Gabrielle Allyse Reece (born January 6, 1970) is an American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, fashion model and actress.
After graduation, Reece played on professional volleyball tours for several years. That year, Reece's 4-man team took first place at the first-ever Beach Volleyball World Championships staged at the UCLA Tennis Center, in her fifth season as a team captain in the 4-person Women's Beach Volleyball League (WBVL), and fourth captaining Team Nike, which shared League Co-Championship.
Gabrielle Reece Great Volley Ball Player
For four consecutive years, Reece was the WBVL kills leader from 1993-1996. She was named the Offensive Player of the Year in 1994-95, and the League blocks leader in 1993. She also competed domestically in the 1999-2000 Olympic Challenge Series, the 1999-2000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, and other competitions.
Reece trained in golf for four years hoping to make it onto the LPGA but was unsuccessful. In 2009, she said, "... with young children, I simply didn't have the time for such a demanding game".
Gabrielle Reece and Her Daughter
Reece began her modeling career while attending FSU. In 1989 she was named by Elle as one of the five most beautiful women in the world. She appeared in several Elle layouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has appeared on the covers of Outside, Shape, Women's Sports & Fitness, Elle, and Life. She appeared on the cover of Playboy, with an accompanying nude pictorial, in January 2001. Reece had previously made a cameo appearance as herself on the HBO series Arliss in which, ironically, she angrily reprimanded her agent for even suggesting she accept an offer to pose nude for Playboy.
Reece co-wrote a book with Karen Karbo about her life as a pro athlete entitled Big Girl in the Middle, published by Crown (1997). She also wrote a column for Conde Nast's magazine Women's Sports & Fitness, and has been a contributing editor at ELLE magazine. For several years, Reece hosted ESPN and NBC's Gravity Games, where she participated in road-luging, white water kayaking, drag racing, surfing, sky diving, and more on MTV Sports (1993-95), and The Extremists with Gabrielle Reece (1995-96). She was also a commentator at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
On November 30, 1997, Gabrielle married the Hawaiian big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton. She filed for divorce in January 2001, but reconciled a year later. They have two children together: daughters Reece Viola Hamilton (born in October 2003) and Brody Jo Hamilton (born on January 1, 2008 in Hawaii). She and Hamilton also are raising Izabella, Hamilton's daughter from a previous marriage. The Hamilton-Reece family splits time residing in Hawaii and Malibu, California. In the latter, she is known as a member of the "Malibu Mob,",a group of celebrity friends and neighbors that includes actor John Cusack, hockey player Chris Chelios, and tennis player John McEnroe.
