LOS ANGELES -- The 26-year-old man who Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner publicly accepted as his illegitimate son is not related to the magazine founder after all, Playboy officials say.

In November, Hefner introduced Mark Wilson to the news media as his son by a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship but never married.


Wilson had given Hefner documents and a letter from his mother that helped convince the publisher that Wilson was his son.

A Playboy spokesman said no hoax was involved in the mistaken identity.

'The young man believed what his mother told him. Everything was on the up and up,' Don Rogers, Playboy's West Coast director of publicity, told UPI.

'Hef is still friendly with Mark even though they are not father and son. He is disappointed and saddened for everybody involved.'

A few months after Hefner announced his recognition of Wilson as his son, a routine blood test was taken and the results showed the two men are not related.

Hefner has two legitimate children by his ex-wife, who now works in the personnel department of Playboy's Chicago offices.

Daughter, Christie, is president of Playboy Enterprises, and son, David, is an independent film computer graphics specialist.