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‘Wheel of Fortune’ Star Vanna White Reveals Regret, Major Life Lesson Over Playboy Photos: ‘Listen to Your Instincts’

Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images for PLAYERS INC
Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images for PLAYERS INC
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By Billy Hallowell
Contributor | Pure Flix

March 30, 2017

Vanna White has been an American pop culture staple for more than three decades, appearing as the well-known letter-turner on the ever-popular game show “Wheel of Fortune.”

And in a recent interview with Fox News, White, 60, dove into a variety of topics, including her TV success, her path to Hollywood — and one of her biggest regrets: taking photos that ended up in Playboy magazine.

READ: Disturbing Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Released Hours After Felony Charges Filed Against Pro-Life Activists

When asked about the photos that were published in the men’s magazine back in 1987, White offered up a candid explanation, telling Fox News that the images were actually taken a few years before their publication by a man who was not associated with Playboy.

It was a photoshoot that unfolded during a time in which White was newly in Hollywood and desperate for money.

My first day on Wheel in 1982! Still love my job and working with Pat. #weareateam #hostandhostess #wheeloffortune

A post shared by Vanna White (@officialvannawhite) on Dec 8, 2016 at 6:54am PST

“When I first moved to Hollywood, I was too embarrassed to ask my dad for rent money. I was young and I wanted to do it on my own,” she recalled. “So, I did these lingerie shots and from the moment I said I would do them, I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m not going to ask my dad for money, so I’m just going to do it!'”

White said it was after she landed her gig with “Wheel of Fortune” that Playboy founder Hugh Hefner purchased the photos and then decided to put her on the cover of the magazine.

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“He’s the one who put me on the cover of the magazine,” she told Fox News. “I didn’t do it for Playboy. I did not want them on there, but it happened.”

White, who filed two lawsuits — a $5.2 million complaint against Playboy and a federal lawsuit against Hefner — later dropped the lawsuits, and instead went on TV to try and apologize to the public, as The Washington Post reported.

#TBT 1987. I was standing in line at the grocery store and saw myself on the cover of Newsweek. That was the moment I realized I had made it in Hollywood. #onthecover #newsweek #proudmoment #magazinecover

A post shared by Vanna White (@officialvannawhite) on Aug 25, 2016 at 11:35am PDT

“I remember going on ‘Johnny Carson’ and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, this is what happened.’ And this is a lesson that applies today: Never do anything that you don’t want to do,” White told Fox. “Listen to your instincts and follow it. I said, ‘I made a mistake, I’m sorry and I just hope I don’t lose my job over it.'”

In the end, White said she learned an important lesson and was fortunately able to keep her beloved job — a position she still holds decades later.

“I did something I shouldn’t have done,” she concluded.

—

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