Who Is Kendra Wilkinson? Hugh Hefner's Former Girlfriend Responds To His Death

One of Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriends and star of the reality TV show "The Girls Next Door" spoke about his death and the impact he had on her life. Hefner died at the age of 91 from natural causes Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett met Hugh Hefner at his 78th birthday party in 2004, when she was hired to be one of his “painted girls”— women who appear in the nude except for painted-on accessories. After they met, he asked Wilkinson to be one of his girlfriends and she shortly moved into Playboy Mansion with her two dogs.

"I was like, 'Hell yeah, I’m here!' I was living in this small a-- apartment with this ugly a-- b----,” she said in 2014 on the television program 'I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'

“I was praying for anything to get me out of there. I moved in. I knew nothing about Playboy, I’d just graduated high school.”

Wilkinson appeared on the E! reality television show "The Girls Next Door." It documented Hefner’s life with his then-girlfriends: Wilkinson, Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. Although Madison published a book airing her grievances about her time with Hefner, Wilkinson remained close with him even after moving out of Playboy Mansion in 2009.

"Hef changed my life. He made me the person I am today," Wilkinson told E! News after Hefner’s death Wednesday. "I couldn’t be more thankful for our friendship and our time together. I will miss him so much but he will be in my heart forever."

Wilkinson moved out of the Playboy Mansion in 2009 after meeting her future husband Hank Baskett, then a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles. The two married at the Playboy Mansion in 2009. After she met Baskett, she filmed a reality television show for E!, "Kendra."

Baskett and Wilkinson have two children together. In 2014, Baskett allegedly had an affair with a model while Wilkinson was eight months pregnant.

Wilkinson has made cameos on television shows such as "Las Vegas" and "Entourage." Along with Madison and Marquardt, Wilkinson had a cameo in the 2006 film "Scary Movie 4." All three also appeared in Nickelback’s 2007 music video "Superstar." After "Kendra" was not renewed for a fourth season, WE tv offered Wilkinson and her family a new reality television show deal, "Kendra on Top," which began airing in June 2012 and has been renewed for a sixth season.

Wilkinson and Hefner regularly saw each other even after she moved out of Playboy Mansion and married. She previously spoke about the possibility of his death.

"I worry every day you know he’s at that age and I’m not gonna lie every day I open up my social media I pray that I don’t see what we think might happen. He honestly is my family," she told E! News in 2016. "The day that comes will be devastating to me and my family."