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Speaker 1: They're city and with Katechi podcast.

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Speaker 2: We're all familiar with the Playboy Mansion. Crystal Hefner, she

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Speaker 2: is still the current wife, even though he's passed away.

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Speaker 2: I think we've got her there up on the screen.

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Speaker 2: A lot of guitars in the background, Crystal Hefner, there's

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Speaker 2: a lot going on there.

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Speaker 1: Room's a mass Sorry, is that your room?

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Speaker 3: Do you play the guitars? That just to impress us

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Speaker 3: that you have some kind of musical talent as well.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this is a podcast room.

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Speaker 4: And I have a few Playboy guitars and one's actually

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Speaker 4: from Bruno Morris to helf.

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Speaker 1: And then I have one was my dad. So I

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Speaker 1: know a few chords. But that's about it for now.

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Speaker 2: We're not going to ask you to take one off

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Speaker 2: the wall and play it. Yes we are. No, we

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Speaker 2: welcome you to the show. We're very excited that the

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Speaker 2: new book Only Say Good Things as available now at

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Speaker 2: all Good bookstores. And also you can headline to download

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Speaker 2: the audiobook, which is great. Crystal. Great to have you

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Speaker 2: on the show. Your story is phenomenal. Where do we start?

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Speaker 2: Can I ask where's the Playboy Mansion? Now? Who owns it?

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Speaker 2: What sort of shape is it in?

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh. A guy named Darren Metropolis owns the mansion. Now,

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Speaker 4: he was a big Playboy fan, and yeah, he bought

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Speaker 4: the mansion when Heff was still alive.

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Speaker 1: Half a life tendency there. Yeah, but he owns it.

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Speaker 1: He's remodeling it.

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Speaker 4: I drove by there the other day and there's a

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Speaker 4: lot of construction happening that.

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Speaker 2: We need to drive past.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what does it feel like when you're driving down

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Speaker 3: that road?

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Speaker 1: It does feel very weird, it really does.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot of changes, and it's a place I

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Speaker 4: spent almost ten years of my life, so it is

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Speaker 4: very strange putting down memory.

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Speaker 2: The info that I've read too, Crystal says that I

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Speaker 2: think it was one of the parties you were there,

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Speaker 2: and that was the first night you met hef and

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Speaker 2: then sort of things started from there. So from that

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Speaker 2: night onwards, how long do you think over that ten

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Speaker 2: year period, how long were you into that ten years

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Speaker 2: where you went, oh, you know what, I don't know

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Speaker 2: if this is this is a great thing.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, kind of early on when he told me I

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Speaker 4: needed to lose weight, or that he was having nightmares,

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Speaker 4: that I was a Brunette because my roots were growing out.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, just being like physically like controlled.

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Speaker 4: And also this is a time where he was so

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Speaker 4: praised by the media.

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Speaker 1: He was put on such a pedestal and could do no.

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Speaker 4: Wrong, and people would ask us all the hard questions,

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Speaker 4: like what's it like sleeping with an old man? And

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Speaker 4: you know they should have been asking him, what you

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Speaker 4: know you're eighty or sleeping with somebody who's twenty one

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Speaker 4: and twins that were nineteen.

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Speaker 1: At the time.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god.

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Speaker 4: The media just praised him so much, so whenever I

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Speaker 4: had feelings of doubt or that something's wrong, I would

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Speaker 4: push him down because like, everyone sees this person as

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Speaker 4: such a great man, and I just convinced myself out

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Speaker 4: of it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you might you must be the one who's wrong. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: And I guess that can be incredibly isolating. You just

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Speaker 3: touched on the me too movement then, and yet you

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Speaker 3: said that all of this kind of happened prior to that.

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Speaker 3: In fact, you died in the lead up to all

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Speaker 3: of that. How do you think he would have fared

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Speaker 3: these days? I mean, do you think that this?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Do you think? I mean, would the Playboy Mansion still exist.

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Speaker 3: How does how does it look now?

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Speaker 4: You know?

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Speaker 3: Do you think there are places like this that kind

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Speaker 3: of still exist but not quite under the banner of

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Speaker 3: a Playboy mansion?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think half would be if half alive, he'd

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Speaker 4: still be doing the same thing, but just maybe in

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Speaker 4: a more quiet way. I don't think the mansion how

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Speaker 4: it was could ever exist again. I do feel like

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Speaker 4: it was some weird social experiment in time that will

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Speaker 4: never be repeated. So I think it's very important for,

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Speaker 4: you know, stories to come out of that place, and

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Speaker 4: because it is like a part of a part of

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Speaker 4: history now and have controlled the narrative for so long,

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Speaker 4: and so I think it's really important for other stories

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Speaker 4: to come out, which part of the reason I wrote

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Speaker 4: the book.

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Speaker 2: Crystal, What did a day in the life of you

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Speaker 2: and the Playboy Mansion look like? So I'm just trying

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Speaker 2: to work out was there people? Was there were always

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Speaker 2: people everywhere? Or were there regular servants that worked there

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Speaker 2: or butler's or however it worked and then everyone came

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Speaker 2: together for dinner or what was the setup?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there were about seventy staff.

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Speaker 4: Members, Yeah, butlers and chefs and security, and there was

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Speaker 4: there was a zoo department.

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Speaker 1: There was a scrapbook department that helped have document everything. Wow,

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Speaker 1: the video department. It was crazy.

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Speaker 4: I mean, this is a place that had a license

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Speaker 4: for a zoo. They had a license to shoot off

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Speaker 4: fireworks in the backyard.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 4: It was just completely over the top. And you could

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Speaker 4: order anything you wanted at any time and someone would

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Speaker 4: cook it for you. And yeah, he just it was

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Speaker 4: this complete lavish lifestyle. But you know, I came from humble,

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Speaker 4: a humble background, so I always knew it was temper

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Speaker 4: and I never got used to it. And the staff

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Speaker 4: were my friends and they felt the most normal to me,

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Speaker 4: So I did appreciate them a lot because it.

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Speaker 2: Was a story too. Sorry, Kate. Where was it Jack

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Speaker 2: Nicholas who had the tunnel that ran under under the ground?

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Speaker 2: Is that true? Yeah, there was a tunnel underground that

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Speaker 2: went from his property to the Playboy mansion, so he

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Speaker 2: could just pop up whenever he wanted.

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, So there were no there were no tunnels.

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Speaker 4: There was like a basement, but there were no tunnels.

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Speaker 4: There was no Elvis room. I heard about that. But

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Speaker 4: they did call it Jack Nicholson's drive through because he

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Speaker 4: would call and order something from the kitchen and then

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Speaker 4: just drive in, pick it up and leave.

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Speaker 3: You're kidding me, seriously, from the kitchen. That's not code

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Speaker 3: for anything. Yea, Oh my goodness. You would have seen

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Speaker 3: some incredibly famous faces there. Is there anyone in particular

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Speaker 3: that you were couldn't get rid of, well, couldn't get

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Speaker 3: rid of star struck by, you know, like, oh my goodness,

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Speaker 3: and even they're there.

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Speaker 1: No.

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Speaker 4: I think the different caliber and like different types of

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Speaker 4: celebrities that were there were so interesting. Like you would

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Speaker 4: have like the original Catwoman and she'd be sitting next

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Speaker 4: to like Lionel Richie, and who'd be sitting next to

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Speaker 4: like buzz Aldrin, who was like the second Man Noon,

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Speaker 4: And it's just just such a so many different people

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Speaker 4: all in one place.

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Speaker 1: It was very interesting.

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Speaker 2: Because I know it was kind of for that Halloween

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Speaker 2: party that would happen every year. I know there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of IFL footballers that managed to get an invite.

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Speaker 2: How did you get an invite to that party?

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Speaker 1: I think if you were a celebrity.

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Speaker 4: If you were a celebrity, you got right in because

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Speaker 4: he loved celebrities and wanted them all there, especially international

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Speaker 4: like for him, that's so cool. But if you're a

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Speaker 4: woman wanting to go to a party, you have to

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Speaker 4: go through this grueling process of submitting your photos and

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Speaker 4: getting them raided and all of this stuff that was it.

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Speaker 1: Was much easier for celebrity than a girl wanting to come.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's just madness.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's an amazing story. Thank you Crystal Haff for

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Speaker 2: the new book is Only Say Good Things. It's a

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Speaker 2: battle out all good bookstores. Head online, download the audioble

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Speaker 2: to thank you so much for your time and thank

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Speaker 2: you for sharing your story. Fascinating. It's in Whipper with

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Speaker 2: Kate Ritchie is a Nova podcast to walk great shows

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Speaker 2: like this. Download the Nova Player via the app store

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Speaker 2: or Google Play the Nova Player