Playboy Announces First Transgender Playmate

Playboy Magazine announced its November issue will feature the magazine’s first transgender Playmate: French model Ines Rau.

“It’s how I celebrated my coming out, actually,” the model said in a Playboy announcement. “I took that chance, and then I signed with an agency.

The move from Playboy comes just weeks after the death of the magazine’s founder, Hugh Hefner. The media icon died on September 27. The November issue pays tribute to Hefner on the magazine’s cover.

“I always knew from within, when I was a little kid in my room in the ghetto, that a beautiful destiny was waiting for me,” Rau stated. “I don’t know how to explain it. A little voice was telling me, ‘You’ll see. Patience.’ ”

The model claims to be a “tenacious advocate” on a variety of causes but says, “I will always fight for LGBTQ rights and women’s rights, but above everything else, my cause is the environment. Nothing touches me more than fighting against global warming. I was made to fight for the planet—the forest, the animals, the air. If I get famous, that’s my first battle.”

Rau says the photo shoot for Playboy is a compliment. “Am I really going to be a Playmate—me?” Rau asked. “It’s the most beautiful compliment I’ve ever received. It’s like getting a giant bouquet of roses.”