A Chat With Barbi Benton

 

Barbi Benton and I have been good friends for 23 years, and this show focused on Barbi’s adventurous life! My friend is the real deal … she’s authentic, bright, beautiful, talented and FUN! Perhaps she is most famous for being Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend for eight years, more than fifty years ago.

 

We spoke about her childhood in Sacramento where she and another five-year-old—Joan Lunden (of TV anchor fame)—learned and performed the hula. When she moved to Hawaii she joined a hālau hula to learn traditional dance forms. When I lived in Hawaii I watched Barbi dance a “real” hula. She explained they studied the Hawaiian language and learned many meanings to the song. She peeled away the layers, so when she dances, the meaning comes through the face, the body, the hands and feet – from everywhere.

 

Our conversation returned to Hef and the Playboy Era. They met when she danced, at age 18, in the Playboy After Dark television show. Barbi tells the story that when Hef first asked her out on a date, she said, “Gee I don’t know. I’ve never dated anyone over 24 before,” to which Hef, then 42, responded, “That’s all right, neither have I.” She found the Playboy Mansion for him. (Hef bought it for $1.1 million in 1971, and it sold in 2016 for $100 million). Barbi always had a good eye for real estate! She introduced Hef to travel. He bought a plane so that they could arrive fresh to their various European locations. Lots of adventure stories and many interactions with celebrities. Listen for the juicy details!