HOLLYWOOD -- Carmen Electra may have been blind-sided by love, but she never lost faith she'd find it.

After a whirlwind 1998 romance with basketball misfit Dennis Rodman that ended in a five-month marriage, Electra failed to make a love connection with the men she dated.

That was until friends set her up on a blind date with Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro.

"I'd been single for about a year when our mutual friends set up the date. Dave had been out of a serious relationship for about six or seven months, so we had that in common," says Electra who admits to being nervous before the date. "I was worried I might not live up to his expectations. I thought he might be expecting a party girl who'd get up and dance on a table.

"That's not me and that's not what he was looking for. We discovered very quickly we were in the same space which is why it worked."

Electra recalls she and Navarro had "instant chemistry. We connected and couldn't stop talking and staring into each other's eyes. Intuition told me instantly he was right for me."

It took a year before the couple got engaged and another 18 months before they decided to get married.

"I rushed into things with Dennis Rodman. I let one man sweep me off my feet and look what happened. I was not about to make the same mistake twice."

There were no cameras when Navarro got down on one knee to propose but cameras did turn up once the couple began planning their marriage.

Electra and Navarro allowed MTV to chronicle their steps to the altar.

"It was originally conceived as four episodes but MTV had so much footage, they spun it out to seven, culminating with the wedding.

"It was the highest-rated MTV show, so we're talking about a sequel."

Cameras love Electra, who has posed nude for Playboy and hosted a Nude Female Wrestling feature.

"I think women's bodies should be celebrated," says Electra, who didn't actually watch the participants in the nude wrestling challenge.

"I really wanted to watch the event but it had already happened. I just provide the colour background commentary."

Along with Amy Smart, Electra (born Tara Leigh Patrick), adds a little sass and colour to Starsky & Hutch, the big screen spoof of the popular '70s buddy-cop series.

They play cheerleaders who might know the identity of a major Los Angeles drug lord or they may just be a couple of eager party girls.

"I wanted desperately to be in the movie and I let them know that," recalls Electra.

"I had to audition several times. I saw Amy at a few of the auditions and then we finally got to audition together. That was nerve-wracking because Ben (Stiller) and Owen (Wilson) were in the room."

Once they got the roles, there was still a major hurdle.

In one scene, the cheerleaders end up in a three-way liplock with Wilson.

"It wasn't exactly a girl-on-girl kiss because Owen was there between us and we kept sliding back and forth between each other's lips. There was no garlic or onions on set that day and we were all going through packs of breath mints. I had my toothbrush with me all day."

INTIMIDATING AUDITION

Electra says her most harrowing audition was the one that got her a role on Baywatch.

"First off, I had to read with David Hasselhoff, which was really intimidating. And then they told me I had to try the red bathing suit on right there and then.

"I was so bummed out because I hadn't shaved for a swim suit and there I was having to model for everyone.

"Then I had to jump in the water and do a swim test. It's a real wonder I got the role."

Electra concedes it's probably difficult for people to believe she was once shy and introverted but insists "it was because I was a lot heavier back then and not as confident about my body.

"I really had to push myself and I'm still working on my confidence.

"It's maybe not as easy for me as I make it seem."

WORKIN' IT

Carmen Electra just released a series of five exercise videos entitled Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease Series.

"It's a real fad in Los Angeles right now," she says. "There are classes all over the city, so it was natural that a video series should come out, and I was pleased they came to me to do it."

Electra says the series has a DVD "on pole dancing and another on lap dancing but everything is tasteful. It's main function is to tone the body."

She says it gave her the opportunity to return to her roots.

"Growing up in Cincinnati, I trained to be a dancer. I danced all my life because I wanted to go to New York and dance in Broadway musicals.

"It was only when I came to L.A. that people told me I should get into acting.

"I was so naive. I got this really creepy manager. He was a real pervert. He would send me to wretched auditions. Sometimes I was so put off by all the incredibly beautiful women in the room, I'd just run away.

"I had so much shyness and insecurities to get over."


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