Nearly 17 years ago, Jennifer Saginor published a book exposing the dark side of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion: the drugs, the sex, the parties, and the bikini-clad women running rampant.
The “Playground: A Child Lost Inside the Playboy Mansion” author was more than just a visitor at Hefner’s sprawling playground. She first set foot on the famous property of the late Playboy founder in 1975 at age 6, and by age 11, she had her own bedroom. She’d continue to be a regular there until 2010. As Saginor puts it, “I wasn’t like the girlfriends and the Playmates who were there to advance their careers, who were there for fame and fortune, or love.” Instead, her one-of-a-kind upbringing at the mansion was due to the fact that her father was Hefner’s physician and best friend, Mark Saginor, also known as “Dr. Feelgood,” or simply, “Doc.”
Now, years after being one of the first to reveal a behind-the-scenes look at Hefner’s empire, Saginor appears in the 10-part A&E docuseries that premiered last week titled “Secrets of Playboy.” In an interview with Fox News Digital, Saginor revealed the great lengths Hefner would go to save his reputation – and just what he’d think of his ex-girlfriends’ allegations coming to light today.
“I can feel him rolling in his grave, laughing even, because at the end of the day, it was like these women were all in love with him and many of them wanted more commitment. They wanted monogamy, they wanted marriage, they wanted kids,” Saginor said.
A LOOK AT HUGH HEFNER’S WIVES, GIRLFRIENDS THROUGH THE YEARS
Jennifer Saginor wrote about her time growing up in the Playboy mansion in her 2005 book “Playground: A Child Lost Inside the Playboy Mansion.”
(Ava Lane Hulsman)
Sondra Theodore and Holly Madison are two of Hefner’s former girlfriends who came forward in the series with allegations. Madison, who starred on E!’s “Girls Next Door,” claimed Hefner had a “mountain of revenge porn” and “didn’t want to use protection” during sex. Theodore, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital that she was “groomed” by the Playboy founder, who died in 2017.
Saginor still has vivid childhood memories at the mansion, such as stumbling upon “orgies” and watching the “candy bowls turn into bowls of Quaaludes and amphetamines and ecstasy, and whatever else, as the years went on.”
“I was in the inner circle,” said Saginor. “I saw all the girlfriends come and go. I walked in and saw them all through my childhood.”
In response to the documentary, a spokesperson for Playboy issued a statement to Fox News. “Today’s Playboy is not Hugh Hefner’s Playboy,” the statement began. “We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences. As a brand with sex positivity at its core, we believe safety, security, and accountability are paramount.”
“The most important thing we can do right now is actively listen and learn from their experiences,” it continued. “We will never be afraid to confront the parts of our legacy as a company that do not reflect our values today.”
“As an organization with a more than 80% female workforce, we are committed to our ongoing evolution as a company and to driving positive change for our communities,” the statement concluded.
It wasn’t until 2004-2005, when Saginor was gearing up to publish her memoir, when she was caught off guard and “given the cold shoulder” by Hefner. At first, Saginor said Hefner spoke to her about her book, “and he pretended he was proud of me.”
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What happened next, she said, still leaves her “annoyed” today. Two months after her book – which includes similar themes to ones mentioned in A&E’s series – the “Girls Next Door” reality show following Hefner’s relationships with live-in girlfriends Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt premiered on E!.
Saginor claimed she was “blindsided” by “Girls Next Door” and believes it was “manufactured” by Hefner as a response to her book. “I didn’t know about it until when my book was coming out,” Saginor recalled. “He planned it perfectly.”
Hugh Hefner and a young Jennifer Saginor.
(Courtesy: Jennifer Saginor)
Saginor alleged that it was Hef who was pulling strings behind-the-scenes to show off the luxe and fabulous lifestyle of his girlfriends on TV. It also was an ideal way to get good press out there about him while her book would discuss the underage sex and substance abuse she witnessed at the mansion.
“I think that he was very upset with me and so was my father [about my book.] It’s like being in the mafia and all of a sudden you’re talking about what happened. I felt like, why can’t I speak my truth? I wasn’t bashing them. I was just telling my story because I felt so alone that I wanted to connect with other people out there,” Saginor said.
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The medic’s daughter went on to allege that it appeared Hefner managed to get a copy of her book manuscript early from HarperCollins. The publishing company’s imprint, Dey Street Books, published the book.
“A year before my book came out I believe Hef had someone from a movie studio call the publisher and pretend they were interested in seeing my manuscript for a movie,” Saginor alleged. “That gave him and his marketing machine time to prepare to come up with a plan so that he wouldn’t have that negative publicity.”
Jennifer Saginor believes Hugh Hefner “manufactured” the “Girls Next Door” TV show around the same time her book was released.
(Sue Shaheen)
Former HarperCollins senior editor Josh Behar, who worked on Saginor’s book deal, corroborated the claim that it appeared Hefner was getting involved anonymously.
“We do give out manuscripts to movie studios or to scouts in order to get a movie deal. There were a bunch of manuscripts that were sent out. After they were sent out we had a whole bunch of publicity lined up for Jennifer for this book and a lot of that died down. There was a lot of talk in the publishing house that Hefner had seen this and he was putting a kibosh on it,” Behar added.
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Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends Holly Madison (2nd L), Bridget Marquardt (2nd R) and Kendra Wilkinson (R) arrive at the E! Entertainment television summer splash party at the Tropicana bar at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood, Aug. 1, 2005.
(Reuters)
“Girls Next Door” went on to become a hit for E!. Meanwhile, Saginor was still spending time at the mansion, and was often ignored or receiving threats, she claimed.
“One of Hef’s secretaries who is no longer alive made a very, very, very real threat to me,” she alleged.
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TV Personalities Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson arrive at Sony Pictures’ Premiere of ‘House Bunny’ at the Mann Village Theatre on Aug. 20, 2008 in Westwood, California.
(Neilson Barnard )
It all came down to one thing, Saginor said: Hef’s image.
“It comes back to the perception and the image of Playboy, which was his number one priority over everything. It was all manufactured. I wrote about all this stuff and was given the cold shoulder. Hef used ‘Girls Next Door’ to save his image.”
