Hugh Hefner had 'symbolic' reason for spending $75,000 to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe despite never meeting in life

Before his death, Hugh Hefner opened up about the 'symbolic' reason he paid $75,000 to buried in the plot next to her.

And it all links back to the controversial first issue of Playboy.

In 1962, Monroe was found dead of an overdose at 36 and her body was laid to rest at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

However, you might think she had an affiliation with Hefner - who continues to be the source of plenty of controversy even after his death - given her racy Playboy cover in 1953.

But the two icons were never in the same room together, so why was he buried next to her?

Hugh Hefner paid a pretty penny to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy)

Well, her cover actually made him what he was.

Her nude photo launched Hefner’s career as a multi-millionaire, but Monroe was never directly given compensation, nor did she personally consent for her pictures to be used in the magazine.

She wrote in her book, Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words, she said: “I never even received a thank you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph.

“I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it.

"I admitted it was me who posed for that nude calendar even when the Fox executives became nervous and believed this would cause the ruination of any films I would appear in and also the end of my movie career.

“Of course they were wrong. The fans, my public, cheered when I admitted it was me, and that calendar and that Playboy first-issue publicity helped my career.”

She would later say she was paid a $50 modelling fee when she signed the contract, which took away any rights she had to the snaps.

Maybe Hefner spent the $75,000 for a crypt beside hers as an ode to his maker?

However, many were aghast when they found out that the Playboy Mansion owner would be buried next to the actress and believed that he was exploiting her, even in death.

Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36 of a drug overdose (Mel Bouzad/Getty Images)

Hefner died in 2017 at the age of 91 and spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2009 about his choice to rest next to Monroe for eternity.

He said: “I’m a believer in things symbolic. Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.”

But many people were livid.

Monroe impersonator Suzie Kennedy spoke to The Mirror about her feelings.

She said: “It is so bittersweet for me this whole Playboy thing. I will tell you why because Marilyn Monroe was never ashamed of her body which I love.

“I love that she was never ashamed of her sexuality and she was never ashamed when they tried to shame her about those nude pictures. But what makes me sad is that it made Playboy and it made Hugh Hefner and he never paid her.

“He never even met her or gave her the grace… and on top of that he is buried next to her and it is like he benefited from her liberation. She was never ashamed of what she did – so it is bittersweet for me.

“Women should not be ashamed of anything they have done in their lives or of their bodies but it is sad that a man had to capitalise from it and make money from it.”