Yep, she's now spilling the beans...
Secrets of Playboy Sneak Peek: Former Playmate Claims Hugh Hefner Recorded Women Without Consent
Former Playmate Sondra Theodore is opening up about her experience with
Playboy and its founder, the late
Hugh Hefner.
In a sneak peek at A&E's new docuseries,
Secrets of Playboy, Theodore accuses Hefner of recording her and other women in the bedroom.
"Well he had tapes on everyone," she says of Hefner, whom she dated from 1976 to 1981. "The first time I looked up at the two screens he had for the TV in the bedroom and I realized it was me, I'm like 'Whoa, what are you doing?' "
"And when we started bringing other people into the bedroom, some girls had the same reaction like 'Whoa,' " she continues, claiming that Hefner would reply something like, " 'Oh, I can turn it off. If it's not okay, I'll turn it off.' "
When a woman would ask him to stop the tape, Theodore says that Hefner would appear to be turning something off and tell them, " 'Now we can just see it, we're just seeing it, we're not recording.' "
However, she alleges that he wouldn't actually stop the recording.
"And a week later, a couple days later, all of sudden there's the tape," Theodore says. "So he did it anyway. He had tapes on everyone."
Stefan Tetenbaum, Hefner's valet from 1978 to 1981, confirms Theodore's account in his own interview for the docuseries, premiering Monday night.
"Hefner taped everything in his bedroom and many men and stars and athletes came into the bedroom and had sex with these girls," Tetenbaum claims. "Most of the time Hefner never participated. He just watched, he was a voyeur."
"He would stage them. He thought of himself as a film director, he didn't want to be on the tapes, he wanted his girls and the stars," he adds. "Many of the girls were devastated after what they were expected to do, what they were forced to do. Well can you imagine, after he had all these tapes of you having sex with different girls, what power he had over these men?"
The clip is just the latest in a series of
shocking trailers A&E has released leading up to the
Secrets of Playboy premiere.
"I didn't realize that getting into the
Playboy world was a dangerous choice," another former girlfriend of Hefner's,
Holly Madison, said in one teaser, calling his famed mansion "
very cult-like" in another.
The current
Playboy, which now exists online after publishing its last regular print edition in Spring 2020, has
distanced itself from the founder ahead of the docuseries.
"Today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy," the brand wrote in an
open letter. "Today, our organization is run by a workforce that is more than 80% female, and together we are building upon the aspects of our legacy that have made a positive impact, including serving as a platform for free expression and a convener of safe conversations on sex, inclusion and freedom."
"We will continue to confront any parts of our legacy that do not reflect our values today, and to build upon the progress we have made as we evolve as a company so we can drive positive change for you and our communities," the letter continued.
