Playboy and the secrets of the Hefner house, like a red light Downton Abbey - Lifestyle

The dark secrets of "Playboy": four decades ago Hugh Hefner's butler wrote a hitherto unpublished memoir.

The book chronicles Stefan Tetenbaum's experiences as a valet to the founder of the "men's only" magazine and is now out digitally on Amazon and Kindle.

The story of what the butler witnessed in the 1970s and 1980s in the service of the "bunny daddy" also inspired a ten-part A&E docuseries that examines Hefner's empire through the lens of the #MeToo movement.

"A salacious tale", as Cooper Hefner, one of Hugh's sons, called it.

"My story at Playboy Mansion West was an extraordinary period of fame and power for Playboy Enterprises," Tetenbaum exclusively told "Variety" who reports on the memoir's release: "Working alongside Hefner gave me an incredible perspective. in the daily life of an extremely complex man and of the world he created. A world at the same time in plain sight, but also very private ".

The story, as in a sort of red-light "Downton Abbey", is a daily glimpse of what was happening inside the walls of the Mansion in Los Angeles.

Tetenbaum tells of when Hefner asked him to look for prostitutes, of the mistreatment to which the 'girlfriends' and Playmates of the landlord were subjected, the encounters with visiting celebrities.

"Every morning I would go to his secretary and get that day's sexual meeting agenda which included how women should be dressed or undressed."

Hefner - says the butler - did not always participate in the action but sometimes he limited himself to directing it "sitting on a special chair".

The book "explores the dark side of how he treated women who wanted to be part of his world and that of 'Playboy'," writes the butler: "Only those who lived with Hefner knew the truth of what he expected from They".

The butler explains why he waited so many years to publish his report: "Hefner was too powerful a figure and the publishing world didn't want to take the risk of annoying such a giant. The #MeToo movement changed that."

Hefner founded 'Playboy' in 1953 and until his death in 2017 at the age of 91 he was a controversial figure: for some an exploiter of women and their bodies, for others a pioneer of the sexual revolution and a champion of gay rights, contraception and abortion.

After his death, the family distanced themselves from the magazine, even financially, and the 'Playboy' empire is now called Plby Group.