The Hills' Audrina Not Playboy-Bound

Reality-TV star says she's learned her lesson since posing nude years ago; rep denies pics were for Playboy

By Natalie Finn Mar 20, 2008 2:00 PMTags

Better suited to The Hills, Audrina Patridge now finds herself on a slippery slope. 

The reality-TV star's rep on Wednesday denied rumors that the photographs of Lauren Conrad's scantily clad galpal that showed up online recently were intended for Playboy

In fact, the pictures were taken nearly five years ago, Patridge's rep, Jennifer Shoucair, told E! News. 

(Meaning, it's still possible that a group of barely legal starlets once decided en masse that it would be a good idea to take practically nude photos of themselves and just hope that no one with ulterior motives decided to post the pics online.) 

"I took these photos years ago when I was just out of high school and beginning to model," the now 22-year-old Patridge said in a statement. "I was young and very trusting of others and I didn't know to protect myself. It is a lesson learned, for myself, and hopefully for the young girls who look up to me."

In a posting to her MySpace page Wednesday, the Hills star said she was "not ashamed" of the racy pics.

"I intended them to be artistic and not in any way provocative," she wrote. "The photos were for personal and portfolio use only and not meant to be seen by the public...I thought that to be a model you had to be comfortable in front of the camera."

She ended her posting by expressing her hope that her young fans would not "think they have to do what I did. I hope people can learn from my inexperience."

The website that claimed to have the exclusive on Patridge's early modeling job identifies her as being 19 at the time, throwing the exact timeline into question, but at least no child labor laws appear to have been broken. 

And it's unlikely that Patridge's past mistake will affect her standing with the MTV crowd, especially considering High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens had a similarly publicized lapse in judgment and is now getting millions to reprise her teen sweetheart role in the third installment of Disney's smash hit franchise.