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Back in 2009, Hefner secured a crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, right beside Monroe. “I’m a believer in things symbolic,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.”
Sweet? Not everyone thought so.
Monroe was the golden ticket that launched Playboy into the stratosphere, but she never signed up for it. In 1953, Hefner slapped her nude photos on the first-ever issue — without her permission.
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The backstory? In 1948, a cash-strapped Monroe posed nude for photographer Tom Kelley, believing her identity would stay hidden. Five years later, Hefner got his hands on those images and published them. The result? A cultural explosion and a deeply embarrassed Monroe, who had to apologize for pictures she never meant for the world to see.
Hefner, on the other hand, had no regrets. “The picture was something that had been shot before,” he told E! News. “It was a calendar photo shot by Tom Kelley. Most people had heard about it but almost nobody had seen it and nobody had seen it because the post office had taken the position that you couldn’t send nudity through the mail. And I’m the kid that didn’t think the post office had that right.”
Fast-forward to 2017, and Hefner’s plan played out exactly as he wanted. He was laid to rest right beside Monroe. Some saw it as poetic justice — Hefner, forever linked to the woman who built his empire. Others found it downright creepy. Monroe, who spent her life being objectified, now had no choice but to share eternity with the man who cashed in on her image.
Love it or hate it, Hefner got what he wanted. And Monroe? Well, she never got a say.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
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