Kendra Wilkinson Getty Photographs (2)
Former Playboy mannequin and actuality star Kendra Wilkinson isn’t any stranger to the general public eye.
The 39-year-old first turned heads in 2004, when she attended late Playboy writer Hugh Hefner’s 78th celebration. Shortly after the occasion, she was requested to maneuver into the enduring Playboy mansion and began courting Hefner.
“Hef requested me to be considered one of his girlfriends, and reside within the mansion and I used to be like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m right here!’” the California native recalled on I’m a Movie star, Get Me Out of Right here! in 2014. “I used to be residing on this small-ass residence with this ugly-ass bitch. I used to be praying for something to get me out of there. … I moved in and weeks glided by and I didn’t know that intercourse was concerned. I knew nothing about Playboy, I’d simply graduated highschool.”
Wilkinson’s relationship with Hefner — alongside along with his simultaneous relationships with former Playboy fashions Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt — was documented within the hit E! Actuality collection The Women Subsequent Door. The fact collection premiered in August 2005 and ran for 5 seasons. All three of their romantic relationships resulted in 2008.
Since then, Wilkinson has appeared on a number of tv reveals, together with Entourage, How I Met Your Mom and Scary Film 4. She has additionally authored two books and starred in her personal actuality tv present, Kendra on Prime, which documented her relationship with former NFL extensive receiver Hank Baskett. (The pair married in 2009 and welcomed two kids earlier than divorcing in 2018.)
In 2025, Wilkinson made headlines after fiercely defending her weight, telling naysayers she’s “not that lady I used to be earlier than.”
“Sure, I’ve gained weight. Sure, I’m ageing,” Wilkinson wrote through Instagram on January 12. “Sure, I’m not that lady I used to be earlier than (playboy lady) however for as soon as in a very long time I really feel good and mentally wholesome.”
Learn on for a few of Wilkinson’s most memorable moments all through the years, from Playboy playmate to devoted mum or dad:
2004
Wilkinson, who was born and raised in San Diego, California, attended Hefner’s 78th celebration as a full physique paint mannequin after the late Playboy founder got here throughout an image of Wilkinson.
“I used to be carrying nothing. I used to be carrying a few rhinestones – it was the craziest factor,” Wilkinson mentioned throughout a earlier interview with E!. “We needed to glue this stuff one after the other onto my physique. That’s once I first met Hef. I assume I caught his eye — I’m positive the rhinestones, I imply, you couldn’t miss me. That’s the evening that modified the remainder of my life.”
Wilkinson went on to clarify that Hefner requested her to be his girlfriend earlier than the pair truly met in particular person.
“He requested me to be [his] girlfriend earlier than assembly me,” she added. “An image was despatched to the Playboy Mansion for me to be employed as a body-painted lady to work on the celebration. For some cause, he gave me this sense of consolation. I used to be simply watching him and I used to be like, ‘He’s a great man.’”
2005
Wilkinson and her polyamorous relationship with Hefner — which additionally included Madison and Marquardt — was documented within the hit actuality tv present The Women Subsequent Door. The E! collection debuted in August 2005 and ran for 5 seasons, primarily following Madison, Marquardt and Wilkinson as they navigated the wild ups and downs of life on the Playboy Mansion.
“On the finish of the day, it’s a really awkward state of affairs ‘trigger it’s not like we’re The Spice Women,” Wilkinson mentioned on Fox 5’s Good Day New York in 2015 and of her relationship along with her fellow costars. “We dated an 80-year-old man on the identical time. It’s very awkward.”
That very same 12 months, Wilkinson appeared in an episode of Entourage, titled “Aquamansion.” Within the scene, Wilkinson performed a playmate.
2008
By 2008, all three former Playboy fashions had ended their respective relationships with Hefner. Throughout the remaining season of the truth present The Women Subsequent Door, new girlfriends Crystal Hefner (née Harris) and twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon had joined the present.
2009
Wilkinson makes a short cameo on an episode of How I Met Your Mom, titled “Advantages.” Within the scene, Wilkinson seems on the quilt of {a magazine} held by Marshall (Jason Segel), who struggles to make use of the toilet at work.
That very same 12 months, Wilkinson married former NFL participant Hank Baskett. The pair tied the knot on the Playboy Mansion, with Hefner in attendance, and later welcomed their son, Hank Baskett IV.
“We’ve already determined to call our son Hank Baskett IV,” Wilkinson wrote on her now defunct weblog months earlier than welcoming her son to the world. “Hank’s dad and his grandfather had been each named Hank, so it was essential to us to hold on the household custom.
2010
Wilkinson debuted her memoir, Sliding Into House, which revealed each the highs and lows of her journey from the Playboy mansion to stay-at-home mother.
2011
Wilkinson appeared as a visitor contestant on Season 12 of Dancing With the Stars alongside skilled dancing accomplice Louis Van Amstel. The mannequin was in the end eradicated within the seventh week of competitors on Could 3.
That very same 12 months, Wilkinson launched her second e book, Being Kendra: Cribs, Cocktails, and Getting My Attractive Again. The so-called “tell-all” memoir detailed her journey as a mother making an attempt to maintain a long-distance relationship whereas fulfilling the calls for of her tv profession.
2012
Wilkinson’s actuality tv present, Kendra on Prime, debuted on We TV, which adopted the lives of her at-the-time household of three. The present ran from 2012 to 2017.
2014
The pair welcomed their child lady Alijay Mary in Could.
“I’ve been dreaming about little Hank holding his little sister for therefore lengthy,” Wilkinson instructed Individuals shortly after giving beginning. “Little Hank had an enormous smile and he now is aware of he actually is an enormous brother.”
Wilkinson and her ex husband later made headlines after rumors surfaced that he had been untrue whereas Wilkinson was eight months pregnant with their daughter.
“I tousled,” Baskett mentioned a 12 months later in an interview with Individuals. “I put myself in a foul state of affairs. And all the things by me introduced ache upon this household. I didn’t have interaction in something … It was like a financial institution theft. You by no means know if you’ll freeze. I don’t know if it was a few seconds or 15 seconds, as a result of all I used to be saying was, ‘Get out, get out, get out.’”
2018
Wilkinson formally filed for divorce from the previous NFL participant, citing irreconcilable variations and itemizing the date of separation as January 1, 2018. The pair requested joint authorized bodily custody of their two kids.
2019
Wilkinson and Baskett’s divorce was finalized.
“I went by a divorce, misplaced all the things I knew, which was my TV present. I had a TV present yearly till my divorce,” Wilkinson mentioned throughout an August 22 look on the “On Show with Melissa Gorga” podcast. “Then my divorce occurred and hastily, now I’m left with no marriage, I’m left with no present, I needed to transfer into a bit home — I didn’t perceive what was occurring and hastily I needed to do some intense therapeutic.”
2021
Wilkinson returned to actuality tv with a brand new present, Kendra Sells Hollywood.
“The beginning of my present and the beginning of filming was [also’ the start of my new … journey,” the star exclusively told Us Weekly on November 9 while promoting her show. “Everything just started all at once, including the decision to start dating. It just kinda happened.”
She continued, “I wanted to do some therapeutic. When these cameras turned on — and I used to be prepared to start out my new profession — all my confidence simply got here again . I don’t know what occurred. It wasn’t ego. It was confidence.”
The present aired for 2 seasons.
2023
Wilkinson made headlines in September when she skilled a panic assault that despatched her to the hospital, Us confirmed on the time. In November that very same 12 months, Wilkinson shared through Instagram that she had “completed remedy for my melancholy and anxiousness.”
2025
Wilkinson had various phrases to say to naysayers on-line who had disparaged the previous Playboy mannequin’s weight.
“For these of you hating on my new weight, 40 yr outdated face please know that I’m pleased, wholesome, and at a peace in life lastly,” she wrote through Instagram in January. “Depart me alone and respect that I’m the place I truly wish to be lastly all collectively.”
