• May 03, 1993
• Vol. 39
• No. 17

Karen Duffy

• 

From PEOPLE Magazine

In radio days, when listeners could only fantasize about the face behind a beguiling female deejay voice, guys may have dreamed of inviting brown eyes, flawless skin and wonderfully full lips. Veejay Karen Duffy, MTV's High Priestess of Patter, brings that vision to lush, lovely life. Fellow on-air talkster Pauly Shore observes that there's dazzle in Duffy's dimples, but something down-home too. "She comes across as sweet and likable," he says, "and people can relate to her."

A former nursing-home recreational therapist, Duffy, 31, was discovered by a photographer in a Greenwich Village bar in 1989 and in short order graced ads for everything from jeans to peanut butter. Thanks to a sassy homemade audition tape, video fame followed quickly. As part of her régime de beauté, she consumes an any-thing-goes diet, gets $8 haircuts from a one-eyed barber near her Manhattan apartment and accessorizes with baseball caps. "Too much self-attention," Duff huffs, "is repugnant." High on her private hit parade are main squeeze Whitfield Crane of the garage band Ugly Kid Joe ("I'm over the moon about him") and pop stars with pulchritude. "I never compare myself with women in rock videos," Duffy says. "I love beautiful women." After all, if you've got the beat, why not join them?