The Internet has been known to create its share of overnight celebrities. But Christine Dolce, aka "Forbidden," just might have the fire and dedication to crush everyone who has preceded her.
Dolce's the so-called "Queen of MySpace," a label bestowed upon her by Vanity Fair magazine, among many others. She got her first taste of fame after joining MySpace.com shortly after its inception in 2003, turning it upside-down with her stunningly unique profile and images.
Did she ever imagine what might transpire after she joined the social-networking site?
"Never. Never in my wildest dreams," swears the 24-year-old Dolce. "It's still weird to me. It's like it's not even reality. Even going out now and having fans, I'm like, 'Wait, I have fans?'"
Dolce has turned her overnight celebrity status into quite the business. Just last month, she shot her very first magazine cover — for Playboy, nonetheless. She also has upcoming pictorials in Stuff, FHM, Rolling Stone, and spokesmodel duties for the Axe Deodorant "Gamekillers" MySpace campaign, which will consist of her undertaking a major North American press tour.
Dolce grew up in Long Beach, Calif., attending Los Alamitos High School. After graduation, she went to work as a make-up artist, a job that she enjoyed, but one that also left her craving for more.
"I loved doing [make-up], but I always felt like there was so much more out there," she says. "I never thought of myself as [having] the Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5 job, [or getting] married and having kids right away. I have this drive. I knew there was something — I just didn't know exactly what it was."
Dolce's true calling became clearer about a year after she posted her profile. As MySpace became the world's fastest-growing Web site, Dolce's celebrity status roared along at a competitive pace. She started getting thousands of "friend requests." People began to recognize her whenever she was out in public. "Forbidden" amassed more than 850,000 "friends," becoming the most popular profile of the site's more than 74 million plus users (aside from Tom, himself).
"At first I denied everyone, because I wanted to keep it a personal thing," she recalls. "And then it just kind of came to me. I was like, 'Wow, I'm getting all these adds; this would be a great networking tool.' From then on, I started adding everyone, and everything just took off from there."
Soon thereafter, Dolce joined forces with her current manager, Keith Ruby, whom she met (not surprisingly) through MySpace.
- Comment
