Hugh Hefnerwas “obsessed with fame,” according to his ex-girlfriendHolly Madison.
Women at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles “were just being used,” said Sondra Theodore, Hefner’s girlfriend from 1976–81. Hefner and his friends “liquored ‘em up, they gave ‘em drugs and they ended up in the Jacuzzi, and it was a free-for-all.”
PJ Masten, a Playboy employee from 1972–82 and regular Mansion guest, agreed: “Celebrities and VIPs that were at the L.A. Mansion would definitely drug and sexually assault young women.”
March 1984 Playmate Dona Speir added, “What predator is not going to go to the Playboy Mansion? It’s locked, it’s secure, all the cookies are in the jar, and it’s okay, no one judges.”
Ellis agreed, saying, “Everybody that worked at the Mansion knew that he was basically a predator.”
PJ Masten.A&E
She met him at his penthouse suite and he offered her a drink. “I said, ‘I’ll take a Grand Marnier.’ He gave me the glass, I took two sips and that’s the last thing I remember until four o’clock the next morning,” she said.
After recounting her assault, she began to weep.
“I hung up the phone, and I was in complete, total shock,” she recalled. “That next day, I called my boss, and I told her that he raped me and he drugged me, and her reply was, ‘That’s Hefner’s best friend. I suggest you shut your mouth if you want to keep your job.'”
Masten said she started cutting herself and eventually attempted to commit suicide several times, once ending up in the hospital for 17 days.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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Hefner the Director
And while Hefner gave his famous friends the illusion of power, he had set up his enclave of sexual"circus" of sexual debaucheryso that he would have leverage on them.
“Hef, he had tapes on everybody,” said Theodore.
“Most of the time Hefner never participated,” said Stefan Tetenbaum, Hefner’s valet from 1978–81. “He thought of himself as a film director.”
He continued, “But many of the girls were devastated after what they were expected to do, what they were forced to do. Well, can you imagine, after he had all these tapes of you having sex with different girls, what power he had over these men.”
At the time, while much of the focus was on the famous men, “We didn’t know about the emotional expense that these women would suffer.”
And one of those women was November 1968 Playmate of the Month, who committed suicide on April 7, 1974.
Young’s neighbor Melanie Myers, a celebrity astrologer who found the Playmate’s body, said Young had staged a collage of photos and newspaper clippings above the site where she killed herself and had written “HUGH HEFNER IS THE DEVIL” at the top of the mural.
“Paige was so over-the-top upset about that tape. This was the end of the world for her,” said Myers. “She didn’t seem that shy, you know, about sex, and it made me wonder,What was on that tape?”
“When I knew her, Paige was into clean living,” Myers agreed. “I think more likely is that Bill drugged her.”
Two days after Young’s death, Myers said “everything was cleaned out and gone. It was like it never happened. How does aPlayboycenterfold killer herself with the message ‘Hugh Hefner is the devil,’ and it doesn’t hit any of the media outlets? … She thought the only way that anybody was gonna pay attention to her was if she killed herself. The message [about these predatory men] got squashed. It was so sad that Paige went to all this trouble to leave a message, and no one cared.”
Jamilah Lemieux, a journalist and cultural critic, noted that based on her research, “Thesuiciderate for Playmates is significantly higher than the rate for American women. And so, I think it’s worth asking, ‘What is it about Playboy that leads so many women that have graced its pages to tragedy?'”
Slavic added, “In my interview with Richard, Paige’s friend, Richard said, ‘Hefner ruined a lot of good women.'”
Roman Polanski with a date, Hugh Hefner and Barbi Benton.Getty
Roman Polanski
Given Hefner’s penchant for filmmaking, it’s no surprise one of the famous associates he sought out was celebrated director Roman Polanski.
Indeed, Slavic claimed that directorJohn Huston— who acted in Polanski’s 1974 Oscar winnerChinatownand was a regular visitor to the Playboy Mansion — was the other noteworthy name mentioned alongside Hefner’s in Young’s suicide note.
Lewis explained, “It took a long time for me to realize that what had happened to me wasn’t my fault. Because I always thought it was my fault. You don’t realize at the time when you’re very young that what’s happened is illegal or wrong — you know it’s wrong because it doesn’t feel right.”
She continued, “There are some men that obviously of a generation feel that there is some entitlement, and that women are just for sex — you know, objects. It’s about the control, really, isn’t it? It’s amazing there is still some kind of protection for these boys, these men, these debauched human beings.”
Theodore clearly remembered spending time with those men, recounting “heavy” conversations with Hefner and his friends at the Mansion. “Roman Polanski was one of the stories” that the men frequently revisited, she said.
According to Theodore, “[The gist] was, ‘He got caught! What a schmo, he got caught.’ Like it was okay to be with a young girl, just don’t get caught. They were just relieved thattheyhadn’t gotten caught.”
Said Lewis, “What we’re dealing with is a very powerful team of close friends who stick together — men — defending their guy.”
A spokesperson for Polanski did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Jim Brown.Focus On Sport/Getty
Jim Brown
One of the few Playboy Mansion regulars who’s spoken about his experiences in Hefner’s world is NFL legend Jim Brown.
“It was a ball,” the former Cleveland Browns fullback told an interviewer in archival footage. “There were new girls coming in from all over the country, and anything was okay between consenting partners.”
Brown “always abused different Playmates. I observed it. Many people witnessed it,” said Stefan Tetenbaum. (Theodore said Hefner confirmed as much to her, too.)
Stefan Tetenbaum.A&E
In another incident, both the Tetenbaums heard screaming coming from the Grotto.
“We peeked in there, and we saw Jim just going bananas, bananas, violently on this girl,” said Stella.
Stefan said Brown had seated the woman on a “sex chair” Hefner had outfitted with a dildo and was “beating her.”
“When he was finished, I had to help her, and I took her to the front of the Mansion and had one of Hefner’s drivers take her to the hospital,” he said. “I never saw her again there.”
To the Tetenbaums’ knowledge, Brown was never held accountable, and he was allowed to return the Mansion.
“He would brutalize these girls,” said Stefan. “He cracked ribs, he dislocated jaws, but nobody was gonna come forward because nobody wanted Hefner to come after you — or Jim Brown [to come afer you].”
“It bothered me,” admitted Stefan. “It seemed that this was natural, that this was what they expected Hefner to allow them to do.”
A representative for Jim Brown did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the allegations contained within the episode.
Looking back on her tenure at the Mansion, Stella summed up, “The sense I got was the young girls didn’t have a clue. At that age, they don’t know better. I think for girls from small towns, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be a star!’ I don’t think they thought much about what would happen when they got there.”
“These men,” said Theodore, “they were like [kids] in a candy store up there.”
Bettmann/Getty
In astatementreleased just before the docuseries’ premiere on Jan. 24,Playboy’s current leadership denounced Hefner’s alleged “abhorrent actions.”
“We trust and validate women and their stories, and we strongly support the individuals who have come forward to share their experiences,” the statement read. “As a brand with sex positivity at its core, we believe safety, security and accountability are paramount, and anything less is inexcusable.”
The statement also noted, “Today’sPlayboyisnot Hugh Hefner’sPlayboy.”
Secrets of Playboyairs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
