Factual America examines America through the lens of documentary filmmaking. Guests include Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy-winning documentary filmmakers and producers, their subjects, as well as experts on the American experience. Find out more about the current and upcoming documentaries on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Sky Documentaries and other platforms directly from the creators. Whether we discuss true crime, music, burning social and political topics, history, or arts, Factual America is your #1 documentary film podcast. Factual America is produced by Alamo Pictures, a London- and Austin-based production company that makes documentaries about the US from a European perspective for international audiences.
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episode 87: Secrets of Playboy: Hugh Hefner's Dark Empire | A&E Docuseries
Secrets of Playboy (2021) documents the lived experiences of Playboy playmates, the Playboy Bunnies, and employees of the Playboy empire, and the abuse they went through at the hands of its founder Hugh Hefner.
Award-winning filmmaker Alexandra Dean joins us to discuss the making of this 10-part series currently streaming on A&E, and what it was like to uncover the abuses that occurred at Playboy.
She explains how Hugh Hefner broke women and was able to build up a persona of sexual liberation while creating a culture of abuse. Through the series she also explores why it was so difficult for old playmates to talk about what had happened behind closed doors at the mansion.
“Hugh Hefner seemed to block that darker side of himself when he was outside of the bedroom. He completely inhabited the much more progressive person that people truly loved, but he had secrets which unleashed a lot of damage.” – Alexandra Dean