- There are so many more things to learn about the famous people we already "know"!
Hugh Hefner may be gone but his legacy will never die. Here are some facts you may now know about this American legend.
- By the end of the 1960s, one out of four college men
had a subscription to Playboy. - Hefner bought a plane he called the Big Bunny that was worth $5.5 million dollars, or over $38 million today. . It had a luxury bedroom, a shower, a dance floor, and a tv and movie theater.
- The big bunny was like a “house with wings.”
- Hugh Hefner said he experimented with bisexuality after his first marriage. (At the beginning of the 60s, swinging and orgies were a plenty.)
- He loved to scrapbook about his life and as of 2011, he had 2,400 volumes of scrapbooks in the attic of his mansion. They were filled with pictures of various parties and gatherings from over the years.
- Viagra may have been the reason for his hearing loss, as too many of the little blue pills can lead to sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). According to Hefner he “popped the pills like Skittles,” and a former lover of his said that, “He would rather have sex than have his hearing.”
- Jet bunnies (the Playboy flight attendants) didn’t wear their typical bunny outfits. Instead they were dressed in black mini dresses, with scarves and boots, looking more like the Bond girls.
- Hugh Hefner said about the Big Bunny, “It’s the only way to fly.”
- His first wife cheated on him when he was at war. Apparently, she felt so bad for “the most devastating moment of my life,” (according to Hef) that she let him sleep with other women. They divorced after ten years together.
- He bought the crypt next to Marilyn Monroe’s for $75,000 in 1992. He always wanted to be interred next to her for all of time!
- He helped rebuild the Hollywood sign, twice. Originally
in 1978, the sign was reconstructed thanks to his fundraising efforts and then for the second restoration, he purchased the “Y” in Hollywood for $27,000 dollars! - He had Playboy clubs in the United States and three internationally.
- A minor stroke in 1985 changed Hef’s life. Even though it was minor, he cut back on the number of legendary Playboy Mansion parties he would throw and even handed over the reins of Playboy and all that included to his daughter Christie in 1988.
- A Playboy Club was constructed in London, home to the swinging 60s, an average earnings almost twice that of the cost of living, and the youngest population of any city in the world with 40% of the population under 25, all of whom want to go out, spend money and have fun.
- Gambling was just legalized when they built in London so they opened it up as a casino for $2 million
- The London bunnies there were known as the British Bunnies.
- In 1969, Penthouse came out and became the first
competition for Playboy. (Penthouse came out as a lifestyle magazine with fashion and politics and kind of used Playboy’s template.) - Penthouse was showing pubic hair when Playboy didn’t.
- The sylvilagus palustris hefneri, also known as the Lower Keys rabbit, is named after Hugh Hefner due to his financial support.
Did you know these Hugh Hefner facts? Let me know in the comments!