Lindsay Lohan is following in the unclad footsteps of the most famous blond bombshell of them all -- Marilyn Monroe.

In the issue of New York magazine on sale Monday, the 21-year-old star poses nude for photographer Bert Stern in a recreation of a famous Monroe photo shoot.

Stern photographed Monroe in 1962 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, six weeks before she was found dead from an overdose of barbiturates. Stern recreated those images with Lohan at the same hotel, with Lohan wearing a blond wig and not much else.

Lohan said deciding to do the photo shoot was easy.

"I didn't have to put much thought into it. I mean, Bert Stern? Doing a Marilyn shoot? When is that ever going to come up? It's really an honor," she told the magazine.

Lohan described Monroe's death as "tragic" and said it, along with the Jan. 22 death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, "are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone."

The actress, who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken-driving and cocaine charges, said, "I sure ... wouldn't let it happen to me."

Stern told The Associated Press he thought the photo shoot would give the young actress a chance to be seen as a grown-up. He also lauded her for her willingness to do it in the nude.

"I thought she was a natural, not at all squeamish," he said.

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Compiled by Kester Alleyne-Morris from Tribune news services and staff reports.