I continue to feel a wave of sympathy for Kendra Wilkinson. Just a few weeks after she gave birth to her second child, a baby girl, with husband Hank Baskett, Kendra learned that Hank had been fooling around on her while she was pregnant. Hank had apparently been paying for some kind of physical affair with a trans model (who is now selling her story all over the place). Kendra’s camp is leaking to various media outlets, mostly Us Weekly. Last week, Us Weekly had stories about Kendra flushing her ring down the toilet and punching walls she was so angry. And now Us Weekly put Kendra’s struggles on this week’s cover.
Kendra Wilkinson may not be the Girl Next Door anymore, but she’ll always have a friend in ex-love Hugh Hefner. As revealed exclusively in the new issue of Us Weekly, the Playboy mogul has reached out to offer his support to Wilkinson, 29, amid the recent drama with her husband, Hank Baskett.
Hefner, 88, has phoned the San Diego native several times since news of Baskett’s alleged affair with transgender model Ava Sabrina London broke in June, a source tells Us.
“He told her to come to the Playboy Mansion any time,” the insider says of the businessman, who dated Wilkinson for four years until 2008. “He’s been supportive and hates that Kendra is going through this.”
“This,” of course, refers to the model’s marital strife with Baskett in the wake of reports that the former NFL pro, 31, cheated on his wife of four years while she was eight months pregnant with their second child, daughter Alijah, 7 weeks. (The couple also have a 4-year-old son, Hank IV.)
Though she initially laughed off the allegations, Wilkinson grew suspicious when Baskett didn’t rush to publicly clear his name. An odd charge on his bank statement fanned her fears of infidelity. She’s “still in shock,” a source previously told Us.
For much more on Kendra’s heartbreak — including how the scandal has affected her relationship with mother, and whether the drama will be covered on her show, Kendra on Top — pick up the new issue of Us Weekly.
This is what bugs me: “and whether the drama will be covered on her show, Kendra on Top…” UGH. I mean, chica’s got to make a living and I know a lot of people actually liked Kendra’s other reality shows (I’m guilty of watching The Girls Next Door back in the day, although my favorite was Holly). But this does feel like a scandal tailor-made for reality television. Now I don’t know which way to go – should I hope that this scandal is just a plot line on the reality show (if so, that’s gross) or should I hope that Hank really cheated on Kendra and she’s truly devastated and simply making lemonade with life’s lemons? Ugh.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Us Weekly.
It sucks to be cheated on-period. I sincerely hope that she will not go full Kardashian and put this on her show…but I’m not holding my breath for that. Homegirl is a reality-tv person, after all. It’s all so nasty.
There really is some legitimate question about whether any of this was really a shock to her. Based on her own statements over the years, they very well may have an “open marriage”. They’ve talked in those terms on camera although she gave an obligatory denial in an interview. She also has repeatedly said over the years that she shouldn’t be married, I think the reference is to her preference for acting single (which she pretty much does). The story given by the model doesn’t suggest an affair but rather some curiosity (she is a trans woman who decided to keep her penis intact). Kendra might only be angry about the publicity, and possibly that he didn’t share the experience.
So the idea that this is just a plotline for a show is not far-fetched at all. I actually always liked Kendra, but she doesn’t seem to know how to do much and has had a twisted life, so I can believe this is possible. I’m a little more surprised about Hank, but he’s a mediocre athlete and may be more dependent on the show income than I had realized. They seem to spend money as fast as it comes in. I think he genuinely loved Kendra (he didn’t want her to continue posing for porn once they married), but she doesn’t exactly act like a “for better or for worse” type of person. She’s bundled up the kid and waltzed away from him before when she was bored with where he was working (what is this dislike these LA types have for the Midwest?!? They seem to thinking living here is grounds for divorce). There’s something so junior high about her thinking.
I live in the Midwest and think it is awesome. I have traveled the US and see how the other coast lives and to each it’s own. What tics me off is people thinking we are flyover country with nothing to offer. Ugh.
I live on the west coast and love it but I would happily visit any state, they all have a lot to offer.
Ultimately for me it comes down to this: she didn’t do the cheating and the show is hers. If she’s mad and wants to show it on the platform she has built for herself then I’m not going to begrudge her that. It’s a rotten situation and if her silver lining is to spin it and make some money to support herself with then she has every right. I hope she keeps it somewhat civil, for the sake of the kids that will one day be able to see it all, but she has never been one to censor herself.
The Girls Next Door was VERY tame compared to the reality shows of today. I will never understand the “need” to put every aspect of your life out for the public to witness. That said, it is too sad what she is going through, but I imagine she’ll recover and he’ll end up paying a HUGE chunk of change in child support and other financial settlements to her for years to come.
I loved that show before the new girls came on. Holly, Bridget, and Kendra had such distinct personalities which made it entertaining to watch. I don’t even know the names of the new girls. Hugh Hefner is an interesting person. He gives off the vibe of a gentleman but he’s still like this huge player.
Oh puhhhleeeeze. To make the “girls next door” seem “tame” was an aberration. What the “girls” didn’t show is the mass orgies where their father/lover Hugh wears -no condom- and takes viagra while young blonde girls sit and spit. Bleeeech. Plus the house smells like a kennel because many of these prisoner bunnies have loneliness animal companions who deficate and pee throughout the mansion. What a sad, diseased life that is anything but cute or funny.
Kendra was a victim of child hood sexual abuse and feels that the whole mansion experience was an extension of this. Hugh Hef is delusional when he claims he is part of of the sexual liberation movement- it’s a step backwards in the esteem of women. I don’t want to be anyone’s little bunny. Scary!
His income may be significantly less than hers by now so the money to be shelled out will be hers. Since he was actually the main caregiver for the kids, I’m not sure how exactly she’ll manage with them on her own. If this situation is real (which is doubtful) and she seriously goes for divorce, she is likely to have quite a custody battle on her hands. Have you seen her shows? She doesn’t do well taking care of herself, much less two kids (which may be at least partly due to her tendency toward postpartum depression, but also she never learned how). More likely they will just play out the storyline for the cameras, however, with a dramatic reconciliation. Her awful mother smells money in the air and will probably be pushing for divorce, thinking a quick payoff will happen, but I doubt their finances support that idea.
I’m glad HH is supporting her, but their relationship–which has always seemed like something along the lines of “father-daughter with benefits”–just plain creeps me out.
see my post above. Ugh.
I agree with your post above. I hadn’t thought about it in those direct terms before.
Please not another Tori & Dean scenario where her heartbreak is documented for the world to see. Pass.
I feel bad for her, but seriously, when exactly did we get so tacky? Nothing is private, nothing is too vulgar or disgusting to be aired on TV – when did this happen?
When MTV no longer was a music channel and started making celebrities out of morons and when E! started their forray into reality shows. We now get to pay a hefty cable bill every month to have nonsense to choose from. It was better back in the day when you had about a dozen channels, there was always something good to watch, and it was free.
I didn’t have cable for years because of modern schlock. Why actually -pay- to see the myriad versions of the (fake) real world started by MTV? When the really fakebodyparts house wives became an every channel thing right after the kartrashians, I called to have cable cancelled. HOwever, I installed it again because my small sons begged to watch every moment of the Olympics. Come to think of it, I haven’t’ watched television since Sochi. How can I watch the Olympics time and avoid paying for more craptastic cable?
When they figured out reality TV was much cheaper to produce than scripted dramas and sitcoms. Notice how all the soap operas have died out, replaced by reality TV drama.
Really? Right after Tori Spelling did the same thing? It’s not a smart move, but I just hope she won’t get back with Hugh creep Hefner.
Oh my i was watching The Girls Next Door too and the girls came across as nice and harmless. That was a very “clean” reality show… that´s funny because it was about Playboy bunnies 😉
I wish Kendra and her beautiful children all the best
I think she’s trying to make lemonade with everything going on in terms of her show. Sucks that her husband did cheated.
I am calling shenanigans.