At the Playboy Mansion, one boy was forced be ‘a little Heff,’ now he is spilling the tea on his father, the parties, and the bunnies

Hugh Hefner’s son Marston is going viral for opening up about what it was really like growing up in the Playboy Mansion, and the pressure to live up to his father’s legacy. In a TikTok that’s racked up 3 million views, Marston walks through a backyard while reflecting on his childhood, the parties, and the struggle to figure out who he was outside of the Hefner name.

Marston starts by addressing the assumptions people make about his upbringing. “I never really fit in as Hugh Hefner’s son,” he says. “What people will always tell me is, ‘Oh, you must have gone to so many parties…’ What’s a party when I have Harry Potter?” He goes on to joke about the ‘endless access to women,’ admitting, “Now that I could have had fun with, but I was a teenager, and there were no women, there were more… the bunnies were more my friends.”

Things weren’t that glamorous, though. “A lot of my life, really, a lot of my childhood was me trying to figure out ‘Who am I?’ while also trying to force myself into being a little Heff, as my dad wanted me to be,” he says. He even considered joining the family business. “I had dreams of owning the company. Which, honestly, looking back on it, would have been… would have been fun, I think. I think it would have been fun? I really have no idea what that’s like.”

I can’t imagine making any productive decisions in an environment that overwhelming

Eventually, Marston found his own way. He describes a “slow, slow separation” from the expectations placed on him, leading him to study psychology, sociology, philosophy, and writing. “A lot of my adult life is simply doing the things that I want,” he says. “It’s really just me, and finding what makes me happy. It’s as simple as that.”

The response to his video has been overwhelmingly supportive. One commenter wrote, “I am not Hugh Hefner’s son, but I also have had folks look at my life and go, ‘Omg why did you do that?’ and same. I enjoy the same things. You got an instant follow. I look forward to seeing you continue to try and do all the things that make you happy!” 

Another asked, “Damn, how’d you turn out to be so self aware and emotionally intelligent?” A third simply said, “The weight of having a soul,” potentially referring to what Playboy entailed as a business.

There were even a few who could relate to him. One person revealed, “My dad was your father’s guard in the ’80s. I have so much memorabilia from the mansion that your dad gave my dad. My dad told me about the ostrich that used to chase him at night and all the Pepsi he drank daily.” Another added, “My parents attended a party at your father’s mansion in the ’90s. I was 6 years old and had to stay in the car. I wish I would have met you then!”

Hugh Hefner had four children with two different wives. His first marriage, to Millie Williams, produced daughter Christie in 1952 and son David in 1955. After their divorce in 1959, he married Kimberly Conrad in 1989, and they had Marston in 1990 and Cooper in 1991. 

Christie and Cooper were the most involved in the Playboy empire. Christie became CEO in 1998, while Cooper took over as chief creative officer in 2016. Hugh had no children with his third wife, Crystal Harris, and a prenup ensured she didn’t inherit any of his wealth after his death.

Now, usually, divorces come with a lot of mess. Whether they have to deal with health crises or just emotional baggage, it has an impact. For Marston, though, it looks like it just gave him hilarious stories.