These days, magazines like FHM, Maxim, and even Playboy are a thing of the past. However, it wasn't too long ago that seeing a lead female actress posing in their underwear for those publications was commonplace. Usually done to promote a TV series or movie, those photoshoots became a standard way for studios to generate interest in projects among males.
Elisha Cuthbert made a name for herself starring in The Girl Next Door and 24, playing Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim, in the latter. A standout in the series, the actress was also a fixture of those magazines, but it wasn't exactly her choice.
The Happy Endings alum reflected on the pressure she felt as a young actress during an interview with Rachel Bilson on her Broad Ideas podcast. "I’ve been pretty vocal about my sort of, I don’t want to say disappointment about being in that whole circus. But there was really no option back then, though."
"You were out promoting something," Cuthbert continued. "That’s what the [film] studio wanted you to do."
"We kind of ended up in a space at the time where that was really happening. I mean, Halle Berry was doing it, for God’s sake. Jennifer Aniston was doing it. We were probably too young to be subjected to that, and feeling pressured to do that."
Cuthbert went on to point out that studios pushed her to be in those magazines because they were "viewed by 30 million people. There was no arguing that it was a way to be seen and to promote anything that you were doing at the time."
Things have since changed, thankfully, and those photoshoots are now a thing of the past. As for Cuthbert, while she's moved on from 24, she earned a whole new fanbase with Happy Endings and will next be seen in Bandit and Dear Elizabeth.