All language subtitles for [SubtitleTools.com] Secrets of Playboy S02E08 - Padrões de Beleza_track3_[eng]

GUERRERO: Playboy is often
associated with buxom blondes

like Marilyn Monroe,
Pamela Anderson,

and Jenny McCarthy.

So, what happens
when women break through

who are not
the typical standard of beauty

the readership is used to?

He’s shooting me for days,
so he thought he had the right

to try to assault me.

-Were you scared?
-Yes, I was scared.

I was very scared.

And that is the moment that
I felt like my life was over.

People would kill me
if they could.

There are some people
who would literally kill me.

GUERRERO:
A whole lot of controversy.

[motor revving]

My name is Hugh Hefner.

I’m editor-publisher
of "Playboy" magazine.

REPORTER: Playboy is one

of the most famous brand names
in the world.

It was simply to include sex as

one natural part of a package
for a male audience.

KARI ANN: When I made the choice
to do "Playboy,"

I didn’t realize all
the choices that I was making

that came with that choice.

PITZULO: We don’t judge the men
for buying the "Playboy"s,

but we judge the women
for posing for "Playboy."

JILL:
I was never Jill anymore.

I was Jill
that posed for "Playboy."

WOMAN #3: I just gave in
and knew that I was

probably gonna go to hell.

ZOE:
It got to a certain point

where it wasn’t fun anymore.

SONDRA:
This process was very painful,

but I should be able to tell
my story as I lived it.

GUERRERO:
In 1965, "Playboy" featured

the very first Black Playmate,
Jennifer Jackson.

The choice sparked
mixed reaction from readers.

Some praised the decision,
while others were angered by it

By the time Elan Carter
posed for "Playboy" in 1994,

there had already been
over 450 Playmates,

but she was only
the 13th Black Playmate

in the magazine’s history.

Elan Carter was already
in the public eye

when she was a dancer
on "Soul Train"

at just 14 years old.

The stepdaughter of Temptations
member Otis Williams,

Elan was used to the spotlight

and was modeling
by the time she was 17.

So, it wasn’t a big surprise

when "Playboy" asked her
to pose for the magazine.

Thank you.
I’m so excited to talk to you.

Your mother was actually
a Playboy Bunny, right?

Yes, she was a Playboy Bunny,
and she worked

at a Playboy Club
in upstate New Jersey.

So, when I was approached
to do "Playboy" in the ’90s,

she was all for it,
and she was dating

my stepfather at the time,

who’s one of the original
Temptations. [laughs]

-Otis Williams. [laughs]
-Yes.

So, um, my mother talked me
into doing it

because I would go visit her
at the Playboy office,

and they approached me
several times,

and I was like, no, because
I was modeling, I was overseas,

and my agencies at that time,

the models
weren’t really doing "Playboy."

-It was like a no-no.
-They tell you don’t.

Because it was looked down on,

like, you know,
you’re posing nude.

It’s pornographic. "Playboy"
to me is not pornographic.

But a lot of clients won’t
take you serious as a model.

That’s the number one thing,
right?

Especially being an ethnic model

’cause I was one of
the few girls that worked a lot.

You know, you work a lot. You’re
the Black girl that we have.

And it was like,
"We’ll have to replace you."

So, because of that platform
that you already had...

Mm-hmm.

...why did you decide to pose
for "Playboy"?

’Cause my mother talked me
into it. [laughs]

Because I was not gonna do it.

And she’s like,
"Just try it, just test."

I didn’t think I would get it,
right?

Because I knew several
ethnic women who had auditioned

to get in "Playboy,"
and they didn’t get in.

-And why is that?
-Because they weren’t

picking Black girls,
and these were beautiful women.

So, I didn’t think
anything of it.

I was like, okay,
I’ll just do it.

There have been very few

African American
Playmates of the Month.

And in fact, before you,
it had been several years...

Mm-hmm.

...before they had had
a Black Playmate.

So, what was posing
for "Playboy" like?

It was quite interesting because

I did have an incident
when I was doing my test shoot

with a photographer who tried
to, uh, attack me.

A "Playboy" photographer?

Mm-hmm.

But he was, like, new,
I guess, on the staff

or testing for them.
-Wait a minute.

A photographer tried
to sexually assault you?

Mm-hmm.

I was in a room with him
by myself,

I think the makeup artist,
everyone left,

and he just pulled his thing out

and was trying to
chase me around.

So, he actually
unzipped his pants?

Mm-hmm.

Did you think
he was going to rape you?

Yes.

But I quickly was like,

"Oh, yeah,
let’s go out on another time.

It’s not a good time."
I don’t know what I said,

but I did not react
in an angry way

because I knew
I needed to get out

of that environment
and get in my car to go home.

-Were you scared?
-Yes, I was scared.

I was very scared.

First of all, I’m so sorry
that happened to you.

I don’t think I told my parents.

I don’t even think
I mentioned it to any--to them.

Is this gonna be the first time

your parents are gonna hear
about this?

Yes. Yes.
When you’re sexually assaulted,

I understand how
women have a hard time

when you’re young, expressing it
and talking about it

because it’s something
that you think

you could have done
something different,

or it’s some shame to it.

Do you think he had ever
done this to other women?

I don’t know. I don’t know why
he felt comfortable enough

to try to assault me.

Could it be ’cause as
ethnic women we’re looked at,

upon as being overly sexual
or sexualized?

Did you immediately
call somebody from Playboy?

I do remember reporting it.

-Yeah, to Playboy?
-Mm-hmm.

-But not to law enforcement?
-No.

So, you reported it?

Yes, and they didn’t
believe me at first.

Somebody from Playboy
didn’t believe you?

I remember they questioned it,
and I said,

"Listen, I’m telling you,
this guy, like, had me in a room

and really tried
to sexually assault me."

You report it to whom?

I don’t remember
’cause it was so long ago.

I know that he was
really pissed off.

He called me and cussed me out,
and it’s like,

"I got fired,
and I’m not gonna work."

I’m like, you tried
to attack me, literally.

Within one of your first
encounters with Playboy,

somebody tries
to sexually assault you.

That is going to color the way

the rest of your relationship is
potentially with that brand.

My experience working

with the Playboy enterprise
had obstacles.

It wasn’t Hef, ’cause I know,

you know, people have had
their issues with him.

It was the enterprise
of Playboy.

Explain that, because I think
part of your journey goes back

to when you were actually
shooting your pictorial.

What did you think about it?

I was extremely disappointed

because I got one of the best
photographers, Steve Wayda,

who has been shooting
for "Playboy" for a long time.

He does lovely stuff,
and he was happy to shoot me.

Now in my test shoot, I had
beautiful stuff, very sexy.

And then they decided,
let’s have her eating pizza,

let’s have her jumping up
and down.

It was just comical.
It was almost character-ish.

But that’s what "Playboy,"

you know,
they wanted to portray.

They want it to be
the way they wanted it.

They had me on electrical cords
on one of the shots.

-I don’t know if you saw that.
-Yeah. I saw that one.

It was not typical "Playboy."

I didn’t think
that it was soft-looking.

I didn’t think it was pretty.

Like, it almost
looked like kind of S&M.

That’s not someone you look at

and you put on a pedestal
and you admire.

You just have sex
with that person.

Would they have done that
to a white woman?

No.

-No?
-Mnh-mnh.

Because some of the girls I see,
they weren’t models.

They were just very plain,
and they made ’em look like,

I mean, just outstanding,
beautiful.

So, if you have to have
that standard of beauty,

then how come you don’t show
that standard of beauty

with an ethnic woman?

After you pose for "Playboy,"
especially if you are

a Playmate of the Month
or a Playmate of the Year,

you’re asked to come back
and kind of host events...

-Yes.
-...or be seen.

What was your experience like

as opposed
to the other women that you saw?

After you do your pictorial,

then they have
almost like a Playboy agency.

So, the girls get work
as a model,

but the opportunities
weren’t the same.

There were certain jobs
that didn’t happen.

We got accused of little things
that happened on the set.

I remember
one particular incident.

I got accused
of taking something.

I really don’t need to steal
shoes like that, you know?

You were accused
of stealing shoes...

-Yes, on a set.
-...at a photo shoot?

Yes. And they would go,

"Don’t hire Elan
because Elan stole shoes,"

and when they finally
told me, I go,

"What are you talking about?"
’Cause I didn’t even know.

There are some of the younger
Playmates that are Black

that I’ve met recently.

And I’ve asked them, I said,
"Well, how was your experience?

Because you guys were in the
early 2000s. I was in the ’90s."

And they didn’t have
anything great to say.

They just said, "You know,
I was just there."

But they still didn’t get
the opportunities

to take their career
to the next level.

What was your experience like
at the Mansion?

I had a good experience.

That’s because I wasn’t

the standard...type
that Hef liked,

’cause he liked the, you know,

young, all-American
blonde girls.

I mean,
if you think about it,

a lot of the Playmates lived
at the Playboy Mansion.

Can you name one Black Playmate
who’s ever stayed there?

And I remember a friend of his
that I became very close to

had made a comment like

he wasn’t interested
in dating the Black Playmates.

I was like, well,
I don’t care because I’m not

interested in dating him either.
[laughing]

Did Black women fit
Playboy’s standard of beauty?

No.

I think politically they tried
to do the right thing,

but once you got in there,
they just was like,

"Okay, we did what we were
supposed to do."

I think they should
have had more Hispanic girls,

more Asian girls.

I think they should have had
more ethnic girls, period,

even on the cover.

I think they had, like,
La Toya Jackson on the cover,

but she’s a Jackson,
so a Black woman

had to be really famous to get
on the cover of "Playboy."

Let me put it like this.

Most of the Black women
that you see in "Playboy"

are usually a certain type--

someone who’s lighter-skinned,
someone who has long hair,

someone
with more European features.

You don’t see Afrocentric.

And because of that,

I think that it didn’t define us
as Black women.

And I don’t think
that Hef was against it.

I think it was the people
that were running the company.

I think that there were
so many chiefs

that were deciding
what the standard of beauty

was for "Playboy."

Ellen Stohl was
in a serious car accident

when she was just 18.

The crash left her paralyzed
from the neck down.

With the help of therapy,

Ellen recovered the use
of her upper body,

but she was now labeled as
a person with a disability.

So for Ellen,
showing off her body

was the ultimate way
to reclaim her sexuality.

Do you remember the first time
you ever saw "Playboy" Magazine?

Uh, yes.

How old were you?
What did you think?

Let me see. I was probably, uh,

in second, third grade,

and I just thought, you know,
the women were beautiful.

You know, makeup is beautiful.
Their bodies are beautiful.

And I really saw "Playboy"

as more artistic
than sexualized.

Um, I’m sure, you know, at 8,

we don’t know much
about sexuality,

but we do know
about what looks beautiful,

and--and to me,
it just was beautiful.

So...

fast forward to the time
in 1985.

-What caused the accident?
-It was a car accident.

Uh, first rain of the season,
and I was taking,

uh, the 57 southbound
to the 91 westbound,

and it’s a nice curve.

-Mm-hmm.
-Um, at 18,

you don’t pay attention
to the little yellow signs

that say 45 miles an hour.
I was probably taking it 50, 60.

But when I came
around the curve,

I hit the oil that had come up
on the road on the first rain,

and my car hydroplaned.

And then it slid
off to the shoulder,

and it flipped on its side,

and it rolled
three or four times,

and then it was airborne ’cause
there’s a big gully there.

And when it was airborne,

I came out through where
the windshield had been.

I landed
on the left side of my head,

and I broke my neck
in five places

and both my collarbones.

They thought that
I was probably gonna be DOA.

They didn’t think
I was gonna survive.

It was devastating. You don’t
know the damage at the time.

You just know the pain
and that something’s not right,

until I woke up
in that emergency room.

There’s a doctor running

what looks like a pizza cutter
up my leg to say,

"Can you feel this?
Can you feel this?"

And I’m like, "I don’t know
what you’re talking about."

And the woman standing
next to me--

I didn’t even recognize her--
is like,

"She doesn’t know.
She doesn’t know."

And the doctor’s like, "You have
to tell her, or I will."

[voice breaking] And that’s when
my mom reached down...

touched my face, said,
"You’re paralyzed.

Honey, you’ve broken your neck."

And that is the moment

that I felt like
my life was over...

...and that I would never have
the things that I wanted.

So, it was--it was devastating
in that moment,

because of that bias
about what life could be.

This idea of who I could be
and what I was

came into my head,
and I thought,

"I’m never gonna get married.
I’m never gonna have kids.

I’m never gonna have sex."

And it was devastating.
I mean, I wanted to die.

I refused a blood transfusion,
and my mom said,

"You’re gonna die,"
and I said, "I want to."

And my mom was like,
"Please, you can’t."

And I actually hated my mom
for the next six months.

Every time it was hard to move,
to function, I blamed her.

Like, I had wanted to die,

and she was like, "Not gonna
happen. Not on my watch."

And so I was angry at her.

And yet she said,
"This isn’t the end."

No. She said, "You will go on,
and you will do it well."

-And you have.
-Yeah. [laughs]

-And you have. [laughs]
-Yep. It’s been amazing.

Ellen, in 1985,
you wrote to Hugh Hefner

that you wanted to be
in "Playboy."

Why? What was the goal?

I came back out into the world,

and what I realized is the world
never saw me as a woman anymore.

They saw me
as a disabled person.

And so I thought, wow, you know,

what would be the best way to--
to sort of

meet those social, stereotypical
ideas of what a woman is

without being
a triumph over tragedy story?

I did not want to be,

"Oh, look, yay for her."

I thought, well, "Playboy."
"Playboy" seemed like

the best venue to sort of
break that barrier,

and at the same moment
of breaking that barrier,

this idea of the perfect woman,
that "Playboy" can be charged

with creating this
unrealistic idea of perfection.

Well, I fit the criteria
of the "Playboy" model--

blonde, blue-eyed, big boobs,

but I happen to be
in a wheelchair.

So, I wrote Hef a letter.

"Dear Mr. Hefner,
my name is Ellen Stohl.

I’m a model-actress who,
three years ago,

was injured in an auto accident.

The reason I chose "Playboy"
for this endeavor

is that sexuality
is the hardest thing

for disabled persons
to hold onto.

This is not to say
they’re not capable,

but rather that
society’s emphasis on perfection

puts a definite damper
on self-esteem.

Well, I believe it’s time
to show society the real story.

Anyone can be sexy.

It’s a matter of how a person
feels about himself or herself,

and personally, I feel great."

[laughter]

When you actually posed
for the magazine,

were you terrified?

That’s very funny. When they
called me and asked me

to come in for test shots,
I’m like, "What do I wear?"

[laughter]

They’re like, "Nothing."

And I will say my photographer,
my makeup artist,

everybody I worked with
was so amazing, and, you know,

I have a huge scar
across my butt from the injury.

And they helped me
be comfortable with my body,

positioning my body,
and that came through.

So, there was a year’s worth
of discussion within Playboy...

-Yes.
-...about whether or not

they should publish
the pictures you already shot.

-Yes.
-Because they don’t wanna seem

as if they’re taking advantage
of you for publicity.

Did you hear about this?

And how--how did they
tell you about that?

Oh, they told me. [laughs]

Because I posed
and did all my shots in ’86.

We didn’t publish till ’87.

-It took a year.
-What were they worried about?

They were worried
about exploitation.

They didn’t go to you.
You went to them.

Yes, but they think society
will look at it as exploitation.

"We’re exploiting this."

Publishers were
absolutely against it.

They did not want it to be seen
as exploitation.

And Hef just said,
"No, this is important.

She came to us,
and I believe in her story,"

and I think
he felt so strongly about it,

he went against the publishers.

He said, "This is important.
We’re doing it."

But it did take a year
of controversy for them

to feel comfortable enough
to publish.

Playboy was
focusing on me as a woman.

They were not exploiting me.
They were including me.

So, you waited a year.
That issue hits the stands.

You don’t know what pictures
they’re gonna choose.

You don’t know
how you’re gonna look,

and you don’t know how
people are gonna react.

Were you scared?

I was...

I was scared to death.

This was the "Playboy" Magazine
that came out. It was amazing.

I was on page 69,
which I always find ironic.

Um, my butt was
my least favorite

because I have a huge scar
that’s like a half moon shape

across one half
of one butt cheek

and the whole other butt cheek.

So this picture sort of
ups my hip and rounds my butt,

and I love it.
I love this photo.

It’s one of my favorites.

So, the issue finally comes out,

and what did you see

was the immediate reaction
to those photos?

It was chaos. Into the--out of
the fire, into the frying pan.

People are
camping out at my door

to get pictures of me. [laughs]

I had to share my body
in front of people,

and I wasn’t
even confident in my body.

Ellen Stohl, who’s the first
person with a disability

to pose in "Playboy,"

Talk about breaking
the barriers of what is sexy.

We are not seen
as men and women.

We are seen as disabled people,

and that’s
a very small definition

of who a human being is.

Ellen Stohl is in this,
the July issue of "Playboy."

You want to see
some of the pictures?

-Yeah, sure. Yeah.
-[laughter]

-What has the reaction been?
-Groups all over,

a lot of disabled groups
have said

"You’ve finally broken
a barrier,

that people need to see us
as people, not as a disability."

REPORTER: Her actions have
forced many to view handicapped

in a whole different light

and make society sit up
and take notice.

GUERRERO: Everybody that is
a boundary breaker

faces some kind of backlash.

Did you feel like because
you broke this boundary,

you were the focus of criticism
from some corners?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, there
are some people that were like,

"Well, she’s just Barbie doll
in a wheelchair,

so it doesn’t really--it’s not
really breaking the barriers

because she looks
like a Playmate."

I’m like, well, okay. Wouldn’t
it be wrong for "Playboy"

to put somebody
with an impairment

in their magazine
that didn’t look like

the standard "Playboy" model?

You know, I met the standards,

and I happened to have
an impairment.

So, there was a faction
of people with impairments

that felt like it wasn’t enough
to change attitudes,

but, you know, it takes
one step at a time.

You can’t just bowl over and--

and, you know,
shift the narrative.

Playboy was great about not
letting the negative reach me.

I know that there were people
that wrote nasty letters

to "Playboy,"
but they never made it my way.

-They shielded you.
-They shielded me.

They wanted to support
my voice and my mission.

So, I-I feel like it had

the impact
that I wanted it to have.

There was a little bit
of controversy

about that photo shoot
because the chair

wasn’t really in the pictures.

I think at one point,

you could kind of see
the chair in a corner,

but the wheelchair wasn’t
a part of that pictorial.

It was part of my candids.

They had shots of me
in my chair,

in my life, in my candids.

And for me, the whole reason
I was doing the shoot

was to focus on the fact that I
was a woman first and foremost,

who used a wheelchair,
so, consciously on my part,

yes, it was distancing
from the chair in the nudes,

in the sexuality part,
but it was very clear

in the candid shots
in the pictorial,

that I was a wheelchair user.

In my PR, I’m--
I’m in a wheelchair.

I don’t sit, you know,
in a different chair

to hide the fact
that I’m in a wheelchair.

I am in a wheelchair,
but I’m also a woman,

and that was the focus
of the article.

Did you feel then
that you were breaking

that standard of beauty
by posing?

Absolutely. I met the standard
of beauty on one criteria,

but another criteria,
I was not even in the ballpark,

and yet I brought it
into the ballpark,

and I shattered the idea

that there is
a perfect ideal of beauty.

People don’t have to be perfect
to be beautiful and sexy.

Sometimes people have
preconceived notions about you

based on being in a wheelchair.

One of them is that people
in wheelchairs don’t have sex.

You were a virgin when
you had your accident at 18.

Had you been able to
have sex after your accident?

Yes. [laughs] I have a daughter,
so...

-[laughter]
-Sex, and I had a pregnancy,

which I didn’t think I could
have, um, and, yes,

I had natural birth,
so, uh, all of that,

people just assume
that you can’t have--

I mean, I would go to bars,
and before people

would buy me a drink,
they’d be like,

"Can you have sex?"
I’m like, okay. [laughs]

-Wait. A man would ask you that?
-Yes. Oh, yes.

When you have an impairment,
and it’s visible,

people think
that they can ask you anything.

I’ve been asked
if I can have sex

in a grocery store buying peas
by other women.

Like, "But can you have sex?"

"Uh, yes, yes, I can.
Thank you very much,

but I’m just trying to buy
groceries here."

Do we have to communicate more
to have sex?

Because my body
works differently

than what you see in the media?

Because sex is not rose petals
and orchestra music

and what we portray
in the media being,

"Whoa, so beautiful!"

And if it’s good sex,
it’s messy and dirty,

and you have to communicate.

You have to actually deal
with the differences

and then find out
how you can come together

to, you know, to give pleasure
to each partner.

When you’re in a wheelchair,
people think you have no agency,

that you certainly can’t be
a parent or a professional,

that you are weak,
you need to be taken care of.

There is the assumption
that somehow,

because my legs don’t work,
my brain don’t work,

even that my hearing
doesn’t work.

People will talk to me louder.

They will talk to me slower.
They will pat me on the head.

They will ask my partner
what I want to eat.

They will refer to people with
me instead of talking to me.

I am a person
first and foremost.

I have sexual desire.
I have values.

I have interests. I have dreams.
I have goals.

Just because I’m
in a wheelchair doesn’t mean

I can’t be a person
with a full life.

It doesn’t mean I can’t pose
for "Playboy."

Inès Rau is not
the typical Playmate

"Playboy" readers are used to.

At just 14 years old,
Inès began her journey,

transitioning
from male to female,

and completed gender
reassignment surgery at 17.

In 2017,
when Inès was 26 years old,

she was handpicked by
Hugh Hefner to grace the pages

as the magazine’s
first transgender Playmate.

It was a groundbreaking decisio

that caused controversy
for both "Playboy" and Inès.

-So good to meet you.
-So excited.

Really so excited to meet you.
Thank you for having me.

-You’re gorgeous.
-Thank you.

-Thank you for being here.
-Merci beaucoup.

Oh, my goodness. All right. Wow.

I have so many questions
to ask you,

but I’m gonna jump in
by asking you

when was the very first time

you remember ever seeing
a "Playboy" Magazine?

I think the first time
I’ve seen "Playboy" covers

were when I was, like,
about 15, 14 years old,

and I was really amazed

by how beautiful "womens"
were looking on the covers.

And when I saw these "womens,"
I was, like,

super happy
and inspired and mesmerized.

But in the same time,
I felt stuck to my male form.

I knew my soul was
the soul of a woman,

and I didn’t know it was
possible to be a trans person

and to change your gender.

So, you started
hormone therapy at 14.

-Mm-hmm.
-By 17 and a half,

you actually had
reassignment surgery.

-Exactly. Yeah.
-What was that like for you?

I would love
to even do it again,

how the transformative journey
was so powerful,

to transform like a butterfly...

...and just, like,
to witness the--

how the body can heal
and readapt,

like, how my brain readapted
to the new shape of my sex.

It’s like I was born like this.

It’s--It’s crazy.
It’s fascinating.

Was it painful?

Yes, but a very short time,
like, few days, yeah.

And this is something that you
had wanted to do for many years?

Yeah. So when you’re young,
you’re 17, you’re so strong

and so determined, and you don’t
care of the pain, you know?

What was the reaction like

the first time you identified
as transgender in public?

It was--Well, first of all,
back in the days,

I was not telling anyone.

I was petrified by people
being mean to me or because--

-Transphobic or even violent.
-Transphobic and everything.

Exactly.
So, I was like, you know what?

I wanna protect myself.
I’m not gonna tell anyone.

You are really risking
your own physical safety...

-Yeah.
-...to come out as transgender.

Exactly.

So, this is actually, I think,
one of my favorite pictures.

When I see this picture,
you know what I see?

It’s not even about the beauty
or whatever. I see respect.

I see how "Playboy"
respected me,

how they wanted the pictures
to be so chic,

so fashion, so Parisian, French,
sophisticated, elegant.

I never saw pictures like--

a picture like this
in "Playboy."

Back in the days,
I was scared of saying

that I was a trans woman,

but I realized
that this is who you are

and there is nothing
to be ashamed of,

and it’s so sexy, actually,

Now--now I think
it’s very sexy and powerful,

but back in the days,

I was scared of being rejected,
you know.

And then I hear trans stories
and everything,

and I was like, well, actually,
this is a bit sad for me to be

that beautiful and feminine
and powerful and happy

and not be able
to share that story

and to hide it
for the rest of my life.

And one day, a little tipsy,
I had to say

that I was trans
to someone gay, like--

-Oh, I’m sure
-The sisterhood thing.

Like,
"Well, by the way, I’m trans,

but don’t tell anyone,"
and that person--

[scoffs] Of course
everybody’s gonna tell everyone.

-Everybody in New York knew it.
-Of course.

And then Bruce Weber
and Barneys

heard of my story,
and they’re like,

"We know about your story.
I think you should come out,

and we would like you to do
a Barneys campaign with us

shot by Bruce Weber."

GUERRERO: Did you want to be
a model right away?

I didn’t "wanted"
to be a model at all.

I didn’t think
that I could be a model.

It all happened so...
"surprise-ly," you know?

What was the feedback?

The feedback was really amazing
because then Playboy in 2014

heard about that story
on models.com

and the Barneys campaign
with Bruce Weber,

and they’re like, "Actually,

we’re doing an ’A’ to ’Z’
special edition."

-You heard about it?
-Yes.

"And we would like
to photograph you, uh,

as our very first trans
in the magazine."

But it was just two page
with an interview.

GUERRERO:
You were "E"--"Evolution."

INÈS: Exactly, "Evolution."

But I-I would never think
that one day

Playboy will contact me again
to be a Playmate.

So, in 2017, when Hugh Hefner

and Cooper Hefner
talked about it,

and they remember I did
that 2014 spread,

and they was like,
"Maybe we should have

a trans woman in ’Playboy.’"

One thing that
really surprises me,

and I really loved about Playboy
and that I realized

that they really wanted
to break boundaries,

and they want to be part
of a society

that evolves mentally

and to raise
the state of consciousness

because they were really
more excited of the outcome

and, um,
groundbreaking situation

about being a trans woman
in "Playboy"

than the picture
of being sexy or whatever.

They were
really genuinely involved

in the empowerment
of that decision.

All of it was
a positive experience.

-Extremely positive, yeah.
-Until what happened?

When the pictures got out
on Playboy’s Instagram,

which was a month or two months
after Hugh Hefner died,

people, they were not taking it.

They were like,
"This is disgusting.

She is horrible. That’s a man.

This is the devil,"
and everything.

And I was not ready for this.
I was shocked.

What hurts me the most
when I received

transphobic comments
is that a lot of people think

that I’m something
that is gonna make their kids

perverts or whatever,
what I represent,

when I love kids so much
and I...

there is nothing--because,
you know, I’m not a mother,

I would love to be a mother.

I cannot carry kids,
but I will adopt.

But I have
a big maternal instinct.

I love kids so much.
I want to protect them.

So, you know what?
They will never make me feel...

bad about what I am,

’cause I think what I am
is beautiful,

is powerful,

it’s sexy, it’s strong.

And it hurts me to know

that so much people hate us.

[horn blaring, crowd cheering]

It shows that
it’s very dangerous

to be a trans person in America.
-It is.

-That’s the thing.
-In certain states, it...

-In certain states.
-It really is.

So, this is not a joke.
This is crazy.

GUERRERO: Have you ever felt
threatened?

I received a lot of threats for
the--when "Playboys" got out.

-You received physical threats?
-Death threats. Oh, yes.

-Death threats?
-Oh, yes, a lot.

A trans journey--
it’s a very lonely journey.

And I feel like
transphobia is rising up.

I don’t want to think
about that, but I do think

that at some point there’s gonna
be, like, these extremists.

[indistinct shouting]

These transphobic people.

Who would one day think that
trans people

is one of the most evil thing
that’s happening in this planet

and would be
a good thing to kill them?

I wouldn’t be surprised. People
would kill me if they could.

There are some people
who would literally kill me.

Ellen, Elan and Inès,
you are all beautiful women,

but you are not
the prototypical type of woman

that "Playboy" is famous

or infamous
for showing on its pages.

"Playboy" isn’t just a message
to men about idealized beauty.

-It’s a message to young girls.
-ELAN: Mm-hmm.

The first time I saw "Playboy,"
I was little.

My dad was at a barbershop.

It’s the first time
I ever saw a naked lady,

and I thought, wow, this is what

ladies are supposed
to look like.

And it was
a white, blonde woman.

And what has this said over time
to women of our generation,

but also to young women today?

It absolutely distorts
their ideas of what is beauty,

what is acceptable,
what is desirable,

and it results
in depression and anxiety.

And that’s why it is
so important

that diversity is--
is in the industry.

INÈS: Playboy, for a long time,
kind of, like,

decided and shaped
what was sexy or not.

So, to have a disabled person
in "Playboy,"

to have
a trans woman in "Playboy,"

to have a woman in color
in "Playboy"

really helped to open people
to different kinds of beauty,

which is diversity.

However, nowadays, in 2023,
we don’t give a [bleep]

of what "Playboy" would decide
of who’s sexy or who’s not.

I think the era of "Playboy"
is a bit over.

As iconic as it is,

I think it’s a bit part
of the past, you know?

First of all,
the growth of our culture,

that we are feeling
like there’s different

standards of beauty,

we’re seeing now curvier women
being celebrated,

curvier women walking
down the runways

and being featured
in magazines as well.

We saw a Down Syndrome model

for the first time walk
in Victoria’s Secret recently.

So, there are different
standards of beauty now,

and--and part of it is
because of what you’ve done.

And you’ve got to take
a little credit for that...

-Yeah.
-...I would think,

or a lot of credit for it.
-Mm-hmm.

You know,
it’s always been Hef’s magazine.

It’s always been Hef’s idealized
version of women.

And what all three of you have
done is push back against that,

saying,
"I’m allowed to be sexy, too."

-Yes.
-That’s not his ideal, you know?

Well, and he, like, idolized
Marilyn Monroe.

He loved who she was, her image.

So, I think that
that’s what he had in his mind.

So, he wanted
all the girls to represent

and be like
a Marilyn Monroe type.

Yeah, but that--

he’s very much a creature
of his generation.

-Mm-hmm.
-Right?

’Cause he is a white male
from a certain generation...

-Yes.
-...that saw that

as the ideal beauty,
Marilyn Monroe.

And I think he was probably
pulled along as time went on

through the civil rights era,

through, you know,
women’s liberation.

-And, you know, certainly...
-The ’70s, the ’60s.

...you were the last person
that he approved to be...

Yeah,
I’m the last real Playmate.

-...a Playmate.
-Yes.

-Yeah.
-Started with Marilyn...

-Wow.
-...and you were the last one.

Oh, my God, stop.
I’m gonna cry. That’s amazing.

I didn’t--
never thought about that.

I mean,
that’s quite an evolution.

-Yes.
-Yeah.

He did have his image
and his ideas,

but he was at least open
to expanding...

-Yes.
-...to including, and he--

-Oh, yes, completely.
-He, you know,

we pushed back,
but he let us in.

-Yes.
-Right? If he hadn’t let us in,

if he hadn’t approved--
I mean, he had to fight for me

to be in the magazine.
The publishers were like,

"Do not put her
in the magazine."

And he put his foot down
and said no.

He may have evolved
a little bit, but ultimately,

when you think of "Playboy,"
you think of Pamela Anderson...

-Yes.
-...Jenny McCarthy, the blondes.

-Yes.
-You were not that.

Right.

You were "allowed"
to be a Playmate.

However, there were very few

African American Playmates,
period.

There were
very few Latina Playmates...

-Mm-hmm.
-...period.

-Mm.
-There were very few

Asian Playmates period.

Our country was changing,

but that was
not reflected in "Playboy."

-Yeah, mm-hmm.
-It certainly was not.

-Yeah.
-Yes.

You know, there was
a little bit of it.

-It took time.
-It was a sprinkle.

Can you talk about, though,
how that must have felt for you?

Because you were a Playmate.
You were very visible.

You were at the Mansion,
and yet, you know,

there were just a handful
of Black Playmates.

Did you feel like
you were a token in that way?

I don’t feel
like that I was a token.

I just felt like
they tried to portray

what they thought
was standard beauty,

not capture
what was beauty for me.

So they said, "Oh, okay,
well, she’s ethnic,

and we want
that ethnic audience,

so we want to portray her
this way

because this is what Black girls
are supposed to look like.

This is what
they want to look like."

They already were setting
the sub--subliminal messages

of what--"This is what
you should look like,"

not the soft, beautiful,
desirable woman, right?

This is one
of my "Playboy" pictures,

which I think I look pretty
in the picture,

but it’s very erotic. [laughs]

It looks like
I’m doing something else.

You know what that looks like?

Of course we know
what that looks like.

That just goes back
to the tone of my pictures.

If it was me today, I would have
been like, "I’m not doing that."

Okay. So there is this notion
that "Playboy" uses women

to make money
for the organization,

to make money for Hugh Hefner
or the Hefner family,

to create this image
that this is the ideal woman.

I would say
that the women on this stage

were able to use "Playboy"...
-Used "Playboy," yeah.

...for another purpose.

It was a symbiotic relationship.
We both got something out of it.

I...for me, I definitely
used them as a vehicle

to tell my story through print,
and it was in many countries

I was able to give a voice like,
you can still be beautiful,

you can still be sexy,

you can still have power
and passion and live fully

regardless of the package
that you come in.

You know, I’ll say this
from my personal experience.

I was 40 when I posed
for the cover.

I had been a sportscaster
for a long time.

People were very upset
that I posed for "Playboy"

at 40, as a Latina,

as a former sportscaster
on "Monday Night Football."

That was
really shocking at the time.

I was very strategic, though.

I posed for "Playboy"
because I knew that it would

provide a platform for me
to get the next job

and for me to make a statement
about my age and being Latina.

I know a lot of people say,
"I have no regrets.

I’m glad I posed in ’Playboy.’"

Do you ever think about that?

-Do you ever have regrets...
-I...

...about aligning yourself
with "Playboy"?

I do, because my career
was taking off,

and I think that it would have
gone further in the direction

I wanted to go if I hadn’t
done it at that time,

because I was booked, like,

a year in advance
from my modeling agency.

But my work faltered
because my agent found out

I did "Playboy,"
and I got blackballed.

So I should
have waited to do it later.

And that’s the thing
I think people don’t realize.

Once you’ve posed for "Playboy,"

you are forever connected
to that brand, to that magazine,

and to whatever those readers
think of when they see you

or think of you.
-Mm-hmm. True.

So, Ellen,
how do you feel about that?

I do not regret
having to pose for "Playboy."

Um, I think when
I am viewed as the first woman

with a disability to pose
for "Playboy,"

it’s still mind-shattering.

They look at me as
having used the magazine

to advance and advocate for
individuals with disabilities.

So I’m always gonna be seen
as a trailblazer.

I do not regret posing
for "Playboy."

I regret that I had to pose for
"Playboy" to be seen as a woman.

-To deliver your message.
-Right?

Because such a significant part
of our population

is left out of the mainstream,
the sense of belonging

because of such
narrow views of what beauty

and what is acceptable in--
in society.

And I can’t even imagine
the transphobia and the--

the hate that you’ve got.
-Goes beyond.

I can’t even imagine.

But still,
I don’t regret it because

it was so groundbreaking.

People don’t really see me as,
like, the sexy girl

posing for "Playboy," but, like,
trailblazing, opening doors.

It is more attached to what
I’ve done with "Playboy."

We all posed for "Playboy."

You know, we have
a similar experience,

but we’re all so different in
the way that we approached it.

But one thing that is
certainly in common

with all three of you
is that you have broken

so many boundaries
for other people to come later.

And also,
you’ve changed the way

that readers of "Playboy"
have viewed women

in a sexy way,
in a beautiful, feminine way.

Obviously, "Playboy"
isn’t around the same way,

but it would have been
interesting to know what

the future would have been
for "Playboy"...

-Yes.
-Mm.

...given the way
that our society is going.

And I think, you know,

two steps forward,
one step back.

I mean, we’re obviously
making ground in some places

and losing ground
in other places,

but just the fact that we can
have this discussion

is a major step forward.
-INÈS: It’s major. Yeah.

"Playboy" changed the way
we view sexuality,

and it did give a voice
to the girl next door

to be able to be sexual
without being chained.

And it did open the doors
for a lot of diversity.

Yes, we were sprinkled
throughout the blonde-haired,

blue-eyed majority,

but those sprinkles
had a ripple effect

that is impacting the way
people see beauty.

Posing for "Playboy"
allowed me to use it

as a platform to springboard
and make a difference

in terms of equity
and inclusion,

especially for individuals
with disabilities,

but for all people
of different shapes, colors,

gender identities, et cetera.

When one person
from a marginalized group

can make headway,
it can open the floodgates

for all individuals
in marginalized groups.

And that’s why
we have to work together

to create change for everybody.