Gabrielle Allyse Reece (born January 6, 1970) is an American former professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, sports announcer, and podcast host.

Early life and education

Reece was raised in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, an only child of Terry Glynn and Robert Eduardo Reece. Her father, who was

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

, was killed in a plane crash when Gabrielle was five. From the ages of 2-7 Reece lived with her mother's family friends in Long Island New York. She returned to the U.S. mainland for the eleventh grade, attending Keswick Christian School in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

, when she took up sports. In 1989, she moved to New York City to more rigorously pursue a parallel career as a sports fashion model and also continue her pro volleyball career. Reece is also a graduate of

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

Volleyball career

After graduation, Reece played on professional volleyball tours for several years. Reece trained in golf for four years hoping to make it onto the

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

. However, she was unsuccessful. In 2009, she said, "... with young children, I simply didn't have the time for such a demanding game".

Other work

Reece appeared in several ''Elle'' and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' layouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has appeared on the covers of ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

'', ''

Shape A shape is a graphics, graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface. It is distinct from other object properties, such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material ...

'', ''Women's Sports & Fitness'', ''Playboy'', ''Elle'', and ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

''. In her April 2013 book titled ''My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper: A Guide to the Less Than Perfect Life'', Reece writes that "to truly be feminine means being soft, receptive, and – look out, here it comes – submissive." She went on to further define her point in an April 16 interview on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' by saying that she believes women being submissive in relationships is a sign of strength – not weakness. "We don’t worry about (men) having it all, so I don’t know where we got this idea to have it all". In 2022, she appeared as herself in an episode of '' Billions''.

Personal life

On November 30, 1997, Reece married big-wave surfer

Laird Hamilton Laird John Hamilton (né Zerfas; born March 2, 1964) is an American big wave surfing, big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a former professi ...

. They have two daughters. She and Hamilton also are raising Hamilton's daughter from his previous marriage to big wave surfer and clothing designer Maria Souza. The Hamilton-Reece family splits time residing in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

. 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 John Paul Cusack ( ; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor. With a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in over 80 films. He began acting in f ...

, hockey player

Chris Chelios Christos Konstantinos Chelios (born January 25, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was a three-time Stanley Cup champion: one with the Montreal Canadiens and two with the Detroit Red Wings. Chelios played for th ...

, tennis player

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

, and actor

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

References

External links

Gabriellereece.com
official site * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reece, Gabrielle 1970 births Living people American women's beach volleyball players Florida State Seminoles women's volleyball players Sportspeople from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Sportspeople from La Jolla, San Diego Sportspeople from St. Petersburg, Florida American sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent Volleyball players from San Diego United States Virgin Islands women's volleyball players United States Virgin Islands models Female models of insular areas of the United States Female models from Florida Keswick Christian School alumni