‘It was totally about the money’: British model Marilyn Cole, 72, reveals she became Playboy’s first nude centrefold in the 70s because it made her feel powerful ‘earning more than the men in the room’
- Marilyn Cole, now 72, became Playboy’s first nude centrefold in 1972 aged 21
- Model said she ‘did it for the money’ and ‘posing naked made her feel powerful’
- Revealed she could earn more than 333 times her weekly wage by taking one photo – and that she was ‘earning more than the men in the room’
The British model who became Playboy’s first ever nude centrefold has revealed she posed naked ‘for the money’ because she could earn more than 300 times her weekly wage by just posing for one photo.
Marilyn Cole, now 72, from Portsmouth, became the first ever model to appear full frontal in the magazine in 1972 – when she was 21.
She travelled from London – where she’d worked as a bunny in the Playboy restaurant – to Chicago, where she met Hugh Hefner and stayed in the Playboy mansion.
Speaking to Fox, Marilyn revealed she got was paid $5,000 for one photo – which is approximately $33,247 or £25,000 in today’s money. At the time she earning just $15 (£11) a week.
‘It was totally about the money. It was about the money being a Bunny. Maybe some of the others had different aspirations, but this was a time when women didn’t earn much money,’ she revealed.
Marilyn Cole, now 72, from Portsmouth, became the first ever model to appear full frontal in the magazine in 1972 – when she was 21, she is pictured in 1976
Still got it! Marilyn is pictured looking as glamourous as ever at a recent event in London
She added her life first changed when she became a Bunny. While working in London’s Playboy restaurant she was spotted by Victor Lowne, the head of Playboy Europe and who later became her husband.
‘He sent me to Chicago. And that’s where I was tested [before the shoot]. By the time the issue came out, I had been working at the London Playboy Club. I started dating Victor and he was very cool. He didn’t ask me out until 10 months after we first met.
‘So my life was already changing. But when the issue came out, it meant more money because I was then chosen to be Playmate of the Year. That meant another $5,000, lots of prizes and more notoriety. Other modelling jobs were offered to me. Good swimwear brands wanted to work with me. I was all over the national press.
Victor died in 2017 aged 88, he left his entire £460,665 fortune to his wife.
His lifestyle at Stocks, a 42-room Georgian pile in Hertfordshire where he ran a ‘training school’ for Playboy bunnies, was the stuff of legend.
He threw swinging parties by night and rode to hounds by day. Stocks was fitted out with erotic Mogul miniatures, a private disco, games room, swimming pool and, reputedly, the largest Jacuzzi in the world.
Marilyn (pictured in 1972) travelled from London – where she’d worked as a bunny in the Playboy restaurant – to Chicago, where she met Hugh Hefner and stayed in the Playboy mansion. She was then made Playmate of the year
The model, who now works as a journalist, also revealed she ‘didn’t know’ she was going to be the centrefold and that she was ‘just posing’. She is pictured in the 1970s
When asked if she thinks Playboy exploits women, Marilyn added: ‘It goes back to the money. You know, money means power and independence. I was paid very well… As a Playboy Bunny, we sometimes earned more than some of the men in the room’. She is pictured at Victor’s 53rd birthday party
Visitors included Sir Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and Roman Polanski. His most celebrated party lasted 25 hours, during which 2,000 guests polished off 8,000 bottles of champagne. The printed RSVP slips read: ‘We are arriving by hot-air balloon or helicopter, please send us landing instructions.’
The strict ‘no dating’ rule, which forbade romantic contact between bunnies and clients or other Playboy employees, did not apply to Lownes. ‘Power is an aphrodisiac,’ he once boasted. ‘In the bunnies’ world, I was No 1. It was a feather in their cap to go out with me.’
When asked if she thinks Playboy exploits women, Marilyn added: ‘It goes back to the money. You know, money means power and independence. I was paid very well… As a Playboy Bunny, we sometimes earned more than some of the men in the room.
‘For me, the Playboy organisation showed me respect as a woman. It allowed me to be free in a way that wasn’t common in those days.’
Marilyn added her life first changed when she became a Bunny. While working in London’s Playboy restaurant she was spotted by Victor Lowne, the head of Playboy Europe and who later became her husband (left on their wedding day, right in 2011)
Victor died in 2017 aged 88, he left his entire £460,665 fortune to his wife. The couple are pictured in the seventies
Marilyn went on that her parents had ‘mixed feelings’ about her nude modelling, but they were ‘cool enough to not be judgmental’. She is pictured in January 1972
The model, who now works as a journalist, also revealed she ‘didn’t know’ she was going to be the centrefold and that she was ‘just posing’.
She went on that her parents had ‘mixed feelings’ about her nude modelling, but they were ‘cool enough to not be judgmental’.
‘They were always on my side. Even if they disapproved, they would’ve been on my side. This was not a tragedy to have your daughter pose for Playboy.
‘My dad was very proud of that photograph. He took it around to show his mates! He was a very intellectual man and knew about artists, so he felt it was more like a Rubens painting. It’s very classical looking,’ she added.
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