Sliding
into Home
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This work is a memoir. It reflects the author’s present recollection of her experiences over a period of years. Certain names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed. Dialogue and events have been recreated from memory, and, in some cases, have been compressed to convey the substance of what was said or what occurred. Some scenes are composites of events, and the time line for some events has been compressed.
Copyright © 2010 by Kendra Wilkinson
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book
or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2010
GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.
For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com
Designed by Jaime Putorti
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilkinson, Kendra.
Sliding into home : a memoir / by Kendra Wilkinson ; with Jon Warech.
p. cm.
1. Wilkinson, Kendra. 2. Television personalities—United States—Biography.
3. Models (Persons)—United States—Biography. I. Warech, Jon. II. Title.
PN1992.4.W547A3 2010
791.450’28092—dc22
[B] 2010017539
ISBN 978-1-4391-8091-4
ISBN 978-1-4391-8093-8 (ebook)
To my son, Hank IV,
who marks the beginning of a
wonderful new chapter in my life.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 A Tale of Two Kendras
Chapter 2 No Room for Daddy
Chapter 3 A Friend in Need
Chapter 4 A Perfect Misfit
Chapter 5 Summer Druggin’
Chapter 6 Not-so-Fresh Feeling
Chapter 7 Hitting Bottom
Chapter 8 All Work and No Play
Chapter 9 Working Hard for the Money
Chapter 10 Adventure in Wonderland
Chapter 11 Fresh Princess of Bel Air
Chapter 12 Party Hopping with Bunnies
Chapter 13 Playing the Role of Kendra Wilkinson
Chapter 14 Going Home a Star
Chapter 15 Breakout Star
Chapter 16 When Kendra Met Hank
Chapter 17 No Flash-in-the-Pan Relationship
Chapter 18 The Secret to Love
Chapter 19 On My Own Now
Chapter 20 A Biscuit in Mrs. Baskett
Chapter 21 The Adventure Continues
Acknowledgments
Introduction
When you star in a reality show, the entire world thinks they know you. Fans see you as the girl next door, tabloid editors see you as a story line, and paparazzi see you as a target. At the end of the day, they are all wrong.
Yes, I’m on TV, and yes, that makes me a celebrity, but I wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and see Kendra, a regular girl from humble beginnings who nowadays gets to do some pretty amazing shit. The girl you saw on The Girls Next Door and Kendra is only part of who I am. I really am a fun girl who likes to party, and I will kick some ass on a soccer or softball field, but I’m also a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, and so many other things to many different people.
Ultimately, I’m a real chick with real emotions, real concerns, and a growing sense of responsibility.
The crazy thing about television is that you are rarely allowed to grow. You are molded into a character based on some of your strongest traits and you are forced to stay that way for your entire television life. I was nineteen when The Girls Next Door started. All I cared about was having fun. If I’d written this book back then, it would be 250 pages about which tequila tastes better (Patrón) and when it’s all right to flash your boobs (always).
In the past year and a half, my life has completely changed. I moved out of the Playboy Mansion, got married, and gave birth to my baby boy, Hank Jr. The way I look at life and fill my days now is as far from that nineteen-year-old as you can possibly imagine. I set a dinner table every night instead of dancing on one at a club. I wake up at five A.M. instead of passing out at that hour after a long night of partying. And if I’m whipping out a boob, it’s probably because Hank Jr. is hungry.
But I wouldn’t be the Kendra I am today without the life experiences I’ve had and, more important, the people who have been in my life throughout this entire journey.
Through all the good and bad, my mom has stuck by me. She didn’t pick me up every time I fell; she let me get up on my own and learn from my mistakes, but was always there when I needed her. Hugh Hefner was the same way. He’s the kindest, most thoughtful man on the planet, and he saw strength in me that I didn’t even know existed. He let me fail and succeed on my own because he believed in me more than I believed in myself at the time. Holly and Bridget—there was probably a time when they wanted me to fail, but we all became good friends and learned to not judge a book by its cover. And Hank, well, he gave me his heart. True love changes a person. One day you care only about yourself, and then, before you know it, you are putting someone else first all the time.
It’s because of them that I’m not the one-dimensional character you see on TV. Behind the laugh you hear on television, there is a girl who has been through some intense shit—stuff I’m proud of and stuff I’m not so proud of. But my life experiences shaped my personality and because of that experience I know I’ll be a great mom. I needed to fail and succeed, to have loved and lost, and even to have shaken my ass on a dance floor to become a well-rounded, confident mother who won’t freak out every time Hank Jr. starts to cry.
Without those experiences and the people who were along for the ride, who the hell knows where I’d be? I was always on the move as a kid, always getting into trouble, and I never had a clue where I would end up. My life was crazy, and it only got more insane when I packed up and moved into the Playboy Mansion. I was a wild child who could never sit still.
To this day, I still am all over the place. I moved from the Mansion to a condo in the Valley to Philadelphia to Indianapolis and back to L.A., all in the past year. I don’t know where life will take me—I’ve always been a free spirit in that way—but I do know that with Hank and Hank Jr. by my side it doesn’t matter where we live. As long as the three of us are together I will always feel like our house is a home . . . and that’s the best feeling in the world.
CHAPTER 1
A Tale of Two Kendras
“So you’ll be naked?”
“Well, I’ll be painted,” I corrected Zack, my live-in boyfriend.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it will be fine.”
I wasn’t sure spending an evening as a painted girl at Hugh Hefner’s seventy-eighth birthday party would actually be fine, but I was hoping it would turn out to be. At the very least, I would make a couple hundred dollars, meet some cool people, and get a chance to check out the Playbo
y Mansion. How could I turn that down?
And besides, it was Zack who had initiated the whole thing. He’d taken me to the car show where a photographer had said he wanted to set up a photo shoot with me, and at the time Zack was all for it. So it seemed totally logical that when the photographer posted the photos on One Model Place—a sort of MySpace for models—if any work came from it, Zack would support me.
Well, the photographer posted the photos, and that same day a guy named Mark called from Playboy and asked about me.
The truth is, I wasn’t exactly sure what the Playboy Mansion was—or who Hugh Hefner was, for that matter. I knew about the bunny; I had an uncle who worked at the Playboy Club in Atlantic City, and he would send my brother and me T-shirts and sweatshirts with the bunny on them when we were kids. I’d wear them to school and all the kids would tease me and say Playboy was gross, but I thought it was cool.
Beyond that, I didn’t know much about Playboy. But I knew enough to know that getting a phone call from someone who worked there could be the beginning of something big.
Mark’s first call wasn’t guaranteed to lead to anything. He mentioned that he was looking for girls to work at Hef’s upcoming birthday party. I figured Playboy had a lot of models to choose from for the party, and it was a long shot. But a couple of days later Mark called back.
“Mr. Hefner saw a photo of you and wants to call you personally,” he told me. “I gave him your number, so expect a call.”
I was stunned. “What are you talking about? Expect a call? Why?” I was weirded out by the whole thing. Why would he want to call me?
“Listen,” Mark said. “He only likes girls in college, so tell him you go to college.”
I said okay and hung up, confused.
The next day I was in the shower when the phone rang. I hopped out and saw that the call was from a 310 number. That’s L.A. I was eighteen years old and lived in San Diego. Who did I know in L.A.?
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hello, is this Kendra?”
“Who is this?”
“This is Hugh Hefner.”
“Yeah, right,” I said, thinking it was a prank call. “Shut the fuck up.”
It wasn’t a prank.
“I look forward to seeing you at my birthday,” he said. “Also, I’d like you to consider being my girlfriend.”
Still dripping wet from the shower, I stood there in shock. I didn’t know how to respond. After all, I had just told Hugh Hefner to shut the fuck up. That probably wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. I brushed off the girlfriend thing, since I had no idea what that even meant. When I finally collected my thoughts, I told him I would see him at his birthday party.
Just as I was wrapping up the conversation, Zack walked into the bathroom to find out who I was talking to. After I filled him in, he was as shocked as I was, and clearly a little worried.
“I want to drive you up there,” he said protectively.
When the big day arrived, I was kind of nervous. During the car ride Zack questioned me about how I was going to handle being invited to be Hef’s girlfriend, but I didn’t have an answer for him. Even though I googled Hef after we spoke on the phone, I couldn’t really imagine what it might mean to be his girlfriend.
After a two-hour drive, Zack and I arrived at the gates of the Playboy Mansion in Bel Air. We buzzed security, who let us inside, and Zack pulled the car right up to the side entrance of the Mansion.
“Be good,” he said as I opened the car door.
“Whatever,” I mumbled back, barely even paying attention to him.
It was hard to focus once I got a good look at the Mansion. I was amazed at what I saw. Everything was so big and beautiful, and like nothing I had ever seen before. After all, I was a Hollywood virgin. Not that kind of virgin but, you know, still a little naive.
I got out of the car and was immediately escorted to the gym by security. I rushed by other girls and a handful of workers, and once inside the gym, Mark, who was the talent scout and body painter, told me to take off my clothes.
“Where’s Hugh Hefner?” I asked as I stripped down.
“He never comes down here,” Mark told me.
That sucks! I thought. I wanted to meet him and find out what he was all about.
Mark and his wife started painting me and putting rhinestones all over my body. It was all very weird. Then they moved away from my boobs and focused on my hair and makeup. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It was my first time ever having my hair and makeup done professionally, and I thought I looked like a drag queen.
Just as they were finishing making me a naked she-man, Hef—breaking his usual rule of staying out of the painted girls’ room—came inside. He introduced himself and gave me a hug.
My heart was racing. “I’ve never met a celebrity before in my life,” I said. “You are the first. This is the coolest thing.”
It really was.
Hef laughed and we talked a little bit about the night. He told me not to be nervous and invited me to stop by his table. The conversation was short and sweet. He was very charming; he had a powerful way about him, and I liked it.
“I’ll see you upstairs,” he said with a smile before disappearing into the night.
For those few minutes with him I forgot that I looked like a clown. A naked clown. I felt special. After all, the staff probably went through thousands of photos to find about ten painted girls, and out of those ten, Hef singled me out. The man who had created this whole world chose me. That felt really good.
At the party I served Jell-O shots to celebrities like Jack Nicholson, Pauly Shore, Donovan McNabb, Fred Durst, and Brooke Burke. I was starstruck, but I didn’t act like it. I simply went up to Brooke Burke, gave her a Jell-O shot, and politely told her that I loved her. I was cool like that.
The night ended up being a lot of fun. Being practically naked was not a big deal for me, and after a while I forgot that I didn’t like my hair and makeup.
Then Mark came up to me and told me to bring some Jell-O shots to Hef’s table.
“Are you sure?” I asked nervously after glancing at Hef’s table, which was packed with beautiful women.
As I inched my way toward the group, Hef and I locked eyes. I smiled. He was with his girlfriends, including Holly and Bridget—who I didn’t know at the time—and a bunch of Barbie look-alikes, but he kept looking at me. I offered them shots and hung around the table the rest of the night. Maybe I was paranoid, but I thought the girls were giving me dirty looks the whole time, and with my eyes I tried to tell them I ain’t trying to steal your man, but I wasn’t quite sure if the message was received.
The whole evening, Hef and I kept staring at each other. It wasn’t a physical attraction for me, but he was just so cool. The way he acted and the things he said were unlike anything I had seen or heard before.
At the end of the night Hef came up to me, gave me a key, and asked me to stay the night. I couldn’t—mainly because Zack was sitting outside the Mansion in his car, but beyond that, I felt that being there that night was a job, and I wanted to keep it that way. Clock in. Clock out.
I gave him the key back but told him I would see him again soon.
“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked again before I left.
Staring into his eyes, I didn’t see a man four times my age with ten times more girlfriends than most. Even though I hardly knew him yet, I saw a sweet man who made me feel really good about myself—a true gentleman. It was weird but in my heart, I felt like he was someone I could possibly trust.
“So, will you?”
There was only one thing I could say: “Um, okay.”
That night my life changed. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but something just felt right about it. Hef didn’t offer me money or tell me he was going to make me a star. He didn’t say anything, because truthfully that wasn’t the deal. He wasn’t trying to offer me anything other than him (and maybe a pretty cool home).
&n
bsp; I liked what I saw at the Mansion and, more important, I liked what I saw in Hef. He was a good guy with good intentions, and in a short period of time I was able to understand that about him, so I was willing to take a risk and uproot my entire life.
I don’t know if many girls would do that on a whim. Such an offer would scare some girls, and others might look at Hef and see dollar signs and jump at the chance to do whatever he said. I didn’t care about that at all. Looking into Hef’s eyes I knew there was nothing to fear, and mansion or no mansion, I was drawn to him in a way that I had never been drawn to a man before.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about that night felt so right. A new life was definitely beginning, and I was not going to stop it from happening.
As you probably know, I became Hef’s girlfriend, moved into the Mansion full-time, and a year later began filming the hit show The Girls Next Door.
I was labeled the sporty party girl of the bunch, and while I didn’t like being labeled, I certainly had a good time living up to the character the producers wanted me to play.
Life has really worked out for me. Maybe it was luck or maybe fate, but I’m pretty blessed to be in the situation I’m in today.
While the show may have opened the door to a charmed life and eventually helped me discover what I really wanted, the reality is, it didn’t come easy. I wasn’t just sitting around deciding which family business to take over when I got that call from Hef. I didn’t just trade in one perfect life for another. It’s been an uphill battle, and while life is great—almost perfect, even—right now, before I can talk about the best of times, I need to tell you about the worst . . .
Sliding Into Home Page 1
