Hugh Hefner Has Earned A Ridiculous Amount Of Money Since His Death
In the year since his death, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has earned $15 million, according to Forbes who have published their list of the highest-paid dead celebrities of 2018.
The controversial 91-year-old died last September at The Playboy Mansion. During his lifetime, he founded and built up the Playboy empire including the famous magazine - which was first published ahead of the sexual revolution in 1953 - the famous California mansion, bunny outfits, clubs, merchandise and more.
When he died, his net worth was estimated to be in the $45 million (£35m) region, but in the year since his death he's actually acquired even more wealth and is ranked as the seventh highest paid late celebrity of 2018.
The money magazine say the dressing-gown wearing media mogul earned around millions over the past year after the heirs to his fortune sold the remaining portion of his estate for an estimated $35 million.
If you're wondering which other celebrities have been earning some serious money from beyond the grave, here's the rest of Forbes' list:
1| Michael Jackson - The King of Pop, who passed away in 2009, earned $400 million over the last year alone, $287m of that came from the sale of his estate's sake in EMI Music Publishing to Sony.
2| Elvis Presley - He might have died in 1977 but The King brought in $40 million in 2018 because he still manages to sell more than one million albums every year plus his Graceland estate is a ticketed tourist hotspot.
3| Arnold Palmer - The professional golfer who died in 2016 from heart disease has made $35 million over the past year, but no not from golfing merchandise, but a new addition to his eponymous beverage line.
4| Charles Schulz - The cartoonist behind Charlie Brown and Snoopy died 18 years ago but brought in $34 million to his estate this year after the 80% of the Peanuts business was sold to DHX Media for $345million.
5| Bob Marley - The Reggae maestro, who died in 1981 from cancer, has earned $23 million over the past year mainly due to merchandise bearing his name including headphones and Marley Natural cannabis products.
6| Dr Seuss - The celebrated novelist earned $16 million purely because people still love to read his books. The Good Doctor sold 4.8 million copies last year.
7| Hugh Hefner
8| Marilyn Monroe - The highest earning dead female celebrity on the list is Monroe, who passed away in 1962 from an overdose. She is back on the list this year having earned $14 million because her iconic image is still so popular. A new licensing deal this year was made with Montblanc pens.
9| Prince - The 57-year-old's death shocked fans across the world in 2016. He earned $13 million over the past year largely due to the eternal popularity of his music. A quarter of a million physical albums of the the "Purple Rain" singer's were sold last year.
10| John Lennon - The Beatle earned $12 million last year also thanks to his everlasting music. He continues to sell almost two million albums per year, according to Forbes.
11| XXXTentacion -The rapper has amassed up to four billion streams since his death in June, 2018, leading him to earn $11 million.
12| Muhammad Ali - The legendary boxer earned $8 million over the past year partly due to the Tag Heuer line of watches bearing his name.
13| Bettie Page - The OG pin-up girl, who died in 2008 aged 85 from natural causes, continues to earn money from her trademarked image. Over the last year she accrued $7 million from her image on clothing, shoes, handbags, lingerie, wigs and a fitness DVD, say Forbes.
This story originally appeared on Esquire.co.uk.
* Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
