Celebs strip down for a good cause

Marie Claire's annual Naked Issue, for which celebrities go nude in aid of charity, goes on sale today.

This year's cause is for burn victims and will benefit the Burn Foundation Southern Africa's outreach and educational programmes.

The magazine's biggest Naked campaign, it features 31 celebrities including musicians Locnville and Shadowclub, comedians Trevor Gumbi and Joey Rasdien, actress Lee-Anne Summers and Springbok Francois Hougaard.

Jack Parow and Jenna Pietersen are the issue's cover stars.

Marie Claire editor Aspasia Karras says an estimated 3 000 to 4 000 South Africans die because of fires every year.

She says in a statement: "Apart from people losing their lives there are also many more who suffer emotionally from the trauma and the physical scars left by fire. We hope that through this campaign people will be motivated to support the Burn Foundation Southern Africa in their efforts."

Executive director of Burn Foundation Southern Africa Bianca Annandale says: "This campaign allows celebs to feel the vulnerability a burn survivor feels all their life by baring all for all to see. Scars are never just skin deep, they imprint on our psyches as well, but that does not change the fact that beneath the scars there is a person like everyone else.

"This campaign will hopefully raise awareness that we should not allow our perceptions to be taken at face value, we should take a few moments to look further and see one another for who we are and not as we look."

Pictures for the Naked Issue were taken by Richard Keppel-Smith, and the cover by Jesse-Leigh Elford.