Hugh Hefner Sent Teenage Son Upstairs During Wild Parties At Playboy Mansion

Hugh Hefner may be an iconic womanizer, and his home at the Playboy Mansion a symbol of debauchery, but to Hugh’s son Cooper he was just an average dad growing up in a normal — albeit gigantic — home.

This week, 23-year-old Cooper spoke out on what it was like to grow up with Hugh Hefner as a dad. Cooper took Business Insider on a tour of the Playboy Mansion, showing what it looked like through the eyes of a curious child.

Cooper acknowledge that most people associate the Playboy Mansion with the wild and decidedly adult parties that took place there, but said when he was growing up, he looked at it as an average house. The famous pool Grotto, which is reportedly home to many drug and alcohol-fueled orgies, had a much different meaning to Cooper.

As a child, Cooper said he imagined the Grotto as some kind of Indiana Jones-style fantasy land, where he could play during the daytime hours and imagine himself and adventurer.

Hugh Hefner went to lengths to keep his kids away from the more adult side of the Playboy Mansion, Cooper added.

“We were kept away from the parties while we were growing up when we were younger,” he said. “Like any other 13, 14, 15-year-old if you’re upstairs and your parents are having a Christmas party you’re going to sneak down and try to figure out why you aren’t allowed at the party.”

Despite his reputation as a hound for the ladies, Hugh Hefner actually keeps in contact with many of those close to him. After former Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson ran into some very public trouble in her marriage to Hank Baskett, Hugh reportedly let Kendra know that she is welcome at the Playboy Mansion at any time — and that he’s there for her if she needs anything.