Ruth Stiles for
From the age of six, Jennifer Saginor, now 51, spent her childhood in the infamous party spot in Los Angeles, and from the age of 12 she had her own room in a 29-bedroom mansion.
Now Saginor tells in an exclusive interview: “In my head, it was the most magical Disneyland environment a child could ever dream of. I used to run to the game room and put chewing gum in my pocket.
“I went to the Grotto and watched people when they didn’t know I was there and swam in the tunnel from the Grotto to the pool, and in fact, I had so many different adventures.”
But, she explains, “As the years went by, I didn’t realize that some of the boundaries adults crossed could affect me for years to come.”
Saginor, who wrote a memoir called Playground about her childhood, says Playboy boss Hugh Hefner was like an “uncle” and would ask his butlers to cater to her every whim, whether it was a cheeseburger for lunch or a Playboy limousine ride to school.
From the age of six, Jennifer Saginor, now 51, spent her childhood in the infamous party spot in Los Angeles, and from the age of 12 she had her own room in a 29-bedroom mansion.
The reason was her father: Dr. Mark Saginor, Hefner’s personal physician and close friend, nicknamed “The Doctor”. Feelgood” due to its penchant for handing out prescription pills.
She describes how he encouraged Saginor and her sister to be naked, took her to clubs at age 15, and kept three cans of pills in the kitchen of the family’s Beverly Hills home labeled “enhancing,” “calming,” and “qua-human.”
But they spent most of their time at the mansion, exposing the glamorous blonde to all sorts of shenanigans, including naked parties, parades of pornstars like Ron Jeremy who were constantly at home, and big-screen TVs that showed erotica in a circle.
Saginor will now star in a Netflix documentary due out in September that details her unusual mansion childhood and the struggle with addiction that followed after she became addicted to prescription drugs as a teenager. .
Joining Saginor in the documentary will be 48-year-old Jackie Hatten, who became a regular at the Playboy Mansion in the early 2000s thanks to her best friend Anna Nicole Smith.
She revealed she now has ‘mixed feelings’ about the mansion due to how it affected her as a child (pictured)
Like Saginor, who last visited the mansion in 2010 just before entering rehab, Hatten describes a whirlwind of lewd glamour, outrageous parties and cat-like competition between girls.
Saginor, who had an affair with one of Hefner’s girlfriends as a teenager, said the element of rivalry was always there, but it reached new heights in the noughties.
At the time, Hefner dated Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson, and Bridget Marquardt, who later became famous for E! reality show The Girls Next Door.
Although Saginor says she was allowed to do whatever she liked in the mansion while growing up there, both women said that Hefner’s harem of playmates had to follow the rules.
The rules, which were laid out in a contract signed by all of the playmates, included staying lean and agreeing to regular weigh-ins, respecting the 9:00 p.m. curfew, and not driving.
The more secret rules included not eating cookies from a special jar that only Hef could touch, and agreeing to have sex with the head of Playboy and his friends.
She recalled being exposed to nudity, sex, and Hefner’s harem of playmates, who she said would constantly vie for his attention.
In return, the women received an allowance of $1,000 a week.
Saginor and Hatten said the girls would compete for position – they all strive to get closer to Hefner and become his number one girlfriend and share a bedroom with him.
Madison, in particular, became a pro at using the rules, and regularly told Hefner stories about other girls breaking them.
“Being Hef’s girlfriends in the inner circle, it was competitive, feline, and I’m sure in a way I enjoy being in the sorority,” Saginor said.
“It became a running joke that Holly was a drug addict. A narc who will lash out at these other girls and give them trouble if they eat Hef’s personal cookies, for example. He had these cookies, meant only for him, and no one was supposed to eat them.
“Or when Kendra started dating Hank. She dated him for several months and it was Holly who mentioned to Hef that Kendra was dating Hank.
“Fortunately, Hef reacted positively and Kendra was able to ask for a wedding on the grounds, which was unusual because usually if someone broke the contract, they were kicked out.”
As a little girl, Saginor considered the mansion “the most magical Disneyland environment a child could dream of” and loved running to the playroom (pictured) where she stuffed her pockets with chewing gum.
Hatten tells another story about how she and three of her friends were filming in Malibu with the 2000 band Crazytown when one of them found herself kicked out of the Mansion after Madison told Hefner she had posted a pair of his famous satin pajamas on ebay.
“Regina got a call saying that Holly lied to her for taking Hef’s pajamas, satin pajamas, so she was in trouble and out of the game,” she said.
“That was one of the things that everyone was so upset about – that Holly was giving people trouble by talking about them.”
Saginor revealed that she was still on drugs when she wrote her 2005 memoir Playground.
Both say they have happy memories of Hefner, who died in 2017, and the crazy parties he threw.
Hatten said, “The mansion has always been a lot of fun, a lot of different interesting people, and I’ve been in the industry too, so I had a lot in common with a lot of them.”
Saginor added: “Living in the Playboy Mansion has definitely been a very glamorous and dynamic lifestyle.
“There were a lot of drugs, a lot of glitter, women and fun parties. There was a lot of sex, of course. It was a hedonistic environment.
“Holly and Kendra took the stage and were active participants along with many other women. These are volunteers, of course. Nobody forced them to do anything.
“It was a free, fun different environment, and if not, here is the door. Millions of Hollys have been waiting to take her place.”
For her part, Saginor has mixed memories of her upbringing and says that growing up in the Playboy Mansion was not something she would have chosen for her child.
In 2005, she wrote a book called “Playground” about her childhood and says she now has a clearer view of life in the Mansion than she did then.
She also described the feline competition among the Playmates, saying that Holly Madison (pictured second from left in 2004) routinely denounced other girls.
She said: “The way I feel about Hef today is very different from how I felt when I was growing up, or even when I was writing a book, because I wasn’t sober, I didn’t have a clear head.
“Even today, it still takes me a long time to realize that this borderless environment was not healthy or typical for a woman who wants to feel good or support other women.
“It just wasn’t the right place. I don’t blame Hef for the environment he created because the rules were very clear – they were spelled out in the contract from the very beginning.”
The author added: “I saw Hef as an uncle, a second father. He has always been very kind to me, very generous.
“I had a room there, and he encouraged me to consider the mansion as a second home, and for this I am very grateful to him.
“When I became a teenager, of course, this was the only world I ever knew. As for me, I think that now, with some perspective, I see that some situations were not suitable for a child, but at that time I did not know anything else.