14 DAY TRIAL // Aged 84, Hugh Hefner is still at the top of his game: he recently got engaged to a woman 60 years his junior, has bought back most of the shares for Playboy and will turn it into a family business, and is still living the same enchanted life as he did many, many decades ago.
The New York Times has a very extensive piece on the mogul, who is still seen as a powerful symbol of a lifestyle of decadence and elegance, long gone by now.
Part of Hef’s image is the fact that, until not long ago, he would rarely go anywhere without his three main girlfriends and some other girls living at the Mansion at that moment: all buxom blondes having more in common than just their relationship with Hugh.
Asked by the magazine what it is precisely that attracts him to girls who could easily be his granddaughters, Hefner says he’s long found out which his type of woman is – and he’s sticking by it.
It’s this that allows him to grow older, while his girlfriends are like frozen in time – always the same, but different girls.
“Well, I guess I know what I like,” Hefner says with a smile. With him being engaged to Crystal Harris, this may change and the public may actually get to see him with an older woman for once.
Speaking of his former girlfriends, The Hef says that, as with everything, there are cons and pluses. He’s not the type to dwell too much on the former.
“You do give up something in the process,” he says, pointing out that he and the girls don’t share the same preferences in music – or anything else for that matter, because their tastes are very different.
“But you gain something, too. There is something wonderful in the student-teacher relationship – the rediscovery, the chance to have a relationship with a younger woman,” he explains.
“It permits you to see the things you love with a fresh eye, makes them exciting again. And I don’t think there’s any question that surrounding yourself with youth keeps you younger,” The Hef points out.
For the full piece on Hugh Hefner, see the NY Times here.