Playboy Has Women You Didn't Know About

 Some of these celebrities would prefer to forget their time spent on Playmate.

ILLUSTRATOR Jasrelle Serrano

As befits a nonagenarian tycoon like Hef, there were many things the late, great Hugh Hefner said and did, but the creation of the Playboy Playmate is arguably as as well-known as Playboy magazine itself.

The centrefold model in every issue is obviously The Playmate; she should not be confused with the Playboy Bunnies, who were waitresses in Playboy Clubs in the US and were famously seen wearing the distinctive bunny suit. Many well-known women (including Debbie Harry, Lauren Hutton, and Dorothy Stratten) have been able to list their time as a Playboy Bunny on their resumes, but those who became Playmates were a more exclusive group, with the majority of them appearing in the magazine on their way to becoming top models.

The magazine's cover subjects belonged to a completely other club; they frequently included famous people in the prime of their careers. The vast majority of them have liked the attention and the surge of popularity that aided their careers, even though a handful of them have expressed remorse about being in Playboy.

Barrymore, Drew (cover, January 1995)

Barrymore's role as the adorable youngster in E.T. is no longer widely remembered, but in the mid-1990s, she was still having trouble shaking the stigma attached to it. In 1995, she consented to pose bare for Playboy and was featured on one of the magazine's most contentious covers. Following the release of the issue, E.T. director (and Barrymore's godfather) famously sent her a blanket along with a note that read, "Cover yourself up."

IMAGE By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1988-0105-018 / Wolfgang Thieme / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Wikimedia Commons

                                                          IMAGE By David Shankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Katarina Witt (cover, December 1998)

When she appeared on the cover, legendary ice skater Katarina Witt had had been four years since her final Olympic performance, but she was keen to shatter the stereotype of skaters as "beautiful, pretty ice princesses." The issue with the cover was also the second one to ever sell out; the first was the magazine's debut issue with Marilyn Monroe on the cover.


Charlize Theron (cover, May 1999)

Theron was already a rising young star with roles in The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules when the shocking photos of the celebrated actress first surfaced. A few months prior to the May 1999 Playboy cover, she had actually just landed the Vanity Fair cover. Theron has since claimed that she never intended for the photos to be published and that she regrets their inclusion in the magazine. The photos were taken a few years earlier, however, when Theron was still a relatively unknown model.
Marilyn Monroe (cover, December 1953 inaugural issue)

There was no larger star then or after, and Hefner has credited his selection as the magazine's first cover subject for Playboy's success. In addition to having Marilyn Monroe on the cover of the first issue, it also contained interior nude images of the star. Fortunately for Hefner, the print run of roughly 50,000 copies was completely consumed. Monroe, however, declined to appear in the photographs, which were taken in 1949 by Tom Kelley and sold to a calendar manufacturer. Only $50 was paid to Monroe for the first shoot.

Jayne Mansfield (February 1955)

Jayne Mansfield made headlines in the 1960s for being the first actress to show no top, but it was her early appearances as a Playmate—the first of which was in February 1955—that really cemented her status as a sex bombshell. Up until her death in a vehicle accident at age 34, she kept appearing in the magazine.

Kim Kardashian (December 2007)

Even though the Kardashians' decision to stay out of Playboy may have been more shocking, given that it will soon be the tenth anniversary of both their show and Kim's cover, it might be worth mentioning once more. Kim was actually one of the famous people who organised social media eulogies for Hugh Hefner.
Tetchie Agbayani (German edition, cover, July 1982)

The Mutya ng Pilipinas of 1979 After winning the pageant, she had a successful career in the Philippines as an actress and model who wasn't afraid to show a little skin. When the actress appeared on the cover of the German edition of the magazine in 1982, mouths dropped. Agbayani's career was given a boost by the audacious action, and she subsequently starred in a number of critically acclaimed Hollywood productions, including The Emerald Forest.