DECEMBER 30, 2001 — It didn't quite turn out that way. The former Playmate of the Year says she and Hefner, 75, who have two young sons, still "love and adore each other very much ... but we don't date each other."

Conrad says it was her decision to split in 1998. The reasons are personal but "it wasn't because Hef was cheating on me, there were no other people involved our relationship." So what about the seven girlfriends -- all younger than 30 -- with whom he's involved now? "I'm very supportive of his lifestyle because that's his business," Conrad says, and she now dates blues guitarist Jimmy Rip. Technically, Hef and Conrad are still married.

Conrad and their sons, Marston, 11, (Hef's middle name is Marston) and Cooper, 10, live next to the Playboy mansion in a $7 million home purchased by the Playboy mogul to keep them close. Kimberley and the boys visit the mansion regularly. In fact, Tuesday night is "family night" and there are no girlfriends around. Hefner's Tudor-style home is so large, Conrad tells us, she rarely runs into his bevy of companions. "I don't care about them. They actually try to avoid me," she says.

She calls Hefner a devoted dad and she says they protect their children from publicity and Hef's sexual shenanigans. In October, he treated his sons and their schoolmates to a Halloween bash at the mansion. Though Kimberly is accepting of his new relationships, she says Hefner "turned 10 shades of white and almost passed out" when she asked if she could bring her boyfriend to the party. She says the world's most famous playboy said he wasn't ready for that.

Conrad, as beautiful today as when she married Hefner, works out at the Playboy mansion's gym. An animal lover, she posed for a sexy poster for PETA, the animal rights' group. The ad, unveiled Nov. 16, 2001, shows Kimberley wearing an Uncle Sam hat and skimpy costume showing lots of cleavage. It reads: I want You ... to Go Vegetarian. She rarely does any modeling and has turned down offers over the years to do cameo appearances in films. "I'm trying to raise my boys and be the most successful mom around," she says. Are the boys old enough to take a peek at the Playboy magazine? "They were born with Playboy sitting in their laps," she says. They see the magazine. "I think being naked or (seeing) naked pictures -- that's okay, it's healthy. I think when you are not OK with it, that's when kids turn out strange. My kids are very healthy in that way."