Hugh Hefner had no idea how to please women – I felt trapped in the Playboy Mansion, says wife Crystal
CRYSTAL HEFNER has revealed that she was emotionally and financially abused by her husband Hugh who she said didn’t care whether his bunnies were happy.
The model, was just 21 when she first met the Playboy owner, who at the time was 81-years-old.
After first being invited to the Playboy mansion as a guest, Crystal was selected to become one of Hef’s girlfriends and in 2012 the pair wed, and stayed married until his death in 2017.
Crystal grew up in the UK, before relocating to the US with her parents at the age of eight.
She went to school in San Diego, and she and her mum were left struggling for money after her father died when she was just 12.
As Crystal became a teenager, she began to admire celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra and started to do modelling so that she could feel “powerful” and “beautiful” like them.
She quickly gained attention due to her stunning looks, and one day, a friend who she had made through modelling asked if she would like to submit a photograph to go to a party at the Playboy mansion.
The model was very insecure and had imposter syndrome, but her photograph was immediately accepted.
Crystal dressed up in a maid’s outfit for the party, and waited with dozens of other girls in a garage before being bussed into the mansion.
After arriving at the mansion for the first time, the model was invited to join Hugh himself in his cabana.
“Whatever Hef wants, Hef gets, so his security unclipped the rope and shuffled me in,” she told Em Clarkson on the Should I Delete That? podcast.
Describing what it was like meeting the Playboy owner for the first time, she said: “My soul left my body.”
She had no idea what to say to Hugh, as she wasn’t working at the time and was just studying at university.
However, she now admits: “He probably liked that, because I’m younger.”
Crystal described Hef as “magnetic and charming” but admits she now wishes that the media had questioned his behaviour towards his bunnies.
When she first met Hugh, he had two girlfriends, who were 19-year-old twins, making them 62 years younger than him.
Facts you didn't know about the Playboy Mansion
Girlfriends vs Playmates
Rumour has it that Hugh Hefner would have two to a dozen “girlfriends” living with him at a time. These girlfriends are not to be confused with Playmates. Each girlfriend had their own room, but one “special lady” was named as girlfriend number one and stayed with Hef in his room. Each girlfriend received a $1,000 (£760) weekly bonus “allowance.”
Hef’s Wild side
The Playboy mansion was home to a private zoo. It was one of very few private residences that actually has a zoo license. Hefner was a fan of birds. Among his collection – many of which roamed the grounds – were peacocks, macaws, flamingos, toucans and ducks.
The Elvis Legend
Within the mansion was a secret room, called “The Elvis Room.” Legend has it that the King himself, Elvis Presley, had a little slumber party in the room with up to eight eager bunnies.
“It’s so sad and they aren’t doing well now, they just got out of rehab,” she said of the twins.
Of the guests invited to Hugh’s parties, some were ‘playmates’ who were invited to sleep with him, whilst others were ‘girlfriends’.
After her first party, Hugh invited Crystal to stay for the weekend, and then soon after invited her to move in.
She quit university, and moved in to Bedroom 5, making her his fifth favourite girlfriend.
Desperate to win his favour and move up the ranks, Crystal began doing whatever Hef liked, and in doing this said that she began to lose herself.
“You definitely have to submit, and I was emotionally abused, financially abused, controlled physically,” she said.
“He would tell me what to look like and what to wear.”
When Crystal first got to the mansion, she loved to eat the food cooked by the four resident chefs.
However, Hugh soon told her she needed to lose weight so she dropped down to just eight stone.
Every Friday Hugh would give each of his girlfriends $1000.
“He gave us money, but never enough to leave, it was definitely financial abuse,” she said.
“Playboy was supposed to be a place of freedom, but I felt very trapped.”
Crystal recounted one incident where she had had an argument with Hugh and decided to leave the mansion.
However, she heard Hef telling the security team through a speaker. “If Crystal tries to leave, detain her”, and realised that she really was trapped.
After she had been at the mansion for a while, Crystal began having panic attacks, because of the “craziness” of the parties.
“Do men really think that women really enjoy having pillow fights and jumping on the trampoline?” she said.
She added that she didn’t feel like she could make friends with the other bunnies, as they were always being ranked in terms of Hef’s preference.
Once a week, Crystal and the other girlfriends all had to sleep with Hugh, and she said that every time she would be made to wear the same outfit, whilst the same music played, and he put the same porn on the TV.
She added that he would use baby oil as lube, which gave the girls infections.
“After a while I realised that he had no idea how to please a woman,” she admitted.
He gave us money, but never enough to leave, it was definitely financial abuse
Crystal Hefner
She even revealed that she wasn’t even sure that Hef himself enjoyed the sex, as he seemed like he was just going through the motions.
“He didn’t care how we felt and he didn’t care if we were happy, as long as he got what he wanted, it was twisted,” she said.
Crystal worked her way up the ranks to girlfriend number one, and one Christmas Eve was presented with a ring.
However, she walked out on him five days before the wedding before eventually reconciling with him again.
Explaining why she went back, Crystal said that she had tried to open a lingerie store, but it had failed, and had resigned herself to never finding love again after her high school sweetheart passed away.
“I thought maybe the mansion was my path”, she said.
Their whole wedding was filmed with Hugh receiving a $800,000 fee for the show, whilst Crystal was only given $2,500.
During her relationship with Hugh, he was lauded as an icon who could do no wrong, and it was only after the #MeToo movement took off that she began to feel validated.
“Most of the men at the mansion were disgusting, gross perverts and it made me feel so much better when all of that came out,” she said, referring to the movement.
Crystal left the mansion when she was 31, and now flips houses, as she no longer wants to do work that is defined by her looks.
She admitted that she never loved Hugh, as she had so much resentment towards him, and described him as being like the Wizard of Oz as he wanted people to think of him as being much grander than he was.