The shocking new upcoming documentary-series, Secrets of Playboy, is set to lift the lid on the dark side of the notorious brand and its founder, Hugh Hefner, including accusations of him 'demanding orgies' and drugging women. Take a look at the documentary's trailer below:
The series will uncover a history of drug use, sexual abuse and even reports of bestiality that took place at the world-famous mansion and other Playboy venues.
It will also contain exclusive interviews from key insiders, including Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriends, Holly Madison and Sondra Theodore.
Theodore, now 65, recalled orgies at the mansion five nights a week, which became ‘protocol’.
She also witnessed first-hand how his sexual demands would turn nasty, and admitted he ‘scared me at the end... you couldn't satisfy him. He wanted more and more and more’.
"The group sex was at least five nights a week," she added.
"They had a protocol. He liked to direct and you didn't segue away from it because you could tell it irritated him."
Theodore also said Hefner was a prolific drug user who would 'send her out to buy cocaine numerous times', and the sex 'broke me like you'd break a horse'.
Holly Madison, who dated Hefner for eight years, detailed how Hefner ‘didn’t want to use protection’ and that the Playboy Bunny lifestyle led her to even contemplate suicide at one point.
Hefner, who died in 2017 aged 91, is centre stage of the documentary which looks to critically re-examine his iconic legacy.
The notorious founder was just 27-years-old when he launched the first edition of Playboy magazine in 1952, with Marilyn Monroe being the first cover girl.
Since then, Hefner built his empire by selling millions of copies of Playboy a month, and subsequently opened up nightclubs where members gained entry using a key that opened the front door.
VIP members of the Playboy nightclubs were reportedly able to act as they pleased, however, the docuseries will tell the story of Soul Train host Don Cornelius, who allegedly held two Playboy Bunnies hostage and raped one of them.
Mika Garcia, former director of Playmate promotions, also spoke out: "It was cult-like. The women had been groomed and led to believe they were part of this family.
"He (Hefner) really did believe he owned these women. We had Playmates that overdosed, that committed suicide."
Hefner’s executive assistant during the 1970s and 80s, Lisa Loving Barrett, shared her side of the story for the series.
She spoke of Hefner’s stockpile of Quaaludes, a powerful sedative which he called the ‘leg spreaders’.
Regarded as a ‘necessary evil’ by Playboy staff, they were believed to make women do anything; Hefner would keep a stockpile in his bedroom, ready to give them to women he brought there.
Barrett also claimed there was a cocaine culture within the mansion, including a powder room that consistently housed a ‘pile of cocaine’ underneath an ornate toilet paper holder.
The drug was so widely available that one of Hefner's poodles became addicted to it and used to lick it off the floor, according to the documentary.
Secrets of Playboy will premiere on A&E on 24 January.
Topics: Playboy, Hugh Hefner, Documentaries
Abbi Murray