Playboy founder Hugh Hefner passed away at the age of 91 due to natural causes, the magazine said in an official statement.
Once termed as the prophet of pop hedonism, Hefner founded the popular Playboy magazine and catapulted it into one of America’s most recognised brands. In an interview some years ago, he acknowledged the role of Viagra behind his libido even in his 80s.”I am never going to grow up,” Hefner once remarked.
“Staying young is what it is all about for me. Holding on to the boy and long ago I decided that age really didn’t matter and as long as the ladies … feel the same way, that’s fine with me,” the magazine founder once told CNN.
Born in Chicago, Hefner said that his lavish lifestyle might have been because of his repressing family wherein the members rarely exhibited affection for each other. His multi-million dollar empire centered around his Hefner philosophy based on romance and lavishness.
He was known for hosting lavish parties at his palatial mansion in Chicago and then Los Angeles wherein his guests mingled with young beautiful women. In 2012, he married Chrystal Harris at the age of 86. His wife was 60 years younger to him.
American Icon and Playboy Founder, Hugh M. Hefner passed away today. He was 91. #RIPHef pic.twitter.com/tCLa2iNXa4
— Playboy (@Playboy) September 28, 2017
Also read: Naked women are back on ‘Playboy’, magazine calls the self-imposed ban a ‘mistake’
At the time of his death, Hefner’s net worth was estimated to be around USD 43 million. In 1963, he faced obscenity charges for featuring disrobed celebrities in his magazines but was later acquitted of all charges. In his interviews, Hefner often said that he never considered Playboy as a sex magazine but a lifestyle magazine in which sex was an important ingredient.
A visit from Ali. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/d5cBHrW3Eo
— Hugh Hefner (@hughhefner) June 4, 2016
