Former Playmates say they were 'pimped out' to wealthy clients for dates and sex while working for Playboy
- Several former Playmates say they were "pimped" out while working for Playboy promotions.
- Ex-Playmate Rebekkah Armstrong said she once had to barricade herself in a room when a client meeting went south.
Several former Playmates said they were "pimped out" and used for sex with wealthy clients while working for Playboy promotions.
"Playmate promotions, those were the girls who went out and signed autographs and did all that," former Playmate Dona Speir said on Monday's episode of "Secrets of Playboy."
Promotions is a subsection of Playboy Enterprises, the company founded by the late Hugh Hefner in 1963. Hefner died in 2017.
According to Speir, "there was good money" in working for Playmate promotions, which made the position appealing to some women who'd already appeared in Playboy magazine. But according to Speir and others, sometimes the Playmates were expected to do more than just promote the brand.
"They would fly us in with the high rollers and we'd do little fashion shows," Speir said of working at casinos for Playboy promotions. "And then they'd say, 'Go on down and gamble with the high rollers.'"
"It was like they were pimping us out a little bit," Speir continued, adding that she frequently saw other Playmates going up to the casino's hotel rooms with the "high rollers," and one of her roommates during a promotional tour once came back to the room with hundred dollar bills stuffed into her clothes.
Cristy Thom, another former Playmate, said in an interview for Monday's episode that during a trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey for Playboy promotions, she and other women were ordered into a hot tub for a photo op by a high-paying customer.
"Really, we were prostitutes. And it was gross," Thom added.
And Rebekkah Armstrong, who was Miss September in 1986, said on the series she was once sent to do a Playmate promotions job in Texas that "turned out to be nonexistent."
"I was actually just being sent there to go on a date," Armstrong revealed during her "Secrets of Playboy" interview, adding that she was under the impression she was going to shoot a truck calendar for an oil tycoon, whom she didn't name.
"I showed up and then I realized this is not real," the former Playmate continued. "I remember barricading myself in the room, and putting the chair underneath the door, and I called Playboy and I was like, 'You gotta get me outta here. This isn't real. This isn't happening.'"
Armstrong also recalled an incident in which she was sent to Alaska to "model," only to be drugged and sexually assaulted by a man she'd been introduced to.
"As Playmates, we get put into situations that are almost impossible to get out of without conceding," Armstrong added on "Secrets of Playboy."
Representatives for Hefner's estate and for Playboy didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
In a previous email statement to Insider about the docuseries and subsequent allegations against Hefner, a representative for Playboy said, "The Hefner family is no longer associated with Playboy, and today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy."
Directly addressing "Secrets of Playboy," the statement added: "We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences. As a brand with sex-positivity at its core, we believe safety, security, and accountability are paramount."
It continued: "The most important thing we can do right now is actively listen and learn from their experiences. Today, our organization is run by a workforce that is more than 80% female and we will continue to confront any parts of our legacy that do not reflect our values today, and to build upon the progress we have made as we evolve as a company so we can drive positive change for our employees and our communities."
New episodes of "Secrets of Playboy" air Mondays on A&E.