Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dies
LOS ANGELES: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner ( pix), who helped usher in the 1960s sexual revolution with his groundbreaking men’s magazine and built a business empire around his libertine lifestyle, died on Wednesday at the age of 91, Playboy Enterprises said.
Hefner, once called the “prophet of pop hedonism” by Time magazine, peacefully passed away at his home, Playboy Enterprises said in a statement.
He was sometimes characterised as an oversexed Peter Pan as he kept a harem of young blondes that numbered as many as seven at his legendary Playboy Mansion.
This was chronicled in The Girls Next Door, a TV reality show that aired from 2005 through 2010.
Hefner said that thanks to the impotency-fighting drug Viagra he continued exercising his libido into his 80s.
Playboy shattered taboos in the 1950s – a time when Hollywood sets featured separate beds for married couples – with pictures of barebreasted women in a mass-market magazine that featured a nude Marilyn Monroe in its inaugural centrefold.
Kim Kardashian West, who posed for Playboy in 2007, wrote a Twitter tribute to the mogul, posting: “RIP to the legendary Hugh Hefner! I’m so honoured to have been a part of the Playboy team! You will be greatly missed! Love you Hef! Xoxo.”
Socialite heiress Paris Hilton posted a montage of photos featuring her and Hefner, calling him a “legend, innovator and one of a kind”. “We had so much fun and incredible memories together. I will miss him dearly.” – Agencies
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