In life, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner cavorted with a harem of young women in the infamous Playboy Mansion – a byword for hedonism and sexual excess.In death, he will lie next to just one: the iconic Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe.
Hefner, who died on Wednesday aged 91, bought the crypt next to hers in 1992, for $75,000 (£55,930).
The situation has divided public opinion, with some seeing a touching gesture and others a sleazy intrusion.
Hefner fans on social media praised him for appreciating Monroe – his first cover girl, who died in 1962.
Tweets:
Vinny Chase @MattttNernnn
Hugh Hefner spent 75k to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe. “Spending an eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet a deal to pass up” #Legend
9:09 PM – Sep 28, 2017
2 2 Replies
629 629 Retweets
1,969
Shannon Moore✔
@TheShannonBrand
Hugh Hefner resting for eternity beside Marilyn Monroe
is the greatest thing ever.Nobody will ever be close to what this man was!!Rest Easy
9:42 PM – Sep 28, 2017,
North Carolina, USA
13 13 Replies
82 82 Retweets
381
But others pointed out that while Hefner launched his brand and his lifestyle off the back of that first Playboy issue in December 1953, Monroe was embarrassed by the shoot that appeared in it – and feared for her future career.
She had agreed to pose nude as a young woman, short on acting work and desperate for money. She received $50 in modelling fees.
Four years later, Hefner paid a Chicago calendar company $500 so he could show Monroe with “nothing but the radio on” – and sold 50,000 magazines almost overnight.
Tweets:
Zena Wozniak @zenawoz
Is it too soon to joke about Hugh Hefner making unwelcome advances at women even in the afterlife? https://twitter.com/billboard/status/913450781663285248 …
1:27 AM – Sep 29, 2017
33 33 Replies
780 780 Retweets
3,124
Louise Wallace @LouiseM_Wallace
Hugh Hefner is going to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe because he paid $75K in 1992 to get the vault right next to hers. Creeeeeeeeepy.
2:05 PM – Sep 28, 2017
28 28 Replies
323 323 Retweets
656
In “Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words”, the actress wrote: “I never even received a thank-you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph. I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it.”
Hefner never met the Some Like It Hot star – though he said they had talked once by phone. “I’m a sucker for blondes, and she is the ultimate blonde,” he observed. – BBC
