Hugh Hefner’s Heartbreak Over Fake ‘Son’

Hugh Hefner has left his troubled Playboy empire to be run by his son Cooper — after the deceased girlie-mag founder took in a "son" that turned out to be a fraud!

Hefner made headlines when he announced that 26-year-old Mark Wilson was moving into the Playboy Mansion in Oct. 1983 — with the proud businessman declaring that he'd discovered his long-lost son. “Never in my entire life had I been approached by a stranger claiming to be my child,” said Hefner, who didn't question Mark's claim that he was the result of an affair that his mother had with the Playboy founder in the 1950s.

Newspapers reported the touching tale of how Mark had contacted a secretary at Playboy Enterprises, and was embraced by Hef after he learned the identity of Mark's mother. Hef said he was separated from his first wife and just launching Playboy when he had the affair with Mark's mom, with both father and "son" protecting the woman's privacy.

But The National ENQUIRER had the scoop when Mark abruptly disappeared from the mansion in 1984 — reportedly after Hef's daughter Christie Hefner insisted on a blood test. The first tests showed that Mark wasn't really Hef's son, and so did four more attempts! "Hefner is devastated," a Playboy source revealed at the time. "He really loved Mark, and now he's so embarrassed that he feels like crawling under a table."

"Hef remembered his mother," added the insider. "She was a knockout who looked like Marilyn Monroe. He contacted her and she confirmed Mark's story. Within an hour of their first meeting, Mark and Hefner were laughing with tears of happiness in their eyes over this 'miracle.' And soon after, Hefner was introducing him to everyone as 'my son.'"

Even after the shocking test results, Hefner waited another month before telling staffers: "Mark Wilson is not welcome here anymore." Hefner's personal secretary, Lisa Loving, confirmed that "Mark Wilson is no longer welcome at the mansion." And longtime employees said that Mark was wiped from Playboy history.

"It was a double tragedy," said a veteran Playboy employee, "because Mark might have really believed that he was Hef's son. He was a talented young man, too, but just disappeared — and no one ever dared to ask about Mark again!"