HUGH Hefner had a gay love affair with his personal doctor which he kept hidden for decades, according to bombshell claims in a new documentary about his life.
The Playboy founder and famed ladies man passed away at 91 in 2017 and took the secret of his “physical relationship” with Dr Saginor to the grave with him.
But Dr Saginor was the true love of Hefner’s life and was even at his bedside when he died at his Holmby Hills mansion.
That is, at least, according to Dr Saginor’s own daughter Jennifer and also Hefner’s ex-girlfriend Sondra Theodore, who made the revelations in new A&E documentary series Secrets of Playboy.
Jennifer – who lived at the Playboy mansion while growing up – had a ringside seat to the love affair between her dad and the magazine mogul.
The 51-year-old said: “My father, Mark Saginor, was Hugh Hefner’s best friend and doctor for about 40 years. Their friendship was like, next level.
“They were just soulmates. All the girls would sort of come and go over the years, but they remained constants.
“In my mind for many years, my father and Hef were in a very close friendship for many, many decades.
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“What I’ve realized over time is that their connection was much more than just best friends.
“My father and Hef had a spiritual connection that I don’t believe any of these wives or girlfriends could ever compete against.
“They had a physical relationship. In the context of these different orgies, the orgies sort of started as something that was an opportunity for people to sort of experience their open sexuality.
“And then that sort of turned into something that was a little bit more sinister.
“It was just more of a transaction than it was exciting and that probably stemmed from their own childhood.
“Over the years my father really gave up his family life, his practice, to be with him.
“I don’t know many men who would just basically give up their own life and then move into some other man’s house.”
She concluded: “It’s my personal belief that the love of Hef’s life was my father.”
FROM GEEKS TO PLAYBOYS
Jennifer says her dad and Hefner bonded over the fact that they were both formerly geeky kids who found themselves surrounded by stunning young and impressionable women.
Jennifer said: “Growing up they were both these weird nerdy guys who didn’t date a lot of women.
“So having control and power over these types of women at the mansion was something that was very exciting, you know, the breaking down of a woman.
“There’s something I think very predatory, of course, about manipulating a girl to do things that maybe she wouldn’t have otherwise done.
“There’s some kind of rush in that. And it’s like anything, once you have something you need more of that to sort of crave the same feeling.
“So, how do we recruit more girls like this? How do we bring in fresh meat?
“The bigger the situations they created, the more their energy was on the girls. Seducing them into the world and really just breaking them down.”
In the 1980s Hefner confessed that he had enjoyed experiences with men, although he claimed it was not serious and he was only experimenting.
He told a TV show: “When you’re involved in the swing period and the orgy period of the 1970s, there was more than a little bisexuality.”
Sondra Theodore, who was Hefner’s girlfriend in the 1976 to 1981, confirmed that he and Mark Saginor were more than just friends.
Theodore, 65, said: “Mark became Hef’s best friend. They took things really far. They became more than best friends.”
Asked if they were lovers, she replied: “Yeah. Yeah, they became that.”
Dr Saginor was credited with saving Hefner’s life when he suffered a stroke in the mid-1980s.
But according to Jennifer, in 2004 Dr Saginor faced accusations by several women and his medical license was suspended for a short period of time.
A 2008 notice from the Medical Board of California states that Saginor “committed acts of sexual misconduct and sexual exploitation of a patient, possessed and used illegal drugs and committed acts of repeated negligence”.
It adds that he “failed to maintain adequate and accurate medical records in the care and treatment of a patient”.
The notice adds: “Revoked, stayed, placed on 5 years probation with terms and conditions including, but not limited to, abstaining from the use of alcohol and controlled substances.”
Jennifer says it caused a public split between the two men but they secretly maintained their relationship over the phone.
Jennifer revealed: “Hef of course heard this news and Hef distanced himself publicly from my father.
“He always wanted to be one step removed from every situation so that nothing would ever come back as a direct negative reflection on him.
“My father reacted very poorly to Hef distancing himself, because he felt that he was the fall guy.
“And he felt that he was a part of something much bigger.
“Hef and my father still spoke on the phone.
“And then they did start spending time together again, especially towards the end of Hef’s life.
“When Hef was passing, the one that was by his side in the end was my father.”
A and E Network began airing Secrets of Playboy on Monday, January 24.
The ten part series by A&E explores the hidden realities behind the fable and philosophy of the Playboy empire.
Across ten hours, the series delves into the complex world Hugh Hefner created.
