Carmen Electra has been part of Playboy’s world for three decades. Her latest return came with a new role and something else for the collection, another Bunny costume.
The 54-year-old actress and model appeared in Playboy’s Summer 2026 issue, exactly 30 years after making her magazine debut in 1996. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Electra said she estimates she has appeared on more than 150 international and regional Playboy covers and joked, “I’m kind of collecting bunny costumes at this point.”
For a May appearance at The Abbey’s 35th anniversary celebration in West Hollywood, Playboy dressed her in a leopard-print Roberto Cavalli Bunny costume. Getting into it was considerably less effortless than the finished look suggested.
Electra also took on a new role as a guest advice columnist, answering reader questions about dating, confidence and reinvention during a year that brought another familiar franchise back into her life with the sixth Scary Movie.
The Return Came With a Leopard-Print Bunny Suit
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Electra said Playboy brought over several Bunny costumes when she needed a look for The Abbey’s 35th anniversary celebration in West Hollywood. She settled on the leopard-print Roberto Cavalli version, complete with matching ears, bow tie, cuffs and sheer black tights.
She already owned another Bunny costume, which led to the joke about collecting them. The new outfit, however, needed extensive tailoring before she could wear it out. Electra remembered a seamstress working with her for much of the day, repeatedly sewing the costume, taking it off, making another adjustment and putting it back on until the fit was extremely tight. Once she was actually wearing it, comfort was not exactly part of the design.
“When you’re actually wearing the costume, you cannot breathe,” Electra told Entertainment Weekly. She recalled being told that, because she was a celebrity, she would be allowed slightly more room than a traditional Playmate would have received.
The May 20 appearance also provided an early public clue that her relationship with Playboy was active again. While leaving The Abbey celebration, Electra confirmed that she had recently shot for the magazine, weeks before the Summer 2026 feature was unveiled.
Playboy Brought Her Back as a Guest Advice Columnist Too
The Summer 2026 issue gave Electra a different job alongside the photographs. As a guest advisor, she responded to readers asking about relationships, attraction, confidence and changing parts of their lives they were no longer happy with.
In the Playboy feature, that meant moving between dating questions and broader advice about confidence and personal reinvention. Electra has also pushed back against the idea that reaching a certain age should determine what someone is allowed to wear, try or enjoy.
While discussing the new Playboy appearance at 54, she argued that people should not allow someone else to decide they are too old for something they still want to do. The shoot, photographed by Max Montgomery, paired the advice feature with fishnet, lace and leather-inspired looks.
Her Playboy History Goes Back to a 1996 Pictorial
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Electra first appeared in Playboy in a May 1996 pictorial, when she was 24. She returned to the U.S. magazine several more times over the following years, including appearances in 1997, 2000, 2003 and the January 2009 anniversary issue. Not all of those appearances were covers.
Playboy promoted the return as her first appearance in nearly 20 years. The new photography includes a shredded minidress layered over a studded bra, a long-sleeved mesh look with lace accents and a sheer fishnet bodysuit. Page Six reported when the images were unveiled in July that the Summer issue would be released July 28.
‘Scary Movie’ Gave Electra Another 2026 Homecoming
Playboy was not the only piece of Electra’s earlier career to return this year. She also appeared in the sixth Scary Movie, rejoining a franchise she helped launch in 2000 and later revisited in Scary Movie 4.
Electra appears in the new film’s opening sequence as a bartender serving an increasingly agitated character played by Teyana Taylor. The cameo reunited her with the Wayans brothers, who returned to creative control of the franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2.
Electra told Entertainment Weekly that working with the Wayans family again was “amazing.” She remembered missing their involvement even while making the fourth movie and credited their particular style of comedy with helping make the original film a worldwide hit.