Daddy’s Girl - WWE’s Candice is too hot for Fox
By Jeremy Brown
The following was posted on WWE.com Feb. 7, 2005

It was the main topic of the post-Super Bowl chatter around water coolers, message boards and blogspots around the country this morning. GoDaddy.com’s devilish new ad that, in addition to promoting the site, pokes fun at the Puritanical mindset that has pervaded the post-Janet America.

In the ad, a well-endowed, tank-top-clad brunette flounces about before a stuffy Senate committee, touting the benefits of GoDaddy while desperately trying to prevent, shall we say, a “wardrobe malfunction.” The brunette in question is none other than Candace Michelle, one of Raw’s newest Divas, and she took a few minutes out of her increasingly hectic schedule to talk about the commercial.

"I totally had to get into character,” she said, regarding the persona of Nikki Cappelli. “But it’s kind of my normal-life character in a way. I mean, I’m not giddy and weird like that, but if you put me in front of a committee like that, it’s like…this is who I am!”

Candice thinks the ad is a timely one, and one that exposes the hypocrisy surrounding the new, moral America. “When you watch the video,” she remarked, “all you see is cleavage, which you see on a daily basis on TV and in real life. So I think it’s funny that there’s such a big controversy over cleavage.” In fact, she noted, the silliness of the whole situation was something she decided to play off of when filming the ad. “I wanted to just go out there and make fun of the whole thing,” she said, “and just sort of be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Am I upsetting the committee because I have on a tank top?”

Filming the commercial, Candice was given free reign to create the “Ms. Cappelli” character any way she wanted. “I made up the whole commercial,” Candice said. “The script is the part that said ‘It’s $8.95 for a year.’ Everything that was said after that, I made up. It was all me and whatever I could come up with.”

A thirty-second version of the ad ran during the Super Bowl ’s first quarter. A second, longer version, slated to air at the two-minute warning, was pulled; a move that many think helped generate even more publicity. “Because they pulled it,” Candice said, “it’s getting more press than it would have if they’d just played it!” Of course, Candice is elated at the turn of events. “At first I was thinking, ‘Oh, they didn’t play it,’” she said. “Now I’m glad they didn’t play it because everybody’s calling me!”

UPDATE: Since Monday morning, Candice’s life has gone from an already fast pace straight up to warp speed. She has appeared on, among numerous other shows, Good Day L.A., ESPN2’s Cold Pizza and yesterday was a guest on the Howard Stern Show. “I have been filled with the utmost excitement,” she said. “I’ve worked ten years in the modeling and acting business to have the kind of publicity that I’m getting from this commercial. And to know that WWE’s behind me on everything is just so exciting.”

After a long haul to the top, Candice is especially grateful for the support of her sister, Dana. Having lost her father as a child and her mother two years ago, she and her sister have become especially close. “It’s been fun, because she’s always been so supportive of me,” Candice said. “Whenever I feel a little wacky about all the excitement going on, I just call her and she tells me ‘Take a deep breath, everything’s OK.’”

In fact, as offers continue to pour in, Candice becomes even more grateful for her sister’s presence. “They were talking about me maybe going on Letterman and I [told Dana], ‘If I get on that show, I’m flying you in here because I’m going to have a nervous breakdown!’” she said with a laugh. “It’s really great to have her as a part of my life.”

Arriving in Hollywood from her home state of Wisconsin at 19, Candice struggled through the lean years that plague most young actresses. “It was the hardest time of my life,” she recalled. “I remember crying every day, and my family was just always behind me saying, ‘You can do it.’ And here I am today!”

Today, Candice is grateful for her success and, in some ways, glad it didn’t come earlier. “I think if I was 19 and having to deal with all this, it wouldn’t have been as rewarding as it is now,” she said. “Being in the mindset that I am today, I’m ready to achieve everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m willing to go for my goals and ready to put in the hard work for it. And I’m willing to take the negative with the positive.”