Gillian Nation is Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in the magazine’s first print issue in five years.
The blonde bombshell made her debut during Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans wearing a $10 million diamond-studded Playboy bunny costume.
For the festivities, the 27-year-old also modeled a dress inspired by Monique St. Pierre’s Playboy June 1979 cover. St. Pierre was also Playmate of the Year.
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“I knew I was going to be in the magazine, but I didn’t think anything beyond that,” Nation told Fox News Digital. “No one really gave me any details. … I’m still processing it. I didn’t really understand the gravity of what it meant to be a Playmate.
“My family, my distant relatives, my boyfriend’s family, people I haven’t spoken to in years and years, they’re all congratulating me. It’s heartwarming to see how many people are so supportive.”
The men’s lifestyle magazine, which was founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953 and featured Marilyn Monroe as its first cover girl, is attempting to make a comeback after facing several tumultuous years.
While the outlet had more than 7 million readers during the ‘70s, competition and the internet reduced circulation, and the number of issues published annually was cut.
In 2015, Playboy ceased publishing images of naked women, citing the proliferation of nudity on the internet. It restored traditional risqué images in 2017. That year, Hefner died at age 91. The magazine was shuttered in 2020.
CEO Ben Kohn of Playboy Enterprises said the disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic were too much to overcome for the publication, Deadline.com reported.
Nation said she wanted to be part of “classic Playboy” as the magazine promises to feature “unforgettable photography.”
“It’s an honor to be chosen and to represent them, especially with them making this comeback,” said Nation. “I wanted to do [classic Playboy] justice. Part of that is going fully nude. I think if you’re going to do it, you embrace it. I could have done a peekaboo moment, but I felt like being part of the magazine means you do the whole thing.
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“I wanted to do right by them, and they’ve given me a lot of responsibility,” she shared. “I just want to make everybody proud.”
Playboy faces stiff competition as it attempts to return to its raunchy roots. One major competitor is OnlyFans, a subscription-based platform that allows creators to share and monetize content.
Celebrities, such as Carmen Electra, Bella Thorne, Shanna Moakler and Donna D’Errico, among others, have joined the site, where they interact with fans.
The site became popular during the early months of the pandemic when numerous sex workers joined to get paid more safely. The site has been lucrative for some, allowing them to earn thousands every month.
In August 2021, OnlyFans announced it had 130 million users and 2 million creators who have collectively earned $5 billion. That same month, the site said it suspended its initial plan to ban sexually explicit content after outcry from its creators and advocates for sex workers.
Nation said Playboy’s glossy, titillating photos, along with its candid interviews with celebrities and notable figures, have always made it stand out from the pack. Longtime fans, she argued, won’t need much convincing to return.
And for a new audience, the brand also announced it has activated e-commerce and social initiatives, encouraging their creators to “produce dynamic, fresh content across all of our distribution channels.”
“I think people will have to appreciate Playboy’s history,” said Nation. “Obviously, it can’t compete in the same way as in, I guess you could say with OnlyFans or all these different platforms where people can say, ‘You can see more.’ But that’s not really the point. The point is that it’s something classic, and that’s what it’s always been. And, so, I think that people will have to appreciate it for what it is.”
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“Honestly, anybody can make an OnlyFans,” Nation pointed out. “Anybody can post a naked photo. Anybody can do those things. I’d like to think that Playboy picks and chooses more because you’re representing the brand, and they have this history behind them. That’s why it was such an honor that they chose me.”
In the issue, Nation stripped down for a spread that pays homage to her rural Montana upbringing. She also spoke about her love of masculine men.
Nation admitted that, at first, she was hesitant to go nude.
“I didn’t want to be typecast and put in a box,” she said. “I already have a sexy look, and I work with brands that already lean on that appeal, like Guess. So, I was trying to go in the other direction and expand. … But then I thought, ‘Let’s consider it. Let’s see what happens.’
“And I did it. … They put together this beautiful mood board, which I just loved because I had made one very similar. I made one in the past summer while I was back home in Montana. I wanted to post things that I love, which are my home, horses and being at the ranch. … I just saw it as a sign. I couldn’t say no to this.”
Still, that didn’t stop the model from getting nervous.
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“I remember the night before just being like, ‘Oh my gosh, tomorrow I’m going to be completely naked around all these people,’” she said. “The day came, and we went out to this beautiful ranch in Simi Valley. … I was in my element, which is being under the sun and being around horses. It was a little gritty. And I love that. It makes me feel really sexy. … I felt so comfortable, and it was a magical day.
“I’ve always been very comfortable with my body,” she continued. “Something in me just wasn’t entirely afraid to go there. And if I was going to go there, it would be for a magazine like Playboy. It would be for something iconic and a classic. I think that also gave me confidence. … And it felt right to do it.”
Nation said she’s thrilled her decision got the stamp of approval from her boyfriend’s family.
“His folks in Georgia on his mom’s side are very conservative. They go to church every Sunday,” she said. “So many of them reached out and were just over the moon. … The magazine has been through so many different generations that the older generation appreciates it, whereas they don’t know about all these other platforms. They’d never heard of them before. … And this shoot was done in such a tasteful way.
“All of these things brought back maybe a sense of nostalgia [for them],” said Nation. “The people seeing it were able to appreciate what a big deal it was and what it meant, especially for their generation.”
Nation said that even though the Playboy brand is so recognizable, she was worried about how her loved ones would react.
“I was a little nervous to see what their responses were going to be,” she admitted. “My mom, my dad — they were proud of me. They’ve always been so supportive of everything I’ve done. They trusted my judgment, and they knew I would never do something that would embarrass them or do something that wouldn’t seem in character to me. They loved it. And it was a good hat tip to my home, which is what we wanted it to be.”
Looking back, Nation said the experience felt familiar, like being back at her ranch.
“It was very freeing,” she said. “It was very liberating.”
