Playboy model Crystal Hefner says Hugh Hefner was ’emotionally abusive,’ but he ‘wasn’t all evil’

Hugh Hefner was 86 when he married 26-year-old Crystal Hefner, and the widow is now baring all.

The Playboy founder’s third and remaining spouse has written a memoir, “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.” 

The title comes from Hefner’s personal phrases to his younger bride – solely say good issues about him.

“I think after leaving the [Playboy] mansion and being away for five years, I was in a lot of therapy,” Crystal, now 37, instructed Fox News Digital. “I realized that the mansion affected me more than I thought. I just wanted to tell the truth about my time there and hopefully help others.”

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Crystal Hefner, who runs a lychee farm in Hawaii, is coming ahead together with her story. (Tracey Lyn)

Crystal’s marriage to Hefner ended when he died in 2017 at age 91. She claimed their almost five-year union was “emotionally abusive,” noting in her e-book that Hefner “could be charming” but additionally “cruel.”

“Over a little bit of time, I gained a bit of weight, and he told me that I needed to tone up,” Crystal claimed. “Then he started telling me what color nails I could have and couldn’t have. [I had to] wear more colorful shirts, wear ‘the flag,’ which means the Playboy logo on my body, somewhere on my shirt. I had to dye my roots, bleach my roots. If that was growing out, he would tap it and tell me to go fix it.”

Crystal Hefner (proper) claimed she needed to comply with a strict curfew whereas dwelling with Hugh Hefner. (HMH Foundation)

Crystal additionally alleged that in their marriage, she had a restrictive curfew and was required to hurry again to the Playboy Mansion earlier than darkish. The e-book claimed that if she was late, Hefner would scream at her.

Crystal Hefner’s memoir, “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself,” is in bookstores. (Grand Central Publishing)

“A lot of the other girls talked about a nine o’clock curfew or 9:30,” she defined. “When I was there, it was a 6 p.m. curfew. A lot of times I was home before it was even dark outside. He disguised this curfew as a schedule, so it would be 6 p.m. movie night [on] Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And then I’d have little breaks on Monday and Wednesday when he was occupied with the guys for ‘Manly Night’ and cards. … It was this super strict schedule. … I had to be in before dark.”

The one-time San Diego State psychology main mentioned Hefner’s harsh remarks about her weight, alongside along with his no-nonsense guidelines and expectations to “perform” within the bed room each time the temper struck, took a toll on her. But in wanting again at their marriage, she admitted that her late husband, a frontrunner in America’s sexual revolution, was an advanced determine.

Crystal Hefner with Hugh Hefner celebrating his birthday. (HMH Foundation)

“I remember when [former girlfriend] Holly [Madison’s] book first came out,” she mentioned. “I was still living at the mansion. I was very defensive of Hef. I’m like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe she could do that.’ But after I left to heal, I’m like, ‘OK, everything she’s saying is true.’ And then I saw the A&E documentary, ‘Secrets of Playboy,’ and I thought, ‘Yeah, a lot of what these women are saying is true.’

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Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriend, Holly Madison, previously wrote a book about her life at the Playboy Mansion. (Denise Truscello/WireImage/Getty Images)

“Some of the issues had been far-fetched, making an attempt to tie Hef to one thing like in Geneva that was with someone else, but plenty of it’s true,” Crystal continued. “Hef was a really complicated individual. He wasn’t all good, and he wasn’t all evil. He wasn’t a predator. But, on the identical time, he was additionally narcissistic and was a misogynist, and now we have to be sincere about that transferring ahead.

“I’m still on the board of his foundation,” she famous. “The other two members of the foundation, they’re fully aware that he can be all types of things.”

Crystal described rising up in a “broken home” and shedding her father when she was simply 12 years previous. After she got here throughout her stepfather’s copies of Playboy, she dreamed of being lovely like most of the blonde bombshells that left her in awe.

Crystal Hefner misplaced her father when she was nonetheless a baby. (Crystal Hefner)

“I thought, ‘They’re so powerful — they have the world at their feet. I want to be just like them,’” she recalled. “I didn’t have any means, and I thought I just made myself small all the time. I’m like, ‘It would be nice to feel powerful or beautiful.’ I was very drawn to that.”

In 2008, Crystal attended a Halloween social gathering on the Playboy Mansion. Dressed as a French maid, she instantly caught Hefner’s eye.

“Why he chose me? In the very beginning, I think it was purely based on [the] physical,” she defined. “I think, by that point, I had made myself into the Playboy ideal, which is the Hugh Hefner ideal. I think that becoming his wife … maybe I brought some kind of calmness to his life, or maybe he wanted a good PR story for the end of his life. I’m not sure, but I do think about that often still.”

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Crystal Hefner is seen right here assembly Hugh Hefner for the primary time at a Halloween social gathering in 2008. (HMH Foundation)

While Crystal was by no means in love with Hefner, she felt compelled to guard the aged man whom she alleged was clinging to his picture of the previous. While life on the mansion appeared decadent for somebody who struggled rising up, Crystal mentioned she noticed a unique aspect to the hedonistic sizzling spot as soon as she moved in.

Crystal Hefner claimed the birds on the Playboy Mansion had been dying of thirst. (HMH Foundation)

Crystal claimed that the mansion was “run down” and moldy because the birds situated on the property had been dying of thirst. While Crystal felt “trapped,” she nonetheless felt an urgency to guard Hefner in his later years.

Crystal Hefner claimed she felt a necessity to guard Hugh Hefner as his well being deteriorated. (HMH Foundation)

“When I was told what to wear, what to do and to lose weight, I thought, ‘I’m going to be better. I can do better,’” she mentioned. “I don’t know why my mind went there at that time instead of ‘How dare you treat me this way?’ But I’m not sure what compelled me to protect him. 

“Maybe, in a means, I felt sorry for him. Maybe, in a means, it was Stockholm Syndrome, which I really imagine occurred there as a result of it was such a bubble. But I did really feel compelled to guard him for some motive.”

While living at the mansion, Hefner gave his girlfriend a ring.

Crystal Hefner alleged Playboy capitalized on her “Runaway Bride” image. (Denise Truscello/WireImage)

“He didn’t ask me to marry him,” she said. “He simply handed me a hoop in a field and mentioned, ‘I hope it fits.’ And, at the moment, I simply thought, ‘Maybe he wants this good PR story, ending his life with a wedding.’ We hadn’t talked about it earlier than, so I simply made assumptions. If I had been to say no, then I might’ve needed to go away proper then, and I wasn’t prepared to depart.”

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Crystal Hefner is seen here after Hugh Hefner gave her an engagement ring. (HMH Foundation)

After Crystal accepted Hefner’s proposal, she broke off the engagement days before she was supposed to walk down the aisle. After a tumultuous relationship with Dr. Phil’s son Jordan, she returned to marry Hefner. The magazine quickly capitalized on her “Runaway Bride” image, Crystal alleged.

Looking back, Crystal said, she saw herself as more of a caregiver than a wife.

“Toward the previous few years, I felt like I needed to be there for him,” she said. “It was getting more durable for him to do issues and stroll, and he needed to be remembered as the person, the person everybody noticed him as or thought he was, which actually isn’t true. But I attempted exhausting to assist him defend his picture till the very finish.”

Crystal Hefner was 26 when she married Hugh Hefner. He was 86. (HMH Foundation)

Playboy didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about Crystal’s book. At the time of A&E’s 2022 docuseries, a spokesperson issued a statement.

“Today’s Playboy isn’t Hugh Hefner’s Playboy,” the statement said. “We belief and validate these ladies and their tales, and we strongly help these people who’ve come ahead to share their experiences. As a model with intercourse positivity at its core, we imagine security, safety and accountability are paramount.

Crystal Hefner mentioned she noticed herself as extra of a caregiver for Hugh Hefner than a spouse. (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy)

“The most important thing we can do right now is actively listen and learn from their experiences,” it added. “We won’t ever be afraid to confront the components of our legacy as an organization that don’t mirror our values right this moment.

PLAYBOY MODEL CRYSTAL HEFNER ADMITS SHE WAS NEVER ‘IN LOVE’ WITH LATE HUSBAND HUGH HEFNER

Crystal Hefner told Fox News Digital she has “nothing to cover anymore.” (John Chapple)

“As a company with a greater than 80% feminine workforce, we’re dedicated to our ongoing evolution as an organization and to driving optimistic change for our communities.”

Today, Crystal lives in Hawaii, the place she runs a lychee farm. She has “nothing to cover anymore.”

“I hope he can be OK with this e-book that I’ve written,” she said about Hefner. “I hope that he would give his blessing. His basis sticks up for First Amendment rights, freedom of speech and expression. So, I hope that he is okay with me telling my fact.”