S for Sables

Holly Madison was one of the women in Hugh Hefner's bed twice a week at the Playboy Mansion. Every girlfriend took her turn, two minutes each, porn on giant screens, the others pretending to be busy while they waited. She says nobody wanted to be there and everyone just tried to get it over with. And Hefner handed out Quaaludes at clubs, telling her he had "a whole team" in case a girl overdosed. In the video below, she finally explains how the Playboy Mansion really worked. She moved in at 22. A girl from Oregon who thought it would be a fun year or two during college. She stayed 7 years. Hefner barely had to do anything to find girls. They came from clubs, Playmate castings and parties. And in every group, she says, there was a "recruiter." Have another drink. Take this. Want to come upstairs? There was no drink limit. Everyone got wasted. She once asked him what would happen if a girl from a club had already taken something and he gave her a Quaalude on top. He admitted it was a concern. Then he kept handing them out. Every woman who lived in the house long-term was one of his girlfriends. Every Wednesday and Friday after the club, it was the group night. "Your turn." Two minutes. Next girl. It only stopped when "The Girls Next Door" started filming. Hefner was so high off the show and his new relevance that he no longer needed what she calls compulsive sex nights to feel wanted. Then there were the rules. A 9 p.m. curfew. She couldn't visit her family for a week, even after years. She saw one girl leave for a few days and come back to find all her belongings packed in boxes outside the back gate. He played the girls against each other so no one could ever team up against him. Girls listened at bedroom doors. She called the house cult-like. She tried IVF with him. It didn't work. That was the moment she started thinking about leaving. In front of everyone at dinner, he called her stupid. When she rolled her eyes once at work, he screamed a slur at her. When she finally broke up with him, he left his will on her side of the bed so she could see what she'd get if she stayed. He printed out every tabloid story saying her career would be over without him. She left anyway. She wrote a bestselling book about it. Hefner died in 2017 at 91. The fantasy everyone envied had a schedule, a curfew and a two-minute timer. Some lessons are written in other people's mistakes. Watch it once. Remember it forever.