Crystal Hefner was just 21-years-old when she first met late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner at a Halloween party back in 2008 – the night that she admits “changed her life forever”.
Soon after, Crystal (née Harris) was asked by Hef to move into the $(AU)150million Playboy mansion, a Gothic-Tudor mansion in the prestigious Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.
Crystal soon became the late millionaire’s number one girlfriend, and eventually married him in 2012, becoming his third wife and spending almost a decade in the mansion until his death at 91 in 2017.
At the time of their marriage, she was 26 and he was 86. They had a 60-year age gap.
Now, Crystal has released a bombshell memoir which details the highs and lows in her life – and her time with Playboy.
READ MORE: Natalie Imbruglia reveals plans to retire in Australia
Called Only Say Good Things, Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, Crystal details what life was really like in the mansion – and how “lost” she was when she first met Hef.
Speaking to 9honey Celebrity, The New York Times best-selling author spoke about the new release and revealed how she started to find her own empowerment towards the end of her time in the mansion – and how she’s finally found happiness and “freedom”.
“I think when I went into the mansion, I didn’t know who I was, so it was dictated to me by someone else. Coming out of the mansion, I had to learn who I was through what I liked… I love travel and nature,” she explains.
READ MORE: Aussie Sex/Life star Adam Demos reflects on his Hollywood career
“I think I finally have freedom, I’m happy and I’m dating someone that’s kind and respectful and it took me a long time to really respect myself, once you respect yourself you don’t allow yourself to be mistreated by people,” she says.
“I spend time time between Los Angeles and Hawaii, on the farm [that she has] and I feel free now.”
She says writing the powerful tell-all book was cathartic and helped with the healing process.
“People have a lot of questions and I feel this crafted the story in the best way possible to tell it in a way people can understand,” she says.
READ MORE: What you didn’t realise about 2000s singer Cascada
Crystal says she “wanted to tell the truth” with the book, and started writing down notes and things while undergoing therapy for her time post-mansion, before turning it into a memoir. She says she hopes sharing her story will help others.
“[I was] in the Playboy mansion for almost ten years and when I got out, I didn’t realise it affected me as much as it did,” she explains.
“I didn’t know what boundaries were, I didn’t have the tools I have now and I realised the experience was a lot harder than what I thought it was and I wanted to tell my version of the story as so many fans followed us for so long.”
For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here
As for the book’s title, she explains that Hef would ask her to “only say good things about him when he’s gone”.
“I’m not sure if it was a threat or if he just wanted to be known a certain way… and I kept that promise for a long time,” she says.
“The promise was killing me as I learned different things like boundaries, narcissism, misogyny, I didn’t fully understand when I was in it.”
During her time in the mansion, Crystal got sick from toxic mould exposure, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease and breast implant illness in 2016.
Two years ago, Crystal revealed she had removed “everything fake” from her body and deleted her old photos.
She had undergone a breast enlargement but had her implants removed in 2016.
Hugh Hefner’s Wedding Pics
“I’m feeling so much better and doing so much better in terms of health,” she says.
“And Hef had these ridiculous beauty standards, be super skinny and have these big boobs… I was trying to achieve these impossible beauty standards and I got sick from it,” she says.
“I hope to start a family one day and I will make sure my daughter doesn’t give in to toxic beauty standards or end up in anything like the Playboy mansion,” she says.
“Hopefully there won’t be anything like that around, I hope to start a family and work on my personal life, I’m really happy about the book and closing that chapter and just moving forward and being happy and having a simple life.”
“I feel so much better… and it took such a long time,” she finished.
Crystal’s book Only Say Good Things, Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, is out now.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
Source link