For the first time in Playboy magazine's 64-year history, a transgender model will grace its centerfold, ABC News reports.
Twenty-six-year-old French model Ines Rau will appear as the "Playboy Playmate" in the magazine's November/December issue.
"I lived a long time without saying I was transgender," Rau told Playboy. "I dated a lot and almost forgot. I was scared of never finding a boyfriend and being seen as weird."
Playboy's Chief Creative Officer, 26-year-old Cooper Hefner, made the call to feature Rau as a playmate in an issue honoring his father Hugh Hefner's legacy. The older Hefner died last month at age 91.
"(It) very much speaks to the brand’s philosophy," Hefner, 26, told The New York Times. "It’s the right thing to do. We’re at a moment where gender roles are evolving ... This is really a moment for us to take a step back and say that so much of what the brand stood for in the early years is very much still alive in culture."
While it's a historic moment for the magazine, The New York Times pointed out that Caroline (Tula) Cossey, a transgender English model, appeared in the magazine in 1981 and again in 1991 after she was outed by a British tabloid. Rau also previously appeared in Playboy in 2014.
