When her nude pictures were released by the Playboy magazine without her consent or consultation back in 1980, actress Suzanne Somers flew into a rage and sued the magazine. Five years later, she agreed to pose naked for the same magazine provided that she had complete editorial control over the final product. And on Sunday, March 30, Somers said that she would like to do a nude photoshoot for her 75th birthday for the famously racy magazine. 

Speaking to Access Online, Somers, 73, said: "Maybe on my 75th birthday. Actually, that would be really cool. I would like to have Playboy — I would like Annie Leibovitz to shoot me nude for Playboy for my 75th birthday, OK? That's now on record."

She stressed the "on record" part because back in 1980, Playboy magazine went ahead and published some "test photos" of Somers without her prior approval for their February issue. As a result, just a short while after admitting on 'The Tonight Show' that she had ever posed nude for the magazine, copies of the Playboy went on stands with photos of her audition she had given in 1970, wearing nothing but a thin gold chain and a tense expression. 

The pictures almost ruined her career at the time. She was fired from the hit comedy TV show, 'Three's Company' and Ace Hardware Corp, which had a $200,000 a year contract with Somers for acting as its pitchwoman, “decided to cease using any advertising featuring Ms Somers." 

According to People Magazine, Somers never received a penny from Playboy for shooting the test shots and was “very, very hurt and embarrassed" when they were released to the public. “I’ve tried so hard to be a good person but now they’re bringing up things out of context in my life. It makes me want to cry," she said at the time.

She ended up successfully suing the outlet and won $50,000, which she proceeded to donate to charity at the time. 

Five years later, Playboy approached her again, following the huge success of their February issue. Needless to say, Somers took out her pent-up anger from the previous incident. 

"I did a lot of kicking and screaming when the magazine published the first nudes of me five years ago," said Somers, UPI had reported in 1984. "Those pictures were taken of me when I was 18. I still had a lot of baby fat. I'd just had a baby and the photographs were supposed to be a test. They were lousy pictures. I weighed 20 pounds more than I do now. I was hurt and furious when Playboy printed the pictures without my consent."

But she eventually agreed to do the nude shoot after her husband, Alan Hamel, explained to her why she should. "I told them they had their nerve after what they did to me the first time," Suzanne recalled. "But Alan and I talked it over when we got home. There were nude pictures of me out there already and they were bad. Why should they keep circulating? Why not have some good ones that show me in the best shape I've ever been in after six years on the road, doing two shows a night, six nights a week?"

However, that time around Playboy had to let Somers have the last word on the choice of photographer, poses, wardrobe and which photos appeared in the magazine. "

"I had to have 100 percent control,' Suzanne explained. "Any magazine would choose the most revealing rather than the best pictures. I made sure there were no gynecological shots. It killed the magazine to give me final approval of all photos because they were afraid it would set a precedent. But they were gents and lived up to the bargain. They redeemed themselves in my eyes."

Earlier this year, Somers went topless again, not for a professional photo shoot for a magazine but for her husband. The snaps, in which she posed half-nude in the wild went viral as soon as they were posted on social media. "I dropped my top — I was all covered. I didn't think it was a controversial picture," Somers told Access about her "Kardashian" moment. "But it became controversial. And then I thought, 'Well, that's not bad.' Because I looked like I was naked, but I wasn't."

As to why the health advocate wanted to pose for Playboy again, Somers said that she did not want to lack in the energy department just because she was aging. 

"I thought, 'Well, this is a new way to age. What I want women and men — but mostly women because we're so hard on ourselves — to know [is] it ain't over. It's how you take care of yourself going forward. We are going to live longer now. There is life extension whether you like it or not. But no one's really thinking about quality... I've been putting quality back," she said. 

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