With drugs served on platters and retired cops guarding the doors, parties at the
Playboy Mansion were the stuff of legend…you just might want to stay out of the pool.
A party at the Playboy Mansion was more than just a party. It was a publicity event,
a branding effort, and a coveted place to be seen. Perhaps most of all,
Playboy parties were often watering holes for an eclectic mix of celebrities.
Rob Lowe told "Esquire" that A-list screenwriters like Buck Henry could be seen rubbing elbows with
the likes of Magic Johnson. Vice recalled that one party in 2000 had musician Courtney Love,
Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt, and singer Tony Bennett all on the guestlist. Former Playboy
Bunny Jenna Bentley recounted to "The New York Post" one evening where she saw Tommy
Lee from Mötley Crüe chit chatting with Pamela Anderson, Angelina Jolie, and Dennis Rodman.
"Look at all these weirdos. My kind of people."
It seems that whether they were known for slam dunks, hit singles, or film roles,
the rich and famous of all circles would come together to attend a party at the Playboy Mansion.
Based on the company's legacy, you might not be surprised to hear a Playboy Mansion party
could get pretty steamy. Speaking with "The New York Post", Jenna Bentley explained that the
mish-mash of celebrities certainly got into the Playboy spirit at these parties, claiming,
"I have seen a lot of celebrities have sex there."
There are plenty of wild stories from the mansion. "The Hollywood Reporter"'s
Bill Higgins recalls the first party he attended played host to a troupe
of French ballerinas. When the dancers arrived,
they took off their clothes and jumped into the pool — prompting everyone else to do the same.
Actress Jenny McCarthy told "People" the mansion's legendary grotto was often the site of large
sexual gatherings, though she said these events did not have quite the sex appeal you'd imagine.
Rob Lowe speculated to "Esquire" that one reason things could get so crazy at these
classic parties is that most of them happened before everyone had a camera on their phones.
Without worrying about how their horny behavior could be splashed all over the
Internet, everyone felt more at liberty to leave their inhibitions at the door.
"Denial can be an ugly thing"
Unsurprisingly, the combination of entitled celebrities, booze, drugs,
and a mansion's worth of dark corners was a recipe for some truly terrible behavior by partygoers.
According to "The New York Times", an actress named Sharan Magnuson was assaulted at the
Playboy Mansion during the 1980s. A man at the party caught her in a corner near the
grotto and attempted to force her into one of the nearby caves. She resisted,
and he fled back into the house. A moment later, security appeared
to escort her off the grounds. She later found herself banned from future parties.
"People" magazine reported this story is probably one of a depressingly long list. In fact,
the mansion employed a "clean-up crew" that covered up any scandalous activity
that transpired. "People" also noted there's a long list of infamously violent celebrities,
such as Bill Cosby, Jim Brown, and Roman Polanski, known to have made appearances at these parties.
In another story reported by TMZ, a guest at a Playboy Mansion Super Bowl party was reportedly
dragged from his car and beaten by drunk guests when there was a traffic jam in the parking
garage. The building's security reportedly made no effort to prevent the attack once it began.
While a party at the Playboy Mansion might sound exotic and unpredictable,
most of the festivities were rarely special. In fact, many nights at the mansion looked
exactly the same, featuring the same catering, staff, and decor.
One big reason for that was a lot of the parties held at the mansion were actually corporate
events. According to "The New York Times," by the 2000's, Playboy wasn't doing so well,
so the mansion was rented out for corporate celebrations in order to pay the bills.
These events occurred so regularly that the "Los Angeles Times" reported Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner's neighbors complained that he was running an illegal commercial party business
out of his home. These complaints prompted an investigation by Los Angeles officials,
who concluded that the mansion was still primarily used as a residence
that threw private parties. No charges were brought against Hefner for the accusations.
The exclusive nature of events at the Playboy Mansion meant that many people
desperately wanted an invitation. Knowing that people always wanted what they can't have,
Hugh Hefner played into this idea when crafting the guest lists.
When it came to an official party at the Playboy Mansion,
rather than one of their corporate events, the key to getting on the guest list was Hefner
himself. Regardless of someone's celebrity status, they couldn't buy a ticket or work
their connections to get in — the Playboy editor-in-chief had to want them there. Often,
Hefner was even at the parties to greet his guests and thank them for attending.
According to ESPN, even when Hefner didn't plan to attend a party,
he still oversaw the guest list and decided who would come. According to Reuters,
one of the only exceptions involved a rare promotion in 2010 where 10 people were awarded
"golden tickets" that let them attend Playboy's classic "Midsummer Night's Dream Party" in August.
The Playboy Mansion wasn't just a party venue — it was where Hugh Hefner lived. For this reason, many
of the people who attended the parties weren't even celebrities, but Hefner's older male friends.
According to "Esquire," when a nineteen-year-old Rob Lowe was
invited to his first party at the Playboy Mansion, many of the attendees were three
or four decades older than he was. In her book "Bunny Tales," former Playmate
Izabella St. James recalled that some of the parties at the mansion were attended by more
of Hefner's wizened acquaintances than the younger crowd expected at the events.
Another former Playmate, Lisa Guerrero,
told Yahoo! that movie nights at the Playboy Mansion were so often populated
by creepy old men she developed a strategy to avoid getting harassed. She explained,
"When all these people went into the screening room for movie night, I put a bunch of food into
my Tupperware and snuck out before the old men came out to hit on the girls."
Those who received a coveted invitation to a party at the Playboy Mansion probably
expected to make incredible memories and meet some new friends. What they might
not have anticipated was that they could contract a rare disease in the process.
After Hefner's death in 2017, "Fast Company" described the mansion as "kind of run down."
Apparently, this wasn't a recent development either, as "The New York Times" noted the
place was outright filthy a full decade earlier, highlighting the fact that the mansion's aviary
had a thick layer of bird feces covering it, and there was a decaying mattress found in one
of the infamous grotto's caves. Additionally, "The Hollywood Reporter" noted a chain used
to leash one of Hefner's pet chimpanzees to a tree was left dangling there years after the
animal had passed away. Obviously, health codes and upkeep weren't a priority at the mansion.
"You know what it's like when you people have these wild parties and
somebody got drunk and s--- in the pool, okay?"
This blatant disregard for sanitation had some inevitable consequences. In 2011,
"ABC News" reported that hundreds of people who attended one Playboy Mansion party fell ill with
Legionnaire's disease, a rare form of pneumonia. According to "The Guardian" and "Vogue",
the mansion's hot tub and pool were traced as the sources of the outbreak. This development
is somewhat unsurprising, as many people are rumored to have had intimate encounters in them.
If you were invited to the Playboy Mansion, you might be underwhelmed by the atmosphere
inside. According to "News.com.au," former Playmate Carla Howe described the mansion as
"an old people's home," noting that Hefner refused to update or change anything.
"Groovy, baby!"
As a result, "Town and Country" reports that the Playboy Mansion and its grounds hadn't
changed much — if at all — since Hefner bought the place in 1971.
When a "Vice" reporter attended a Playboy event in 2013, he noted how disappointing
he found the environment. Taking a tour of the building, the reporter observed,
"Most of the stuff in the house was your standard,
totally impersonal McMansion-type stuff like giant ceramic animals and vases full of sticks."
The Playboy Mansion was also a monument to deferred maintenance, causing it to virtually
crumble from disrepair. According to "The Real Deal," a contractor hired to deal with
its aging bathrooms stated that the mansion was falling apart and smelled like urine. When its
new owner Daren Metropoulos began drawing up plans to renovate, it quickly became obvious
the place needed a gut renovation that would cost well over $1 million, according to "TMZ."
The image of Hugh Hefner in his pajamas and robe is so burned-into collective pop culture
you might imagine Playboy Mansion parties had something of a dress code. However,
for the most part, the attire at the mansion remained fairly casual. Guests tended to show
up dressed in T-shirts and jeans, with the occasional piece of elevated clubwear here
and there. Rob Lowe described that a lot of the men he saw at his first Playboy party had
a relatively square look to them, as if they were medical professionals or talent managers.
There was at least one strict exception to this trend: The annual "Midsummer Night's Dream" party.
According to the "Financial Times," this party always came with a strict instruction to dress
in lingerie, though Piers Morgan noted that when he was invited in 2007, the invitation specified
"pajamas or lingerie," giving him and his fellow attendees at least one more option to consider.
While some folks flocked to the Playboy Mansion for the celebrities and beautiful women, a lot
of people attended for the same reason people go out to any party: Liquor, drugs, and food.
Actress Sharan Magnuson told the "New York Times" that she and many other
aspiring models and actresses would attend the parties just for a free meal, saying:
"I was the proverbial starving actress back then."
Since the events were usually open bar, alcohol consumption was unsurprisingly high
at the Playboy Mansion. What's slightly more surprising is the fact that harder,
more illegal substances were also easily accessible at the gatherings. According
to "Vice," it was fairly easy to find psychedelics, cannabis, and stimulants.
Former Playmate Jenna Bentley described that platters of drugs could be seen circulating at
parties. Although Hefner often denied dealing in any sort of illegal drugs,
former Playmate Sondra Theodore confirmed to A&E that he encouraged the use of quaaludes.
"There were prescriptions in Sondra's name, and Hef's name, and my name."
While "The New York Post" notes Playmates had a strict 9 PM curfew most nights,
this rule was not enforced at parties. The reasoning for this is fairly simple:
If you bring together a bunch of rich celebrities, entertainment industry bigwigs,
and scantily-clad models, the night will inevitably get out of hand.
In her book "The Bunny Years," former Playboy Bunny Kathryn Leigh Scott recalls classic parties
at the Playboy Mansion often went on until the wee hours of the night. Some guests wouldn't
even arrive until upwards of 3 AM depending on their schedules. Late nights were such a common
occurrence that Hefner often supplied breakfast to guests who were still there when the sun came up
By the 21st century, things changed somewhat. While parties were still wild affairs filled with
famous people, the overall vibe had calmed down. According to "Vice," a party held at the mansion
in 2000 in honor of a new Limp Bizkit record ended at 2:30 in the morning. However, that
didn't stop the guests from immediately going out to the clubs to keep the party going thereafter.
The Playboy Mansion was a symbol of a corporate empire and a legendary party
venue — but it was also a private residence where Hugh Hefner and the
current group of Playmates lived. So, it shouldn't be too surprising
that a typical party at the mansion had a pretty heavily staffed security team.
According to "Us Weekly," Hefner liked to hire ex-cops to work security at
the mansion. Reportedly, he even had retired detectives on staff,
who brought years of high-level policing experience to the job.
According to Izabella St. James, all this security was necessary to keep
party crashers out. The mansion's security staff often had to work hand-in-hand with
local police to stop people from trying to scale the walls and sneaking in.
It's important to note the security guards were there to protect Hugh Hefner's interests and the
Playboy brand — not guests. TMZ reports that when a guest at a mansion party was suspected of having
an illegitimate wristband, security attempted to detain him before calling the cops. When the
guest tried to escape, they reportedly beat him severely before the cops arrived to arrest him.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).