43 Facts About Jennifer O'Neill

Jennifer O'Neill was born on February 20,1948 and is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress.

Jennifer O'Neill made her feature-film debut in the comedy film For Love of Ivy, followed by a lead role in Howard Hawks's Western film Rio Lobo.

Jennifer O'Neill later starred in David Cronenberg's cult horror film Scanners, and in the short-lived television series Cover Up.

In 1988, Jennifer O'Neill became a born-again Christian, and inspired by her feelings of regret over having an abortion at age 22, became active in the anti-abortion movement.

Jennifer O'Neill has since authored several books, including a memoir, Surviving Myself, in which she detailed her career, marriages, experiences with anxiety and postpartum depression, and her religious faith.

Jennifer O'Neill founded the Hope and Healing at Hillenglade Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee, an equine-assisted therapy foundation that specializes in treating war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Since the 1990s, Jennifer O'Neill has occasionally appeared in film and television, including roles in the independent film Doonby and the Rachel Scott biopic I'm Not Ashamed.

Jennifer O'Neill was born on February 20,1948, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Irene Freda, a native of London, and Oscar Delgado Jennifer O'Neill, a Brazilian of Portuguese, Spanish, and Irish ancestry.

Jennifer O'Neill's father, born in Puerto Rico, was a bomber pilot in World War II, and later owned a medical supply company.

Jennifer O'Neill began riding horses at age 9, and became an accomplished equestrienne, winning upwards of 200 ribbons at horse show competitions in her teens.

At age 14, after her parents informed her the family was relocating to New York City, Jennifer O'Neill attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, and fell into a coma for about two weeks.

Jennifer O'Neill largely used her modeling income to fund her equestrian endeavors, which afforded her to purchase her own horse, named Alezon.

When Jennifer O'Neill was 15 years old, though, the horse balked before a wall at a horse show, throwing her, causing her to fracture her neck and lower spine in three places.

Jennifer O'Neill eventually dropped out of the Dalton School at age 17 to wed her first husband, IBM executive Deed Rossiter.

In 1963, Jennifer O'Neill signed a contract with CoverGirl cosmetics, marking the beginning of a 30-year career as a spokesperson for the company.

Jennifer O'Neill is listed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's Center for Advertising History for her long-standing contract with CoverGirl cosmetics as its model and spokesperson in ads and television commercials.

In 1968, Jennifer O'Neill landed a small role in the comedy film For Love of Ivy.

Jennifer O'Neill had a supporting role in Otto Preminger's Such Good Friends starring Dyan Cannon and Ken Howard.

Jennifer O'Neill stated in a 2002 interview that her agent had to fight to even get a reading for the part, since the role had been cast for an "older woman" to a "coming of age" 15-year-old boy, and the director was only considering actresses over the age of 30.

Jennifer O'Neill was originally cast in the Disney film The Black Hole, but was told she needed to cut her hair because it would be easier to film the zero-G scenes.

Jennifer O'Neill gave in, drinking wine during the haircut and leaving noticeably impaired.

Jennifer O'Neill lost the part after a serious car crash on the way home.

Jennifer O'Neill was instead cast in the action martial arts film A Force of One, co-starring with Chuck Norris.

Jennifer O'Neill starred opposite David Carradine in the aviation-themed drama Cloud Dancer, followed by a lead role in David Cronenberg's science-fiction horror film Scanners, portraying a woman who leads an oppositional group against a malevolent private military company creating biokinetic and psychokinetic humans.

When her movie career slowed, Jennifer O'Neill took roles in series television.

Jennifer O'Neill starred in NBC's short-lived 1982 primetime soap opera Bare Essence and played the lead female role on the 1984 television series Cover Up.

In 1991, Jennifer O'Neill starred in the thriller film Committed, portraying a nurse who discovers the fellow staff at the psychiatric hospital where she has been hired are in fact inmates.

Jennifer O'Neill later starred opposite James Brolin in The Visual Bible: Acts, which depicts the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.

Jennifer O'Neill has been married nine times to eight men, and had three children, one each with three of her husbands.

Jennifer O'Neill was briefly married to Emmy award-winning television producer and choreographer Nick De Noia from 1975 to 1976.

De Noia, who served as Jennifer O'Neill's manager at the time of their marriage, was a closeted homosexual.

Jennifer O'Neill told journalists that she was "very upset" by the news of his death.

Jennifer O'Neill passed lie detector tests, so it tore my relationship with her apart.

Jennifer O'Neill remarried and did the same thing to his next teenaged stepchild.

Jennifer O'Neill was integral in helping bring him to justice.

Jennifer O'Neill was so brave, she put a wire on and got him to admit what he'd done.

On October 23,1982, Jennifer O'Neill suffered a gunshot wound in her home on McClain Street in Bedford, New York.

Jennifer O'Neill has dual citizenship, being a Brazilian and US citizen.

In 2004, Jennifer O'Neill wrote and published From Fallen to Forgiven, a book of biographical notes and thoughts about life and existence.

Jennifer O'Neill recounted how she underwent an abortion at age 22 in 1970 while dating a Wall Street socialite after the divorce from her first husband.

Jennifer O'Neill continues to be active as a writer, working on her second autobiography, CoverStory, an inspirational speaker, and fundraiser for the benefit of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States.

Jennifer O'Neill has served as the spokesperson for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, an organization for people who regret that they or their partners had abortions.

Jennifer O'Neill founded Hope and Healing at Hillenglade, an equine-assisted therapy foundation in Nashville, Tennessee, that serves war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.