Documentary Alleges Hugh Hefner Made Nonconsensual Bedroom Tapes, Engaged in ‘Sexual Activities’ With Dog

The documentary 'Secrets of Playboy' includes commentary from a number of people who were in Hefner's circle, including former playmate Sondra Theodore.

Hugh Hefner is pictured posing for the camera
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Image via Getty/Denise Truscello/WireImage

Hugh Hefner is pictured posing for the camera

A new documentary series focuses on a number of allegations against the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, including accusations that he recorded sexual acts without the permission of the participants.

In a TMZ-shared clip from A&E’s Secrets of Playboy, which premieres this week, Sondra Theodore—July 1977 Playmate of the Month—said that Hefner had “tapes on everybody.” She also detailed the alleged process through which he would obtain recordings of people who objected to the presence of a camera.

“He had tapes on everybody,” Theodore, who was also one of Hefner’s girlfriends, said. “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.”

According to Theodore, Hefner would respond in these alleged instances by simply pretending to turn off the recording aspect of the equipment. “And maybe a week later or a couple days later, there’s the tape. … So, he did it anyway,” she said.

Stefan Tetenbaum, who worked as a valet for Hefner in the late 1970s and early 1980s, also addressed these allegations in the doc. Per Tetenbaum, Hefner “taped everything in his bedroom,” including the alleged activities of a variety of public figures. These alleged recordings, Tetenbaum added, gave Hefner “power” over a number of people.

“Hefner taped everything in his bedroom and many men and stars and athletes came into the bedroom and had sex with these girls,” Tetenbaum said. “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 wanna be on the tapes.” 

Meanwhile, other coverage surrounding Secrets—including from the Daily Beast and the New York Post, respectively—details allegations focused on sexual assault (as previously reported) and beastiality. Theodore, notably, alleges that she once walked in on Hefner “engaging in sexual activities” with her dog. 

“I walked in on him with my dog and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ I was shocked,” she said, per the Post. “He made it seem like it was just a one-time thing, and that he was just goofing off. But I never left him alone with my dog again.”

In December, The Girls Next Door star (and another former Hefner girlfriend) Holly Madison detailed how she had been discouraged from speaking out against Hefner, including for alleged instances of him having taken nude pictures of multiple women without their knowledge or consent. The women, Madison said, would often be “heavily intoxicated” when the alleged photos were taken.

“It’s kind of revenge porn before I even knew what revenge porn was,” Madison said on an episode of the Power: Hugh Hefner podcast.

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