series. The film was directed by John Whitesell and starring Martin Lawrence reprising h ...

'' (2006). In 2008, she appeared as herself in two episodes of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's soap opera ''

''. On October 14, 2009, White appeared as a guest judge on ''

''. She appeared on E!'s reality television series ''

'', which premiered on June 14, 2016. The series follows eight single celebrities who all move in together and try to solve their romantic relationships. She landed the role of Tammi in the romantic comedy film '' The Perfect Match'' (2016). The film grossed over $10 million worldwide. White wrote and produced her debut single, "Bipolar Love", released under her stage name "Jypsy" on June 21, 2016.

Philanthropy

White has created a women's philanthropic organization, Angel Wings Foundation.

Personal life

White has given interviews about her

cocaine addiction Cocaine dependence is a neurological disorder that is characterized by withdrawal symptoms upon cessation from cocaine use. It also often coincides with cocaine addiction which is a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of coc ...

and her

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. She used cocaine to cope with the problems her mother had. She overdosed on cocaine at 20 after her battle with depression. She is now off cocaine and considers her mother to be her best friend. As a child she witnessed violence and was molested by a family member. She looks to modeling as her savior saying " t allowed meto leave and travel to Paris and New York when I could finally relax and be out of the abusive environment." In October 2010, White was arrested for assaulting a woman in New York City.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Collection: Jessica White
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jessica 1984 births Living people African-American actresses Female models from New York (state) African-American female models African-American models People with bipolar disorder Actresses from Buffalo, New York 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women