The Girl Next Door
In the 2000s, Hugh Hefner reinvented himself and his brand through the runaway success of the reality show “Girls Next Door,” starring his girlfriends. The series made mansion life seem like a fairytale, but Holly and Bridget reveal the reality.
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More from this season
S1 E1
The Playboy Legacy
Hugh Hefner sold himself as a champion of free speech who created the Playboy brand to set off a sexual revolution that would liberate men and women alike, but over the years he used Playboy to manipulate women to compete for his favor and silenced whistleblowers.
S1 E3
The Bunnies & the Cleanup Crew
Playboy hired the most attractive women in the world by promising an environment where they would always be protected, but outside of the Playboy Mansion, the Bunnies faced dangers and abuses that were covered up by the Playboy “cleanup crew.”
S1 E4
The Price of Loyalty
This episode explores the 1970s DEA investigation into Hefner, Playboy, and drugs through the lens of two women who lived and worked at Playboy: Hefner's right-hand woman Bobbie Arnstein, who committed suicide while being investigated for drug trafficking, and Playboy Bunny Adrienne Pollack, who died of a drug overdose in 1973.
S1 E5
The Circus
After decades of silence, Hefner's former number one girlfriend Sondra Theodore shares her story detailing how she was groomed by him to participate in his increasingly abusive sex life. Sondra's testimony shines a spotlight on Hefner's mechanisms for controlling and breaking women.