3. The Weekly Allowance
If you think you’ve heard it all now then you’re in for another shocking ritual in the form of the Playboy Mansion Weekly Allowance.
The Playmates were given a $1,000 weekly “clothing allowance” and this could go towards their account at the Jose Eber Salon in Beverly Hills or having tailor-made items for their personal wardrobe. Saving the allowance or even using it for student loans was frowned upon. Former playmate Izabella St. James’ reveals in her tell-all about the weird ordeal:
“Every Friday morning we had to go to Hef’s room, wait while he picked up all the dog poo off the carpet — and then ask for our allowance: a thousand dollars counted out in crisp hundred-dollar bills from a safe in one of his bookcases. We all hated this process. Hef would always use the occasion to bring up anything he wasn’t happy about in the relationship. Most of the complaints were about the lack of harmony among the girlfriends — or your lack of sexual participation in the ‘parties’ he held in his bedroom. If we’d been out of town for any reason and missed one of the official ‘going out’ nights [when Hefner liked to parade his girls at nightclubs] he wouldn’t want to give us the allowance. He used it as a weapon.” —Izabella St. James in her book Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion.
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