Hugh Hefner’s widow Crystal Hefner has said the Playboy founder died “right on time” before the #MeToo movement began, as she divulged a number of details about their marriage.
Crystal, 37, was a Playboy Bunny living in Hugh’s famous mansion. They dated for five years, and were married for another five years until his death.
In her forthcoming memoir, Only Say Good Things, Crystal writes about Hugh’s final years before he died on 27 September 2017 – a month before the #MeToo movement was launched.
“You can’t fault his timing,” she told The Daily Mail in a new interview. “He dipped out right on time. Hef’s lifespan of 91 years, it ended on the cusp of #MeToo. Coincidence? I think not.”
While the phrase “me too” was first coined in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, the hashtag went viral after actor Alyssa Milano encouraged others who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to use it in responses to a tweet she posted at the time.
Milano’s tweet got 12m responses within 24 hours and gave women a platform to speak up about experiences of sexual violence, as well as gender inequality.
Crystal’s memoir contains details of the rules Hefner set for her, including what colour she could paint her nails and her curfew.
The pair met when she was 21 and he was 81. According to the newspaper, Hefner only allowed Crystal to wear “pink, pale and sheer” nail polish, and would “gently tap her on the head” to remind her to dye her hair blonde when her roots began showing.
She claimed that she was given a 6pm curfew so that she would be at home to share his dinner of “chicken soup with cream cheese and crackers” and was expected to participate in group sex, which she described as “embarrassing”.
Hugh Hefner (L) and model Crystal Hefner attend the annual Halloween Party, hosted by Playboy and Hugh Hefner, at the Playboy Mansion on October 24, 2015— (Getty)
“I don’t know the most people there’d been in our bedroom at one time but – a lot,” she recalled. “Pretty bad. We were like, ‘Oh, now it’s your turn’. Nobody really wanted to be there but I think in Hef’s mind, he still thought he was in his forties, and those nights, the people, the mansion, solidified that idea. He felt, ‘I’ve still got it’.”
Crystal also claimed that Hefner took so much Viagra that he went deaf in one ear, which is a recognised side effect of the erectile dysfunction drug.
Reflecting on how young she was when she met Hefner, Crystal said: “The other day I found a picture of me with him at the very beginning. It’s just so sad. [I look] like a baby. I look back and I feel sorry for that girl.
“There was going to be this Wizard of Oz moment where the fantasy fades, you draw back the curtain and see the reality of it. But he who has the money makes the rules, right?”
Crystal described her marriage to Hefner as having “Stockholm syndrome”. “There was a part of me that always thought if this was real love, there wouldn’t be other women in the bedroom,” she said. “I reconciled myself to it by trying to believe that Hef loved me as best he knew how.
Crystal Hefner attends the Premiere of 'My Truth: The Rape Of Two Coreys' at Directors Guild Of America on March 09, 2020— (Getty Images)
Last year, a docuseries titled Secrets of Playboy levelled multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault against Hefner from former Playboy Bunnies (also known as Playmates).
It featured Hefner’s former “main girlfriend” Holly Madison, as well as head of promotions Miki Garcia, former Playmate Sondra Theodore, and recruiter PJ Masten, who shared their accounts of their time in the Mansion.
The allegations that emerged in the documentary included that Hefner kept a “mountain of revenge porn” to stop women from leaving the mansion; a “cult-like” atmosphere created by Hefner, who “really did believe he owned these women”; and that Hefner allegedly raped former Playmate Susie Krabacher.
The PLYBY Group, the company behind the magazine and its related properties, issued a statement distancing itself from Hefner.
It said: “We want to reach out to you in light of the forthcoming A&E docuseries that we understand will recount allegations of abhorrent actions by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and others.
“As you know, the Hefner family is no longer associated with Playboy, and today’s Playboy is not Hugh Hefner’s Playboy.”
Following the documentary’s release, hundreds of former Playboy employees and Playmates reportedly signed an open letter defending Hefner, describing him as a “person of upstanding character, exceptional kindness, and dedication to free thought”.
