Getting invited to the Playboy Mansion was the height of celebrity status in the 1990s. Even into the 2000s, people would fight publically to try and get an invite to one of the legendary Playboy Mansion parties. But, it wasn't all fun and games behind those stone walls. In fact, some people had their fair share of bizarre experiences that are only now coming to light...
The Gift of Plastic Surgery
Hugh would always offer to pay for his guest's plastic surgery if they asked. So, there was always someone laying around the house in recovery from some sort of traumatic surgical event. Former Playmate Holly Madison (aka Hugh's ex-girlfriend) got a particularly extensive list of procedures done.
Just How Hugh Wanted
Holly Madison didn't have much autonomy over her own body while she was with Hugh. He would ship her out to the salon once a week to touch up her hair color. If Madison went through with Hugh's ideas for alterations, he would gift her sports cars, fancy dinners, and private plane rides.
The King of Rock and Roll
Elvis was the king of rock and roll (unless you count B.B. King, but that's an entirely different conversation), but he also loved to party. Back in the 60s and 70s, Elvis frequented the mansion. In fact, he visited so often he was given his own room.
The Elvis Room
Elvis was at the mansion one night partying harder than usual. In his stimulant and alcohol-fueled stupor, Elvis found himself behind closed doors with eight Playboy models for the duration of the evening. Although no further stories have reached the public, evidently the ladies had such a good time with the King that they named that room "The Elvis Room" and invited him back to stay many times after.
The Strict Dress Code
Back in the day, the Playboy Bunnies that stayed at the Playboy Mansion had to look, talk, and dress a certain way. In fact, it wasn't all about nudity and sexuality. The Bunnies were asked to cover up 90% of the time, and they were treated like welcome employees and encouraged to maintain normal social relationships with others.
The History of Playboy Pajamas
A former Playmate told GQ last year that if you were going to be around the house you “had to put on a certain pair of pink pajamas. They were all lined up and neat. You could tell they’d been to the cleaners. They told you to put them on, even though you’d take them off as soon as you entered Hef’s room."
Hef Was a Simple Man
Playboys that had money in the 1950s and 60s loved to flaunt what they had. They used to buy and race expensive cars, sail through beautiful blue water beaches, and blow thousands on expensive meals. Hugh Hefner wasn't like that though.
He Was Easygoing
Hef preferred to stay home most of the time. When he wasn't working, he was watching movies and drinking at home with friends. He preferred to relax in his PJs instead of going out on the town. If you couldn't tell from his standard silk robe outfit, Hugh liked to relax.
Pool Party
There was a mystical place at the Playboy Mansion called "the Grotto." It was a manmade cave that was outfitted with a personal hot tub, waterfall, and champagne fridge for "private" gatherings. But, that secret space gained some interesting recognition from the Los Angeles Department of Health...
Disease Infested Waters
In April 2011, 123 people got sick from swimming in the Grotto at the Playboy Mansion. They all got splitting headaches, fevers, and flu-like symptoms. The Department of Health came in to test the water and discovered that there was a water-based strain of Legionella Pnemophilia that festered within the murky depths.
The Big Bang
The Playboy Mansion was known for its legendary Fourth of July party that occurred every single year. Those who got invited to the bash should have counted themselves lucky on a few points. Outside of the obvious public desires to enter the mansion, Hugh hosted one of the most incredible fireworks shows of the time.
A Glorious Celebration
Hugh pulled some strings with the local authorities that allowed the Playboy Mansion to be the only private residence in Los Angeles county that was allowed to set off fireworks. This was the 1960s, and firework technology was a bit more primitive than it is now. Fortunately, there were no disasters that came along with the show. But, things could have ended up a lot worse than they did.
Too Many Secrets to Count
Famous people love to frequent the Playboy Mansion. However, it's difficult for some famous people to feel comfortable leaving their homes, especially when the paparazzi are on their tail. So, in 2015, some polaroids of blueprints of the Playboy Mansion showed that celebrities might have been able to find a way in without being detected by the outside world.
A Nest of Tunnels
The pictures revealed a network of tunnels that ran underneath Playboy Mansion to undetermined locations. These polaroids were deduced to "merely an April Fool's joke." But, skeptics still believe that there is more than meets the eye.
Even More Secrets
There are a lot of rumors about the Playboy Mansion that have proven to be fake. However, nobody is really allowed into the mansion, so are we supposed to go off of what the people who live inside of it say? It's also much more fun to believe that there are some otherworldly things that go down there.
Traps Galore
Evidently, one night when Robert Downey Jr. and Stephen Baldwin were attending a party, they both snuck away with their respective dates to try and get some alone time. As they were descending a great staircase in the middle of the mansion, Downey told Baldwin and his date to skip the third stair to the bottom. According to Downey, that stair set off a silent alarm that had been there since the prohibition era.
Hef Has Some Secrets
We bet you want to walk around the Playboy Mansion compound badly. We don't blame you, it's a beautiful piece of property. However, Hugh Hefner has some other property across the country that is equally as beautiful as his house in California...
The Windy City
Hugh Hefner originally purchased a mansion in Chicago to start his empire back in 1959. He decided to permanently move to California in 74, but he owned the Chicago property till the day he died. The house is actually up for sale at the moment, if you've got a couple million to spend.
Uh, Oh, Luke Wilson Incoming
You may think you know Luke Wilson (or you may know his more famous brother, Owen Wilson), but you definitely don't know that he was a party hound earlier in his career. Before he rounded out his face and relaxed his haircut, Luke Wilson's lifestyle reflected his appearance. He partied like a finance bro at an open bar.
Lo and Behold
One night, Luke and his buddy were hitting the sauce pretty hard. They decided that they were going to show up at the Playboy Mansion and try to use Luke's celebrity status to get in. It didn't work. After trying to lie and say that the buddy he came with was his brother, Owen Wilson, he received an 18-month ban from the mansion.
There Are Levels...
Playboy isn't just a magazine, it's an empire. Playboy is a multi-billion dollar business that dominated the adult entertainment industry for half a century. Just like its business model, the Playboy Mansion must remain sacred.
To The Rules
The Playboy Mansion was where all the fun happened for a long time. But, the Playboy Bunnies had to follow a strict code of conduct if they chose to stay there. If they didn't follow the rules, they got the boot.
Playboy Almost Became a Disaster
In 1953, Hugh Hefner was broke, living in a cramped Chicago apartment, married, and was raising his first child. He had the wild idea to make Playboy a reality, so he took out a $600 loan and took a leap of faith. However, the universe almost made playboy fail massively...
The First Idea Didn't Go Over Well
Before Playboy was Playboy, Hef wanted to publish his initial collected works under the name "Stag Party." Stag magazine almost sued Hugh Hefner for copyright infringement, but they stopped when they found out that the man was broke. Little did they know, with a bit of rebranding, Hugh Hefner became the kingpin of the adult entertainment industry.
Move On In
If you've seen El Dorado, The Godfather, or Hawaii Five-0, you probably know who James Caan is. On-screen, he was a troublemaking playboy that loved to party. Off-screen, he was the same exact person.
Sticking it Out
Caan went through a particularly rough divorce in the 1970s. So, Hef invited Caan to soothe his aching heart at the Playboy Mansion for a few months. After his broken heart was successfully glued back together, Caan never wanted to leave. He said the mansion was the greatest nightclub in the world, and if he could live there for the rest of this life, he would.
Enter: Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson was a huge figure in the 1970s. Naturally, all of the most popular celebrities got invited to the Playboy Mansion. However, Tyson was never invited back after he started some serious antics...
Mike Made Mistakes
The Playboy Mansion was a smoke-free property, but as soon as Tyson arrived, he decided to light up a cigarette inside of the house. He caused a scene because he didn't want to put it out, and he escaped into the theater. The rest of the individuals in the mansion left him alone after that. But, he fell asleep on the leather couch in the theater while watching a movie and he dropped his lit cigarette onto the couch, burning a hole straight through it. He also refused to silence or turn off his cell phone, which rang loudly for over an hour before Hef himself walked into the theater to ask Mike Tyson to leave.
The Rules Continue
Hef was a big fan of establishing rules at the Playboy Mansion. He was not one to enforce the rules though. He let each individual make their own decisions, and if they were caught doing any unsavory behavior, they were removed from the grounds.
Following a Strict Schedule
Many of the standard events at the Playboy Mansion were established within the arbitrary "rules." The only job that the Playmates had was to show up and enjoy themselves, that was it. There were events every single day at the Playboy Mansion, like "Manly Night, "Family Night," "Club Night," "Movie Night" etc. Hef wanted the Playmates to treat these events like they were their jobs, which they were.
An Honest Mistake
At one Playboy Mansion party, John Lennon had a few too many drinks. He ended up extinguishing his cigarette on an original Henri Matisse painting. To his shock, Hef was pretty nice about it. However, Lennon did receive a ban until the painting was restored several months later.
John Lennon Should Have Been Banned
You know, and we know, that the Beatles were the biggest pop band in the history of music. Each of the members of the Beatles were highly desirable artists, and any chance you could get to invite them to one of your parties was a publicity boost that was worth more than money. Naturally, the Beatles attended parties at the Playboy Mansion regularly.
The Bedrooms Were Bedlam
Evidently, each bedroom in the Playboy Mansion was lavish and unique. However, Playmates had their own experiences with the rooms in the mansion that could make your skin crawl. With the sheer amount of people that entered the mansion daily, the place was an absolute wreck...
A Fixer-Upper
According to Playmates' past, each bedroom had mismatched furniture and strange beds. The beds were wildly expensive, but they were prone to stains and were extremely difficult to clean. Some of the Playmates were so focused on their lives outside of the bedroom that they occasionally left their beds and personal areas a stinky mess.
The Man of the House
Hugh Hefner was an extremely social man. It was always a rare occurrence when he couldn't make it to one of his parties, but he always had something up his sleeve when he wasn't present. Hugh was always there, but sometimes, he wasn't...
The Fake Hef
Hef would strategically place a cardboard cutout of himself in unreachable places to seem as if he was there at all times. This may sound creepy, but his guests were privy to it usually. The cardboard cutout made several cameos in photographs over the years, and you probably wouldn't have guessed that it wasn't the real Hef if you saw the photos connected to the cutout.
Creatures on Campus
One of the little known facts about the Playboy Mansion is that there are wild animals that roam the whole campus. Hefner was a huge fan of zoos and wild animals. He would regularly take in exotic animals that people were unable to take care of...
A Zoo for You
Hef received his first zoo license in 1963. He installed cages in the back portion of his property and hired zookeepers to take care of the rescued animals. He was a big fan of snakes, birds, and monkeys.
Not All Fun and Games
However, keeping zoo animals on your property comes with some inherent risks. Playmate parties were notoriously wild, and people got blackout drunk. Hef used to have a petting zoo on the Playboy Mansion property, but he ended up having to change his whole dynamic after a terrible event...
The Great Llama Tragedy
One morning after an all-night party at the mansion, one of Hef's llamas was found dead. This provoked the Los Angeles Police Department (which was generally banned from entering the property without a warrant) to come in and inspect the situation. Hef disbanded his petting zoo, and the cause of the llama's death was never determined.
There's Ghosts in the Mansion
Hef was an incredibly compassionate man. He loved all people, he gave individuals platforms in his magazine that they couldn't find anywhere else, and he even rescued animals that were on their way to the slaughterhouse. However, the one thing that Hef couldn't prevent was the rumors about his mansion being haunted...
The Deceased Lay Here
No human being ever died on the grounds of the Playboy Mansion, but several animals did. So, Hef did what every self-respecting millionaire movie buff would do. He created a pet cemetery that was modeled after the Stephen King movie that he loved so much. Some people report that they have been haunted by the ghosts of the deceased animals on the grounds and in the mansion.
When Hef Found Love
Part of Hugh Hefner's strict rule guide was that there was a curfew for everyone who stayed in the mansion on days that they didn't host events. Everyone was to be in their quarters and away from the social areas in the mansion at 9 pm. But, some Playmates got to break those rules under the direction of Hef...
Hef Let His Favorite Playmates Break the Rules
One Playmate, in particular, got to break the curfew rule whenever she wanted. Hef set his eyes on a woman named Crystal Harris. She was a DJ, and she eventually became Hef's life partner. He would let her leave the house to attend DJ sets and return whenever she wanted.
Rihanna's Risque Secret
Rihanna began frequenting the Playboy Mansion after her career started to take off. In 2015, Rihanna was attending parties at the mansion regularly, and she was starting to get to know the other celebrity frequenters that attended. We mean, she started to REALLY get to know the other celebrity frequenters...
What a Wild Night
Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio were spotted sitting very close to one another at a party in 2015. Reporters are typically banned from entering the grounds of the Playboy Mansion, but on this particular night, the paparazzi managed to worm their way in. Rihanna and DiCaprio were captured locking lips and sharing drinks later on in the night. What happened after that is a mystery.
Rob Lowe's Experience
Rob Lowe didn't talk about his experience in the Playboy Mansion until late in his career. When he was much younger, he was invited to a Super Bowl party at the mansion. Naturally, he enthusiastically accepted the invitation...
Lowe's Formative Experience
Lowe was in his early 20s at the time. All he knew was acting and business, and he was supremely awkward around attractive women. However, he admitted that his time in the Playboy Mansion was formative for him and his experience in Hollywood. He has never released the gritty details, but evidently that one night in the mansion cured his anxiety around dating.
It's Not All Pools and Zoos
Even though the outside of the Playboy Mansion is a legendary haven for parties and experiences, it's the inside of the mansion that makes the place really special. We're not even just talking about the mansion itself. There are little hidden secrets around the property that few people know about...
The Legendary Floorplan
There are 29 rooms in the Playboy Mansion. Most of these rooms are built to house people, but a lot of them are built solely for entertainment. There are game rooms, wine cellars, an indoor tennis court, movie theatres, and a music room with a built-in pipe organ.
Hef Wasn't All Good
As you can imagine, any man with that much power could let it get to his head. Although Hef has been protrayed as a charming, gentle man, he wasn't always that way. In fact, there was one thing he did that regularly that made the Playmates that lived with him feel uncomfortable...
Hef's Allowance System Was Demeaning
Hef would offer his Playmates $1,000 a week as an allowance for "clothes." However, he would regularly demean the Playmates by making them wait in line and he would determine whether they were "worthy" or not. He would often refuse to pay out his allowances if he felt that the individuals did not meet his "standards for employment."
Hugh's Special Space
Hef was the life of the party most of the time, but even extroverts need to be alone. He thoroughally decked out his own space in his home, commandeering several bedrooms for his own interest. He had a double-king sized bed and a massive TV in his quarters as well...
Nice, But Mostly Naughty
Later on, in Hugh's life, he let his personal space get a little... Disgusting. When he settled in with his girlfriend, Holly Madison, he let her two dogs reside in his space with them. The only problem with this is that neither of those dogs was housetrained...
Holly Madison and the Mess
Evidently, Hugh and Holly let the dogs defecate and urinate on the carpet in their room every day. Hugh would wake up every morning and clean up piles of mess while Holly slept. Needless to say, this relationship didn't last until the end of Hugh's life.
The Hugh Zone
His quarters weren't specifically geared for naughty encounters. He offered his space to anyone looking to get away. As long as they were quiet when he needed them to be, Hef let his guests relax with him while he sipped chicken soup and did administrative work for his publication.
Nobody Gets In
As you could imagine, everyone and their mother wanted to get into the Playboy Mansion. You could not buy your way in, nor could you publicize your way in. You had to be referred, by someone Hugh knew personally and invited directly by Hugh himself...
Rob Lowe Tells the Truth
Rob Lowe explained in his interview about his experience in the Playboy mansion that it was highly unlikely that any ordinary person could get in. He stated: “An invitation to come to the mansion… was a tough ticket to get. You couldn’t buy your way in; you couldn’t use connections or a publicist or any Hollywood lever pulling. Invitations came directly from Hugh Hefner, and he cast his parties very carefully in those days,” in an interview with Esquire magazine.
Did Anyone Really Know Hugh?
Hef kept his relationships with others fairly distant. He liked to keep to himself, even when he was married or with another person. Recently, we have found out that Hugh's true intentions lived within publicizing the adult-entertainment industry, not throwing the wildest parties on Earth...
A Man With a Vision
The top floor of Hef's mansion was basically a library to document his life. He had thousands of photographs, hundreds of hours of video, and dozens of scrapbooks to document every single event. Hef would look back on these memories and pull highlights to publicize in his magazine.
The Doldrums of the Working Class
Even though the lives of Playboy Bunnies may have sounded unbelievably lavish, to some of them, being a Bunny was just a job. Some of them had no external life skills, and after living with Hugh for several years, some felt trapped in that way of life. Every day seemed like they were clocking in by getting drunk and clocking out by engaging in "activities" with celebrities...
The Darkest Part of It
Most Playboy Bunnies never made careers out of their experiences in the mansion. They did not gather external life skills, nor were most of their names known. Some individuals lived happy lives and had successful careers after the fact, but they were the minority of those who left the mansion when their time had ended.
Hef Was Abusive
According to many former Playmates, Hef encouraged "competition" between the Playmates that lived with him. Hef had been accused of playing mind games with everyone who stayed at the mansion, and he reportedly manipulated a ton of people into doing things they otherwise wouldn't have done. Although he seems cool and collected on the outside, he was pretty rotten on the inside...
The Dating Triangle
Hef would constantly pit his "main girlfriend" against the newest members of the Playboy Mansion. He always said that a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, but his actions were extremely manipulative and objectifying. Bunnies constantly fought each other for the attention of Hugh, but in the end, he wasn't worth their time.
The Dinners Were Extravagant
Hef hired 80 staff members to tend to the needs of the inhabitants of the Playboy Mansion. The kitchen was always open, and there was a 31 piece menu that could be produced for anyone at any time of the night. Hef was a picky eater, so he made sure the kitchen staff made everything to his liking...
Only the Best
Hef worked with his staff to develop a menu that he thought was suitable for everyone in his vicinity to enjoy. He largely included his mother's recipes, so there was a lot of midwestern cooking. He even had his kitchen staff bring him dishes to his favorite restaurants, which he would go to in an effort to flex on other people with his dates.