Orgies, drugs and slavery: Playboy’s horror bunnies at Hugh Hefner’s mansion

In 2022, the premiere of the documentary “The Secret of Playboy” took place in England, which tells the brutal truth about life in Hugh Hefner’s mansion. Many girls dreamed of becoming Playboy bunnies – Hugh’s mansion seemed like a Disney castle to them, while the girls who succeeded look back on that time with horror.

Hugh Hefner died in September 2017, and in the years since, new information has surfaced about how deep he fell in his lustful desires for power.

The first Playboy was published in 1953, when Hefner was only 27 years old. The heroine of the first cover was Marilyn Monroe, whom Hugh simply adored. The founder of the empire even bequeathed him to be buried next to the movie star (which happened only after his death)!

With the popularity of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner opened several nightclubs of the same name, where he personally selected all the “bunnies”. Rich and often famous people became members of the club, who were given carte blanche for any actions and deeds. And also the keys to the club (literally). Come whenever you want!

Hidden under the veneer of a “gentlemen’s club”, permissiveness sometimes exceeded all limits. Let’s start with the fact that in the staff of each club there was a special team of people who were engaged in hushing up any conflicts and scandals so that they did not get to the police. And as you know, there was plenty to complain about.

So once the famous TV presenter and DJ Don Cornelius just took and kidnapped two “bunnies”. The famous showman liked the two sisters (both about 20 years old) working at the club and invited them to continue the evening at his house. The sisters agreed, believing that only decent men who had been personally vetted by Hefner became members of the club. And they disappeared for three days.

As it turned out later, Cornelius kidnapped the girls: he locked them in different rooms, where they were brutally raped by foreign objects. At some point, one of the sisters managed to get to the “mother” – that was the name of the main one among the “rabbits” in each club. As a result, the situation was defused and Don was not even stripped of his membership in the club.

In his youth, Hefner was incredibly handsome, and wealth and influence only increased his charm: there was no end to the beauties. Hugh has any girl he could ever want. It is not surprising that he got tired of it after a while – so debauchery entered the life of the founder of the empire. Playboy’s heyday coincided with the sexual revolution, so any perversions were presented by Hefner as a new freedom.

Former model and actress Sondra Theodore dated Hugh in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the documentary, she admits that over time, the Playboy founder’s sexual habits became more and more perverse and disgusting. “He just scared the crap out of me, he was impossible to please,” Sondra said.

According to her, orgies were an integral part of the Playboy headquarters – at least five times a week! Hefner personally wrote the scripts for them, acted as the “director” of the event and reveled in his power. One day, Theodore caught Hefner touching the dog’s genitals.

Hugh’s butler, who worked for him from 1978 to 1981, also participated in the filming of the film. The man said that “pig nights” are regularly held at the mansion. “Pigs” Hefner and his friends called the cheapest prostitutes. It was a “special order”: the least attractive girls, preferably “ugly”, were to be brought to the mansion.

According to the butler, erotic toys were scattered around the rooms: after other orgies, the servants took them away, washed them thoroughly and returned them to their places for future use.

In orgies, the “bunnies” often had to have sex with each other, although many of them simply hated each other. And even in bed, “sworn” friends let out caustic barbs at each other. The former Playboy models also recalled that they were all tested for the disease before the orgy began, mainly because Hefner never used a condom.

According to Sondra, Hugh was an “avid junkie”. He often raped her under the influence of illegal substances. “I watched the girls appear one by one, fresh-faced, charming, but their beauty quickly faded. We were nothing to him. He, like a vampire, has been draining the life out of us for decades,” Theodore remarked bitterly.

There was always a rivalry between the “bunnies”. Hugh deliberately pushed the girls’ foreheads so that the competition between them would never stop. Because of the fear of being left behind, many agreed to the plastic surgery Hefner insisted on.

Almost all girls today regret the amount of face and body manipulations. Even 65-year-old Sondra regrets them.

As a drug addict himself, Hugh referred to the illegal substance as a “leg extender”. So there was a special women’s toilet in the castle, where a large supply of drugs was kept for the girls and all the guests. By the way, even the dog Hugh became addicted to cocaine – there was so much of it in the house.

Hefner’s assistant Lisa Lovin Barrett (who worked for the Playboy founder in the 1980s) also added that Hugh always carried a stash of sedatives with him to drug the girls to make them more willing to go along with all his perversions. And his friends. The sedative and drugs were mixed according to Hefner’s “proprietary recipe,” according to Barrett.

The “bunnies” lived in the castle like in a concentration camp. There was a strict curfew for them – it was only lifted if Hugh needed one of the models. To travel to the city, it was necessary to obtain the permission of the owner. The appearance of the “bunnies” was also strictly controlled: no red lips and changes in hair (Hefner preferred only blondes).

Linda Lovelace, the world-famous porn star of the 1970s who became famous thanks to the movie Deep Throat, also suffered from Hefner.

Once, after another party, she got to the Playboy headquarters: she was brought to Hefner as crazy – Linda went over with alcohol and drugs. Hugh took advantage of this status of the actress and together with his friends decided to establish an intimate relationship with her. When everyone involved was bored with these orgies, they forced Lovelace to perform oral sex on a German Shepherd.

“He didn’t see us as people and treated us like meat,” says Holly Madison, one of Hefner’s “special” girls. In the noughties, Hugh, who usually had several girls at once, got seven permanent blondes who accompanied him everywhere. He often spent time with several “chosen” at the same time.

Back then, in 2000, 21-year-old Holly believed she’d hit the jackpot because Hugh Hefner himself pointed her out. Unfortunately, the dreams quickly faded: on the very first night, the founder of Playboy offered her drugs – according to him, it was easier to relax for group sex. Madison refused the banned substances, but still had to have sex.

Like many other “bunnies”, Holly was sure that this was her payment for a future happy, successful and carefree life. “Everything was very mechanical and robotic. I did what the other girls did. It was disgusting that Hefner categorically refused to use condoms, ”recalls Madison.

Holly, according to her words, was literally hypnotized and sincerely believed in her uniqueness and Hugh’s love for her, so she submitted to him in everything. Especially at his behest, she did a lot of plastic surgery, which she regrets today. Only after a while did the girl’s eyes open and she realized that she meant nothing to the founder of Playboy. That she is one of his many slaves.

It wasn’t easy to get out of this trap: Hefner blackmailed all the “bunny” pictures he took secretly, then made copies and carried them everywhere – just in case one of the girls decided to complain about him publicly.

“I knew I could run, but I understood the consequences: it would be a whole mountain of revenge porn. Hugh took pictures of us all the time, and if those pictures were to see the light of day, society would no longer consider us human. A career was out of the question,” admits Holly, adding that she then tried to cope with her position with the help of alcohol. True, this method helped with difficulties: Madison seriously considered suicide.

Many models were never seen anywhere other than the Playboy Palace because they believed they were special. What was going on behind the mansion’s doors was like a cult where Hugh Hefner’s personality was elevated to a cult: “The girls were taken care of, they were made to believe they were part of the family. Hugh really believed the girls were his.”

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According to former employees of Hefner, he seriously considered himself a king. Hugh didn’t push anyone into anything: he demanded total obedience, he didn’t call the workers names, he didn’t think it necessary to care about anyone but himself. Rumors called Hefner’s mansion an enchanted castle with terrible things happening behind its walls.

For decades, the Playboy founder was surrounded by crowds, but deep down he remained lonely. Realizing that no one really needed him made Hefner suspicious (drugs also contributed). He installed cameras with microphones throughout the residence and regularly monitored residents, eavesdropping on their conversations.

Hefner is said to have read the story of the homicidal maniac Charles Manson. It was a mystery to Hugh why Charles’ followers adored him regardless. Hefner dreamed of the same worship from the “bunnies”, but until the end of his days he did not find people he could trust.

Instead, there was low-grade debauchery – orgies, sodomy, sexual violence, psychological coercion, drugs, and most actual slavery.

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