Hugh Hefner and Crystal Hefner. Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy
Crystal Hefner says late husband Hugh Hefner would “absolutely not” have made it through the #MeToo movement.
“’I’ve thought about this because #MeToo happened, literally, a month after he passed away,” she told the Daily Mail on Wednesday, January 24. “He left Earth just in time.”
Hugh died in September 2017 at age 91, just one month before sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein went public and kicked off a movement of women sharing their experiences with sexual violence. (Weinstein, 71, is currently in prison after being found guilty on charges of rape and assault.)
Hugh founded Playboy magazine in 1953. The publication eventually expanded to a complete brand, including the Playboy Bunnies and their residence in the Playboy Mansion.
While Hollywood may appear to be all glitz and glam on the surface, the industry has seen its fair share of scandals through the years. The New York Times and the New Yorker first published investigative pieces in 2017 that accused disgruntled movie producer Harvey Weinstein of decades of sexual assault and harassment. Soon after, Weinstein stood trial and was […]
“I feel that the mansion was so unique and couldn’t be replicated,” Crystal continued. “It was like this weird social experiment at its time, but I don’t know how he would have held up during the #MeToo.”
Crystal Hefner. Aude Guerrucci/Getty Images
While various former Playboy Bunnies — including Crystal — have spoken candidly about their experiences in the mansion, Crystal made it clear that she “never saw [Hef] as, like, a predator.” That being said, she admitted to being “afraid” of having sex with Hugh alone.
“He was used to some kind of show, some kind of circus up there,” Crystal told the Daily Mail, referring to his bedroom. “So, like, just me? That’s not enough. It’s easy to feel not enough there.”
Crystal met Hugh during a Halloween party hosted at the mansion in 2008 when she was 21. She moved into the Los Angeles home shortly thereafter, and on Christmas Eve in 2010, Hugh gave her a ring as a proposal. They briefly split before ultimately walking down the aisle on New Year’s Eve in 2012. The two were still married when Hugh died five years later.
On Tuesday, January 23, Crystal released her memoir, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, which offered a detailed look at her life as a Playboy Bunny.
“Life in the mansion wasn’t the fairy tale I had once hoped it would be,” she wrote. “From the outside, sure, it had all the trappings of a fairy tale. But it wasn’t, and everyone who lived there knew it.”
When detailing her and Hugh’s marriage, Crystal admitted she was “never in love” with the media mogul.
“I loved this old man in the ways you are supposed to love your elders,” she continued. “In the ways you are supposed to love someone who is nearing the end of a long and complicated life.”