The 'Playboy' founder leaves behind a sizeable estate -- and a surprising omission in his will.
Hugh Hefner died on Wednesday at the age of 91, and the American media icon leaves behind an impressive fortune. The question now is, who will be receiving a piece of the sizeable inheritance?
With an enormous publishing empire to his name -- which Hefner founded in the early 1950s with a total start-up capital of $8,000 including money he borrowed from his mom -- the Playboy founder's estate is estimated to be worth $50 million.
However, a source close to Hefner’s family tells ET that the family is not expecting any battle over money because his wife, Crystal Harris, was "made well aware that she was not going to be inheriting anything from his death when they married."
Harris, who tied the knot with Hefner in 2012, was the publishing magnate's third wife following his first marriage to Mildred Williams -- with whom he shares two children, daughter Christie and son David -- and his subsequent marriage to Playboy Playmate Kimberly Conrad.
Conrad and Hefner wed in 1989 and welcomed two sons, Cooper and Marsten. They separated in 1998, and Conrad moved into a house next door to the Playboy Mansion. After being legally separated for 11 years, Hefner officially filed for divorce in 2010, a year after he began dating Harris.
Hefner and Harris' relationship has also had its turbulence, including Harris calling off their engagement in June 2011, just days before they were supposed to get married. They eventually reconciled and finally exchanged vows in December 2012, but only after Harris signed an iron-clad prenuptial agreement.
It has widely been speculated that Hefner left his large fortune to his four children -- two of whom have worked for the family business. Christie served as CEO of Playboy Enterprise for more than 20 years while Cooper currently serves as Chief Creative Officer at the company.
As for the legendary Playboy Mansion, the five-acre residence in Holmby Hills, California, was sold in 2016 for $100 million to Darren Metropoulos, Hefner's neighbor, on the condition that the magazine mogul would be allowed to live there until he died.
A source tells ET that Metropoulos plans on restoring the mansion, which was built in 1927, to its original design and connecting the mansion property with his own estate. Hefner’s many animals that live at the Mansion will stay on the property, the source adds.
ET got a chance to tour the famed mansion when it went up for sale in 2016. Check out the video below for an inside look at the 12-bathoom, 21-bedroom palatial estate.
