Crystal Hefner (née Harris) is opening up about her experience with Playboy and her late husband Hugh Hefner in her new memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, which was released on Tuesday, January 23. The former model and “Playmate” was married to the company’s publisher from 2012, until his death at 91 in 2017.
The new book details many of her experiences in the magazine and on the Girls Next Door reality show, as well as her marriage to Hugh. Ahead of the book’s release, Crystal, 37, opened up about some of her experiences with the Playboy founder, including claiming that his sexual prowess was lacking. “He seemed less sex-savvy than some of the teenage boys I’d been with years ago,” she told People. ”It was clear to me Hef had never taken a moment in his entire life to figure out how to please someone else.” With the book hitting retailers, get to know more about Crystal here!
Crystal Was First Featured in ‘Playboy’ in 2008
Crystal first met Hugh when she attended a party at the Playboy Mansion when she was 21-years-old. As the party reached it’s end, she was one of the girls who was invited to spend the night with Hugh and engage in sex, as she told The New York Times in a January 2024 interview. Shortly after making her introduction, Crystal was featured on the Playboy website, where she was featured as a “Co-Ed of the Week” in October 2008. She became a featured star on the Girls Next Door reality show the following year. A little over a year later, she featured as the December 2009 Playboy Playmate of the Month, and one year after that, she and Hugh got engaged, per E! News. The two of them tied the knot in 2012.
She Signed With a Record Label Early in Her Career
Aside from her modeling, Crystal also had a very short-lived music career. It was announced that she had signed with the Organica Music Group, and she released her debut single “Club Queen” in 2011, per an announcement from Electra Star Management. Crystal’s lone single is a piece of dance-pop, familiar to anyone listening to the radio or going out in the early 2010s.
She Had Her Own Clothing and Swimsuit Lines
In addition to modeling, Crystal has been involved in the fashion world. In May 2012, she co-designed a swimwear line with Veve, which she also modeled. In 2014, she partnered with Rhonda Shear for a new line of intimates, athleisure, and loungewear. She opened up about working with the TV personality in a Tampa Bay Times interview. “Rhonda, she has the expertise of knowing the ins and outs of the whole industry. With her knowledge and my designs, we bring them together. I’ll give her all my ideas and we’ll make the samples. I’ll ask her guidance of what she thinks will sell, things like that,” she said.
She Now Works in Real Estate
Since Hugh died in 2017, Crystal has had a bit of a career change. As of now, she currently currently buys and sells rental properties, per the above-mentioned Times story. She also lives in Los Angeles, but she also spends time on a farm that she bought in Hawaii.
She’s Had Complications Due to Plastic Surgery
Crystal had a near-death experience in October 2020, while undergoing a fat transfer surgery. She revealed the scary moments in a January 2021 Instagram post, where she revealed that she was on the mend. “I had a fat transfer surgery October 16 and almost didn’t make it through. I lost half the blood in my body and ended up in the hospital needing a blood transfusion. I’ve been slowly eating my way back to health since then and I am now finally feeling ok,” she wrote.
This wasn’t the first time that she’s run into problems relating to a cosmetic procedure, and she opened up about how this was a reminder of her past experience. “I advocate for being natural since I got very ill and removed my implants and everything else toxic in my body in 2016. I should have learned my lesson the first time but I guess the universe keeps sending you the same lesson until you learn it,” she wrote.