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    Inside Kendra Wilkinson’s Life Years After The Girls Next Door

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    Watch: Kendra Wilkinson Tearfully Admits to “Struggle” in Real Estate Career After Client Fires Her

    These days, Kendra Wilkinson aspires to help others become the girls (or boys) next door. 

    Nearly two decades after moving out of the 29-room Playboy Mansion—and away from her “heavenly” life with the late Hugh Hefner—The Girls Next Door alum is still quite at home in some of Los Angeles’ most impressive properties, signing with Mauricio Umansky‘s luxury real estate brokerage The Agency. 

    But while the Kendra Sells Hollywood alum’s career has been hopping along since she earned her real estate license in June 2020, there are still plenty of days when she feels others are selling her short. 

    “I’m struggling today guys,” the former Playboy Bunny admitted to her three million followers in a July 26 Instagram Stories post. Having been fired by a client, “It’s hard right now,” added Wilkinson, mom to son Hank IV, 16, and daughter Alijah, 12, with ex-husband Hank Baskett. “I feel I’m doing everything right in my life. I’m raising my kids. I’m putting them first.” 

    photos

    Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett’s Romance Timeline

    There are just days when prospective clients simply aren’t buying what she’s selling. 

    “It’s just such a struggle right now finding people to work with me, getting fired, people being rude and mean,” the 41-year-old detailed. “It’s taking a toll.” 

    Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Empire

    That’s not to say she’s taking herself off the market. 

    In the decade-plus since she was a fixture on Hefner’s arm, she’s enjoyed her share of wins. 

    In fact, if she were to appraise her current life as a working mom, she detailed in a March Instagram selfie, “I’m happier than I’ve ever been lately.”

    Which means, yes, she’s “seen many people comment saying I’ve aged ‘poorly,'” and she’s responding with even more filter-free snaps. “I’m not going to tie my happiness again into the negative energy. I am a balanced, single, positive, fun woman who loves life and i hope that i can manage this feeling forever now after working hard to get here to this place.”

    Though, she’s also a gal on a budget, so when she realized her collection of size-6 jeans had been relegated to a back shelf, she decided to give GLP-1 medication another shot. 

    “I’m happy,” she insisted in a March interview with Us Weekly. “I’m at peace, but I noticed that my jeans are a little tighter lately, so I don’t want to go out and shop anymore.”

    Though, when it comes to one major expense, her eldest is providing quite the assist. 

    A standout point guard, 16-year-old Hank has already received college offers from Alabama State University and Idaho State University, she revealed in a July 17 Instagram post. “I’ve witnessed how hard he works everyday.”

    His younger sis has also gotten in the game, with Wilkinson raving after an April tourney with her mini-me, “These are the golden years!!!”

    In fact, she’d say her kids are her biggest win thus far, telling E! News in 2024, “They are thriving.” 

    Nothing at all like she was as a teen “thank God!” joked Wilkinson, “my kids are good kids. They’re just making my life good, fun, exciting, loving.”

    And though she’s been single since her complex split from Baskett (years before their divorce, the former NFL wide receiver, 43, denied reports that he cheated with a transgender woman), she’s not exactly in the market for a new teammate. 

    “My DMs are filled with dudes,” she shared with E! in 2023. “It’s so annoying.” Because while she’d be happy to take a meeting with a prospective seller, “I don’t think dating is in my near future,” said Wilkinson. “If it’s not a listing, I don’t want it.”

    And while she and Baskett are “co-parenting so good,” Wilkinson shared with E! in 2023, she won’t be shielding their children from the messier parts of her romantic past. 

    Kendra Wilkinson/Instagram

    “I’m able to tell the kids what mom has been through, not hide anything,” she explained to E! News at the November 2024 American Reality Television Awards, “show them that you can be okay through anything and everything, and you can work your way past anything in the world.”

    Whether it’s her 2018 divorce or her decision to move in with Hefner at 18 and “have sex for money,” as she put it during a 2025 appearance on the Skinny Confidential podcast, Wilkinson is open to sharing each high and low with her kids. 

    “If they want to know something, they ask and I tell them,” she stressed to E!. “We just have a very open communication, relationship, and they appreciate that so much.”

    Because in her fifth decade, she’s thriving in her DGAF era. 

    A return to reality TV isn’t out of the question, the Kendra on Top alum told E! News in 2024, “It just has to be the right concept.” But, make no mistake, she’s not the same girl who stepped into Hefner’s Gothic-Tudor estate.  

    Instagram/Kendra Wilkinson

    “I have overcome so much in life and deserve to celebrate myself and my new attitude towards life,” Wilkinson, who sought out therapy after a depression-induced 2023 panic attack landed her in the hospital, shared in a 2025 Instagram post. “Playboy days are long gone and it feels more and more liberating for some reason. Not because I don’t appreciate my time there but because now I feel older and more free more than I did when I left the mansion.” 

    With fewer “f–ks to give,” she continued, “It feels good to finally LIVE with less depression.” 

    More the girl next door than she ever was in her twenties, “I was verrrry young when i started tv,” she wrote in a March post, “and lived a crazy chaotic 20 years of impressing others but now it’s about ME. Giving back to ME. Even with less money and Way less fame.”

    And she’s not the only star buying into the idea of a second act. Check out more celebrities who have pivoted into wildly different careers. 

    Nev SchulmanThe Catfish host obtained his salesperson license in New York and announced in September 2025 he had begun to work as a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Warburg to follow in the footsteps of his dad, a longtime broker at the company.

    Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

    Kate GosselinWhile Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum Kate Gosselin lamented the fact that so much of her savings went toward paying lawyers in her battle with ex-husband Jon Gosselin, the evidence would suggest she’s enjoyed her return to nursing.”I am an RN, I work in PEDs home health care,” Kate detailed in an August 2025 . “I work with one family currently. The patients already know my name and some things about me so before I come into their home, they know who I am. And I imagine they already know me.”What she knows, though, is that helping others is quite fulfilling.”It’s actually been a really rewarding and fun job,” Kate continued. “To come in and relieve a family of their medically challenged child so that they can spend time with their other kids and do other things.”

    Courtesy of The Paley Center for Media

    Drew BarrymoreFor Drew Barrymore, a day of work has never been missed. Though her current gig helming The Drew Barrymore Show fills her days now, when the child star found herself emancipated from mom Jaid Barrymore at age 14, she scrambled to pay the bills. Noting her friend worked at a coffee shop in the Valley, the actress shared in her 2015 memoir Wildflower that she had to find something closer to their rental because she didn’t have a driver’s license. “It was the start of the 1990s, and coffeehouses were where everyone hung out,” she detailed of working at L.A. hot spot the Living Room. “People poured out on to the street every night.” Unfortunately, she continued, “I wasn’t great at my job. I wasn’t really great at anything. I had only done two things: acted and had wild life experiences.”She served up the tea on one tense experience in her book. “I could tell my boss, who had hired me on the novel idea of having a washed-up former child actor behind the counter, was patient with all my learning curves, but was also irritated with me,” she wrote, revealing how he walked in while she was doing the dishes “and said, very sharply and exasperatedly, ‘Don’t use the abrasive side of the brush! All the pastry cases are getting scratched and foggy, and you can’t see what’s inside!'”

    Francis Specker/CBS

    Leah KatebYep, Love Island USA alum Leah Kateb has an office job. In July 2025, she became the Chief Creative Officer for the fragrance company Skylar, describing herself as a “re-founder” of the brand.

    Amy Sussman/Getty Images

    Noah SchnappLifeguard on duty!When Stranger Things‘ Noah Schnapp isn’t battling supernatural beings in the Upside Down, he spends his time saving others in another way. In a 2022 interview with Flaunt magazine, the actor revealed he had a part time job as a lifeguard at his local pool during the summer.“It’s kind of a ‘just for fun thing,'” he explained. “I’ve kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and stuff outside of Stranger Things, so it’s kind of kept me grounded.”

    J. P. Aussenard/WireImage

    Erik von DettenIn the late ’90s and early ’00s, Erik von Detten captured the hearts of teens everywhere thanks to his roles in Escape to Witch Mountain, Brink! and The Princess Diaries. But after last acting credit in 2010 (a voiceover in Toy Story 3), von Detten’s career trajectory took a turn, landing him in the financial industry. “Simultaneously when things started to slow down in acting in my early 20s, another opportunity presented itself for me with a company that I started working with at age 25,” von Detten shared in a rare interview with E! in 2021. “And I’ve been with that company ever since. It’s a sales position with a company working in finance. I’ve grown into a management position and it’s worked out really well.”

    David James/New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

    Nikki BlonskySeveral years after starring in the 2007 movie adaptation of Hairspray, Golden Globe nominee Nikki Blonsky made headlines when it was reported she was working as a makeup artist at a beauty salon on Long Island. “Its true Im workin@ Superstar Salon as a makeup artist & more Im proud 2 b workin & helpin pay bills,” Blonsky wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in 2011. “BUT ill NEVER loose sight of my dreams.”

    NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

    Erik EstradaAfter starring as California Highway Patrol officer Ponch on TV series CHiPs, which ran from 1977 to 1983, Erik Estrada went on to become a reserve police officer for the Muncie Police Department in Indiana. The actor later moved to Virginia, where he worked as an investigator for the I.C.A.C. (Internet Crimes Against Children) before once again working as a reserve police officer in St. Anthony, Idaho in 2016.

    L. Cohen/WireImage

    Clayton SnyderEthan Craft serving as your real estate agent? That’s what dreams are made of!Lizzie McGuire heartthrob Clayton Snyder chose not to pursue a career in acting after the Disney Channel series ended. Why? He wanted to focus on water polo, later playing for California’s Pepperdine University.”Frankly, when the show wrapped up, I was kind of thankful,” Snyder admitted to E! News in 2022. “I was like, ‘Okay, phew, going into high school, new chapter, that’s done. We’re going to see what this is going to be like.'”Snyder now works in real estate in Los Angeles, though his past as a child star does occasionally come up.”I would really like it to be you want to work with me because I’m really good at what I do and if it’s a nice piece of trivia that I’m ‘that guy’ then that’s wonderful,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of clients of where halfway through showing them homes they’re like, ‘My wife and I just found out who you are and we can’t believe it!’ But that makes me feel good because I know that’s not why they’re working with me.”

    Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

    Kevin JonasWe bet you didn’t know that the oldest Jonas Brother owned and operated his own construction company in New Jersey during The Jonas Brothers‘ eight-year hiatus? Plus, Kevin Jonas also became the co-CEO of The Blu Market, an influencer marketing company.

    Tristar/Amblin/Kobal/Shutterstock

    Charlie KorsmoChild actor Charlie Korsmo, known for his turn in Hook and the teen drama Can’t Hardly Wait, left Hollywood behind to become a lawyer. And now, he is also a professor of corporate law and corporate finance at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland.President Barack Obama nominated Korsmo as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 2011.

    Wolper/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

    Peter OrstrumYep, Charlie gave up the chocolate factory.Peter Ostrum made his acting debut as Charlie Bucket in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which would ultimately be his only onscreen role. After graduating from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984, Ostrum went on to become a veterinarian.

    Craig Sjodin/Disney Channel via Getty Images

    Jennifer StoneWizards of Waverly Place scenestealer Jennifer Stone traded in her character Harper Finkle’s funky wardrobe for a pair of scrubs when she became a registered nurse in 2019. The former Disney Channel actress then joined the health care workers who are on the front lines fighting against coronavirus.”A very good friend of mine (@maiarawalsh ) pointed out to me that today is #worldhealthday . It is also the day I went from a volunteer, then a student nurse, and now an RN resident,” Stone shared on Instagram in 2020. “I just hope to live up to all of the amazing healthcare providers on the front lines now as I get ready to join them.”

    Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

    Ross BagleyFormer child star Ross Bagley, known for his roles as Buckwheat in The Little Rascals and Nicky Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, now works as a real estate agent in Los Angeles.

    Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

    Jeff CohenSo long, Truffle Shuffle, hello, habeus corpus.After playing Chunk in the classic ’80s movie The Goonies, Jeff Cohen quit acting to become an attorney, working as an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles.

    Jim Spellman/WireImage

    Teddy DunnAfter his one-season stint as the brooding Duncan Kane on Veronica Mars, Teddy Dunn became a lawyer and served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia.

    Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

    Phoebe CatesKnown for her breakout turn (and pool exit) in The Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as well as her roles in Gremlins and Drop Dead Fred, Phoebe Cates left the acting world behind in the ’90s after welcoming two children with her husband, actor Kevin Kline.Cates went on to open Blue Tree, a gift boutique on New York City’s Madison Avenue, in 2005.

    Steve Granitz/WireImage

    Reed AlexanderFollowing his time as Nevel on the popular Nickelodeon series iCarly, Reed Alexander went on to become a journalist, working for outlets such as Business Insider and the Wall Street Journal.

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