Aubrey O’Day, former member of the Diddy-created girl group Danity Kane, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the March issue of Playboy magazine. Early last month, we heard from Aubrey herself that she had already shot her Playboy pics but remained coy on when we might expect to see the mag on newsstands. Extra! TV got their hands on a copy of the mag and provide us with our first look at Aubrey’s new career as a Playboy pin-up:

As you may recall, Diddy announced that he kicked Aubrey out of Danity Kane in the season finale of Making the Band 4 last year. Citing his disapproval for her “too sexy” image, Diddy felt that she was no longer a good fit for his girl group … so naturally, the first thing that Aubrey does after getting kicked out of the group is pose nekkid in a men’s magazine. Sounds about right. Of this new photospread in Playboy, Aubrey was quoted as saying, “You could never imagine how empowering it is to be nude in front of cameras” … I guess this is proof of that empowerment. I understand that this issue of Playboy magazine hits newsstands this Friday. Make sure you get to your bookstores/newsstands early … I expect there to be a huge stampede of folks clamoring for this issue. Are any of y’all planning on picking up this issue?

UPDATE: After the jump, check out a high res versions of the cover and one photo of Aubrey O’Day in Playboy magazine …

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After unconfirmed rumors began to swirl late last year, former Danity Kane frontwoman Aubrey O’Day is now confirming that YES she posed nude for an upcoming pictorial in Playboy magazine, even managing to secure the magazine’s cover. As you may recall, Diddy very publicly kicked Aubrey out of his girlgroup DK on the season finale of Making the Band 4 last Fall, basing his decision primarily on the fact that he did not approve of Aubrey’s image when when in the public eye (ie. he thought she was acting “too sexy” for his group). In retaliation (or possibly because she needed a paycheck), Aubrey decided to pose nekkid in Playboy:

Between talking about her high-profile split from Danity Kane and addressing the recent rumors about her sexual preferences, Aubrey O’Day has been all about displaying her personal life in a very public fashion lately. But for the singer who was “>kicked out of the group for allegedly hogging the spotlight with her over-the-top antics, those mini-dramas pale when compared with her upcoming photo spread in Playboy magazine. While spokespeople for the magazine refused to confirm the shoot when news about it first broke in late November, O’Day spoke freely with MTV News about the images. “I’ve also done the cover of Playboyfor 2009,” she said late in December. “For one of the months in 2009. I’m not gonna say it. … It’s gonna be a surprise. You know, I think that Playboy for me was one of the most liberating things that I’ve done as a woman.” Scanning the pics on her Macbook laptop while chilling in Costa Mesa, California, O’Day showed off the results of her session with photographer Markus Klinko, who has done portraits of Mariah Carey and Pamela Anderson in the past and who shot the cover of Beyoncé’s 2003 album, Dangerously In Love. “You could never imagine how empowering it is to be nude in front of cameras and have people looking at you in that way and seeing you as beautiful,” she said. “A lot of the times I think I’m seen as a bad girl and I think that’s because I’m so open.” O’Day said she only agreed to the shoot because Klinko was involved and because they both wanted something that was “classy, iconic and truly beautiful.” Taken amid sessions for her solo debut, O’Day said she was surprised at the negative repercussions from her earlier, revealing shoot for Complex magazine, which is reported to have played a role in Diddy’s decision to drop O’Day from the group. O’Day said she was merely playing a character in the pictures, in which she’s seen hugging (and, er, licking) a stripper pole while topless and modeling underwear in various stages of undress. “I mean, I think a lot of the type of way I’m portrayed in the media isn’t always the way … the way I am in my heart,” O’Day said about the negative stories about her exploits in the press. “And so I think that we were able to capture that. … I think in society we tend to put ourselves in boxes and corners and restrict ourselves, and we constantly feel the need to not say this or not wear this or do that. Taking it all off and being nude is the most natural state that you can be in,” she continued, “and being able to feel comfortable with that and show that sex can be beautiful, comfortable … is going to be empowering for people.”

Well, it’s an interesting career move, that’s for sure. Something tells me that this decision to appear nude in a men’s magazine is not really the way to win back Diddy’s approval … she, almost assuredly, will not be returning to Danity Kane after this stunt. Honestly, tho, I think she’s OK with it. She seems pretty pleased with herself for scoring this Playboy gig so, if it makes her happy, good for her. Personally, tho, I’d prefer to see her cultivate her other talents more fully so that she may enjoy a longer, more successful career in showbiz. Aubrey managed to score a part in Broadway’s Hairspray, which seems like a career path that might actually lead to longevity. But, it looks like she’s more interested in taking off her clothes rather than stepping into new roles. I cannot hate on her for making this decision, I just really hope that it’s the right choice for her. She says that she felt empowered by posing nekkid for the cameras but I wonder if she’s mistaking empowerment for defiance against constraints that were placed on her by her former boss. I guess we’ll have to wait and see where her career takes her next, I only hope she ends up taking on a project that involves showing off her talents … while fully clothed … talk about empowerment.

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Lindsay Lohan has reportedly turned down an offer of $700,000 to pose nude in the 55th anniversary issue of Playboy magazine … which I find very interesting, considering she was totally fine with posing totally nekkid in the pages of New York magazine earlier this year completely free of charge:

IT’S once nude, twice shy for Lindsay Lohan. The Sapphic-leaning star has turned down a $700,000 offer to do an eight-page topless spread in Playboy’s 55th-anniversary issue this January. “If there’s nudity, then the answer’s no . . . She’s not going down the [New York] magazine road again,” Lohan’s rep told Playboy’s creative consultant, Hal Lifson, referring to Lindsay’s naked Marilyn Monroe tribute last winter. Lifson said he hoped to have Lohan do a tribute to ’60s sex kitten Ann-Margret and her film “Kitten With a Whip,” which is one of Lohan’s faves.

Psh, I’m totally with her on this. That Playboy magazine would offer her anything less than $1 million bucks is a joke — an insult, even! It’s interesting, tho, that she’s now taken up this position of no more nudity. There seems to be a notion that the New York magazine spread (where Lindsay recreated famous nekkid photos of Marilyn Monroe) was artistic and, therefore, OK and Playboy is more akin to porn … but nekkid is nekkid, y’all. I say, if they up the offer to a million bucks, she reconsider … yes?

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Anna Faris, the star of the upcoming new comedy The House Bunny, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Playboy magazine … tho, unlike some other Playboy covergirls, Anna stays fully clothed and does not appear in the mag’s centerfold with a staple thru her belly-button. In the mag, she opens up about her self-esteem issues and a bit about her raunchy comedic talents:

Anna Faris plays a Playboy bunny in the upcoming film The House Bunny and posed (clothed) for the September cover of Playboy magazine – but she says she wasn’t always so eager to show off her physique. In high school, “I felt unattractive, short and self-conscious about my body, and I would purposely emphasize that by doing odd things,” Faris, 31, tells Playboy. “I wore glasses, braces, odd hairdos and dumpy clothes. I was clumsy and awkward. When I was a freshman I wore a Christmas tree skirt as a cape. I couldn’t get any dates until senior year.” That’s not really a problem anymore for Faris, who was divorced from her husband, Ben Indra, in February. Neither are raunchy comedy roles – which even her parents are used to now. “When I went with my parents and brother to see Scary Movie at a Seattle strip mall the opening weekend, I was like, ‘Mom, there’s going to be a couple of points when I’m going to need you to go to the bathroom or get me popcorn. Just obey me,’” she says. “Now I’ve totally broken them in.”

Without a doubt, The House Bunny looks like it’s going to be the funniest movie of the summer, at least to me. When I first saw the trailer earlier this year I couldn’t stop laughing … there are so many things in the trailer that are laugh out loud, riotously hilarious (like, the trick she employs to remember people’s names, for example). Anna is one of my fave comedic actresses … she is very good at what she does and I don’t think she gets the attention and lurve that she deserves. I am planning on seeing The House Bunny the day it opens … tho, I might pass on picking up this issue of Playboy ;)

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Josh Peck, the star of the new movie The Wackness, is featured in the new issue of Playboy magazine … check out his spread:

Yes … sadly Josh is fully clothed and is featured with one of those “articles” that readers of this particular magazine pretend they like to read. I’m a new Josh Peck fan since seeing him in The Wackness so I thought I’d share the pics with all y’all. After the jump, check out the rest of Josh’s pics from this issue of Playboy magazine …

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