In her very early years, Marilyn Monroe helped to make Playboy famous for its founder Hugh Hefner, leading him to buy the crypt next to hers in Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, Calif., back in 1992. Now Hefner gets to lie next to Monroe for eternity, after the Playboy founder passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at the age of 91 on Wednesday.

Marilyn Monroe was Playboy's first Playmate

Hefner saw great success with Playboy magazine after Monroe posed as his first Playmate. That image launched Hefner’s brand in December 1953, leading to a hedonistic lifestyle like no other, surrounded by beautiful women in the Playboy Mansion.

However, as reported by the BBC the actress herself was embarrassed by the nude picture, fearing it would affect her future career.

At the time Monroe was very young, struggling to get work in the acting field and short of money. She agreed to pose for the nude image, but only earned $50 in fees for her work. Fast forward four years and Monroe was famous, leading the Playboy founder to pay $500 to a calendar company in Chicago to show the image of Monroe with "nothing but the radio on." Once the calendar was published, 50,000 issues of Playboy were sold virtually overnight.

Marilyn Monroe didn't even receive a thank you for her image

In her autobiography, “Marilyn: Her Life In Her Own Words,” Monroe said she never received even a thank you from the many people who made millions from a nude Marilyn Monroe photo. She added that she had to buy a copy of Playboy herself just to see the image. As for Hefner, he reportedly never actually met Monroe, but did say they had spoken on the phone once, adding that he was a sucker for blonds and Monroe was the ultimate blond.

At the time of purchasing the crypt, Hefner spoke to the LA Times, saying he had several friends who were buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park, in which many celebrities are also buried, including Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, and Farrah Fawcett. He told the newspaper that he was a believer in symbolic things and that spending eternity next to Monroe, who died in 1962, was “too sweet to pass up.”

Fans react to the news on social media

As noted by the Telegraph, reactions to the news on social media drew a mixture of disgust and congratulations.

Among Monroe fans, Twitter users reacted to the news, with Ella Dawson saying Hefner had bought the plot next to Marilyn without her consent and after exploiting her body.

Sady Doyle tweeted that Hefner had non-consensually published nude images that went on to endanger Monroe’s career and then bought the right to be buried next to her.

Zena Wozniak tweeted to ask if it was too soon to joke about Hefner even making unwelcome advances at women in the afterlife.

However, Hefner fans made more positive remarks, with Shannon Moore saying that Hefner resting beside Monroe for eternity is “the greatest thing ever,” saying no one will ever be close to what Hefner was and telling him to “rest easy.”
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