Former residents of the Playboy Mansion are breaking their silence, painting a deeply disturbing picture of life with the late magazine mogul Hugh Hefner. What was once sold as a glamorous fantasy is now being described as a 'hellish' existence filled with degrading rituals, unsanitary living conditions, and psychological control.
The Mouldy Mansion and Hoarder Home
Behind the glitzy facade of the famous Playboy Mansion lay a reality of decay and neglect. Crystal Hefner, who married Hefner when she was 21 and he was 60, did not hold back in her memoirs after his death in 2017. She characterised the iconic residence as 'hoarder central,' stating that everything was mouldy and dusty.
This grim description was corroborated by other former Playmates. On the 'Girls Next Door' podcast, ex-girlfriend Holly Madison and former Playmate Bridget Marquardt detailed Hefner's bedroom as a 'disaster.' Marquardt recalled the lights being off with two giant TV screens playing porn, while Madison compared the scene to a 'weird eccentric millionaire version of the guy with the mattress on the floor.'
Demeaning Sex and Dirty Secrets
The intimate life within the mansion was far from the liberated ideal Hefner publicly championed. Crystal Hefner wrote that sex with the Playboy founder was 'odd and robotic,' so much so that she would play the same Madonna song to avoid contaminating other music with the memory.
Former Playboy valet Stefon Tetelbaum revealed the shocking lack of hygiene, describing a routine of collecting used sex toys from the floor with rubber gloves. The toys were then steam-cleaned, bagged, and returned to the headboard of Hefner's bed. Control was paramount; Bridget Marquardt claimed Hefner kept a 'black book' to log payments and sexual encounters, using it to challenge the women if he felt they were not fulfilling their duties.
Surveillance, Blackmail, and 'Disgusting' Group Sex
Perhaps one of the most alarming revelations is the extensive surveillance system Hefner allegedly maintained. Cameras recorded in every room, even after residents asked for them to be turned off. 'Hefner taped everything in his bedroom,' said Stefon Tetelbaum, who described Hefner as a 'voyeur.' These tapes, featuring hundreds of women, were reportedly used for blackmail. Crystal Hefner confirmed their existence in a 2022 tweet, stating she found and destroyed thousands of such photos.
Group sex was a common, yet traumatising, occurrence. Holly Madison labelled the experience as 'disgusting' and 'embarrassing.' She described Hefner as a 'bump on a log' in the middle of the bed, while the women were forced to perform in front of others who 'hate you and talk sh*t about you.' She starkly concluded, 'It was like hell.'
The pressure extended to new recruits. Twin sisters Kristina and Karissa Shannon claimed they were pressured into a threesome with an 82-year-old Hefner on their 19th birthday after being given a pill that made them feel 'the most inebriated we've ever been.' Karissa Shannon compared the experience to 'having sex with your grandpa.' The twins also disclosed multiple chlamydia outbreaks in the mansion, as Hefner refused to use protection. Their post-encounter ritual involved scrubbing themselves with steaming hot water in a desperate attempt to 'sterilise' their skin.
Another former girlfriend, Kendra Wilkinson, summed up the survival mechanism for many, admitting, 'I had to be very drunk or smoke lots of weed to survive those nights – there was no way around it.' The collective testimony from these women reveals a stark contrast between the public image of the Playboy lifestyle and the grim, controlled reality they endured.
