There are a lot of disturbing revelations in Secrets of Playboy, but Hugh Hefner’s secret trove of sex tapes is one of the most concerning.
The A&E doc revealed that many of the videos were allegedly taken without the consent of all participants. In fact, some of the Playboy insiders claimed that the entire mansion was under surveillance, which allowed the magazine mogul to keep tapes of his A-List visitors as well as his Playmates. The tapes were thought to be held as blackmail against celebs, public figures, and residents of the mansion alike.
Related: Playmate Karissa Shannon Got Secret Abortion At 19 After Hefner ‘Groomed’ Her
Former girlfriend Sondra Theodore explained:
“He had tapes on anybody. Anybody that walked into that bedroom disrobed they had tape on them. They knew they were there and it kept everybody in line. They were fearful about what if it got out and everybody saw them.”
The Sun got the scoop on the final episode of the docuseries, in which Sondra expressed concern as to what happened to the tapes after the 91-year-old died. She recalled:
“In 2011 I told Miki [Garcia] I am worried about these tapes and what is going to happen to them. He was in his 80s, could kick the bucket at any time and who would have the key to open that panel?”
Working with Garcia, Playboy’s former head of promotions, Sondra sent a series of letters “getting in his face” and promising to sue Hef and the organization if any tape was released. The ex-centerfold shared:
“We were told that it would be taken care of that Mary [O’Connor, Hef’s administrator] was in charge. And if anything happened to them she knew what to do — that she was going to destroy the tapes.”
The official story on the tapes, per The Sun, is that the controversial millionaire instructed they be placed in a “concrete casket” and dumped into the sea off the California coast. (Seems pretty bizarre if you ask us — creating the tapes was bad enough, but couldn’t they just be destroyed with fire? Or a baseball bat? What’s the purpose of the ocean dump?)
Anyway, according to Hef’s former executive assistant Lisa Loving Barrett, that’s exactly what happened. She confirmed:
“One of the video department heads had a boat and they put all of those video tapes, after they were pulled from their cases, in a barrel and taken to sea. I had reason to believe that was true.”
Still, Sondra has her doubts. She speculated:
“Even then I did not think he would not destroy all of them. His ego would not destroy all those tapes. … Even in all the letters, I did not get an apology from him. He did not apologize.”
Another Playmate, Susie Krabacher, weighed in with her own heartbreaking take on the tapes:
“It haunted me that he might have a video of me when he was on top of me. … I pray that because I was unconscious that he would not show it to anyone because it was illegal. My saving thought is that he had to have destroyed it because he is showing himself committing a crime. I didn’t get over what happened in that bedroom.”
We can’t imagine how painful it is to contemplate that violation. But if Hef was going to film himself committing a crime, would he even bother destroying the evidence? Especially if it was going to exist after his death, when he couldn’t be punished for it.
Related: Hef Defended By Hundreds Of Playmates, Lovers, & Employees In Open Letter
Miki Garcia added her two cents:
“Hefner held himself up as this big lover, and the person that every man wanted to be. And here was the lowest and most vilest scum on earth. I think he hated women underneath it all. I have spoken to enough people that just seems to be the only conclusion I can come to.”
We guess the question is, did he hate them enough to leave behind alleged material that would cause them further shame and violation? And if so, where does that evidence exist? It certainly seems troubling that there are no first hand accounts here about what actually happened to the tapes. We hope that wherever they are, they stay buried (under the ocean or otherwise) for good.
[Image via Larry King/YouTube]
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