In a stunning revelation seven years after the passing of iconic Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, his widow, Crystal Hefner, is finally breaking her silence.
Crystal, the 37-year-old former Playboy Playmate, was wedded to Hefner from 2012 until his demise at the age of 91 in 2017. Her upcoming memoir, “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself,” is set to hit the shelves on Jan. 23. But ahead of its release, she has decided to offer us a glimpse into her life as a Playmate, and it’s far from the fantasy one might imagine.
In an exclusive interview with People, Crystal confessed that she was never truly in love with her late husband. Their story began when the then-21-year-old was invited to reside at the Playboy Mansion in October 2008. She soon entered into a relationship with Hefner, even making appearances on the E! reality series, “The Girls Next Door.”
“At the time I thought I was on top,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, if I just like everything that he likes and do all the things that he wants me to do, then I’m the favorite.’ And I was, but I just lost myself in the process.”
Hefner proposed to her on Christmas Eve 2010, and her reaction was far from straightforward. Crystal initially accepted the proposal but later called off the engagement just five days before their planned wedding in June 2011. She briefly reunited with Dr. Phil’s son, Jordan McGraw, before ultimately returning to Hefner. They tied the knot on Dec. 31, 2012, making her his third wife.
Reflecting on her relationship with Hefner, Crystal said, “I realized I was dealing with a really big power imbalance. It seemed like a world of success and fantasy, but everyone’s having to sleep with an 80-year-old. There’s a price. Everything has a price.”
The former Playboy Playmate also shared insights into the strict lifestyle enforced at the mansion for her and the other Bunnies while under Hefner’s roof. Each “girlfriend” received an allowance handed out in neat bills, and their nail polish couldn’t be anything but some neutral color, strictly forbidding French manicures. Crystal even remembered an instance when Hefner took note of her natural brown roots showing, leading her to undergo painful bleaching that left her with blisters. She admitted, “But for some reason, I thought this was all normal and that’s what it meant to be seen as beautiful in Hef’s eyes.”
Last July, she exclusively revealed to The Post why she chose to name her book “Only Say Good Things.” Crystal explained, “I had a conversation with Hef, and he let me know: ‘Once I go, when I’m gone, please only say good things about me.’ I kept that promise for the last five years. After going through a lot of therapy and healing, I realized that I needed to be honest about my time there. The book is about healing from a toxic environment.”
While her memoir is filled with jaw-dropping anecdotes about life as a member of the illustrious Playboy Bunnies, one particular story stands out – Hefner’s continued use of Viagra until the very end of his life, which ultimately caused him to go deaf in one ear.
Crystal Hefner’s revelations in her upcoming memoir promise to shed new light on the often-glamorized world of Playboy and the untold challenges faced behind the mansion’s opulent façade. Her candid account of her time with Hugh Hefner is set to be a gripping tale that exposes the price one pays for living the Playboy fantasy.
