Jenny McCarthy will never forget her Playboy days…
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live on Monday, Andy Cohen asked if she had a “positive experience” during her time with the magazine. Many fellow models have opened up about the abuse, assault, and more they’ve faced at the hands of Hugh Hefner over the past few years, including in the Secrets of Playboy documentary. But looking back, Jenny says she wasn’t subjected to the horrors other women experienced at Playboy. In fact, the actress shared that, like Pamela Anderson, she had a great experience — most likely because the magazine mogul “was married at the time.” Jenny said:
“There was that big Playboy scandal TV show special. They asked me to be part of it constantly and I’m like, ‘Listen, I didn’t have that experience. Pamela didn’t have that experience.’ We were at a different time, I think. I was there when his kids were throwing bacon at me on high chairs. It was, like, the perfect time.”
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However, it was not entirely different back then. Jenny noted there was “still so much sex” happening at the infamous parties at the Playboy Mansion — and with “gross” celebs:
“There was still so much sex going on with like gross celebrities in the grotto area, stuff like that. I went to the parties, so I got to see a lot of that action. Unfortunately, they would invite like … for every 20 guys, there was one girl. The guys were just in heaven. But also, the guys were also 70 years old. There was only hot women and the ugliest dudes. They were like really, really old. It was like Viagra central.”
OMG…
There are tons of “funny stories” Jenny remembers from her time with Playboy, and she would like to tell them one day — including when she witnessed other women “hunting for Hef in the middle of the night while he was married.” Ha! For now, though, that’s all she’s willing to dish to the world. Jenny did go on to recall how she got her gig with the magazine, though!
She first appeared in Playboy back in 1993. Before that big break, she worked at a Polish grocery store in Chicago that sold the publication. When Jenny saw a cover with Anna Nicole Smith on it, she felt she could do that one day, too. So she marched down to the Playboy offices in the city and asked how she could get in the magazine! Jenny said:
“I decided to just go to the Playboy building and ask, in Chicago. I said, ‘How do people become Playmates?’ They said, ‘They don’t walk in. You have to send a photo.’”
While The View alum waited for the elevator to leave, though, an editor walked by and gave her a shot! Jenny shared that they asked if she wanted “to throw on a bikini” and join a photoshoot. Obviously, she agreed! And the rest was history:
“I said, ‘Okay.’ I thought, ‘I didn’t shave, this is bad.’ I went and put on my bathing suit and went to the photographer and literally, they’re like, ‘Pose,’ I did like a mug shot [pose], then I took the bus home. By the time I got home, there was a voicemail on my answering machine that said, we want to test you for Miss October. By the next year, I was Playmate of the Year.”
Wow! Her family wasn’t on board with her doing a nude spread. Jenny’s mom even “disowned” her for “three days” after learning she posed for Playboy! However, she got over it fast — especially, Jenny said, after she “paid off all their bills with the money.” LOLz! From there, she continued to hustle her way to fame. Perezcious readers will remember she went on to host Singled Out on MTV. Oddly, she almost didn’t get the gig thanks to her NSFW Playboy spread! She told Andy she was rejected 17 times to host the dating game show:
“They said, ‘We’ll never have a Playmate on this network.’”
But Jenny refused to give up. She said she “snuck into auditions” and “disguised” herself. Eventually, she landed the job. Damn! You go, gurl! Watch the WWHL interview (below):
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[Image via Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen/YouTube, Rachel Worth / WENN]