I was still a baby when The Blue Lagoon was released, but when I finally saw it on VHS when I was older, I was in lust with Christopher Atkins. Looking back, he was really whored out in the press, especially in magazines. Things are different today as I find it hard to believe that any mainstream magazine in 2026 would dare put an 18 year old in a loin cloth on the cover. I shared previously my experience of first seeing Atkins in a loincloth on the cover of People.
I remember first seeing the issue in a pile of old magazines in my neighbours basement that I was getting paid to help clean. I was hypnotized by the image, and kept looking for moments to take a peak. I so wanted to steal it, but was nervous, and an opportunity never arose.
I remember making up an excuse to go down into the basement a few weeks later, plan set to find the issue, but that pile of magazines was gone, most likely thrown out in the clean up. Months later however, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy at the bottom of a pile of magazine in my dentist's waiting room.
I was getting braces at the time, and knew that waiting room inside and out. I stuck the magazine between two chairs to hide while I went in for my fittings. All through the appointment, I kept worrying the magazine would not be there when I was done. I was scared and nervous, but managed to complete my plan, and quickly grabbed it as I headed out the door. It wasn't just any magazine, it was a magazine with a cover that revealed a secret I wasn't yet fully aware I was hiding.
Although magazines like GQ and Esquire push the envelope with sexual stories, their covers have remained shockingly chaste. Sacha Baron Cohen posed nude as his alter ego, the Austrian fashion reporter Brüno, for the July 2009 cover of GQ. According to the magazine, Brüno was the first subject to appear completely naked on its cover. I believe Nick Offerman's butt was the first male butt to appear on the cover of Esquire in 2015.
Vanity Fair is another mainstream magazine that pushes boundaries with their content, but I think the most memorable male implied nude was in 1993. Sylvester Stallone sat for photographer Annie Leibovitz, posing in the nude in the posture of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker. Although actor Barry Keoghan bared his butt for the magazine's 30th annual Hollywood issue, it was strictly for on-line promotion. On the actual cover, he was fully dressed. (and on the inside flap)
Although there have been other implied male nudes on Vanity Fair, many were for International editions. Roberto Bolle was photographed by Bruce Weber for a 2014 issue, but the implied nude shot only made the cover in International editions.
Although Rolling Stone often got musicians naked for implied nudes inside the magazine, their covers most featured implied nudes from TV Personalities.
John Lennon bared his butt on two Rolling Stone covers The first in November 23, 1968. It was an early anniversary issue featuring a naked photo of John and Yoko (tying into their Two Virgins album artwork, The second was in January 22, 198. The featured the famous naked Lennon and clothed Yoko Ono fetal-position portrait taken by Annie Leibovitz just hours before his death.
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