This article contains references to emotional abuse and graphic claims of sexual assault.
Last week, a documentary called Secrets of Playboy premiered in the US, unveiling alarming accusations about the late Hugh Hefner – including allegations of rape, bestiality, and blackmail.
The Playboy brand is no longer affiliated with the Hefner family after the Mountain Crest conglomerate paid $381 million for the franchise in 2021. Still, in anticipation of the documentary, Playboy's new owners released a statement supporting “the individuals who have come forward to share their experiences” and reiterating that “today’s Playboy is not Hugh Hefner’s Playboy.”
It begs the question: what was “Hugh Hefner's Playboy?" And why has it taken the release of a documentary, five years after his death, for us to find out?
The idea that women don't deserve their fame because they made a sex tape is rooted in misogyny.
In 1953, 27-year-old Hefner started Playboy magazine. The first issue had a photo of Marilyn Monroe on the cover, with the sub-title, “First time in any magazine / Full Color / The famous Marilyn Monroe Nude.”
The magazine cultivated a reputation for publishing highbrow fiction, long-form articles, and – of course – nude profiles of women. Its success enabled Hefner to transform Playboy into what we'd now probably call a ‘lifestyle brand’. This included transforming his home into the “Playboy Mansion,” where Hefner lived until his death in 2017.
On the surface, it appeared that living in the Playboy mansion was akin to living the dream. It had a “grotto”, which featured a waterfall for pool parties, as well as a permanent fireworks permit, and even a zoo licence. The catch? To live there you had to abide by Hefner's “cult-like” orders, which involved curfews, restrictions on seeing family and friends, and engaging in sexual relations with Hefner and some of his “VIP guests" – according to allegations made in Secrets of Playboy.
“It is not unusual for the defence to make an application for third party disclosure of a victim’s sensitive and private medical records in criminal proceedings.”
In a preview clip of the new documentary, Holly Madison, one of Hefner's ex-girlfriends, said that she and other women in the mansion were "gaslit and expected to think of Hef as, like, this really good guy," adding that, "And you started to feel like: ‘Oh he’s not what they say in the media, he’s just a nice man.’”
She continued, saying it was “so easy to get isolated from the outside world [in the mansion] You had a 9 o’clock curfew. You were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren’t really allowed to leave unless it was like a family holiday."
In the documentary itself, Holly explained “When I lived at the mansion, I was afraid to leave […] Something that was always lingering at the back of my mind, I think since the very beginning, was that if I left there was this mountain of revenge porn waiting to come out.”
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As disturbing as these allegations are, they're seemingly only the tip of the iceberg. Sondra Theodore, another of Hefner's ex-girlfriends, alleges that “[Hefner] had tapes on everyone,” adding that Hefner would lie about the recordings.
Stefan Tetenbaum, Hefner's valet from 1978 to 1981, confirmed this account, saying in the documentary, “Hefner taped everything in his bedroom and many men and stars and athletes came into the bedroom and had sex with these girls," later adding, “Many of the girls were devastated after what they were expected to do, what they were forced to do.”
Perhaps one of the most devastating claims of what women were allegedly subjected to in the Playboy mansion comes from Linda Lovelace, who alleges in the documentary that she was drugged and forced to perform oral sex on a dog while Hefner and others watched.
PJ Masten, a former “Playboy Bunny Mother,” backed up the claim, saying, “All the guys were laughing when she got out of the limousine. She was drunk and drugged […] They got her so messed up they made her give the German shepherd oral sex. You want to talk about depravity? This is despicable!”
Miki Garcia, a former Playmate and head of promotions, summed it up when she told an interviewer, "The women had been groomed and led to believe they were part of this family. And he really did believe he owned these women.”
It feels genuinely baffling that a project can both be so aware of how devastating these events were for a woman, and feel justified in dredging them all up again.
Secrets of Playboy is not the first time former ‘Playmates’ have spoken out about Hefner's culture of control and abuse. In her 2006 book Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion, former playmate Izabella St. James described how Hefner exerted financial and emotional control over the women, writing (via The Mirror), "We had to go to Hef's room, wait while he picked up all the dog poo off the carpet — and then ask for our allowance.
"We all hated this process. Hef would always use the occasion to bring up anything he wasn't happy about in the relationship. Most of the complaints were about the lack of harmony among the girlfriends — or your lack of sexual participation in the 'parties' he held in his bedroom.
“If we'd been out of town for any reason and missed one of the official 'going out' nights he wouldn't want to give us the allowance. He used it as a weapon.”
Moreover, in Holly Madison's 2015 book Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures And Cautionary Tales Of A Former Playboy Bunny, she alleges that Hefner offered her horse tranquilisers, which he referred to as “thigh openers” before sex, adding that, “I learned Hef was the manipulator and that he pitted us against one another.”
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Where was the public outcry when these women came forward? Did we not believe them? Sadly, it's far more likely that they were believed, we just chose not to care – or even worse, believed they deserved it.
Women who openly embrace their sexuality have long been slut-shamed for their choices. And the women who lived in the Playboy mansion were certainly exposed to this toxic rhetoric. At the peak of Playboy's success, the overwhelming narrative was that the playmates choose their lifestyle to advance their careers or to access Hefner's wealth. While Hefner was regarded as a classic bachelor: a little on the pervy side but, ultimately, harmless.
Thankfully, Secrets of Playboy firmly challenges this perception, once and for all. Hefner died before the #MeToo movement gained momentum and never faced criminal charges or accountability for his alleged abusive behaviour. There's a crumb of comfort from knowing that, although he will never answer for his alleged crimes, Hefner's reputation will never recover from this documentary.
Every single woman who walked through the Playboy mansion doors deserved better. And that's what makes this documentary series so important: it finally passes the mic to survivors. It's our turn to listen.
Secrets of Playboy is not currently available to watch in the UK. We'll keep you posted if and when that changes.
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For more information about emotional abuse and domestic violence, you can call The Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge on 0808 2000 247.
For more information about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you can contact Rape Crisis.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
