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The horrifying reality of living in Playboy mansion according to former ‘bunny’

Home> Entertainment> Celebrity

Updated 10:38 25 Mar 2025 GMTPublished 18:27 20 Aug 2024 GMT+1

The horrifying reality of living in Playboy mansion according to former ‘bunny’

Izabella St James said the Playboy Mansion was not everything it appeared to be from the outside

Mia Williams

Mia Williams

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A former Playboy bunny has revealed the 'grim' reality of living in Hugh Hefner's infamous mansion, and the strict rules they were made to follow.

Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion, located in Los Angeles, was no stranger to an A-lister or two.

But despite celebrity guests making a regular appearance, and the glamorous nature it portrayed to outsiders, a former Bunny revealed that it was actually a rather 'grubby' place to live.

The Playboy bunny mansion was not such a glamorous for those who lived there. (Bettmann/Getty stock images)
The Playboy bunny mansion was not such a glamorous for those who lived there. (Bettmann/Getty stock images)

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One by one, women who lived in the mansion have come forward over the years to reveal what life was like behind the luxury pink facade.

Izabella St James was a bunny at the mansion, and has since wrote a tell-all memoir about her experiences.

In her autobiography, Bunny Tales, she said: "We all did our best to decorate our rooms and make them homely, but the mattresses on our beds were ­disgusting - old, worn and stained."

She added: "Hef eventually permitted us to have the rooms painted and recarpeted.

"He liked the girlfriends’ rooms to look very girly, all white carpet and pink walls.

"Hef was used to dirty carpets.

The Bunnies were payed $1,000 a week. (Denise Truscello/WireImage)
The Bunnies were payed $1,000 a week. (Denise Truscello/WireImage)

"The one in his bedroom had not been changed for years, and things became significantly worse when Holly Madison moved into his room with him as Girlfriend No. 1 soon after I moved in, bringing her two dogs.

"They weren’t house-trained and would just do their business on the bedroom carpet.

"Late at night, if any of us visited Hef’s bedroom, we’d almost always end up standing in dog mess."

But why did the girls but up with such dirty conditions?

Well, most of them were eyeing up a chance of becoming featured in Playboy magazine - a career boost for any glamour model.

Others admitted that they stayed for the free plastic surgery that Hefner would gift them for birthdays.

She added: "Everything in the Mansion felt old and stale, and Archie the house dog would regularly relieve himself on the hallway curtains, adding a powerful whiff of urine to the general scent of decay."

The magazine publisher, who died at the age of 91 in 2017, used to pay his 'girlfriends' $1,000 a week.

But it wasn't always well received.

St James said: "We all hated this process.

"Hef would always use the occasion to bring up anything he wasn’t happy about in the relationship.

"Most of the complaints were about the lack of harmony among the girlfriends - or your lack of sexual participation in the 'parties' he held in his bedroom.

The girls even allegedly had a 9.00pm curfew, despite the house looking like a wild and free place to live.

One bunny went as far as to say it was stricter environment than living with her parents.

Featured Image Credit: Bettmann/Denise Truscello/WireImage

Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Real Life, Playboy

Mia Williams
Mia Williams

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