Hugh Hefner may well have surprised, and in some cases disappointed, his readers in the month of November with his choice of cover girl, Marge Simpson, but if rumours are to be believed he could be reprieving himself with his annual celebrity December issue.

Apparently, the American Pie actress, Tara Reid, attended a Playboy shoot recently sparking speculation that she’ll be the celebrity face of December Playboy 2009.

Tara made her trip to Playboy last week despite having had a very bad liposuction procedure five years ago which has since left her suffering with body image issues. “She is really shy about getting the Playboy gig,” said a source. “She’s scared to talk about it because of what people and the press might say. But she’s doing so well, she looks amazing.”

If 33 year old Tara is seen gracing the cover of Playboy December 2009 she will be joining an exclusive club of December cover girls which includes, Raquel Welch, Shannon Doherty, Brooke Shields and Kim Kardashian.

One of the most celebrated, beautiful women in the world, despite having been born in 1940, Raquel Welch still commands the attention of both young and older men alike.

Raquel succeeded in becoming the bench mark for all beautiful women from the outset when at an early age she entered beauty pageants and began modeling for Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas.

Raquel had an ambition to become an actress and, after divorcing her husband, she took her, and her two children off to Hollywood, California, where Welch’s talents as an actress were soon spotted and where her first featured role came in the beach film A Swingin’ Summer, which led to a contract with 20th Century Fox.

Miss Welch‘s sex symbol status of the 1960s and 1970s saw her gaining the attention of Playboy published Hugh Hefner who offered the star of One Million Years B.C. a feature entitled the “Most Desired Woman” of the 1970s. Raquel featured on the cover of Playboy’s Christmas Gala magazine in December 1979.

Although Raquel became known as a sex kitten on both the screen and in several publications, including one for Playboy, Welch never appeared nude in a film or posed nude for a magazine.

Since Raquel’s appearance in Playboy magazine, her daughter Tahnee Welch has also followed in her mother’s footsteps appearing on the cover of Playboy magazine November 1995.