Following a playful photo session with her mother and the submission of the results to a local modeling agency, Everhart was on a plane to Paris later that year. By the end of the following year, she had graced the covers of such fashion mainstays as ELLE and Glamour magazine (for which she was the first-ever red-haired cover girl). Though a riding accident in which she broke her back at the age of 19 nearly put an end to her aspirations, Everhart eventually recovered through physical therapy. Early in her career, Everhart was advised she would never be a top model because she was a redhead. However, she succeeded in her chosen career and posed for numerous publications. She appeared in several issues of the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, starting in 1995. After years of publicly insisting she would never pose nude, Everhart did just that for the February 2000 issue of Playboy. She was ranked #98 on the FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2003.

Everhart made her film debut i