Hugh Hefner

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hugh Hefner

• Did Hugh Hefner smoke?: No (Quit)

• Did Hugh Hefner drink alcohol?: Yes

• Hefner was born into a family of strict Methodists teachers, which inadvertently, developed the fanatical rebellion inside him.

• Though he had an exceptional IQ of 152, he was an average student. 

• He was a born publisher as at the tender age of 8, he started a school newspaper called ‘The Pepper.’

• He was the president of his school’s student council.

• During his schooling, he worked as a publishing staff at ‘Child Life’ magazine, and also made a comic book entitled, ‘School Daze.’ 

• After completing his graduation, he served in the U.S. Army for 2 years, from 1944 to 1946. 

• He started his career as an editor at men’s magazine Esquire, but after Esquire refused to give him a pay hike he wanted, he quit and pursued his own publication.

• In 1953, he raised $8,000 from 45 investors—including $2,000 from his mother and brother Keith, to launch men’s adult entertainment magazine ‘Playboy’ that brought sexual revolution. 

• Playboy was originally thought to be named ‘Stag Party.’

• He had purchased an old color photograph of Marilyn Monroe in the nude and published it in the centerfold of the Playboy magazine, and in no time its first issue sold more than 50,000 copies and became an instant hit. 

• From 1959 to 1961, he hosted the branded TV show, ‘Playboy’s Penthouse’ that featured many jazz-pop artists.

• In 1978, he started the Playboy Jazz Festival, an annual event featuring some of the best jazz musicians from around the globe.

• In 1985, he suffered a minor stroke and got partially paralyzed. The main reason behind it was director Peter Bogdanovich’s book ‘The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten 1960-1980’, that highlighted the life and murder of a former Playmate. He even stopped smoking after the minor stroke. 

• In 1988, he handed over the control of ‘Playboy Enterprises’ to his daughter Christie, by naming her the CEO.

• He owns the crypt (buried place) next to Marilyn Monroe in the Celebrity cemetery, after paying a hefty price of $75000.

• A breed of rabbits is named after him. 

• His home library has a collection of over thousands of films embedded in his staircase. 

• He was a lazy guy as he had all his meals in bed.

• He became a trendsetter with his red velvet jackets and silk pajamas. He had more than 200 pairs of silk pajamas. 

• He donated a huge amount of money to own the rights to the “Y” alphabet in the Hollywood sign. 

• In 2003, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Playboy, he threw 50 parties at 50 different locations around the globe.

• From 2005 to 2009, a reality series called ‘The Girls Next Door’ was aired on E! cable TV network that focused on the lives of Hefner and his girlfriends at the Playboy Mansion.

• Throughout the course of his life, he has thrown around 7500 parties.

• He holds a Guinness World Record of being the longest-serving editor-in-chief of a magazine publication, more than 60 years.

• He was an avid pet lover. 

• His Playboy mansion is the only residential property in the Los Angeles area that has a zoo license. 

• If he wasn’t the founder of Playboy, he would have been a Zoo keeper.

• He fought for ‘racial equality’ throughout his life.

• He was an LGBT supporter.

• Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi, and Mark Hamill were among his famous colleagues.