Jayne Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C. Kennedy is an NAACP Image Award-winning American actress, model and sportscaster.
Born as Jayne Harrison, she was crowned Miss Ohio USA in 1970 (she was the first African American woman to win the title), and was one of the 15 semi-finalists in the 1970 Miss USA pageant. It was rare for an African American woman at that time to be in the contest. While starting her modeling career, she met Leon Isaac Kennedy, who was a DJ and a struggling actor/writer. They fell in love and married in 1970.
She was one of the first women to infiltrate the male-dominated world of sports announcing with a role on The NFL Today. She has been on the cover of Ebony and Jet magazines numerous times.
In the early 1980s she produced exercise videos, at the same time, she also had a contract with both Coca-Cola’s Tab and Diet Coke; however, she was later diagnosed with endometriosis. She and Kennedy were divorced in 1982. In 1985 she married actor Bill Overton. They have three daughters.
Since the 1990s, Kennedy has remained busy away from the limelight, spending more time with her family. For many years, she worked for the Children’s Miracle Network, where she raised millions of dollars for a lot of hospitals. She occasionally appears on various Christian Television Network shows.
Source: The Daily Prep
