[imagesource: Getty]

At the ripe old age of 91, Hugh Hefner kicked the bucket back in 2017.

If you’re a little jarred by the lack of respect for the departed in the above line – read on, as it will all make sense in a minute.

The entrepreneur, who became an American institution with the launch of Playboy in 1953, did a whole lot more than just print pictures of nude women. He built a brand that in many ways defined the sexual culture of the second half of the 20th century.

He was also known as an advocate for civil rights, gay rights, freedom of speech, and sexual freedom – at least when it came to those living outside of his infamous Playboy mansion. Within its walls, it was allegedly Hef’s sexual freedom that came first.

Over the years, a number of Playboy bunnies have come forward to talk about what life was really like living with Hef, and not all of it corresponds with the fun and games synonymous with the mansion.

Per NewsAU, which covers the full range of “bizarre and degrading sex rituals”, bunny Holly Madison (below in red) offered a bleak picture of her time in her book Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny.

“Everyone thinks that the infamous metal gate was meant to keep people out. But I grew to feel it was meant to lock me in,” she wrote.

Image: AP

She also claimed Hefner – who died aged 91 in 2017 – would watch porn, smoke weed, and masturbate while his girlfriends would cavort in front of him after being ordered to dress in identical nightwear.

Sex with Hef was supposedly “so brief that I can’t even recall what it felt like beyond having a heavy body on top of mine”.

Former bunny Kendra Wilkinson (below in yellow) revealed that she slept with Hefner when she was 18 and he was 73.

“I had to be very drunk or smoke lots of weed to survive those nights – there was no way around it.

Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty

“At about the minute mark, I pulled away and it was done. It was like a job. Clock in, clock out. It’s not like I enjoyed having sex with him.”

Then there’s Izabella St. James, who details the humiliating ritual that the Playmates had to go through once a week to receive their allowance. They had to wait while he “picked up all the dog poo off the carpet” before they could put in the request.

“We all hated this process. Hef would always use the occasion to bring up anything he wasn’t happy about in the relationship.

“Most of the complaints were about the lack of harmony among the girlfriends – or your lack of sexual participation in the ‘parties’ he held in his bedroom.

“If we’d been out of town for any reason and missed one of the official ‘going out’ nights he wouldn’t want to give us the allowance. He used it as a weapon.”

She also describes living conditions very different from those projected by Hefner in the media.

 She wrote: “Although we all did our best to decorate our rooms and make them homey, the mattresses on our beds were ­disgusting – old, worn and stained. The sheets were past their best too.”

It all makes you wonder if something like the Playboy mansion would have been possible in this day and age.

One word sums up most of the above – gross.

[source:newsau]