In 1986, Rebekka Armstrong gained fame as Playboy’s September Playmate.

Rebekka Armstrong sat in a grey plastic chair in the very back of the ballroom in Reeve Memorial Union, which was completely empty except for a few people setting up equipment toward the front of the room.

Looking at her face it was obvious that she had been a beautiful model for Playboy in her earlier years because she had well-defined bone structure and flawless skin, but one would not have known by the way she dressed. 

Her white knit sweater was zipped halfway down, revealing a plain, brown t-shirt underneath, and her legs were clothed in a simple pair of blue jeans. Her light blonde hair was long and straight, and she frequently ran her fingers through it to brush it out of her face.

Armstrong leaned back a little too far in her chair, almost falling backwards. She seemed a little startled, but

laughed it off.

"Are they supposed to do that?" she asked, talking about the chair.

That small incident represented her sense of humor quite well. A little more cautiously, she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. Her blue eyes were soft, but firm, and her face suddenly grew serious. When she talked about her virus, you could tell that it was something that wholly affected her.

"I want to share my story," Armstrong said. "And I think that you can read a book and you can look online and you can look up all the statistics in the world but until you actually put a face to this disease and you actually hear somebody share what it is that they've gone through, it's not going to sit and soak in."

With that attitude, Armstrong began her talk at UW Oshkosh by showing students a video clip that summarized her struggle with HIV.

The video showed Armstrong standing in front of a crowd of men and women and announcing, "Hi, I'm Rebekka Armstrong, and I have AIDS."

"Saying those words out loud," Armstrong said, "were quite possibly some of the most empowering words I have ever said."

Armstrong's story began when she started modeling at the age of 16. She contracted HIV in high school, but wasn't diagnosed with the disease until 1989, after she was immersed in her career as a Playboy Playmate.

Armstrong said she kept her infection a secret because she feared discrimination and hate from family, friends and the public, who in the 1980s lacked general information about HIV/AIDS.

"Mothers weren't coming to the hospital rooms to say goodbye to their sons because they were terrified of the disease," Armstrong said. "Nobody was getting information on it. It was a terrifying time."

Armstrong said because she lied about her infection for so long, she turned to drugs and alcohol and even attempted suicide. She added that these struggles were what helped her realize she needed to use her infection to help others.

"I've got to talk to young people," Armstrong said. "You know, I've got to let them know this is out there. This is real; this can affect them, or infect them."

Armstrong told her audience that HIV/AIDS is nothing to take lightly and she said complacency is what concerns her most about students' knowledge about the virus.

"I still hear, ‘Magic Johnson is cured, right?'" Armstrong said. "There is no cure for HIV. There is no cure for AIDS. Magic Johnson is not cured. Yes, he takes HIV treatment to fight and keep the viral load down, but there is no cure."

She told her audience she is not cured either, and she still takes about 12 pills a day in order to keep the virus from affecting her health.

"It takes one time - one time - to completely change what you think your life is going to be today, turn it (your life) upside down," Armstrong said. "One time to put yourself at risk for HIV."

The scary thing is, the disease does not discriminate, Armstrong said. 

"It doesn't care what color, race, or what social background you come from," she said.  "It doesn't matter. It can infect and affect every single one of you and you have to care enough about yourself to protect yourself."

Faith Sadlowski, a freshman at UW Oshkosh, said she attended Armstrong's speech because she was curious about her story.

"I never realized how painful [HIV] was," she said.

Sadlowski attended the event with a group of friends who said they really enjoyed what Armstrong had to say.

"We never really saw that side [of AIDS]," Sadlowski said.