Celebrity Mound

Hugh Hefner’s down to just one bunny-honey.

The Playboy publisher tells E! News that two of his three girlfriends – curvy 20-year-old twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon – are shipping out of the Mansion and moving into the nearby Playmate House, instead.

Hef explains that his relationship with his third pin-up partner, Crystal Harris, has been getting “more serious,” and that the twins desire to do more Playmate promos.

“They’ve been hanging out with a lot of the other Playmates, and they see these girls traveling across the country to do promotion,” he says. “They would like to be doing that, too.”

“They will now be friends, but they won’t be defined as the girlfriends,” he adds.

The 83-year-old media mogul says he suggested the move, which will take place over the next couple of weeks.

“When [the twins] thought about it, they thought it was a good idea,” he says.

But don’t expect Hef to become a committed one-woman man anytime soon, no matter how seriously things are getting with his remaining main squeeze.

“I haven’t had a lot of luck with marriage,” he says. “I don’t have a good track record, and I don’t want to screw this one up.”

And no fear, reality fans: the twins’ exit won’t nix “The Girl Next Door.” If the E! reality series gets picked up for another season, viewers can get an eyeful of the twins’ new promotional work and catch how Hef’s “relationships are changing romantically and how that relates to Crystal.”

Playboy boss Hugh Hefner is facing legal action for unfair dismissal after his company’s former party planner alleged she was fired while on medical leave.

Jenny Lewis filed suit against Playboy Enterprises in a Los Angeles court earlier this week, naming the publishing mogul as a defendant.

She claims she was given permission from Playboy bosses to take as much time off as required after undergoing surgery and was stunned to receive a letter of termination on November 4, 2009 while she was still in recovery, ending her 11 years of employment.

Lewis’ lawsuit accuses Playboy executives of 12 counts of liability relating to the California Employment and Fair Housing Act.

She goes on to accuse her former employers of gender discrimination, detailing a number of other cases where female workers were demoted to less important roles in Hefner’s Los Angeles residence, the Playboy Mansion.

Representatives for Hefner and Playboy have yet to respond to the lawsuit.

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris

Karissa Shannon and Kristina Shannon, Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris

Hugh Hefner and Pamela Anderson

Rodney Bingenheimer and Pamela Anderson

Hollywood madam Michelle Braun is out to destroy the myth about Playboy Playmates which Hugh Hefner and his staff cultivated for decades — that the pin-ups are wholesome girls-next-door who just happen to have incredible figures they don’t mind showing off.

Braun — sentenced last week to three years’ probation and six months of house detention — is planning to write a tell-all about her 11-year career hooking up centerfolds and porn stars with the men who could afford the $10,000 minimum for a date.

Her clients included the kings of two countries, Fortune 500 CEOs and professional athletes, two of whom — a baseball star and a race car driver — ended up marrying the Playboy Playmates they met through Braun’s agency, Nici’s Girls.

Braun, who now lives in Florida with her two daughters, won’t name names yet. Of one very single TV personality, she said, “If I dropped his name to you, I certainly wouldn’t be his idol.

“I only worked with famous girls, mostly Playmates. Hef couldn’t keep any of his girlfriends in the [Playboy] Mansion,” she said.

“At one time, seven of the eight girls living in the Mansion were working for me. I had one of his girlfriends in the Mansion just to recruit for me.”

Playboy finally sued Braun for copyright infringement after she sent an e-mail to a prospective client with photos of one of her girls from the mag. She ended up settling the suit.

Braun also settled with the feds. After being investigated for years and raided by the FBI, she copped a plea to two felonies — money laundering and transporting a woman across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. “The girls and the clients were being harassed. I took the bullet for everyone,” she said. “In a way, I’m like Jesus, only prettier.” She laughed, “That’s a joke.”

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Playboy founder Hugh Hefner changed American pop culture, one centerfold at a time.

With his Playboy Enterprises Inc in talks to be sold for about $300 million, the 83 year-old Hefner will be giving up control over the iconic adult entertainment empire he founded that was instrumental in shaping society’s opinions on nudity, sex and free speech.

With $600, Hefner in 1953 published the first Playboy magazine with a partially nude photo of Marilyn Monroe at its center. The magazine would become not only one of the most successful publications ever, but also a brand that led many Americans to think about sex in a more carefree way.

“Hef” turned Playboy and its bunny head logo into a symbol for a lifestyle he embodied as bachelor extraordinaire, living in a mansion surrounded by wealth and beautiful women.

“This guy was one of the major players in the transformation of American culture in the second half of the 20th century and not just because he had a magazine with naked women in it,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University.

In 1972, Playboy had a worldwide circulation of 7 million, but that has been in decline ever since, as the liberalization of sexual attitudes Hefner promoted became more mainstream — and more competitive.

But even as it grew ever more popular, the magazine created rivals such as Penthouse and Hustler. In the 1980s, adult videos grew into a major business and by the late 1990s, the rise of the Internet and free pornography on the Web became Playboy’s greatest rival for an audience.

REALITY STAR

Hefner remains in the limelight today, showing up at media events with numerous girlfriends by his side. He enjoyed a role in reality television show “The Girls Next Door” on cable network E! and his dating life and break-up with model Holly Madison made him a staple of celebrity magazines.

Hefner has said that growing up during the depression he always looked back wistfully to the 1920s age of flappers as an era of freedom he had missed.

He has described himself as having liberated America from its Puritan past and experts agree he did make sexual images and content more acceptable to Americans.

But Playboy magazine also showed men how to enjoy stylish clothing, good liquor, sports cars and other luxuries, and became a standard bearer for that lifestyle — real or imagined.

“All that kind of stuff just piled up issue after issue — promoting that idea of consumer abundance as being synonymous with the good life in this country — and Hefner is very important in promoting that idea,” said Steven Watts, author of “Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream.”

But as Playboy’s fortunes waned, some of the symbols of wealth that surrounded Hefner became harder for him to hang on to.

In the early 1980s, he had to give up a private jet plane with a bedroom, a miniature disco and a kitchen, Watts said.

Through the decades and despite the loss of business, Hefner continued to live the good life and made sure everyone knew it.

“Hefner really tries to completely disengage the notion of guilt and sin from having a good time and, the last couple of generations, that has pretty much prevailed,” said Thompson, the Syracuse professor. “Certainly, when I talk to my students, I don’t get a sense they’re feeling guilty about the good deal of fun they’re having.”

Halloween night at Hugh Hefner’s not-so-humble abode will still be filled with all the usual suspects – scantily-clad costumed women, bopping blonde bunnies, a Haunted House and Hollywood’s hottest stars.

But while the 31st of October itself isn’t an official Hugh Hefner party, for this year its going to be even more special as the men’s magazine mogul is handing it over to help those who’ve served their country.

“Hef was kind enough to let the Wounded Warrior Project be a beneficiary on Halloween. Proceeds will help severely wounded veterans that have recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Executive Director of the Halloween 09 bash Jose Dominguez said. (General admission tickets start at $1,000 and go up to $15,000 for VIPs.) “Halloween is the most sought-after night at the Mansion so it was a good opportunity to support our veterans and enjoy a great party at the same time.”

We’re also told over 40 wounded soldiers will also attend the scary soiree.

Speaking of Hef, what can we expect from the upcoming season of “The Girls Next Door” now that three new blonde beauties are the stars?

“A lot of fun, a lot of laughter and a lot of lovin’,” Hef told us at the FOX REALLY Awards, adding that when it comes to finding girlfriends he looks for ladies that have “good hearts, sincerity, humor, beauty” – oh, and ofcourse blondness.

But for those who grew attached to former flames Holly, Bridget and Kendra – fear not.

“You’ll see all three of them, there are all in it,” reassured new number one girlfriend, Crystal Harris.

Whew.

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After more than a decade of separation, Hugh Hefner is seeking an official return to his bachelor status. The Playboy founder filed for divorce on Friday from his wife and former Playmate, Kimberly.

Hefner is asking a judge to order him to pay Kimberly Conrad Hefner $20,000 a month in spousal support. That would be half of the $40,000 a month that the Playboy founder has been paying her since they separated in 1998, the records state.

He wants the monthly payments to end in two years, or after a trial on the couple’s divorce is held, whichever comes first.

Hefner, the 83-year-old founder of Playboy magazine and its public ambassador, has been living with three girlfriends at the infamous Playboy Mansion. Their relationship has been the subject of the E! show “The Girls Next Door” since 2005.

Hefner and Kimberly Conrad Hefner were married in 1989, the same year she was named Playmate of the Year. They separated in 1998. Hefner continued to live at the mansion, and Kimberly Hefner moved into a home next door with the couple’s two young sons.

Records show she filed for divorce around that time, but the petition was eventually withdrawn.

She sued Hefner last month, claiming he owes her $4 million under their prenuptial agreement and for proceeds from the sale of the home she is living in. Her lawsuit states Hefner agreed to pay her $250,000 per year for every year they were married after their fourth anniversary.

Hefner in his filings contends he paid his wife $750,000 when they separated, an amount he states he thought satisfied the prenuptial agreement.

Kimberly Hefner’s attorney in the civil lawsuit did not return a phone message seeking comment on Wednesday.

Hefner states in court filings that he has paid almost $12 million to his wife and for her home since their separation.

The couple had two sons together, Marston and Cooper Hefner, who are now both in college.

Hefner, 83, states that he has paid his son’s school expenses and will continue to do so.

Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953 and has since served as its pajama-clad public face.

In recent years, Hefner and his girlfriends – who have included Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt – have starred on “The Girls Next Door.” His relationship with all three has since ended and he’s now living with three new women, including twins.

Since becoming Hugh Hefner’s official girlfriends in October last year, Floridian twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon have pretty much kept quiet and let their magazine mogul man do all the talking at events and interviews. But finally, the glowing 19-year-olds are speaking up and feature as Miss July and Miss August playmates in the first-ever bi-monthly issue of “Playboy.”

Aside from baring their bodies, the blonde, blue-eyed babes dish on how much both they and Hef love Mafia movies, their ambition to become “supermodels and actresses” and what really turns them on in a male companion.

“Swagger, confidence, men who are outgoing and have good hygiene,” they wrote. “And of course tall, dark and handsome!”

(Let’s hope Hef, who, at 5’9, is actually an inch shorter than they are, let that one slide).

We have also confirmed that the twins (who will star in the next season of “Girls Next Door”) will also be adding to the craziness at the annual Comic Con outside the San Diego Convention Center from 3-6pm this Friday afternoon by handing out free ice-cream from the famed “Playboy” ice-cream truck and signing free copies of their centerfold in the new issue …

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