Crystal Hefner Says She Would Never Marry Hugh Hefner Again: 'He Chose People He Could Easily Manipulate'
Crystal Hefner, the widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, told Page Six in an exclusive interview that if she could change one thing about her marriage, it would be that it ever happened.
'If I could go back, I absolutely wouldn't have [married Hugh],' Crystal, 40, now host of the 'After the Mansion' podcast, said. 'I came from a broken home. I didn't have a father. And I know now that Hef chose people he could easily manipulate, like that was it.' She said Hugh, who allegedly had a high IQ, deliberately chose women who were not his intellectual equals: 'those people are harder to control. So he chose the women that came from broken homes and broken backgrounds.' These are Crystal Hefner's own allegations.
Crystal first met Hugh in 2008 at a Halloween party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. She was named Playboy's Playmate of the Month for December 2009 and married him in 2012. Hugh Hefner died in September 2017 at 91; the marriage lasted until his death.
In the interview and on podcasts, Crystal alleged that Hugh forced women into sex acts in the mansion's bedrooms that left her uncomfortable, including, she claimed, trying to push twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon into engaging sexually with each other. She also called former 'Saturday Night Live' star Jon Lovitz the mansion's 'No. 1 customer' — Lovitz later brushed off and mocked her comments. On her own podcast she claimed actor Jack Nicholson visited so often the mansion was nicknamed his personal 'drive-thru.' Hugh Hefner is deceased and cannot respond to the allegations; no public response from the other named individuals was reported beyond Lovitz's reaction.
Crystal also claimed the media refused to report anything negative about Hugh while he was alive because outlets 'wanted this man in their pocket,' and she called him 'misogynistic' and 'narcissistic,' and 'a pornographer that hurt the world.'
In late 2025, Crystal legally changed her name back to Harris and married marine biologist James Ward, severing her ties to the Hefner name completely.
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, the Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-330-0226.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2009年多伦多国际电影节（资料图），左起第二位为 Crystal Harris（婚后名 Crystal Hefner）、中间红衣者为 Hugh Hefner，其右侧为 Karissa Shannon 与 Kristina Shannon。Mark Dunne 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Crystal Harris (later Crystal Hefner), second from left, with Hugh Hefner, center, and Karissa and Kristina Shannon at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival (file photo). Photo by Mark Dunne, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
