Penthouse Forum was started in March 1968 in the UK and featured letters, articles on health, medicine psychology and social relationships.

[1] The first American edition of Penthouse Forum was published in 1971 and became the fastest-growing national magazine by 1978.

[4] Many of the editorial staff and half of the letterwriters whose contributions were published were women.

[1] Alastair Campbell, a journalist and Tony Blair's former director of communications, was a contributor to the magazine,[5][6] as was Chad Varah, the founder of The Samaritans charity and an Anglican priest, who was a consultant on sex education for the magazine.

In July 2006 the rights to the UK edition were licensed to Trojan Publishing.