As a child in the former Soviet Union, Victoria listened to Voice of America on her father's clandestine radio and diligently studied English with the hope of one day coming to America. In 1989, at the age of 16, she was honored as the first Soviet teenager allowed to come to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student. She arrived on an academic scholarship, as she describes it, as "a sort of ambassador of goodwill and perestroika and glasnost."

Adult life

Dr. Zdrok graduated from Pensacola Junior College in Florida at age 17 and West Chester University in Pennsylvania at age 18 with a B.A., Summa Cum Laude. She entered graduate school where she studied for a joint law and psychology program at Villanova University and Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received her J.D. degree at the Law School and a subsequent M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Her dissertation on "The Effect of Judicial Instructions on Jury Perception of Defendants' Refusal to Testify" was recommended for the Law Psychology Awards. She aimed to specialize in the "area where law and psychology intersect" and originally intended to become a jury consultant. She passed the bar exam on her first try. She has recently completed a post-doctoral qualification in sex therapy at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Victoria Zdrok was crowned Philadelphia's "Best Beauty" in August 1994. She has appeared in videos, movies, talk shows and magazines. She became October 1994's Playboy Playmate of the Month. She would have reportedly been selected by Hugh Hefner as Playmate of the Year (PMOY) instead of Julie Cialini, but someone circulated false rumours about an alleged affair with Hef to his then wife, Kimberley Conrad. Victoria claims it was entirely untrue. Implying that someone undermined her chances, she notes that Julie was a friend of Kimberley and spent much time at the Playboy Mansion while Victoria was in school full time in Philadelphia.

In June 2002 Victoria became Penthouse Pet of the Month. In 2004, at the age of 30, she was named Penthouse Pet of the Year. She is the second woman - after Lynn Thomas - to be both a Playboy Playmate and a Penthouse Pet.

At one point, she dated Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Victoria is currently involved in writing several books: "The Naked Truth: Confessions of Centerfolds and Those Who Love Them," a tell-all book on the centerfold industry and a book on the psychology of sexual fantasy.