In spite of the proposed sale of Playboy, the 84-year-old adult entertainment icon told ABC News correspondent Jon Donvan on Thursday night’s edition of “Nightline” he is not considering retirement.
“Because I think that retirement is the first step toward the grave,” Hefner said.
“The company in this particular economic climate isn’t being properly dealt with," he continued. "Our greatest successes as a company came when we were [privately held]. Maybe I need to recapture my youth.”
Hefner told “Nightline” he wanted to get the company “going in the right direction so it can keep going long after I’m gone.”
Considered a leading liberal some 50 years ago as he campaigned for abortion rights and freedom from censorship, Hefner is the subject of a documentary that debuts July 30 in a limited theatrical release called "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel."
To this day he still picks the covers and pictorials, chooses the Playmates as well as edits the letters.
“I have strong views about magazine publishing,” Hefner said. “I think a magazine is like an old friend and what you try to create with a magazine is like an old friend visiting with something new.”
