“We never looked at it really closely and was like what’s really going on there? Why are all these young women hanging out with this really old guy, what’s he doing to them and are they really happy with this situation?” director Alexandra Dean says.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner always portrayed himself as the ultimate ladies' man living a life many men envied, but now a new explosive documentary claims to expose the dark side of the man known as "Hef" and life inside the Playboy mansion.
Hefner, who died four four years ago, and his empire are the focus of the 10-part documentary premiering Monday night on A&E.
It alleges that the Playboy mansion was rampant with wild drug use and sexual assaults .
Director Alexandra Dean interviewed more than 100 women for the documentary.
“We never looked at it really closely and was like what’s really going on there? Why are all these young women hanging out with this really old guy, what’s he doing to them and are they really happy with this situation?” Dean said.
Holly Madison appeared on the reality show “The Girls Next Door.” She lived in the mansion for seven years and says she felt like she was in a cult.
“It was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there. You had a 9 o’clock curfew. You weren't really allowed to leave,” Madison says in the documentary.
She claims Hefner forced her to participate in an orgy and that her having sex, by appointment, every week with the octogenarian was "traumatic.”
“I felt like I was just in this cycle of gross things,” Madison said.
“And some women did think that Playboy was a great playground for them and that they had a lot of fun and they felt powerful from it and it was great for their careers. Other women had felt like it destroyed their lives,” Dean said.
PJ Matson was known as the “bunny mother" at the Chicago Playboy mansion. She supervised 70 Playboy bunnies and says the corporate office shut her up when she claimed Bill Cosby raped her.
“I called my boss and I told her what he had done to me. She said, ‘You know that that’s Hefner’s best friend, don't you?' I said, ‘I know, but he drugged and he raped me.’ She said, ‘If you want to keep your job, I suggest you shut your mouth.’ And that’s what I did,” Matson said.
Cosby has denied every allegation of wrongdoing.
Playboy, which is under new ownership, issued a statement of support for the women in the documentary.
“Today’s Playboy is not Hugh Hefner’s Playboy. We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences,” the company said.
