Karen Duffy Lambros, also known as "Duff," is a multitalented, self-effacing beauty who has worked as a TV personality, a Revlon spokesmodel, a best-selling author and an actress. Audiences may remember Duff as a saucy MTV VJ and Revlon’s "Charlie" girl. She has also recently published her second book, A Slob in the Kitchen, an irreverent cookbook.

Duffy’s inspiring and hilarious memoir, Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass, was an account of her carefree days as a young adult. In the book, she talks about how she found fame and the great fun she had with it. Duffy also discusses how she discovered and dealt with a disease that may have changed her body, but not her spirit. In 1995, she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare incurable disease that attacks the central nervous system. Model Patient was witty, dishy and fun — not at all your typical tale of life with an illness — It became a New York Times best-seller.

In addition to VJing on MTV and modeling, Karen has worked in several films. She appeared in two Woody Allen films, Celebrity and Husbands and Wives, and went on to star in Disney’s successful Blank Check. She also starred in Dumb and Dumber and 24-Hour Woman.

With her disease now under control, Duffy works as an entertainment correspondent for HBO. In addition she is a contributing editor for Glamour magazine and contributes to The New York Times Magazine. She also volunteers at a nursing home as a recreational therapist, the career for which she formerly studied.

Duffy, her husband, John, and their new son, Jack, divide their time between New York City and their farm in Connecticut.