Coco tosses curves at new ‘Peepshow’

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your newest Bo Peep in "Peepshow." Holly Madison is out. Coco Austin, curvaceous star of E!'s "Ice Loves Coco," is in.

Coco, 33, leg-presses 400 pounds. She has two dogs, Spartacus and Maximus. As a model, she has appeared in Playboy, Black Lingerie and Curves 2.

Her husband is rapper Ice-T, one of the stars in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." He has no problem with his wife stripping down Thursdays through Tuesdays, starting Dec. 3.

"He knows that I work hard," Coco says. "And it's not like you work so hard at the gym that you're gonna put on a turtleneck. So why not show a little somethin'-somethin' and be OK with it?"

Pasties were never an option.

"No one talked to me about pasties. I think it's full monty! I'm cool with either-or. But I want to do it Vegas-way."

Unlike some other female sex symbols, Coco has no qualms about fans' handling her.

"In New York, some girls will come up and say, 'Hey, can I touch the booty?' And then the guys will be like, 'Hey, can I take a picture with the booty?' I just want them to do what they want to do, and then we'll go from there."

To be honest, she wasn't sure she wanted to fill the Planet Hollywood job because it means she and her husband will be working on separate coasts for the next several months.

"He's working on 'Law & Order' throughout the year, and he can't come with me. So it'll be the first time we separate" - geographically, not a marital separation.

Ice-T talked Coco into the topless gig. "It's right up your alley," he told her.

Ice-T will try to see her on various weekends. Together, the couple host at club LAX on New Year's Eve.

Their marriage is strong enough to take a season of change, she says.

They got married here. On a whim, they walked down the aisle in Caesars on New Year's Eve 2001. They partied at Tao afterward, and didn't get a honeymoon, because of his work schedule, until they went to Hawaii recently.

Coco's performance will be a little different than Madison's, because Coco has dance experience.

"It's one thing, going to (dance) school and class for so long," Coco says. "You're talking to your classmates, saying, 'I want to end up in Vegas someday.' And usually that's never gonna happen. In reality, it happened to me, so it's very cool."

A main goal of hers is to make cast mates comfortable. And she's eager to add curves to the Strip.

"When you think of Vegas, you think of tall, slender girls. I am so the opposite. I am short, and I am thicker.

"I hope to break the mold and be one of the first to really do it up and come out with a bang!"

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.