Barbara Leigh was born in Ringgold, Georgia. Ringgold sits on the border of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and had a population of approximately 2000 at the time she was born.

First 5 years of her life Barbara lived in Georgia. Later she with her mother moved to Miami, Florida where she grew up. At the age of 16 Miss Leigh visited her family in Georgia and Tennessee during her summer vacation, and met the first love of her life. She ended up staying to marry, and finished school while living with her Inlaws. Her husband was in the Marine Corps and was stationed in Cuba during the "Bay of Pigs". Two years later her son, Gerry Haynes was born.

Miss Leigh currently works for Playboy magazine, and has done two celebrity pictorials (May 1973, January 1977). She is best friends with Marilyn Grabowski, West Coast Photo Editor and Vice President to Playboy, and has great respect for Hugh Hefner and the magazine in general. Barbara works with animal rescue as a hobby and writes in her spare time. She is also generous in civic and community activities, and volunteers her time to the AIDS Health Care Foundation, as well as the Starlight Foundation.

Barbara has recently written a biography entitled "The King, McQueen and The Love Machine", with the help of well-known autobiographer Marshall Terrill, who wrote the best-selling biography "Steve McQueen". The book is about Barbara's life and details the excitement, passion and heartache of her extraordinary romantic relationships with Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen and Jim Aubrey.