Karissa and Kristina Shannon, twins who were both girlfriends of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, said they are “relieved” Hefner is dead. In a new interview with The Sunday Mirror, Karissa also claimed she became pregnant at 19 with Hefner’s baby and had an abortion without him knowing. Hefner died in 2017 at age 91.
“Hef acted like he owned you,” Kristina told The Mirror over the weekend. “If we broke his rules, six guards would drag us to our room and not let us leave. Hef called it ‘HMF arrest’, after his initials. He preyed on vulnerable young girls like us. He would offer you the world, then keep you trapped in his house, which was like a golden prison.”
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After he died, the Shannon twins, now 32, felt sad, but they were also happy that no other girls would get wrapped up in the Playboy atmosphere. “When Hef died, part of us did feel sad, but another part was like, ‘OK good, no more girls are going to be groomed and ruined like we were,’” Kristina said. “I thought Playboy was one big family – now I can see it was a cult.”
The twins now want to sue Playboy for emotional distress and trauma, they said. They are speaking out now because they want people to know who Hefner “truly was” and “what was going on behind closed doors” at the Playboy mansion, Kristina said. Karissa claimed Hefner drugged them, making them feel “fuzzy and loose.” She called life at the mansion “creepy and gross,” as if their bodies “weren’t ours.”
They also compared Hefner to Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, alleging that Hefner groomed them and told them to call him Papa. They lived at the Playboy mansion for two years and thought they would lead a life of celebrity-filled fun. Instead, they claim life at the mansion was under strict control.
“We had just turned 18 and were so naïve. I remember Hef being very charming and nice. He was wearing silk pajamas and slippers he always wears with his red robe,” Karissa claimed. “He was like a king in a castle – so powerful. He said, ‘Hey, will you come sit next to me?’ We could see other Playmates getting jealous.” They also claimed they received $1,000 a week for their appearances on Girls Next Door.
The twins also told The Mirror about an alleged encounter with Hefner on their 19th birthday. They claim he took them to a club and Kendra Wilkinson later invited them to “smoke some weed” in Hefner’s room. Wilkinson allegedly left, then Hefner had the twins put on silk pajamas. They claim he gave them Quaaludes and he allegedly touched Karissa as they took affect. After that night, they regularly attended group sex sessions with Hefner and other women, they claimed.
In 2009, Karissa claims she discovered she was pregnant when she had a blood test for a breast enlargement Hefner paid for. She believes the baby must have been Hefner’s because she was not having sex with anyone else at the time. Kristina claims she helped her sister get an abortion without Hefner knowing.
The Shannon twins came forward amid a fresh examination of life at the Playboy mansion inspired by the documentary Secrets of Playboy. In response to the A&E special, Hefner’s son Cooper Hefner defended his father. “Some may not approve of the life my Dad chose, but my father was not a liar,” Cooper tweeted on Jan. 23. “However unconventional, he was sincere in his approach and lived honestly. He was generous in nature and cared deeply for people. These salacious stories are a case study of regret becoming revenge.”
