Surprising Stars Who Went Nude in Playboy

If there's someone who loves publicity more than anyone in the world, it's surely 31-year-old Kim Kardashian. But the multi-millionaire reality star revealed to Allure last year that she does have some regrets over the nude spread she shot in 2007 ... but not for the reasons one might expect. "After the fact, I said, 'I wish I hadn't done Playboy then' because I wasn't in the best shape of my life... I lost about 15 pounds, and I feel so proud. I look back and say, 'Oh, my God, I was so heavy then.'"

Long before she was an A-lister and an Oscar winner, South African beauty and aspiring model Charlize Theron, posed for a series of nude pics. In 1999, the photos wound up in Playboy, after Charlize's movie career began taking off. The "Young Adult" actress claimed the photos were published without her permission and later sued the photographer.

In 1983, new Bond girl Kim Basinger, then 30, went au naturel in order to promote her new flick "Never Say Never Again," (opposite Sean Connery, who got to keep his clothes on). Basinger had no regrets, and insists the spread brought her more publicity and new film opportunities, including a role in the 1984 baseball drama "The Natural," alongside Robert Redford and Glenn Close.

Drew Barrymore's career was in full swing in January 1995 when she decided to strip down for the men's magazine when she was just 19. It's rumored that after her issue was released, Steven Spielberg -- who worked with Drew when she appeared in his iconic blockbuster "E.T." at age 7 -- sent her a quilt, along with a note that read, "Cover yourself up."

Despite the fact she was pushing 50 at the time, "Dynasty" star Joan Collins decided to bare all in a 12-page cover spread in the December 1983 issue, two years into her successful primetime soap career. The accompanying title was "50 is Beautiful."

For Suzanne Somers, her nude pics that ended up in Playboy have always been a sore subject. Though she previously denied that naked photos of her existed, the February 1980 issue proved otherwise. The mag featured audition shots that the "Three's Company" star had taken 10 years earlier at just 22 years old. After they were released, she lost her gig as a spokesperson for Ace Hardware. "It makes me want to cry," Somers, who was paid just $3,000 for the shoot, told People in January 1980.

La Toya Jackson never ended up with the mega-successful music career of her younger siblings Michael and Janet, so maybe that's why in 1989, the then 33-year-old decided to do something she knew would garner attention -- going topless in Playboy. "I posed nude to show my parents they couldn't dictate to me any more -- that I control my life," La Toya told Ebony in 1992, after dumping her dad Joseph as manager, writing an autobiography, and doing Playboy a second time in 1991 to help promote the book.

Her late father may be a conservative legend, but President Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis was anything but when she posed for the mag in 1994 at age 42, six years after her dad left the White House. The once drug-addicted Davis told More magazine earlier this year that, despite her reputation as the rebellious first daughter, she didn't do the shoot to spite her parents. "I was doing it for me. This was my victory lap. This was standing naked in front of the world when it was a miracle that I was even still in the world ... because from the age of 15, well into my twenties, I was working on dying. Most addicts are."

Teen pop queen Tiffany -- who rose to fame in the late '80s with a bunch of bubble gum hits -- tried to rejuvenate her career in 2002 with a bare-all spread at age 30. "I wasn't able to book concerts or TV shows or radio shows, all because of my name. I couldn't break out of my girl-next-door, 14-year-old image," she told USA Today back then. "I thought the phones would start ringing, and it's worked."

Following in Tiffany's footsteps was Debbie Gibson. Three years later, Tiff's blond pop peer wanted to prove that she too was all grown up when she posed for the mag. More than 1,500 photos were taken during the three-day shoot, and when the issue was released, the "Shake Your Love" singer said she was thrilled with the photos inside. She failed to make the cover of the March 2005 issue, however, since that honor went to a clothed Paris Hilton.