Hugh Hefner
"Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner is alive and healthy.Reuters

Playboy, the American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, has ended its ban on nudity and will now be returning to its roots. The magazine will bring back nudes after banning full frontal shots last year claiming that it had become outdated.

Playboy magazine's first nude photo in a year will be revealed in the March/April edition. They released the magazine cover this week on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with the headline "Naked is Normal." The cover photo features Elizabeth Elam baring it all.

Playboy
The March/April 2017 cover of March 2017 Playmate features Elizabeth ElamReuters

"I'll be the first to admit that the way in which the magazine portrayed nudity was dated, but nudity was never the problem because nudity isn't a problem," Playboy's chief creative officer Cooper Hefner, son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, said in a statement on the magazine's website.

"Today we're taking our identity back and reclaiming who we are," added Cooper.

Former Baywatch actor Pamela Anderson bared it all for the January-February 2016 issue of the magazine. The cover photo was the last cover photo featuring an actor or model naked. The magazine decided to ban the nude photos claiming that it had become outdated due to the availability of porn on the Internet.

"Playboy and the idea of non-nudity is sort of an oxymoron," said magazine expert Samir Husni, according to AP. "They are always going to have the stereotype as a nude magazine. The people who grew up with Playboy magazine are starting to fade away so they will have to figure out what the millennial generation wants in the 21st century if they are going to survive," Husni said.

The magazine is stereotyped as a nude magazine, but there are a few iconic covers that made headlines for its non-nudity. Here is a look at a few iconic covers published from its first issue when Hugh Hefner and Eldon Sellers launched the magazine in December 1953.

December 1953 issue featured Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

July 1955 issue featured Janet Pilgrim in the magazine's first bikini photoshoot

Janet Pilgrim
Janet Pilgrim

May 1964 cover photo featured Playmate of the Year Donna Michelle, who recreated the Rabbit Head logo pose 

Playmate of the Year Donna
Playmate of the Year Donna

June 1965 issue featured Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress

October 1971 issue featured first African American model Darine Stern

African American model Darine Stern
African American model Darine Stern

June 1993 issue featured Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith

January 2005 issue featured Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy

April 2009 issue featured actor Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen
Playboy cover page featuring Seth Rogen

January / February 2014 issue featured Kate Moss

Kate Moss
Kate Moss