Brenda Gabrielle Venus, was born on November 10, 1947 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Venus is of Native American ancestry.

She also appeared in Playboy in July 1986. According to the Playboy website:

In the spring of 1997, Venus posed for a Celebrity nude pictorial in Playboy Magazine.

Venus is the author of "Secrets of Seduction for Men" and "Secrets of Seduction for Women" and a 2012 novella titled "Twelve Hours". Her books have been translated into 37 languages. Publishers william Morrow and E.F. Dutton sent her on a worldwide publicity tour - making various appearances on TV, radio and press interviews. For over six years, starting in 1998, Brenda wrote a popular column for Playboy Magazine called "Centerfolds on Sex."

When Venus was a college student, she purchased a book at an auction that contained an envelope with the address of famed Writer Henry Miller. Venus wrote to Miller and they became "pen pals". Eventually Miller became her mentor and Brenda his muse,. Miller wrote 1,500 letters that were collected into the book "Dear, Dear Brenda – The Love Letters of Henry Miller to Brenda Venus".

According to Writer Ed Millis, Venus was a source of inspiration to the aging and ailing Miller. Brenda was all of 20 years of age, Henry was 84. She was a beautiful Southern belle, "The Boticelli of Mississippi"—he called her. Henry, the renegade intellectual, the Writer, had taken millions of us to the sexy Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. Now he was sick and slowly recuperating. He needed a lift in spirits... Brenda the Muse breathed life into her mortal charge and gave him reason to live. He wrote her over 1,500 letters and gave her focus and fine tuning!"