Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s son, Marston Hefner, isn’t exactly following in his father’s footsteps.
The 33-year-old is a published author and does work in nude photography. The difference is, Marston is the one in front of the camera, sharing the images with his subscribers on OnlyFans.
“I think I like being provocative in a way that makes sense to me ethically, as long as I don’t feel like it’s doing any harm,” Marston told Fox News Digital.
“It’s like, OK, so people don’t want to make money off of getting naked,” he added. “There’s nothing wrong with getting naked. And so there is an opportunity there where it’s like, if I get naked, and I’m not doing anything that’s hurting anybody, and I can make money off of it [that’s] groovy.”
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Marston, who identifies as “bisexual af” in his OnlyFans bio, doesn’t just share nude photographs on his page. He also uses the platform as a way to showcase his passions, including collecting Pokémon and Beanie Babies.
“OnlyFans is kind of like Instagram for me,” he said.
He went on to explain, “It’s like when I fall in love, I’m not falling in love with their body solely. I’m falling in love with the person. And so, it’s like my passions are part of what makes me attractive and interesting. And so, I treat it like a diary. Or you can look at my life, and if you want to see me nude, go for it. If you want to get to know me, go for it.”
Marston recently celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary with wife Anna Lambropoulos Hefner, who he admitted was hesitant at first when he decided to pursue OnlyFans but gradually changed her mind and became “very supportive.”
“I think she saw some money signs, and she was like, ‘OK, I get to get some cool things, too.’ And then she saw some of the money going towards our son, so that changed her mind,” he said. “I think it’s one of those things where it’s like a shock. It’s like, ‘Whoa, what the heck? Oh my gosh, you’re doing this. Oh my gosh.’ And then there’s the kind of calm after the storm.”
The couple welcomed their first son, Forrest Glenn, in July, and Marston is in love with being a new dad.
“It’s been incredible,” he said.
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And while he joked he’s often been a bit of a night owl who would pull “all-nighters when I was younger,” he didn’t deny the late nights of caring for a newborn could be hard.
“Yeah, sleep deprivation sucks,” he said, adding, “It sucks to wake up at 5 in the morning and feed. But like everything else, I mean, I would recommend, very fun.”
Marston said he also plans to avoid posting much if anything about his son on social media.
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“As best as I can, I know it’s impossible. I don’t want him to be affected by this, by the negative stuff,” he said, referring to his work on OnlyFans.
Marston’s hesitation in putting his son in the public eye comes more from his nude photography than anything to do with growing up in one of the most famous houses in the world, the Playboy Mansion, with a famous father like Hugh Hefner and a Playboy model mother, Kimberley Conrad.
Marston Hefner, right, is shown with father Hugh Hefner and brother Cooper Hefner in 2011. (Craig Barritt/WireImage)
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“That was wild,” Marston said of growing up in the mansion. “Nudity was totally normal,” he added, but not in any scandalous way.
“What it taught me in my life is that one, doing something different is OK. If people think negatively about it, as long as it’s OK with your ethical moral system, it’s OK to do things outside of the box,” he said.
“Like my father being famous, having seven girlfriends. That didn’t hurt me growing up. Maybe it brought its own challenges, but overall it was like a blessing, obviously,” Marston said of his upbringing.
“Look at my life,” he continued. “I mean, I’m very blessed. So, I think doing things differently is OK and nudity is normal. And just thinking outside of the box a little bit because I had a very unconventional childhood.”
Hugh Hefner and Kimberley Conrad with one-year-old Marston in 1991. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
While Marston’s mother was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in January 1988 and later Playmate of the Year in 1989, the same year she married Hefner, he reiterated how un-sensationalized the situation was for him as a kid.
“It was normal. It wasn’t sexualized. It was just simply this is a nude figure. It was just part of the day, you know?” he said.
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Marston has one younger brother, Cooper, and two older half-siblings, Christine Hefner and David Hefner, from Hefner’s first marriage to Mildred Williams. Hefner married a third time in 2012 to Crystal Harris, a 2009 Playmate of the Year, and the couple remained together until Hefner’s death in 2017.
Growing up with a famous set of parents did come with the frustration many celebrity offspring face: Peers “idolizing” the people who are just your parents.
Marston gets kissed by Julie McCullough and Penelope Jimenez at the 2003 launch of Spike TV at the Playboy Mansion. (Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
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“It sounds jaded, but that was annoying to hear over and over again,” Marston said. “Like somebody said, ‘Your dad’s a God.’ And I’m like, OK, I get it. But I guess that kind of made me feel like people weren’t looking at me for me. The overshadowing, that was a little sad.”
But Marston, who lived in the mansion for several years before moving to an adjoining property, said that things in the house weren’t a “crazy nude party all the time” and he found time to connect with some of his favorite celebrities on a deeper level when they’d drop by.
One of the famous names he was most excited to meet was legendary sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who Marston “really cared about because I’m a writer” and wanted him to “just tell me everything.”
He also met Magic Johnson, of whom he was a fan as a kid playing basketball, as well as Pauly Shore, who he described as “super sweet, super nice” and recalled having “deep, intellectual conversations” with the comedian.
The Playboy mansion was sold to billionaire Daren Metropoulos, who purchased it for $100 million in 2016 and Hefner was allowed to continue living there, which he did until he died in 2017.
Marston, left, recalled getting to meet several celebrities at the Playboy Mansion, including Ray Bradbury, Magic Johnson and Pauly Shore. (Brian To/FilmMagic)
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Since Hefner’s death, several former girlfriends have come forward with allegations of misconduct and abuse.
Former “Girls Next Door” star and Hefner’s one-time girlfriend Holly Madison said in a 2022 A&E docuseries titled “Secrets of Playboy” that she had been afraid to leave the Playboy Mansion out of fear of repercussions, specifically a “mountain of revenge porn” that the late publisher allegedly had in his possession.
Holly Madison is one of Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriends who came forward with misconduct allegations. (ID)
Hefner’s third wife, Crystal, is set to release a memoir next year titled “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.” The book’s description says it is a “raw and unflinching look at the objectification and misogyny of the Playboy Mansion.”
Others, including Marston’s mother, have disputed the claims. Hundreds of former Playboy staff and Playboy models spoke out in defense of Hefner around the time of the docuseries, signing a letter in support of the founder.
Conrad, in the letter, said, “All people should be encouraged to share their individual experience in this world, but no one should be emboldened to re-write the truth at the expense of another person’s character. What the allegers who speak out now seem to ignore is that there were many of us throughout the years who were there with them as well. I’m saddened, mostly, that these accounts take light away from true victims of sexual abuse, and hope that in time those selling lies to defame Hef find peace within their own lives.”
Hugh Hefner’s second wife and mother to sons Marston and Cooper, Kimberley Conrad, defended the Playboy founder when allegations about potential misconduct surfaced after his death. (Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Marston did not address any one specific claim or allegation but shared his thoughts on those coming forward.
“I think their voice matters a lot,” Marston said.
“I think that kind of both camps are wrong in the sense that it’s not all perfect, and it’s not all like the movies, obviously. But maybe he wasn’t frickin’ whatever it is they’re saying. I think it’s important to realize that, like, the motives here, people are making money off of talking about it,” Marston continued, adding, “They’re gaining followers off of talking about it. And so it’s important to realize that that’s like a real motivation for people. And then it’s also important to read, like just trying to decipher like, is this somebody who’s talking with an agenda or not.”
Marston Hefner celebrated his 21st birthday at the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino in Las Vega in 2011. (Ethan Miller/WireImage)
Marston ultimately decided to focus on a different career path in publishing and became a writer before his interest in OnlyFans.
“I felt like I maybe didn’t fit the mold of a businessman,” Marston said. “And more than that, it was like what I really enjoyed just simply wasn’t there. Like, I really enjoyed learning. I really loved reading … it was just a different, different path.”
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“I wrote a book, a short book of short stories about love, loneliness and sexuality. It’s experimental fiction,” Marston said of his writing, adding that he’s now working on a fantasy novel inspired by the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Though he didn’t get into it full time, Marston did recall a fleeting interest in taking over the Playboy brand when he was younger. At the time, the writer said he had created a virtual chatroom, which he dubbed “The Playboy Mansion,” and gave himself the username “Lil Hef.”
Ironically, he said he was almost banned from the program for “copyright infringement,” but nothing ever came of it, and he never told his father about it, joking the whole thing was “a highlight of my middle school years.”
His brother, Cooper, did work at Playboy Enterprises for several years, most recently as chief of global partnerships, before leaving to join the U.S. Airforce in 2019.
Marston and Cooper Hefner together in 2009. (Ethan Miller/WireImage)
Where Marston and his father did some of their bonding was in their shared hobby of collecting.
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“My dad was a collector. Big time. Big time collector,” Marston said. “He had expensive art, but his real joy was his childhood. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, The Shadow, like old school comic[s] and old school shows that I used to watch. He had a Flash Gordon or a Buck Rogers gun replica on his mantle.”
He admits his dad didn’t fully understand the Pokémon craze of which Marston is still a fan to this day, but he understood his son’s interest in collecting.
“I think he got it,” Marston said.
