--- title: Hugh Hefner: Playboy Founder to be Buried By Marilyn Monroe description: Hugh Hefner, who died on Thursday aged 91, will be buried beside Marilyn Monroe, after purchasing the plot for $75,000 in 1992 canonical: https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-29T09:17:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:39:22.093Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Hugh Hefner Will Be Buried Next to Marilyn Monroe og:description: Some have called it "creepy" og:url: https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c659ecb13598d8/6988dfe2cf40a8406dc49983/gettyimages-74284348.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Marilyn Portrait og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hugh Hefner Will Be Buried Next to Marilyn Monroe twitter:description: Some have called it "creepy" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c659ecb13598d8/6988dfe2cf40a8406dc49983/gettyimages-74284348.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Not Everyone Is Happy That Hugh Hefner Is Being Buried Next to Marilyn Monroe by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Sep 29, 2017 9:17 AM UTC  Actress Marilyn Monroe poses for a portrait laying on the grass in 1954 in Palm Springs, California. Actress Marilyn Monroe poses for a portrait laying on the grass in 1954 in Palm Springs, California.Baron—Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Sep 29, 2017 9:17 AM UTC Marilyn Monroe’s nude image occupied the centerfold of the first ever edition of Playboy magazine in 1953\. And now Hugh Hefner, the man who put it there, is [going to be buried](https://www.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjnspzzg8rWAhUKgLwKHawrDe0QFghGMAY&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F4960494%2Fhugh-hefner-dead-playboy-reactions%2F&usg=AFQjCNHUqb0GBpF6KdITJ29jLYNnrwNGnw) beside the Hollywood icon that jumpstarted his career. “I’m a believer in things symbolic,” Hefner, [who died](https://www.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjnspzzg8rWAhUKgLwKHawrDe0QFghAMAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F4515185%2Fhugh-hefner-obituary-playboy%2F&usg=AFQjCNFbAKdaQx580ebcwWoSvhB-OzsSIA) aged 91 Wednesday, [once told](http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/14/local/me-marilyn14) the _LA Times._ “Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.” But not everyone regards Hefner’s burial next to his first cover girl as sweet. While some Twitter users deemed it “the most badass thing” [and ](https://twitter.com/marthasxox/status/913608303858479111)“the right thing to do,” others have called have called it creepy and exploitative. > [](https://twitter.com/Steve%5FR%5FWalker/status/913497918413426688) > [](https://twitter.com/TheShannonBrand/status/913428647909916672) > [](https://twitter.com/jojomoyes/status/913657664978210816) > [](https://twitter.com/timelysarcasm/status/913660453179482113) > [](https://twitter.com/fauxyginger/status/913645968893112320) Hefner purchased the plot next to Monroe’s for $75,000 in 1992 and although he never met her in person, the two have considerable history. “I feel a double connection to her, because she was the launching key to the beginning of Playboy,” he [told CBS Los Angeles in 2012](http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/03/hugh-hefner-talks-about-his-memories-of-marilyn-monroe/2/). “We were born the same year.” But [according to](https://twitter.com/brosandprose/status/913413356329021440) author Sady Doyle, Monroe was embarrassed by the photos Playboy published without her consent. She received $50 for posing for the nudes a year before hitting the big time with _The Asphalt Jungle_ and _All About Eve_. When Hefner paid a Chicago calendar $500 for two pictures four years after the shoot and put them in the magazine, Monroe reportedly feared for her career. “I never even received a thank-you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph. I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it,” the late actress wrote in _Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/"},"headline":"Not Everyone Is Happy That Hugh Hefner Is Being Buried Next to Marilyn Monroe","datePublished":"2017-09-29T09:17:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:39:22.093Z","description":"Hefner paid $75,000 for the plot in 1992","url":"https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/","keywords":["remembrance","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c659ecb13598d8/6988dfe2cf40a8406dc49983/gettyimages-74284348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c659ecb13598d8/6988dfe2cf40a8406dc49983/gettyimages-74284348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marilyn Portrait","caption":"Marilyn Portrait","creditText":"Baron—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4962361/hugh-hefner-marilyn-monore-grave/","name":"Not Everyone Is Happy That Hugh Hefner Is Being Buried Next to Marilyn Monroe"}}]}] ```