Jayne was crowned Miss Ohio USA 1970 (she was the first African American woman to win the title), and was one of the 10 semi-finalists in the 1970 Miss USA pagent. It was rare for an African American woman at that time to be in the contest. While starting her modeling career, she met Leon Issac Kennedy, who was a DJ and a struggling actor/writer. They fell in love and married in 1970. Motown's Smokey Robinson served as best man at the wedding. They moved to California to pursue careers in acting. During the 1970's she had over 10 notable TV guest appearances, and roles in seven movies. In 1978 she was one of the first women to infiltrate the male-dominated world of sports announcing with a role on The NFL Today.

In the early 1980's she produced exercise videos; however, she was later diagnosed with Endometriosis. She and Kennedy were divorced in 1982; she married actor Bill Overton in 1985. In spite of the prior problem with endometriosis, they have three daughters, Savannah Re (b., Nov. 20, 1985), Kopper Joi (b., May 17, 1989), and Zaire Ollyea (b., Sept. 15, 1995).

She has graced the cover of Ebony and Jet magazines numerous of times. In July 1981 she became the first African American actress to grace the cover of Playboy magazine.

In the late 1970s, Kennedy had the dubious distinction of being one of the first celebrities to endure a "home sex video" scandal (see: Celebrity sex tape) when a tape of a private encounter made its way to the public. Fortunately for Kennedy, due to VCRs not yet being widespread, circulation of the tape was restricted to a relatively small audience.