Jenny McCarthy Honors Hugh Hefner With Emotional Memory

Along with many other Playboy models and Hollywood elite, Jenny McCarthy is remembering Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who died at age 91 on Wednesday from natural causes.

On her self-titled SiriusXM radio show, McCarthy tearfully paid tribute to Hefner and said he “made me who I am today.”

“He’d always say, ‘Thanks for sharing the dream, Jen.’ And when I thought about him passing last night, I just thought, I wanted one more chance to say thanks,” she said while holding back tears. ‘Thank you for sharing your dream with me and for giving so many girls and so many people the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I will always miss you Hef,” she said, calling him by his nickname. “You will never be forgotten.”

The 44-year-old radio and TV personality first posed as Miss October for Playboy ate age 22 in 1993. The next year, she was Playmate of the Year.

She shared a photo of her Playmate of the Year cover on Twitter on Wednesday in a heartfelt note to Hefner.

“RIP #Hef,” she wrote. “Thank you for being a revolutionary and changing so many people’s lives, especially mine. I hope I made you proud.”

On her radio show, she called him “the most good-hearted, caring, generous, supportive friend, and mentor”, adding that “his zest for life was contagious.”

“I was lucky enough to be part of his family. And when I say family, it really truly was that for me and I think for a lot of girls, ” she said. “A lot of girls came from broken homes, and he would take good care of those girls in such a sentimental way. Which is why every girl interviewed about his passing will say probably the exact same things as me.”

She explained how Hefner helped change her life for the better and pursue her dreams.

“There’s always those people in your life that change the course of your life, and I think about how many people he affected just through me alone,” she said. “Giving me the opportunity to move my parents out of a bad neighborhood and into a good neighborhood; pay off their debts; pay off my college loan; move to Los Angeles so I could pursue my dream…”

“It was the thing that made me who I am today,” she continued. “[And Hef] was always supportive, always proud. Whenever I would see him he would always say, ‘You’re doing such a good job.’ I hope I did. I hope I did make him proud. … Every tear that I cry, is really out of gratitude.”

Other Playboy models close to Hefner shared emotional social media posts after hearing about his death.

Pamela Anderson shared a tearful Instagram tribute in which she mentioned that the last time she saw Hefner, his “back hurt” him “so much” and that he was using a walker.

“You didn’t want me to see. You couldn’t hear,” she continued. “You had a piece of paper in your pocket you showed me – with my name Pamela with a heart around it.”

Hefner reportedly suffered from a serious back infection before his death.

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