In 2000, Jennifer Archuleta was hired to do makeup at a party at the Playboy mansion. She wanted to see what the lingerie party was about so she snuck downstairs and caught the eye of Hugh Hefner himself.
“He called me over and he said ‘Who are you?’ and I jokingly said ‘Who are you?’ and he started laughing,” said Archuleta.
The rest was history.
The following year she would go on to have a centerfold spread in Playboy Magazine, travel the world, and party with celebrities.
Yesterday, she was coming home from bible study when she got the news that Hugh Hefner had passed away. She spent the night crying and remembering the fun times she had with him.
She says “Hef,” as she likes to call him, always took an interest in what you had to say and remembered the smallest of details. Whenever he would see you, she says, he would pick up where the last conversation ended, would ask about family. He would remember special occasions. He even sent flowers when her kids were born.
She says Hefner was a caring family man who just wanted to do good. If anything, she says he just wanted to be loved.
“I just hope that he found that love and had that because I felt like that was something that he wanted,” Archuleta said.
She says, Hef always reminded the girls that there was always a life after Playboy and that he would be there for them to help make that dream life a reality. She says many people don’t know that Hef would actually pay for the girls to go to college.
Many people will remember Hugh Hefner as “the ultimate Playboy.” Archuleta says she will remember him as the man who helped save her life.
“I know that God had a hand In that cause you talk about nudity and Playboy and how could it be but you don’t understand where I came from and where he brought me.” She said. “I had a troubled past, but Hef was there to pick me up and make sure that I was OK.”
She hopes people will remember Hef the way she remembers him. Someone who was a hopeless romantic and very funny and who always paid attention to what you had to say.
