Jayne Kennedy credits Oprah Winfrey with helping spark the push to tell her life story in her new memoir, Plain Jayne.
Kennedy, who broke barriers as the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Ohio in 1970 and later became a familiar face on CBS’s NFL Today, told CNN that Winfrey urged her in 2010 to share her journey. “She inspired me to go forward, and I’m glad she did because it allowed me to actually delve into who I am—my authentic core. It wasn’t just about career or family, but about all of it,” Kennedy said.
The book doesn’t shy away from a painful chapter in her life: a leaked sex tape that surfaced after her 1991 divorce from actor Leon Isaac Kennedy. Kennedy recalls losing friends and professional opportunities in the wake of the scandal, years before the era of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian’s own tabloids-era controversies. She confronts that period head-on in Plain Jayne, making clear that revisiting the event was emotionally grueling.
“It was extremely difficult, and I wanted that to be the last thing I wrote,” Kennedy said. “I wrote the whole book originally before I settled in on writing that. I wasn’t sure in my heart what I wanted to say, but I knew what happened and I knew how I wanted to say it. I had to take a huge gulp.”
Kennedy emphasizes that truth-telling was essential not just for the public’s trust but for her own sense of integrity. “If I didn’t tell that part of my truth, then people may doubt the rest of my truth,” she explained. “The whole purpose of writing the book was to tell my truth.”
Born Jayne Harrison in Washington, D.C., in 1951 and raised in Ohio, Kennedy spent decades shaping a career that would inspire many. She has four daughters—Cheyenne, Savannah, Kopper and Zaire—and is now a grandmother. In recent years, she and her husband, actor Bill Overton, have emphasized mentorship and family, a theme that remains central as she returns to the public eye with Plain Jayne.
Kennedy says her goal is simple: to help other women by sharing a story of strength, empowerment and resilience. “It’s not just about healing myself; we have women today who are suffering, and if I can help, even in a small way, I want to,” she said.
Plain Jayne hits the bookstands this week. A candid meditation on fame, motherhood, and living authentically, the memoir offers a portrait of a trailblazer who kept pushing forward, even when the going got tough. Summary: a memoir that blends achievement with personal reckoning, underscoring the power of telling one’s truth to inspire others.