Barbi Benton

I think everyone should be creative in some way, otherwise you have no self-respect. That's why I believe in women working.

I buy unknown, lower-name brand jeans. I don't care about the name brands, if I look good in the jeans I don't care who made them.

I like low-cut clothing because I am a believer that one should emphasize their best points.

I do two things every single day - I go running and then I do weight lifting.

I like nice things. I've always had nice things.

I would never fall in love with a ditch-digger.

I love clothes and jewelry. I'm the fashion lady type.

Let's face it, sightseeing can be a bore at times.

There are some things I like that Hef likes, too. For example, Colonel Sanders' chicken is a standby. I've never been able to figure out how to recreate the combination of herbs they use to flavor the crust.

Hef is boring to cook for. He likes a total of four main dishes: fried chicken, pot roast, pork roast and pork chop sandwich!

You can't let fashion tell you what to do. If it doesn't look good on you you're better off without it.

I'd like to be known as something more than a girl who goes to lunch with her girl friends and goes shopping.

I like to perform in front of an audience.

My singing teacher said it would take three years before I could sing well enough to be accepted as a professional. They were wrong. It took me five years.

Most of all, I want to be known as Barbi Benton, the singer, not as Hugh Hefner's girlfriend.

My young face keeps me in the running for youthful roles. If my face is going to look 22 then so should my body.

At 35 women are at the bottom level of middle age but we can look like we are absolutely in our prime. Even if you're badly out of shape, you can put yourself in good shape in two years, maximum.

I look at the feminine body as a piece of art.

It's not that I don't have talent. I've had four gold albums in Scandinavia and they never heard of me as anything but a singer.

When I first met Hef, I was a co-ed at UCLA.

People automatically assume that if I get anywhere it's because of my association with X, Y or Z, or because I'm pretty.

The best thing is one hour of aerobics and one hour of anaerobics.

If you're 19 and you don't look good, it's nature's fault. If you're 35 and you don't look good, it's your own fault.

I made quite a lot of money in commercials and I decided when I got out of school to take singing lessons so I could get into singing commercials, too.

When I first came to Southern California I enrolled at UCLA in pre-med. My fathers a doctor. But the sight of blood turns me off, so I began doing television commercials.

I take every lesson in the book: singing, acting, guitar, piano, jazz, organ and tap-dancing.

My real name is Barbara Klein and I'm from Sacramento.

I think Jane Fonda is to be admired for her stands.

People, whatever their profession is, have a right to fight for the right causes.

I'm no libber. I like it when a man looks at me and treats me like a woman. I do think though, that women should get equal pay to a man doing the same thing.

One never knows when the angels are coming to get you, but everybody has to go.

I want to get past the Playboy image and really develop myself as an actress, a dancer and a singer.

When I first started to sing, people automatically asked what Barbi Benton was doing behind a microphone, and I'm determined to show them there is talent here.

I'm looking for personal credibility as an entertainer.

The 'Playboy' affiliation will probably stick for the rest of my life to some extent.

In 'Sugar' I'll be singing in every episode and I'll be acting and doing comedy. It's ideal for me if it works.

I want to keep my roots in Hollywood.

Joining 'Hee Haw' was one of of the best moves I ever made. Until then I had no television exposure except the talk shows.

I'm not really the star of 'Sugar.' I'm co-starring with two other girls, Marianne Black and Didi Carr. We play roommates in the series and we sing together professionally.

I was also dating someone from UCLA and also I had another suitor, Jimmy Caan. So it was between my college boyfriend, Jimmy Caan and Hef. And Hef won. Within a few months, we were exclusive.

It took me five years to learn how to sing.

Nobody thought I could do anything with a singing career... except my singing teachers, who were accustomed to hearing voices that could be transformed into something.

People are surprised that I can walk and talk.

But I'd like to be taken seriously as a singer.

I know that part of my success on stage is due to the fact that I've kept myself together.

Circus lions are mean. They don't know anything about affection training.

Hef was very protective of the women who went to the Mansion.

When we first dated, I would not go home with Hef, so the only way that he could see me was by taking me out. We went out quite a bit.

Anybody that was famous found their way to the Playboy Mansion. It was exciting for me. But I didn't know half of them!

People recognized us together and our names were synonymous. Whenever you heard Barbi Benton, you think of Hugh Hefner. And I loved that. I was his girlfriend and he was my boyfriend.