Kendra Wilkinson reveals she didn't mourn at home following Hugh Hefner's death at 91

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kendra Wilkinson revealed she was not sitting at home mourning when Playboy founder Hugh Hefner died in September 2017 at age 91.

Wilkinson mentioned that she was getting high at a Sublime concert in California just hours after the tragic news broke.

“I smoked a lot of weed,” recalls Wilkinson, 38, in an interview with People Magazine.

Despite it being two decades since she skyrocketed to fame at the age of 18 as one of Hefner's girlfriends, the reality star reveals that she is only now beginning to unpack the trauma from her time living in the Playboy world..

Wilkinson said it is not her duty 'to protect a man for his life choices'

“Look, at the end of the day, I owe Hef nothing,” she said. “I’m not going to sit here and protect him. Hugh Hefner decided to date millions of girls, right? That's not my responsibility. And whatever happened with him, with his relationships, that was his thing. It’s not my responsibility to protect a man for his life choices.”

However, Wilkinson now has a more reflective perspective, two decades after she first began dating Hefner.

“I got into deep regret [afterwards]. I got to that point where I started hating myself [and asking], ‘Why did I have sex with Hugh Hefner?’” she said of Hefner who was 60 years her senior. “I hated my boobs, my body, my face. I got to that point where I started hating myself.”

Wilkinson later married former NFL player Hank Baskett

Wilkinson tied the knot with former NFL player Hank Baskett, 41, after leaving the mansion, in June 2009. She walked down the aisle while pregnant with Hank Jr., now 14, who was born that December. The couple also welcomed a daughter, Alijah Mary, in 2014, but later finalized their divorce in 2019.

Wilkinson was recently hospitalized

In September, Wilkinson was hospitalized and diagnosed with anxiety and depression, leading to her being placed on antipsychotic medication.

Reflecting on her past, she expressed, “It’s not easy to look back at my 20s. I’ve had to face my demons.” She now acknowledges that Playboy "messed up her whole life."

“Do you know how many people were putting pressure on me to stick up for Hef with all his allegations and all this stuff? That’s not my responsibility to stick up for someone like that,” she said.

“That’s what started triggering me because people were like, ‘Well, why don’t you stick up for him?’ And I had a marriage to my ex-husband and now two kids to focus on now, not Hugh Hefner,” she added.

Wilkinson continues to pursue her real estate career

While Wilkinson is finally opening up about her experiences, she also expressed a desire to move on as she continues to pursue her real estate career.

She mentioned, "Hef kept appearing in my life, and there were times when I wanted to stop that. I'm, like, ‘Hef's not a part of my life anymore. Can we not include Hef in my life moving forward?’"

“He was five years of my life. He’s not my life," she emphasized. "So there were times where I kept trying to part ways with Playboy and it just kept following me through time. I had to really face the truth of it all.”

Reflecting on her growth, Wilkinson expressed pride in how far she has come from those troubling times.

"I have so much good in front of me. I have two of the most amazing kids who are good, solid human beings, and I feel like I just pressed a rebirth," she said, taking a deep breath. "Whatever that hurricane I was part of is in the far distance now."