Jenny McCarthy owes her career to Playboy.
And on Wednesday as news broke of the death of Hugh Hefner, the actress and TV personality paid tribute to the media mogul as she tweeted a picture of one of her Playboy covers.
‘RIP #Hef Thank you for being a revolutionary and changing so many people’s lives, especially mine,’ McCarthy, 44, wrote. ‘I hope I made you proud.’
She first posed for Playboy in 1003 and as subsequently named Playmate Of The Year after which she moved to Los Angeles and launched her career.
Sad: Jenny McCarthy posed for Playboy in 1993 and it launched her Hollywood career. She paid tribute to Hugh Hefner on Twitter on Wednesday following news of his death
Hefner’s son Cooper announced his father’s death via Twitter Wednesday night.
He said his famous dad had passed away of natural causes at the Playboy Mansion in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of West Los Angeles.
He is survived by his wife, Crystal, and four adult children: Christie, who served as CEO of Playboy Enterprise for more than 20 years, David, Marston, and Cooper, who currently serves as Chief Creative Officer at the company.
A string of Hollywood celebrities, some of whom posed for Playboy during their careers, took to social media to mourn Hefner’s passing.
Nancy Sinatra wrote: ‘One of the nicest men I’ve ever know. Godspeed, Hugh Hefner.’
Friends: Nancy Sinatra shared a snap of herself hugging Hefner and called him ‘pne of the nicest men I’ve ever known’
Former Go-Go’s siger Belinda Carlisle who posed for Playboy said she was ‘lucky to have met’ Hefner and to have worked with him
Hotel heiress Paris Hilton shared this snap of herself in a pink Bunny suit cuddling up to the media mogul in the back of a limousine as she paid tribute to the 91-year-old
Paris Hilton shared a pic of herself in a pink Bunny outfit cuddling up to Hef in the back of a car.
The hotel heiress described him as a ‘legend, innovator and one of a kind.’
‘We had so many fun and incredible memories together. I will miss him dearly, she wrote.
Donna D’Errico, who like her Baywatch co-star Pamela Anderson got her big break thanks to Hefner, also had kind words and gratitude for the late icon.
‘Hugh Hefner put me in Playboy & ignited my career. I am forever indebted, Hef. You will forever live on as an icon of epic proportions,’ she tweeted.
Donna D’Errico also said she owed her career to the Playboy founder and said she would be forever in his debt
D’Errico, pictured last month in New York, got her big break posing for PLayboy as did her Baywatch co-star Pamela Anderson
Kim Kardashian got in on the action by saying she was honored to have been part of the Playboy world
The reality star was on the cover of the magazine in 2007
The Hills alum Heidi Montag sent love and prayers to Hefner’s widow Crystal