Claudia Conway’s Playboy Bunny gig is about ‘reclaiming my womanhood’

Now that Claudia Conway has turned 18, the outspoken “wild child” daughter of former Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has announced her decision to become a Playboy Bunny and is trying to put a feminist, self-empowering spin on this career move.

“Now, as a young adult, I am aiming to reclaim my womanhood and femininity in a way that is truly mine,” said Conway in a tweet earlier this week. “I am putting myself out there in a way that is MY OWN and no one else’s. I have full control of my body and my voice.”

Claudia Conway, 18, becomes Playboy bunny: ‘I reclaim my womanhood’ https://t.co/ShquRi4c6l pic.twitter.com/zxszcgLk5x

— New York Post (@nypost) May 25, 2023

Playboy also announced this week that Conway was joining its slate of Bunnies, announcing on Instagram that she was the legendary brand’s “newest Bunny.” As Playboy has struggled to retain relevance since the rise of internet porn, the shuttering of is print magazine and the death of founder Hugh Hefner, the brand in 2020 launched its “Centerfold” feature, which offers links to its different Bunnies. CoolMaterial.com described the new “Centerfold” feature as a “sort of Playboy-branded OnlyFans,” referring to the site that originated as a place for sex workers to produce pornography.

Conway, whose father is the conservative attorney and famous anti-Trump activist George Conway, said her need for “full control” over her image stems from a time in her life when she felt she was preyed on by the media, “forced into portraying myself as something I wasn’t.”

Conway no doubt is referring to when she first burst into the pop culture consciousness at age 15 in 2020 with her viral anti-Trump TikTok posts and her statements about social justice. Conway became a darling of liberal activists and the media when she voiced strong opposition to Trump’s controversial leadership — despite her mother’s  work on his successful 2016 presidential campaign and her job in his White House. Conway explained that her mother didn’t support her TikTok content, but said she wouldn’t let her mother’s disapproval stop her from continuing to criticize the former president publicly, People reported.

After Trump lost the election, Conway become the subject of more headlines for positive and negative reasons, including concerns that the teenager was being exploited by the media and by other parties, including her own parents, savvy politicos who are known for their own attention-seeking ways.

The aspiring singer and self-described “theater kid” briefly competed on “American Idol” in early 2021, with her parents getting to appear on the show as adoring parents, cheering her on.  At the same time, Conway was in the news over her claims on social media that her mother was abusive and that she lived in a household full of strife. At one point, Conway shared videos of her mother shouting, cursing frequently, belittling, and seemingly hitting her.

The conflict soon drew the attention of police in the Conway family’s  hometown of Alpine, New Jersey, after a topless photo of Conway was reportedly posted to her mother’s official Twitter account. Within weeks, Conway backed off her abuse claims and said, “We fight like mothers and daughters, but we also love like mothers and daughters, and I do love her.”

Meanwhile, the marriage of her parents, Kellyanne and George Conway, was long the target of much speculation in Washington D.C., given their opposing views on Trump. The couple announced in March that they were in the “final stages” of an amicable divorce after 20 years of marriage, People reported. 

In July 2022, Claudia Conway made more headlines when she told her TikTok followers in a video that she identifies as queer. She told Bustle that she knew she was queer since she was 11 years old, according to People.

“I definitely have a preference for women,” she told the outlet, describing herself as pansexual. “I don’t see myself ever being with a man, ever.”

Despite publicly supporting anti-LGBTQ positions while working for Trump, Kellyanne Conway told Bustle that she unconditionally supported her daughter, People reported. “She’s loved unconditionally and she’s supported unequivocally, no matter who she loves,” Kellyanne Conway said.

There’s no word yet on how Kellyanne and George Conway feel about their daughter becoming a Playboy Bunny. But they probably know that Claudia Conway will do what she’s going to do, no matter what they think.