Hugh Hefner's Ex Says Dog Became Cocaine Addict In Playboy Mansion

The Playboy Mansion was home to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner for more than four decades, right up until his death in 2017.

In the years since, there have been scores of revelations about the hedonistic parties that took place on a regular basis in the infamous abode.

As you might expect, sex and drugs were rife - but it wasn't just Playboy bunnies partaking in narcotics, dogs were too.

Alamy

Sondra Theodore, one of Hefner's ex-girlfriends, said drugs were so widespread that a pet poodle ended up becoming a coke addict in the mansion.

Speaking on new docuseries Secrets of Playboy, she said: "There was drugs everywhere.

"John Dante was Hef’s best friend and Dante had a dog, Louis, who was a tiny poodle [who] got hooked on cocaine.

"The dog could smell it from across the room."

She continued: "A very famous person walked into the house one night and that little dog jumped off the couch like super dog, flew to that person and was licking her up the nose.

"And she goes '[This dog] just loves me'... and we are all going 'yeah sure'.

"[We] knew why that dog was on her. He had to lock that dog up when people were around because he was addicted to cocaine."

Alamy

Sondra - who was Hefner’s girlfriend from 1976 to 1981 - also said she was made to pick up drugs for him 'countless times'.

She said: "It made me feel like I was important to him. I was told it was in the name of love.

"I was afraid to speak up... Hef used cocaine. He used more than that – he had a drawer full of drugs."

Among these other drugs reportedly were Quaaludes, a prescription drug that acts as a sedative and is used to treat insomnia and anxiety.

Speaking about the experience of taking them, Sondra recalled: "Everything felt good to touch and soft focus and it was lovely.

"Usually you just took a half. If you took two you passed out.

"The men knew that they could get girls to do just about anything they wanted if they gave them a Quaalude."

For this reason, Hef's former secretary Lisa Loving Barrett said the drugs were referred to as 'leg-spreaders'.

She said: "Quaaludes were what we called leg-spreaders. That was the whole point of them.

"They were a necessary evil, if you will, to the partying."

Topics: Drugs, Dogs, Animals, Hugh Hefner, Playboy

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey