sims was born on may 25, 1973, in murray, kentucky, the daughter of dottie and jim sims. she has an older brother, todd. she is of german descent on her mother's side and english and cherokee on her father's side. following her graduation from murray high school in 1991, sims enrolled in vanderbilt university to study political science. in 1993, when sims was 19 years old, she dropped out to pursue a career in modeling. at vanderbilt, she was a member of delta delta delta.