Alba: Never about money

Los Angeles, April 5 (Reuters): Film star Jessica Alba forgave Playboy magazine yesterday for making her an unwitting cover girl after founder Hugh Hefner sent the actor a personal apology and pledged to donate money to her favourite charities.

Alba had threatened to sue Playboy after the men’s magazine printed a photo of the bikini-clad actress from her 2005 movie Into the Blue on the cover of its March issue ? which she said duped readers into thinking she was nude inside.

“In light of Hefner’s personal apology for Playboy’s unauthorised use of my photo on their cover, I have decided to discontinue my claims against them,” Alba, 24, said in a written statement.

“This was never about money, it was about setting the record straight about something that was done without my knowledge or consent,” she added.

Alba’s lawyers, who claimed that Playboy tricked Sony Pictures Entertainment into supplying the photo after the Fantastic Four star refused to pose for the cover, had also asked that the magazine pull the March issue from newsstands.

A spokeswoman for Playboy was not immediately available for comment. The magazine initially had claimed to have “done nothing wrong” in giving cover treatment to Alba, who was chosen “sexiest star of the year” by Playboy readers in an online poll.

In his letter to Alba, Hefner apologised for “any distress unintentionally caused by the publication of your photo” on the March cover.

“What was intended as a tribute to your tremendous popularity has been misinterpreted by some as something else for which we are truly sorry since we are among your biggest fans,” Hefner said.