Image via Complex Original
We have it so easy these days. Who do you want to see naked? Scarlett Johansson? You got it. Rihanna? Right this way. Jessica Alba? Sure thing, as long as you don’t mind a baby bump. The Internet age has brought us unprecedented, immediately gratifying celebrity nudity. All you have to do is keep a handful of sites bookmarked and wait—sooner or later, the famous tail of your dreams will show up.
It wasn’t always like this, though. Old Hollywood actresses like Jean Harlow and Tallulah Bankhead took naked "art" pictures that were later made available, but it wasn't until Marilyn Monroe that the idea of truly unauthorized "leaks" came into play. A couple decades after her, Jackie Kennedy nudes would sweep the nation, and now we're to the point where two celebs can have nude leaks in one day and no one hardly bats an eye, as evidenced by the Olivia Munn and Christina Hendricks scandals over the weekend.
Whether it's physical film that got into the wrong hands or a cell phone that got hacked, we've tracked every instance of celebrity nudes surfacing over that past 60 years. This doesn't include consensually published shoots or sex tapes, but there's more than enough jpeg evidence of this particular phenomenon. This is The Complete History of Nude Celebrity Photo Leaks.
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Olivia Munn
Date: 3/4/2012
Exposed By: Poster at Motherless.com
Reaction: These nudes surfaced over the weekend, too. They were allegedly taken for and sent to then-boyfriend Chris Pine. They have naughty messages superimposed on them and do not show Olivia's face. She denies they're her.
Christina Hendricks
Date: 3/4/2012
Exposed By: Poster at Motherless.com
Reaction: These photos came out over the weekend. They're a mix of candid cell phone pictures, which are real, and one closeup shot of huge boobs, which Christina says aren't hers. They're nice, though.
Elizabeth Taylor
Date: 11/2/2011
Exposed By: Collector Jim Shaudis
Reaction: Photographed by actor Roddy McDowall and given to her third husband Michael Todd as a present. It's believed to be the only nude ever taken of her, and Shaudis released it the week after she died.
Madonna
Date: 10/6/2011
Exposed By: EatBlogAndDie.com
Reaction: The pictures were apparently taken in a hotel room while Madonna was in a state of undress for a photo shoot for her March 2009 cover of W magazine.
Scarlett Johansson
Date: 9/14/2011
Exposed By: Hacker Christopher Chaney
Reaction: She admitted to Vanity Fair that the pictures were of her, and seemed proud of them: "I know my best angles. They were sent to my husband. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not like I was shooting a porno. Although there's nothing wrong with that either."
Kreayshawn
Date: 8/29/2011
Exposed By: Hackers from a group called Hollywood Leaks, who took over Kreayshawn's Twitter account and tweeted the photos. They claim she wasn't underage in the pictures, instead 20, and sent them to Lil B.
Reaction: The photos were released while the MTV VMAs, in which Kreayshawn was nominated, were airing. Statement the next day on Kreayshawn's Tumblr: "My twitter got hacked today by some anti-hollywood extremists. They sent out wack ass tweets and promoted their odd message of anti-jew stuff and deleted my twitter.. Oh and they leaked out private photos of me while I was underage. Real nice guys! Spreading child-prono [sic] thats cute. VMA's was insane on top of that. Can I shit man? I ain't even mad."
Lady Gaga
Date: 8/25/2011
Exposed By: Star magazine, who obtained them from a friend of Gaga's.
Reaction: Gaga did a shoot for Japanese Vogue that was published earlier in the year. Then these Polaroids surfaced from an alternate setup -- in which she was nude and tied up. The pictures were most likely test film never meant to be seen.
Ke$ha
Date: 7/7/2010
Exposed By: Perez Hilton
Reaction: Ke$ha is what they call "implied nude" in the picture. The most scandalous part was what appears to be a bit of goo on her stomach. She played coy, denying knowledge of the photos existence, telling our very own Joe La Puma, "I go online to check email-aside from that, if I'm reading something, it's a book."
Amber Rose
Date: 2/8/2011
Exposed By: WorldstarHipHop, MediaTakeOut
Reaction: Naked pictures of Wiz Khalifa's fiancé first hit the Internet just over a year ago, via WSHH. MTO leaked another batch in June 2011, along with rumors that Amber sent the pictures to Nicki Minaj's boyfriend, which Amber has denied.
Teyana Taylor
Date: 6/10/2011
Exposed By: MediaTakeOut
Reaction: There was a story that she had sent them to Kanye as a treat on his June 8 birthday. They were posted with an image of an e-mail that said: "happy bday baby! enjoy :)" Another batch of nudes leaked last month. Teyana spoke up that time, with this long message: "Look I'm human, & just like every girl in this world, I admire my body so i take pics just like EVERY other human being. However my phone that was stolen Witch my phone was also connected to my twitter. So i guess the hacker felt the need to have a field day and leaked personal photos, and also tweet mean & hurtful things about me. I ain't gone front It really hurt my feelings that someone would be so evil and mean. I would never leak photos like that of my self. I have so many blessings and opportunities ahead of me & I have way more class & respect for my self as a young woman. So there's no need to seek attention. But I sincerely apologize to all my supporters and followers who had to witness the devil at work, and at what he does best. Karma is a $&@# but I'll let God handle that. that's it that's all."
Renee Olstead
Date: 3/14/2011
Exposed By: Possibly iheartchaos.com -- via defunct blog Deep at Sea Paradise
Reaction: None. The news disappears quicker when you don't say anything.
Christina Aguilera
Date: 12/8/2010
Exposed By: Egotastic.com
Reaction: Publicist statement: "The photos were taken in the privacy of Ms. Aguilera's home and were used only in a personal exchange between the star and her stylist," it read. "We are attempting to determine the identity of the hackers and will pursue them aggressively."
Miley Cyrus
Date: 12/1/2010
Exposed By: Canadian gossip blogger Zack Teperman
Reaction: Miley's rep denied the picture was of her, but also said legal action may be taken against Zack Taylor.
Kat Dennings
Date: 11/5/2010
Exposed By: Fleshbot.com may have been the first to post these.
Reaction: None. And why would you, with a body like that?
Jessica Alba
Date: 11/5/2010
Exposed By: Unclear, first site to post them might have been TheBlemish.com.
Reaction: Lawyers got the photos taken down from some sites.
Blake Lively
Date: 5/31/2010
Exposed By: Unidentified hackers who, following denial that it was Blake, released 17 more photos and taunted Blake's camp.
Reaction: Lawyer: "The photos of Blake Lively which have just surfaced on various websites including Perez Hilton and Zap2it.com are 100 percent FAKE. Blake has never taken nude photos of herself. Blake will pursue legal action against the publication which initially published these photographs and any other outlets that republish them in any manner."
Hayley Williams
Date: 5/27/2010
Exposed By: Herself. She was trying to DM the picture to her boyfriend but instead posted it for the public to see.
Reaction: After she took it down, she tweeted, "Well...my night just changed drastically. Got hacked."
Trina
Date: 2/28/2010
Exposed By: WorldstarHipHop, via a man in Decatur, Georgia.
Reaction: Trina lost her phone and said that there were some pictures on it she didn't want to get out. When they did, she told MTV she was "devastated." The pictures were released in a video with a rambling narration that ends with: "Bitch, we found your phone in Atlanta. You want the phone back, give us a hundred thousand cash. Put it in a PayPal account mail it to us. We in Decatur, shawty! You already know."
Ashley Greene
Date: 8/10/2009
Exposed By: Perez Hilton
Reaction: Ashley's lawyer said, "The photos in question, which appear to be of our client, are illegal and are being unlawfully displayed. Our client intends to take legal action."
Leighton Meester
Date: 6/19/2009
Exposed By: CelebHotline.com
Reaction: Denied existence of a sex tape and said, "Me being 18 in those pictures-I don't believe I was."
Cassie Ventura
Date: 5/7/2009
Exposed By: Unknown, though it is suspected Cassie or her publicist leaked them to sites to generate attention.
Reaction: Tweeted, "It seems that someone has hacked into my computer. That's real foul and evil. Now stop acting like you haven't seen a titty before."
Rihanna
Date: 5/8/2009
Exposed By: Someone using the alias "Young Turk," who leaked them to many sites.
Reaction: Months later, said, "They were for my boyfriend at the time. If you don't send your boyfriend naked pictures, then I feel bad for him."
Carrie Prejean
Date: 5/4/2009
Exposed By: TheDirty.com
Reaction: "Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith. I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be."
Adrienne Bailon
Date: 11/9/2008
Exposed By: Publicist Jonathan Jaxson
Reaction: Photos of Adrienne displaying her remarkably curvy buttocks were accompanied by a story about a laptop stolen at JFK airport and a $1000 payout by her family to get it back. Within days, the story was exposed as a fabrication cooked up by Adrienne and her publicist Jonathan Jaxson.
Gisele Bundchen
Date: 4/10/2008
Exposed By: Christie's Auction House
Reaction: It's a pretty good rule of thumb that supermodels and Victoria's Secret girls will, sooner or later, pose for nude photographs. The only exceptions to the trend were Tyra Banks and Gisele Bundchen. In 2008, Christie's blew Gisele's cover (she had publicly said that she would never pose nude) when the auction house announced a nude picture of her was among the collection put up for auction by Gert Elfering. Someone paid $193,000 for it. Note: Yes, we're aware that there is another, fully-frontal-nakeder, shot of Gisele online. We don't have any explanation for that one.
Irish McCalla
Date: February 2008
Exposed By: Antonio Vargas, Erwin Flacks, Playboy
Reaction: Gifted with a ridiculous figure, Irish McCalla was famous for playing Sheena, Queen of the Jungle on TV in the '50s. She was reportedly invited to pose nude numerous times in her career, but did so just once, in the late '40s when she was 18, in a session for reference photos for pinup artist Antonio Vargas. The photos fell into the possession of Erwin Flacks, who placed them in Playboy about 60 years later.
Vanessa Hudgens
Date: 9/6/2007
Exposed By: The existence of the photos was first reported by National Enquirer; the following week they appeared on multiple sites.
Reaction: She issued a statement that said, "I want to apologize to my fans, whose support and trust means the world to me. I am embarrassed over this situation and regret having ever taken these photos." Then more nude photos leaked in August 2009 and March 2011.
Paris Hilton
Date: 1/24/2007
Exposed By: Parisexposed.com
Reaction: This wasn't Paris's first nude rodeo. Her sex tape with ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon had already hit the Internet in 2003 and later came out on DVD. These photos of her being casually felt up by Girls Gone Wild entrepreneur Joe Francis were part of a massive stash of material that was in a storage unit she neglected to pay for, and that went online as Paris Exposed. Paris obtained an injunction to shutter the site a couple weeks later, but it reopened in June for an unspecified period of time. It is currently offline.
Louise Brooks
Date: October 2005
Exposed By: Playboy
Reaction: In 1925, emerging film star Brooks filed a lawsuit against photographer John de Mirjian to stop him from releasing nude photos he had taken of her when she was a showgirl. She reasoned that having nudes out for public consumption would make it harder for her to find a husband. According to reports, some pictures did get out, harming neither her film career not her prospects for wifehood (she got married in 1926). We can't be sure which shots were circulated at that time; this one was published in Playboy magazine many years later.
Judith Soltesz-Benetton
Date: June 2002
Exposed By: Photographer Frank Ramaesiri, Penthouse
Reaction: Judith who? Penthouse published pictures of this woman, married to the son of fashion designer Luciano Benetton, as "Anna Kournikova." Oops. Soltesz-Benetton sued for over $10 million (Penthouse settled) and Kournikova also sued. Some observers thought the "Pornikova" episode would be the death of Penthouse, but the magazine survived it.
Charlize Theron
Date: May 1999
Exposed By: Guido Argentini, Playboy
Reaction: Charlize claimed the photos, shot earlier in her career, were "for private use." She sued photographer Argentini, and won.
Laura Schlessinger
Date: October 1998
Exposed By: Bill Ballance
Reaction: Ex-lover Ballance posted nudes of Laura online through a porn site. Schlessinger sued, claiming copyright violation, but a judge ruled that she did not own the copyright.
Uma Thurman
Date: September 1996
Exposed By: Playboy
Reaction: Uma was none too amused when these paparazzi pictures showed up in the magazine, and with good reason. Running long-lens shots of the topless and nude Uma on the beach as a cover feature without her consent was out of character for Playboy. She elected not to sue or make much of a fuss, denying them the added publicity.
Vanna White
Date: 1987
Exposed By: Ex-boyfriend, Playboy
Reaction: The photos were taken in late 1982, before Vanna started her run on Wheel of Fortune. Although they were basically published without her consent, she did persuad Playboy to move them from the January issue to May, to coincide with the publication of her autibiography. Then she launched a $5.2 million lawsuit.
Vanessa Williams
Date: September 1984
Exposed By: Tom Chiapel, Penthouse
Reaction: After Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione announced he would be publishing the pictures in the September issue, Vanessa resigned from her reign as Miss America in July, before the magazine even came out. In September, she sued Chiapel and Guccione for $500 million, but later dropped the suit.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Date: August 1975
Exposed By: Playmen, Screw, Hustler
Reaction: Jackie O was photographed by paparazzo Settimio Garritano skinny dipping at her home on the Greek island of Skorpios in 1971. The following year, the pictures appeared in an Italian Playboy knockoff, and a year after that, the ever-classy Al Goldstein published them in Screw under the title "Jacqueline Kennedy's Million Dollar Muff." They were seen by the widest American audience when published in 1975 in Hustler.
Marilyn Monroe
Date: March 1952
Exposed By: Tom Kelley
Reaction: Monroe posed for a nude photo session with Kelley in 1949. Three years later, it was published in a calendar and was nearly a PR disaster for the actress, whose career had picked up in the meantime. Monroe met the scandal head-on, doing interviews in which she simply said she needed to pay the rent. A picture from this session was used in the first issue of Playboy, as Marilyn's Sweetheart of the Month photo. (The name Playmate was not used until later.)