Photo:Elisabetta Villa/Getty
Elisabetta Villa/Getty
SinceHefner’s death in 2017 at age 91, however, many of his former girlfriends from the ’70s and beyond have gone on the record to say that his prowess in the bedroom was greatly exaggerated (in addition to more serious allegations,addressed in theA&EdocuseriesSecrets of Playboy). From his last wife Crystal Hefner saying in her memoir that Hef seemed “less sex-savvy than some of the teenage boys I’d been with years ago” to Madison and Marquardt breaking down the perfunctory “chore” of having sex with him, read on for everything the former Playboy bunnies and Hefner’s employees have said about how bad it really was.
01of 12’Odd and Robotic’Hugh Hefner and Crystal Hefner attend Playboy Mansion’s Annual Halloween Bash at The Playboy Mansion on October 25, 2014.Charley Gallay/GettyHugh Hefner’s last wife, Crystal, met him when she was 21 and he was 60 years her senior; they wed five years later. In her bookOnly Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, she writes about her time in the Playboy Mansion — including the “odd and robotic” sex Hefner required of her and the other girls around at the time.“This was a well-oiled and well-practiced sequence of events. One that went the same exact way every time,” Crystal writes. “Picking some girls from the party and bringing them up. Changing into the uniform for the job: silk pajamas. The dimming of the lights. The music. The porn. Passing the pot. And then the sex.”She adds it was “like Hef was just going through the motions of something that had once been fun and sexy. Or maybe it was never fun and sexy.”
01of 12
‘Odd and Robotic’
Hugh Hefner and Crystal Hefner attend Playboy Mansion’s Annual Halloween Bash at The Playboy Mansion on October 25, 2014.Charley Gallay/Getty
Charley Gallay/Getty
Hugh Hefner’s last wife, Crystal, met him when she was 21 and he was 60 years her senior; they wed five years later. In her bookOnly Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, she writes about her time in the Playboy Mansion — including the “odd and robotic” sex Hefner required of her and the other girls around at the time.
“This was a well-oiled and well-practiced sequence of events. One that went the same exact way every time,” Crystal writes. “Picking some girls from the party and bringing them up. Changing into the uniform for the job: silk pajamas. The dimming of the lights. The music. The porn. Passing the pot. And then the sex.”
She adds it was “like Hef was just going through the motions of something that had once been fun and sexy. Or maybe it was never fun and sexy.”
02of 12
‘Little Blue Pill Nights’
Crystal Hefner and Hugh Hefner at the Playmate of the Year Luncheon honoring Raquel Pomplun on May 9, 2013.Kevan Brooks/Admedia/Sipa/Shutterstock
Kevan Brooks/Admedia/Sipa/Shutterstock
03of 12’It Was Hell’Donald Miralle/GettyHolly Madison and herGirls Next Doorcostar Bridget Marquardt co-host a podcast calledGirls Next Level,and in a few early episodes, reflected on their time in the bedroom with Hefner.Reiterating a common theme – that the girls thought of it as a chore and wanted to get through it quickly — Madison added that the voyeuristic aspect of having other “girlfriends” watching made it especially unpleasant for her.“He wouldn’t move. He would be like a bump on the log in the middle of the bed. I can’t explain to you guys how embarrassing that whole routine was. Especially as we got later down the road when there would be, like, a lot of conflict with the other girls,” she said,according to theNew York Post. “You’re literally sitting there naked having sex in front of a group of people who hate you and talk s— about you while you’re having sex, and you can hear it. It was just, like, hell.”
03of 12
‘It Was Hell’
Donald Miralle/Getty
Holly Madison and herGirls Next Doorcostar Bridget Marquardt co-host a podcast calledGirls Next Level,and in a few early episodes, reflected on their time in the bedroom with Hefner.
Reiterating a common theme – that the girls thought of it as a chore and wanted to get through it quickly — Madison added that the voyeuristic aspect of having other “girlfriends” watching made it especially unpleasant for her.
“He wouldn’t move. He would be like a bump on the log in the middle of the bed. I can’t explain to you guys how embarrassing that whole routine was. Especially as we got later down the road when there would be, like, a lot of conflict with the other girls,” she said,according to theNew York Post. “You’re literally sitting there naked having sex in front of a group of people who hate you and talk s— about you while you’re having sex, and you can hear it. It was just, like, hell.”
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Denise Truscello/WireImage
On the same podcast,Marquardt said that Hefner kept a diaryto keep tabs on the girls.
“The black book kept track of a few different things,” Marquardt said. “It kept track of when somebody collected their allowance. He would mark it off so you couldn’t ask for it twice. It also kept track of who slept with him and when.”
She and Madison said they heard of other girls getting called out for lack of participation: “He’d be like, ‘Oh, you’ve been on your period for three weeks.' "
05of 12’You Couldn’t Satisfy Him’Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via GettySondra Theodore, who was Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend from 1976 to 1981,recounted in A&E’sSecrets of Playboythat though their relationship started off straightforwardly enough, Hef’s growing fame and reputation asthe"Playboy” led his demands to escalate, eventually “breaking [her] like you would break a horse.““He scared me a lot at the end because you couldn’t satisfy him — he had to have more and more and more,” she recalled. “I might as well have been a vibrator, I might as well have been a sex toy — because that’s what it was. And nobody knew the hell I was in.”
05of 12
‘You Couldn’t Satisfy Him’
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Sondra Theodore, who was Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend from 1976 to 1981,recounted in A&E’sSecrets of Playboythat though their relationship started off straightforwardly enough, Hef’s growing fame and reputation asthe"Playboy” led his demands to escalate, eventually “breaking [her] like you would break a horse.”
“He scared me a lot at the end because you couldn’t satisfy him — he had to have more and more and more,” she recalled. “I might as well have been a vibrator, I might as well have been a sex toy — because that’s what it was. And nobody knew the hell I was in.”
06of 12’Get It Over with as Quickly as Possible’Denise Truscello/WireImageWhen she was first recruited, Holly Madison was surprised to find out that she and a number of girls would be chosen that night to put on matching pajamas and line up for their turn with Hefner. All of them “tried to get it over with as quickly as possible,“she writes in her memoirDown the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny.“When I think about it now, it’s almost comical. Every red-blooded American male has no doubt fantasized about what went on in Hugh Hefner’s bedroom with his harem of blond bombshells. The answer? Not a whole lot,” Madison writes, noting that she was encouraged to “fake” it to move things along: “My turn was over just as quickly as it had started.”
06of 12
‘Get It Over with as Quickly as Possible’
When she was first recruited, Holly Madison was surprised to find out that she and a number of girls would be chosen that night to put on matching pajamas and line up for their turn with Hefner. All of them “tried to get it over with as quickly as possible,“she writes in her memoirDown the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny.
“When I think about it now, it’s almost comical. Every red-blooded American male has no doubt fantasized about what went on in Hugh Hefner’s bedroom with his harem of blond bombshells. The answer? Not a whole lot,” Madison writes, noting that she was encouraged to “fake” it to move things along: “My turn was over just as quickly as it had started.”
07of 12
‘Hoarder-Style’ Bedroom
Yann Gamblin/Paris Match/Getty
Many “girlfriends” have commented on the mess in Hef’s bedroom, including Madison and Marquardt, who discussed the ‘disaster’ on theirGirls Next Levelpodcast.
Madison agreed: “It was just hoarder-style. Imagine thinking you’re this big player and you’re bringing all these girls home, and your room looks like s—. It’s like the weird eccentric millionaire version of the guy with the mattress on the floor and aPulp Fictionposter.”
In her memoir,Crystal shared similar thoughts: “Everything was moldy and dusty and it was just hoarder central in the mansion.”
08of 12’I Had to Pick Up the Dildos from the Floor’Ron Tom/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesInan interview for A&E’sSecrets of Playboy, Hefner’s former valet Stefon Tetelbaum recounted the process of retrieving the used sex toys after one of the bedroom sessions and getting them ready for the next one.“I had to put on rubber gloves and pick up the dildos from the floor and put them in a special bucket,” explained Tetenbaum. “The maids would take them downstairs, spray them with a steam cleaner to sterilize them and then put them in plastic bags. I would carry them back upstairs and put them back in the headboard.”
08of 12
‘I Had to Pick Up the Dildos from the Floor’
Ron Tom/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Inan interview for A&E’sSecrets of Playboy, Hefner’s former valet Stefon Tetelbaum recounted the process of retrieving the used sex toys after one of the bedroom sessions and getting them ready for the next one.
“I had to put on rubber gloves and pick up the dildos from the floor and put them in a special bucket,” explained Tetenbaum. “The maids would take them downstairs, spray them with a steam cleaner to sterilize them and then put them in plastic bags. I would carry them back upstairs and put them back in the headboard.”
09of 12
‘He Had Tapes on Everyone’
Inthe A&E docuseries, Theodore said that Hefner had cameras in his bedroom and if a girl objected, would pretend to turn them off — but the tapes would surface days later anyway.
According to Tetenbaum, “Hefner taped everything in his bedroom and many men and stars and athletes came into the bedroom and had sex with these girls. Most of the time Hefner never participated. He just watched, he was a voyeur.”
The use of videos and photos as blackmail continued for decades; Madison said in the documentary she knew that he kept photos of hundreds of girls for just that purpose.
In 2022,Crystal shared on Twitter that she’d discovered and destroyed those pictures: “I found thousands of those disposable camera photos you are talking about … I immediately ripped them up and destroyed every single one of them for [Madison] and the countless other women in them. They’re gone.”
10of 12’Like Having Sex with Your Grandpa’Michael Bezjian/WireImageTwins Karina and Karissa Shannon were invited to Hefner’s bedroom on their 19th birthday, which they felt obligated to do as a promised magazine centerfold hung in the balance. Inthe A&E docuseries, Karissa recalls him offering a pillthat immediately made them feel “the most inebriated we’ve ever been,” then engaging the two of them in sexual activity.According to Karina, “We had never done a threesome together before, we would never want to.“Karissa added, “And that was our 19th birthday. You’re never going to forget that. He didn’t even finish. Just imagine this, just his old hand kind of shakes [as he’s] touching your boob. It’s like you’re having sex with your grandpa. And he laid there, looking up, and he was like, ‘My babies, my babies. You love me.’ “When Hefner finished, Karissa said, “We ran down the hall to the spare bedroom we were staying in. We hit the shower, steaming hot. Our skin was red from just trying to, like, sterilize.”
10of 12
‘Like Having Sex with Your Grandpa’
Michael Bezjian/WireImage
Twins Karina and Karissa Shannon were invited to Hefner’s bedroom on their 19th birthday, which they felt obligated to do as a promised magazine centerfold hung in the balance. Inthe A&E docuseries, Karissa recalls him offering a pillthat immediately made them feel “the most inebriated we’ve ever been,” then engaging the two of them in sexual activity.
According to Karina, “We had never done a threesome together before, we would never want to.”
Karissa added, “And that was our 19th birthday. You’re never going to forget that. He didn’t even finish. Just imagine this, just his old hand kind of shakes [as he’s] touching your boob. It’s like you’re having sex with your grandpa. And he laid there, looking up, and he was like, ‘My babies, my babies. You love me.’ "
When Hefner finished, Karissa said, “We ran down the hall to the spare bedroom we were staying in. We hit the shower, steaming hot. Our skin was red from just trying to, like, sterilize.”
11of 12
‘Hef Doesn’t Like to Use Protection’
Dan Tuffs/Getty
“From the butlers, we’d just order a big bowl and we’d put hot water in it, then we’d put rags in it,” Karissa said. “So whoever was having intercourse with him, when they were finished, they can wipe him off. And then the other girl could do it.”
On herGirls Level Uppodcast, Marquardt spoke similarly about the lack of protected sex, saying she’d usually try to go first during group sex since that seemed “cleanest.”
12of 12’I Had to Be Very Drunk to Survive Those Nights’Carlo Allegri/GettyIn her 2011 memoirSliding into Home,Kendra Wilkinson (who, with Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, were the three featured “girlfriends” on the E! showThe Girls Next Door),echoed what many others had said abouthow unpleasant the nights of group sex were: “I had to be very drunk or smoke lots of weed to survive those nights – there was no way around it.”
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‘I Had to Be Very Drunk to Survive Those Nights’
Carlo Allegri/Getty
In her 2011 memoirSliding into Home,Kendra Wilkinson (who, with Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, were the three featured “girlfriends” on the E! showThe Girls Next Door),echoed what many others had said abouthow unpleasant the nights of group sex were: “I had to be very drunk or smoke lots of weed to survive those nights – there was no way around it.”
source: people.com
