Eivind Ertesvag 
Crystal Hefner was 21 years old when she met Hugh Hefner (81) in the Playboy Mansion. A few days later, he asked Crystal to move in with him – and his 18-year-old twin girlfriends, Karissa and Kristina Shannon.
– It went very, very quickly. I think he had a lot of experience in getting people to move in right away, says Crystal in an interview with The New York Post newspaper .
In the new book «Only Say Good Things», which is expected to be published in the new year, she talks about the toxic environment in the Playboy Mansion.
Today, Crystal, who according to the Express & Star originally comes from West Bromwich in Great Britain, is 37 years old. It has been 11 years since she married the Playboy founder in 2012. The marriage ended and she became Hefner’s third wife, as a result of which she had started to get cold feet.
Curfew after 18
During the 10-year relationship with Hugh Heffner, her personality was completely buried. She says that she had a curfew after 18 in the evening, was not allowed to travel anywhere and devoted her life to a «needy» man whom she felt far too guilty to leave.
– When Hef wanted to go out, he went to a club to pick up women. So I think he assumed that when I was going out, I was going to do the same. Really, I just wanted to go to Disneyland or the beach or wherever,” says Crystal.
After several rejections, she stopped asking.
When Hefner died in 2017, aged 91, Crystal was by his side. It is only recently that Crystal has come to terms with the darker side of her life with Hugh Hefner.
She says that it has taken many hours of therapy and «deprogramming» to unravel the tangles from her life with Hef. The bunny suits have been discarded and the silicone implants have been removed. Now Crystal’s story comes in book form.
Ask her to only say good things about him
– It’s called «Only Say Good Things» because I had a conversation with Hef and he told me: When I die, when I’m gone, please say good things about me, says Crystal to the New York Post.
She kept that promise for five years. But after a series of therapy sessions, she realized she also needed to be honest about her time in the infamous house. The book is about healing from a toxic environment.
When Crystal reflects on her time with the Playboy founder, she admits that it is only now that she is really learning what it means to be in a healthy relationship. Even having girlfriends is a learning process for her after a decade in the toxic atmosphere of the Playboy Mansion.
Calling Hef a narcissist and misogynist
The Playboy Mansion was sold before Hugh Hefner died. Crystal continues to chair Hefner’s foundation, and has helped archive his assets.
– It is still complicated for me. Hef was a narcissist and a misogynist… He was a very complicated human being. But he also did a lot of good, helped a lot of people and helped stand up for things, she says, adding that at the same time he hurt people in ways he wasn’t aware of.
Sportskeeda.com writes that Crystal Hefner received a payout of seven million dollars in cash as an inheritance, since she was still married to Hugh. She also inherited a house in the Hollywood Hills that was worth five million dollars at the time. The house was left to her in a trust Hugh had set up for her so that she would have a place to live after his death
According to Amazon, Crystal Hefner’s book is expected to be published in February next year.
Hugh Hefner died at the Playboy Mansion on September 27, 2017, aged 91. The cause was sepsis caused by an E. coli infection. He is buried in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, in the crypt next to Marilyn Monroe, for whom he paid $75,000 in 1992.
