Jessica Alba

Actress Jessica Alba wants her bikini-clad image removed from the cover of this month's Playboy.

The Smoking Gun obtained a letter from Columbia Pictures to the men's magazine's legal department claiming the publication used "unethical behaviour to obtain the photograph of Jessica Alba (a still used for the promotion of her film "Into the Blue") that was used without authorization."

The 24-year old actress wants Playboy to stop circulating the March issue and is seeking a "monetary settlement" for damaging her reputation by implying she's nude or semi-nude in the magazine.

Alba is included in the 25 sexiest celebrities spread and does not appear nude.

"Playboy has violated my personal rights and blatantly misled the public who might think I had given permission to put me on their cover when I didn't," Alba says in a statement released Wednesday. "I'm simply protecting my personal rights and I hope that they will think twice before they try to do this to someone else."

Playboy responded to Alba's claims with a statement of their own saying that Alba "was chosen as the sexiest star of the year by our readers through a poll conducted online. Many celebrities have appeared on the cover of Playboy, but not nude, including Christie Brinkley, Paris Hilton, Dolly Parton, Raquel Welch, Claudia Schiffer, Barbra Streisand, Brooke Shields, Goldie Hawn, Jerry Seinfeld and Donald Trump."

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