Murder, abortion, and repeat visits from Bill Cosby. For a number of former Playboy Playmates,
the price to be a "girl next door" was higher than they could ever imagine.
The Playboy Mansion has seen its fair share of scandals, but no scandal was as tragic as
the death of Dorothy Stratten. The playmate was at the height of her career at 20 years
old when she was killed by her estranged husband, Paul Snider. She was the first
Canadian to be named Playboy's Playmate of the year, and she was gaining notoriety as
an actor — landing roles in feature films like "They All Laughed" alongside Audrey Hepburn.
But her fast track to fame incited a rage inside Snider, whose jealousy over his wife
turned lethal. As Stratten's marriage unraveled, she began having an affair with her "They All
Laughed" director, Peter Bogdanovich. However, the filmmaker maintains their tryst wasn't what
motivated Snider to kill his wife and then himself. Bogdanovich told Vulture in 2019:
"He knew about that affair for a long time. He never did anything
about it. The murder was caused because Hefner banned him from the Mansion."
In fact, the director claimed that Stratten's husband snapped
after Hefner sexually assaulted her — a claim the Playboy mogul has long denied.
In Teresa Carpenter's article "The Death of a Playmate," Hefner
argued that he didn't contribute to Stratten's end whatsoever, saying:
"A very sick guy saw his meal ticket and his connection to power,
whatever, slipping away. And it was that that made him kill her."
The pressures of Playboy mounted in tragedy for another playmate. Paige Young was 30 when she took
her own life after years of alleged abuse at the Playboy Mansion. Per the Daily Mail, the model's
body was found on top of an American flag in her West Hollywood apartment — a sensationalized
image apparently constructed to call attention to her story. Young's neighbor, Melanie Myers,
recalled that the late star had decorated her walls with floor-to-ceiling photos of Hugh Hefner:
"There were news clippings, magazine articles, everything you could think
of. Written across it was something like, 'Hugh Hefner is the devil.'"
The police read part of Young's suicide note to Myers,
which detailed some of the abuse she'd endured. According to Myers:
"The whole thing was about her anger towards the men who she believed had chewed her up
and spat her out. [...] Paige was abused by everybody. These men had treated her like dirt."
Much of that anger was directed at the man once known as "America's Dad," Bill Cosby. Myers added:
"Paige died because of celebrities like [...] Bill Cosby, 100%."
In the docu-series, "Secrets of Playboy," Hefner's former bodyguard,
Jim Ellis, recalled the laissez-faire attitude towards sex at the Playboy Mansion, saying:
"There was rampant sexual exploitation."
"Bill Cosby was up there three to four times a week — he wasn't there to eat lunch."
Tragically, Young's shocking suicide went largely underreported.
In addition to curfews and other strict rules for tenants of the Mansion,
ringleader Hugh Hefner allegedly kept explicit revenge photos of girls as blackmail for going
against the enterprise and himself. In "Secrets of Playboy," Hefner's
former girlfriend Holly Madison recalled being too afraid to leave the Mansion for
fear of being blackmailed with various explicit snapshots Hefner kept on hand.
"He's taking all kinds of naked pictures of these women when we were wasted out of our minds."
Hefner's widow Crystal Harris Hefner confirmed the claim, tweeting:
"I found thousands of those disposable camera photos you are talking about
@hollymadison. I immediately ripped them up and destroyed
every single one of them for you and the countless other women in them."
Under Hugh's watchful eyes, staff at the Playboy Mansion reportedly kept
the place locked down tight. Those with power were allegedly able to
continue taking advantage of women there. The mogul's former butler,
Stefan Tetenbaum, claimed that the Playboy founder was an opportunistic voyeur.
"Hefner taped everything in his bedroom and many men came into the bedroom
and had sex with these girls."
These alleged recordings were reportedly non-consensual,
giving Hefner clout over some very powerful and influential people.
For Hugh Hefner's former girlfriend Karissa Shannon, raising a child wasn't a part of the
souped-up life living as his arm candy. In "Secrets of Playboy," Karissa and her
twin sister Kristina Shannon recalled the mogul's aversion to practicing safe sex.
"The problem is, Hef doesn't like to use protection."
It was only when her twin took a blood test in preparation for an upcoming plastic surgery,
that the playmate discovered the news she was carrying Hefner's child. Karissa told the Mirror:
"I was disgusted with my body and felt like there was an alien inside my stomach. It was like the
devil was inside of me. I didn't want anyone to know I was carrying an 83-year-old man's child."
The procedure had to be hidden from Hefner — who reportedly never found out about it. Instead,
the twins had his security team drop them off at the mall, and they pretended to be
on a shopping trip. What's left of their playmate legacy is tainted by harrowing
memories of the transactional intercourse they were forced to have to maintain their
Playboy Mansion status. They were later diagnosed with PTSD and required counseling.
"He used control mechanisms completely through everything, so I'm happy that I had the abortion."
Hugh Hefner may have been a ladies' man, but the love of his life was allegedly
not a lady. It was the Playboy Mansion's in-house physician,
Dr. Mark Saginor. The claim came from the doc's daughter, Jennifer Saginor,
who told "Secrets of Playboy" that the two shared a powerful bond that eventually became
sexual. Hefner's ex-girlfriend Sondra Theodore also backed the claims in the A&E series:
"They became more than best friends."
"They were lovers?"
"Yeah."
In archival footage shown in the docuseries, the Playboy founder
admitted that bisexuality was a given during the swinging scene of the '70s.
"When you're involved in the swing period or the orgy period of the '70s,
there was more than a little bisexuality."
However, the relationship between Hefner and his doctor may have become toxic,
with Jennifer alleging the two would traffic women to the homes of powerful men for sex. These
women were often aspiring models and actors. Jennifer said she believes the motive behind
her father and Hefner's actions had to do with asserting power over others and theorized that
Mark and his bestie both grew up experiencing repeated rejection from women. She said:
"Having control and power over these types of women at
the Mansion was something that was very exciting."
According to The Sun, Saginor had his medical license suspended following accusations of
sexual misconduct and sexual exploitation, amongst other charges of negligence. Since
Hefner liked to distance himself from any potential bad PR, the two fell out.
Hugh Hefner died in September 2017, barely dodging the firestorm of the "Me Too" movement
that dominated the media following the takedown of Harvey Weinstein and many other celebrities.
Although he managed to avoid a great deal of damning scrutiny while he was alive, women from
his past continue to speak out with allegations regarding the silk-clad Playboy founder.
In "Secrets of Playboy," Audrey Huskey, an aspiring playmate in the early '90s,
alleged that Hefner had sexually assaulted her in 1994 when his then-wife, Kimberly Conrad,
was out of town. She had been invited to the Mansion to shoot test photos for
Playboy magazine. When Hefner invited her up to his room to go over photos,
she was initially uncomfortable with doing so. However, she relented.
"I had no thoughts in my mind that anything would happen."
After Hefner lit a joint in the bed next to her, Huskey recalled being
unable to move as he pulled down his pants and proceeded to assault her.
"I didn't say anything. I didn't give him permission. What was I
going to do? If I said no, would he have stopped? I don't know."
The former model claimed that following the incident,
she was so traumatized that she canceled a follow-up photo shoot. Her modeling
contract was then terminated. Huskey remained silent about the alleged assault, admitting:
"He didn't care about me or what happened to me, and I was protecting him."
"That was it. I was thrown away, and I shut my mouth."
Bill Cosby has faced dozens of allegations against him surrounding abuse and sexual assault,
and his misconduct is a bunny trail that leads right back to the Playboy Mansion. In 2018,
the disgraced star was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison on a sexual assault charge,
before being released three years later. In 2022, he was found guilty of having sexually
abused Judy Huth in 1975, when the Californian native was just 16 years old, per Variety.
The civil lawsuit accused Cosby of having lured the teenager and her friend over to
the Playboy Mansion with him, after meeting the pair in a park. Huth alleged that the comedian
forced her to perform sex acts on him without her consent. While no punitive damages were found,
the jury decided that $500,000 should be awarded to Huth in compensatory damages.
According to Variety, this was the first case to go to trial under the Child Victims Act,
which allows survivors to come forward and seek justice regardless of age.
Per World Republic News, former actor Chelan Lasha, who previously testified against the
comedian in the Pennsylvania trial, was in attendance outside the courthouse. She said:
"He's a boogeyman, he's a sexual predator, he's a deviant. He's horrible. It's one
more victory. I came here to stand with Judy. I'm proud of Judy. I'm glad for the outcome."
Cosby has consistently denied any claims against him and insists he is innocent.