Hugh Hefner Dead Playboy Magazine Founder Dies at 91/2017/$100million Be...

Hugh Hefner Dead Playboy Magazine Founder Dies at 91/2017/$100million Beverly Hills mansion



Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy, has died aged 91.

Hefner was born on April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to become a millionaire after founding the influential men's magazine in 1953.

On Wednesday night the official Playboy Twitter account announced: 'American Icon and Playboy Founder, Hugh M. Hefner passed away today. He was 91. #RIPHef'.

Hefner's death was confirmed in a statement from Playboy Enterprises that said he 'passed away today from natural causes at his home, The Playboy Mansion, surrounded by loved ones.'



Hefner's son, Cooper Hefner, who is also the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, said: 'My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom.



'He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history.

'He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie and my brothers David and Marston, and all of us at Playboy Enterprises.'



On Wednesday night, as news of Hefner's death began to circulate, mourners began to gather at the gates of his Playboy Mansion to pay their last respects.

Hefner will be buried in an LA cemetery next to Marilyn Monroe - Playboy's first-ever cover star - in a plot that Hefner bought in 1992 for $75,000.

In the final years of his life, Hefner - who had begun to suffer back problems - began to fade from view, not wanting to be seen using a walker to move around, or be seen fiddling with his hearing aid.

'It's tough to watch him struggle, but I'm just happy it's physical and not mental,' Cooper told The Hollywood Reporter in August.

The only photos of Hefner known to have been taken anywhere in 2017 were three photos shared by him and his younger brother Marston on social media in July and August.

They showed the family playing backgammon together, and dining out.



'He will kill me if I print or if you say anything about him retiring,' Cooper had previously said, 'But I think he is really enjoying his life as a 90-year-old at the mansion.'

Cooper now runs the business; his brother Marston, once the heir apparent, has had a low profile since a 2012 alleged domestic violence incident. 



Hefner's widow, Crystal, 31, was the third of his wives, having married him in 2012. He had previously been married to Mildred Williams from 1949-1959, with whom he had two children, and Kimberley Conrad - 1989's 27-year-old Playmate of the Year - from 1989-2010.



Cooper, Hefner and Conrad's elder son, said that he and brother Marston grew up with a framed photo of his mom's nude centerfold in the home.

'Yeah, that was weird,' he admitted. 'It was like the elephant in the room.'

Hefner also had a bevvy of 'girlfriends' who lived with him - usually several at a time - at his famed Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

Despite declaring that he had slept with more than a thousand women, Hefner spent much of his life 'looking for love in all the wrong places,' as he tearfully told The New York Times in 1992.

Hefner married Crystal - and took up a life of monogamy - in 2012 after briefly calling off the engagement.'Maybe I should be single,' he said a few months later.



'But I do know that I need an ongoing romantic relationship. In other words, I am essentially a very romantic person, and all I really was looking for, quite frankly, with the notion of marriage was continuity and something to let the girl know that I really cared.'

The year before their marriage, he had mused: 'I never really found my soulmate.'



As news of Hefner's death spread online, celebrities gathered to pay tribute.

'RIP to the legendary Hugh Hefner! I’m so honored to have been a part of the Playboy team! You will be greatly missed! Love you Hef! Xoxo,' Kim Kardashian West tweeted.

She then added: Paris [Hilton] & I are reminiscing about the Playboy parties at the mansion & how much we love Hef. She’s texts me the perfect Hef emojis,' followed by eight Playboy Bunny emojis and an old man emoji.

Hilton herself posted a photo of herself in the famous Playboy Bunny outfit, along with Hefner, on Instagram.

Larry King - Hefner's junior at 81 - tweeted: 'Hugh Hefner was a GIANT in publishing, journalism, free speech & civil rights. He was a true original, and he was my friend. Rest well Hef.'

And Heidi Montag, who posed for Playboy in 2009, wrote: 'RIP @hughhefner thank you for making me part of the Playboy family. Sending lots of love and prayers to @crystalhefner.'