For a time, Hugh Hefner had more than a few some bunnies to love.
The Playboy founder, who died in 2017 at 91, famously once had seven girlfriends. The second episode of the sophomore season of A&E’s “Secrets of Playboy” (Mondays, 9 EDT/PDT) delves into that era, interviewing two of Hefner’s exes.
Izabella St. James and Zoe Gregory moved into the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2002, and say they enjoyed their time with the magazine magnate. Though the mansion had rules, the ladies pinpoint drama with Hefner’s other girlfriends as the reason for their exit.
Here’s what we learned from Hefner’s former flames.
The girlfriends had to follow rules
St. James says she and Gregory moved into the Playboy mansion on April 2, 2002, at Hefner’s request. As his girlfriends, they were expected to abide by certain rules: Security would report to Hefner anyone not at home by their 9 p.m. curfew. Gregory says the women weren’t allowed to date anyone but Hefner, even though he had multiple love interests.
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The benefits included lingerie, plastic surgery
While living at the mansion, the girlfriends had round-the-clock access to butlers, from whom they could order food. Gregory says there was an account for the girls at an L.A.-based store called Trashy Lingerie. Their beauty salon treatments were also covered. St. James says Hefner would also pay the tab for plastic surgery. Gregory opted for rhinoplasty and a breast augmentation.
Gregory went to Hefner’s bedroom to obtain her weekly allowance, which she says was $1,000 a week. She says Hefner doled out $2,000 for clothes for an event or party held at the estate. St. James says Hefner covered their insurance and bought them cars.
Sex with Hefner was ‘structured’ and ‘brief’
St. James says girlfriends were only expected to be intimate with Hefner two nights a week. “The nightclub nights were also the bedroom nights,” she says. “That was the only expectations of us to even enter Hef’s bedroom, honestly.”
Gregory and St. James say bedroom activities had an order: “It was fascinating and kind of structured,” St. James says. “Girls all shower or take a bath. And people sit on his bed. He would smoke a joint, and girls would pop champagne bottles and order food on the bed.”
“What I saw happening in the bedroom wasn’t as raw and intimate as people expect it to be,” she adds.
Gregory says Hefner would take a Viagra and then, when he was ready, became intimate with all seven of his girlfriends, starting with the most senior. She estimates each would be with Hefner for about a minute. “But when you’re doing that, a minute feels like five,” she says.
St. James says she frequently tells people the two years she lived at the mansion were “the least sexual time I’ve had in my life. People have these grand visions of what takes place, and it’s just not that. It was all very brief and a very pretty, nice illusion.”
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Did St. James and Gregory love Hefner?
St. James acknowledges her love for Hefner “was a different kind of love, because the dynamics were so different, and it was such an unorthodox relationship. But I did love him.”
Gregory says she adored her former beau. “I wasn’t in love with him romantically,” she clarifies. “He was my security. He was my boss. I guess I was just very protective of him in that way.”
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