Former CEO Christie Hefner Talks About Playboy Past

NEW YORK —  Former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner sat down with Bloomberg’s Business Week recently to talk about her 20-year stint as the head of the iconic company, her relationship with father Hugh Hefner and the company’s corporate path.

As a woman running what is essentially the world's most famous company based on men’s fantasies, Hefner said the idea of Playboy didn’t bother her. “I thought it celebrated women as sexual beings,” she told Bloomberg.

She added that although she wasn’t enamored with the idea of hanging out at the Mansion, she agreed with her father on what Playboy represents.

The article also briefly touches on how Hefner — who said she was told that she was the longest serving female CEO of a U.S. public company on record —started out at the Playboy empire as a summer intern.

After a stint as a freelance journalist in Boston, Hefner later returned to bunny central to become chairman and CEO in 1988.

But what she found was a company “in too many businesses.” “They had a modeling agency, movie theaters, limousines, hotels, and clubs. Literally, there were Playboy air fresheners,” she recounted.

Hefner went on to describe how it was tough to get the elder Hefner to close the failing Playboy clubs and instead focus on the brand’s hip, good life heritage in an effort to make Playboy once again relevant to a new generation.

She said she discovered that young women thought it was cool to sport the Playboy rabbit head and turned in that direction. “Wearing a cute jacket or a T-shirt with the [logo] on it was sort of like reading Seventeen when you’re 13. We took a 50-year-old magazine and turned it into a global multimedia lifestyle brand.”

Although the company continued to struggle under her tenure, faced with a highly comeptitive and much more explicit adult industry fueled by the Internet, Hefner felt she had left Playboy in a good position when she departed in 2009.

“When I went to tell Hef, he said, ‘I thought this would happen.’ My father is very consistent in his view that people should do what makes them happy. I never felt pressured to come into the company. I never felt pressured to stay. I put pressure on myself. I left in January [2009], went to the [Obama] inauguration, and started to build a portfolio of personal projects,” Hefner said.

Her new quests include assisting the Center for American Progress liberal think tank into becoming an “ideas factory for the administration.” She’s also helping Columbia Journalism Review increase its posture as “a thought leader in media.”

“Being out of Playboy Enterprises underscores for me what a stressful job it is to be CEO of a public company. I could handle the stress, but it’s 24/7 worrying about everybody else,” Hefner said, adding that she’ll always be associated with the Playboy brand and she’s using that badge to work on social justice and other issues important to her.

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Le Wand Dive Gets Wired.com Review

Le Wand Dive has been spotlighted by WIRED with a review by tech and lifestyle journalist Amanda Chatel.

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

Nadia Jay Stars in Latest From Brazzers

Nadia Jay stars with Mick Blue in the latest release from Brazzers, titled "Fucking the Bath Voyeur."

Blush Introduces 'Splash' Vibe

Blush has debuted its new duck-themed Splash vibrator.

SVibe Debuts 2 New Vibrators

SVibe has introduced two new vibrators.

Tommy Gunn Reflects on His Legendary Past as He Looks to the Future

Tommy Gunn is wearing an eyepatch. It’s not an homage to the classic "Pirates" porn parody franchise, in which Gunn takes on the Johnny Depp role. The eyepatch is a temporary measure to help him deal with a nerve palsy that came out of nowhere several years ago and affects his vision from time to time. Gunn needs his vision. As one of the adult industry’s longest-serving male stars, he still has plenty to look forward to.

Rocco Siffredi Directs New Rebel Rhyder Showcase

Evil Angel has released Rocco Siffredi’s Rebel Rhyder showcase title, "Rebel Meets Rebel."

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Shalina Devine Toplines 'Thr3e #7' From Dorcel

Shalina Devine headlines the latest release from Dorcel, titled "Thr3e #7."

Chloe Amour Headlines 'Unfaithful Betrayal 3' From Bellesa Films

Chloe Amour toplines the third volume of “Unfaithful Betrayal” from Bellesa Films.

Show More