Culture

20 stars who tried to revive their careers by posing for Playboy

heidi montag playboy cover
Heidi Montag on the cover of Playboy in 2009. Playboy
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Sex sells.

Hugh Hefner may have left us, but one thing remains certain: Up-and-coming starlets and fading stars all rely on Playboy for a (hopefully) quick career burst.

It doesn't always work, but that hasn't kept all these women from trying.

Here are 20 examples.

Kim Basinger (February 1983)

Kim Basinger

Joan Collins (December 1983)

Joan Collins

Christie Brinkley (November 1984)

Christie Brinkley

Suzanne Somers (December 1984)

Suzanne Somers

Goldie Hawn (January 1985)

Goldie Hawn

Madonna (September 1985)

Madonna

Kathleen Turner (May 1986)

Kathleen Turner

Brooke Shields (December 1986)

Brooke Shields

Vanna White (May 1987)

Vanna White Playboy

Candice Bergen (December 1989)

Candice Bergen Playboy

LaToya Jackson (March 1989)

LaToya Playboy

Sharon Stone (July 1990)

Sharon Stone Playboy

Paris Hilton (March 2005)

Paris Hilton Playboy

Tiffany (April 2002)

Tiffany Playboy

Jessica Alba (March 2006)*

Jessica Alba Playboy

As a commenter notes, in this case it was not by Alba's choosing. 

Mariah Carey (March 2007)

Mariah Carey Playboy

Kim Kardashian (December 2007)

Kim Kardashian Playboy

Heidi Montag (September 2009)

Heidi Montag Playboy

Chelsea Handler (December 2009)

Chelsea Handler Playboy

Pamela Anderson (January 2011)

Pamela Anderson Playboy

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Glynnis MacNicol is the former Media Editor at Business Insider.  She was formerly a founding editor of Mediaite.com, the media news, opinion, and rankings site launched by former MSNBC anchor/GM Dan Abrams in July 2009. Prior to Mediaite, Glynnis was the editor of FishbowlNY, the mediabistro.com blog about New York media and was a regular contributor to Playboy.com during the 2008 Presidential election year. She began her media career as an associate editor at the Huffington Post media blog Eat the Press.  Before that she was a book publishing spy. Glynnis frequently speaks on the intersection of media and politics and has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, CBC, Al Jazeera, and CNN's Reliable Sources.  You can follow her on Twitter here.