Feb 16, 2022
Secrets of Playboy (2021) documents the lived experiences of Playboy playmates, the Playboy Bunnies, and employees of the Playboy empire, and the abuse they went through at the hands of its founder Hugh Hefner.
Award-winning filmmaker Alexandra Dean joins us to discuss the making of this 10-part series currently streaming on A&E, and what it was like to uncover the abuses that occurred at Playboy.
She explains how Hugh Hefner broke women and was able to build up a persona of sexual liberation while creating a culture of abuse. Through the series she also explores why it was so difficult for old playmates to talk about what had happened behind closed doors at the mansion.
“Hugh Hefner seemed to block that darker side of himself when he was outside of the bedroom. He completely inhabited the much more progressive person that people truly loved, but he had secrets which unleashed a lot of damage.” – Alexandra Dean
Time Stamps:
00:00 – The
trailer for Secrets of
Playboy.
04:01 – What the
series is
all about.
07:14 – How Alexandra Dean
discovered the dark side of Playboy.
08:13 – Why she decided to
turn the documentary into a docuseries.
09:11 – The persona Hugh
Hefner built in American culture.
12:55 – What people will
find out watching this docuseries and the abuses
revealed.
16:20 – How Hefner
promoted women’s sexuality but yet manipulated his
‘girlfriends’.
20:33 – The type of person
that was brought into the Playboy world.
22:19 – How difficult it
was for the old playmates to talk about their past
experiences.
24:20 – What Alexandra
learned by going through old documents and footage.
26:11 – What it was like
for Jennifer Saginor to grow up in the Playboy
mansion.
27:24 – How the employees
at Playboy reacted to what happened at the mansion.
32:02 – Why Alexandra was
so interested in the Playboy world.
36:44 – The allegations
against Bill Cosby during his time at the mansion.
40:30 – The ways women
blame themselves for their abuse.
44:56 – The victims that
have come forward since the docuseries has been
aired.
45:35 – The future
projects Alexandra is now working on.
47:04 – Clip
from Secrets of
Playboy that shows the drug use at the Playboy
mansion.
Resources:
Secrets of Playboy
(2021)
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr
Story (2017)
This is Paris
(2020)
MovieMaker Magazine
Innersound
Audio
Alamo
Pictures
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Alexandra Dean:
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