Joanne Kandy Latham (born 21 March 1961) is an English former

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though ...

. Latham was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

. After studying classical ballet for nine years she took a scholarship to the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

. A dancing competition led to her modelling for retailer Miss Selfridge. This led on to other modelling and television commercials, including appearing on Page 3 of '' The Sun'' and in the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

''. In 1978, ATV made a documentary about her called "A Model's Dream" in the series ''England, Their England''. After a shoot with leading glamour photographer

Patrick Lichfield Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005) was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice ...

, he included her photo on the inside front cover of his book ''The Most Beautiful Women'', a collection of his photographs. In 1979, men's magazines ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' and ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' competed to publish the first nude pictures of her. Latham signed a contract with

Bob Guccione Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( ; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine '' Penthouse'' in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's ''Playboy' ...

and Penthouse, which promised a fee of £70,000 for her to appear in the September 1979 issue, which was also the 10th Anniversary of the US edition. Latham was selected as Pet Of The Month and featured on nineteen pages of the magazine, including the cover. That edition made U.S. history, selling more in dollar percentage than any other magazine to date and making a profit of $18 million. She also appeared with other Penthouse Pets in the televised broadcast pageant for the selection of the 1979 Pet Of The Year, in which she participated in the opening segment with singer Frankie Valli and a fashion show. After a brief affair with Guccione, Latham's contract was terminated with ''Penthouse'' when she fell in love with Guccione's son. She moved from New York to Los Angeles and briefly became the girlfriend of

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

, living in the Playboy Mansion. In the early 1980s, Latham returned to England to her Midland home in the village of

Tettenhall Tettenhall is an historic village within the City of Wolverhampton, England. Tettenhall became part of Wolverhampton in 1966, along with Bilston, Wednesfield and parts of Willenhall, Coseley and Sedgley. History Tettenhall's name derives fr ...

. Latham was featured on the cover of ''

Death Penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

'', the debut album by the heavy metal band

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament, a ...

, which was released in 1982. She also featured on the cover of ''

Friends of Hell ''Friends of Hell'' is the second studio album by the British doom metal band Witchfinder General. It was released in 1983 on Heavy Metal Records. Drummer Graham Ditchfield was dismissed at the end of the recording sessions and is not listed as ...

'', their second album released in 1983. In 1982, Latham was involved in a serious car accident, after which she gave up modelling and opened the first 'workout' keep-fit studio in the UK. Her daughter, Elizablue Nairi, was born in southern Spain in June 1985. In later years, she studied drama at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, working under a director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and went on to play the lead role in a government-funded film for the arts. In 1999, Latham became a teacher of yoga training at the Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Centre in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

. Since then, she has continued working in the healing arts. Despite several offers, she has refused to write her autobiography. She has set up her own charity with her daughter 'Blue', who is also a teacher of yoga.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latham, Joanne Penthouse Pets Page 3 girls English female adult models People from Wolverhampton Living people 1960 births People educated at the Royal Ballet School