Girls Next Door alum Bridget Marquardt paid tribute to Hugh Hefner following his death on Wednesday, September 27. He was 91.
“So sad but forever grateful for all the wonderful memories and amazing experiences,” she captioned a photo of the pair on Instagram. “#RIPHef #Playboy.”
Marquardt, 44, filmed the E! series with Hefner, Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson, which ran for six seasons from 2005 to 2010. Marquardt, however, lost touch with Hefner after she moved out of the Playboy mansion in 2009.
“I was still going back to some of the parties occasionally. My boyfriend [Nick Carpenter] and I would go back and I was still in touch with Hef,” she told Australia’s The Morning Show in July. “We kind of lost contact, and I tried to go back to the mansion. He told me there was always an open door any time I wanted to go back, but I heard that’s not quite true lately. So I actually called and tried to go to the mansion earlier this year, and I’m just sort of getting the runaround, so I haven’t heard back yet if I’m allowed up there.”
Hefner’s son Cooper released a statement about his father’s death late Wednesday. “My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom,” he said in a statement. “He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history.”
Cooper, 26, opened up about The Girls Next Door during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter just last month. “[The show] collected a young audience but didn’t do a good job of conveying how Playboy is both playful and sophisticated,” Cooper said at the time.
