Those in search of an explanation might also consider her politics. Money aside, why pose for Playboy?
"Sex and sexuality are a part of nature, and I go along with nature," she says. "I think Marilyn Monroe said that, and I agree with her. Knowing your body and being in touch with your body is important because it gives you confidence, and in life, women need confidence. It's a very male-dominated world, so knowing yourself and being comfortable with your body is an important thing for me as a woman. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that's mine."
So what has she learned from her youthful misadventures? Is there anything she wishes she had known way back when?
"That ultimately we are each responsible for ourselves and for our actions," she says. "Looking back, I probably would have listened to and taken more advice from the people I admire and would have followed through with it more, but my stubbornness at 18 and 19 got in the way. I've learned that time flies faster than you think, and because you only live once you have to learn from your mistakes."
A persona as large as Lindsay's deserves a special stage. So we offered her Marilyn Monroe's in this re-creation of the classic 1949 shoot by Tom Kelley, from which the first Playboy Centerfold was plucked. But before it was over, we had one more question: Having faced down jail and worked in a morgue, is there anything Lindsay's still afraid of?
"Uh, not really," she says. "You do realize I just posed nude for Playboy?"

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