Holly Madison says 'most' aspiring Playmates of the Year felt obligated to sleep with Hugh Hefner in order to secure the title

• Holly Madison said some would-be Playmates of the Year felt obligated to sleep with Hugh Hefner.
• Some former Playboy employees, as well as another of Hefner's exes, made similar statements.

Holly Madison said that would-be Playmates of the Year often felt they had to sleep with Hugh Hefner in order to secure the coveted title at Playboy.

The accusation against the Playboy founder, who died in 2017, came on Monday's episode of the A&E docuseries "Secrets of Playboy."

"When I first arrived, it seemed like most of the women who were coming through and testing for Playmate felt like they had to sleep with him to get Playmate of the Year," Madison, who dated Hefner from 2001 to 2008, recalled. "Not every single one of them did; there were a few exceptions. But I think a lot of people felt like they had to."

Several other women featured on Monday's episode seemed to corroborate Madison's account.

"I think it was known that they were sort of expected to," said Jennifer Saginor, the daughter of Hefner's personal doctor at the mansion and the author of a tell-all memoir called "Playground."

PJ Masten, who was a Playboy Bunny and a Bunny mother from 1972 to 1982, made a similar statement. "In order to get Playmate of the Year, you had to do some pretty wild things up in the bedroom with Hefner and his friends," Masten said in the episode. "You had to vie for that position."

"The girls did a lot to win that favor, and [Hefner] knew that they would, so he usually played that up," Sondra Theodore, who dated Hefner from 1976 to 1981, said in another interview.

The women in "Secrets of Playboy" said Playmates who were awarded Playmate of the Year usually received more publicity and prize money.

Miki Garcia, a former Playmate and Playboy employee from 1973 to 1982, said Marilyn Grabowski, the West Coast director of photography for Playboy magazine, had "promised" her the 1974 title.

But Garcia said that when she and Grabowski visited Hefner at the Playboy mansion around Christmastime, things took a turn.

"I was extremely nervous, because I just knew that if I didn't go to bed with him, I wasn't going to get Playmate of the Year," Garcia recalled. "I had that in my gut. I wasn't for sure — I just thought, if he asks and I say no, there goes that money out the door."

Garcia said that despite Grabowski's urging, she ultimately refused to go speak with Hefner and didn't end up sleeping with him. The 1974 title went to another woman, Cyndi Wood.

"That was my first business lesson, so to speak, from Hugh Hefner," Garcia said.

Monday's episode of "Secrets of Playboy" contained a statement from Grabowski calling Garcia's allegations "totally untrue."

Hefner's estate hasn't commented on these or any other specific claims made in "Secrets of Playboy." In late January, shortly before the A&E docuseries premiered, Hefner's son Cooper appeared to denounce allegations against the Playboy founder.

"Some may not approve of the life my Dad chose, but my father was not a liar. However unconventional, he was sincere in his approach and lived honestly," Cooper tweeted. "He was generous in nature and cared deeply for people. These salacious stories are a case study of regret becoming revenge."

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.