‘Hugh Hefner gave me $1,000 a week to look the part – I felt like a hooker’
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Former model Crystal Hefner was the third wife of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner from 2012 until his death in 2017. Hefner, 37, is now a real estate agent and has 10m followers on social media where she talks about body image and objectification. She divides her time between California and Hawaii.
Did you have a good financial start in life?
My parents romanticised money and fame – probably too much. They were always chasing the American dream. My father, Ray Harris, was a talented British singer who had been an opening act for Sammy Davis Jr and Johnny Cash in Australia.
He met my mother in England in the early 1970s. She was 20, but already divorced with two girls. In 1981 they moved to America and I was born in Arizona in 1986. They travelled around constantly in search of opportunities, but things didn’t pan out as they’d hoped so they moved back to the UK to run a pub in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. But they still cherished their American dream, so when I was six they moved to California. Dad took every gig going, but he fell sick with cancer – and died – before he tasted any real success.
What was your first job?
While studying psychology at San Diego State University, I modelled at trade shows and conventions. My best gig was working at Comic Con, dressed as GI Jane. I was paid $650 (£515) for a day. I spent some of my earnings on breast implants because I idolised Pamela Anderson.
How did you meet Hugh Hefner?
A friend I’d met on a modelling gig told me you could apply to attend the Halloween Party at the Playboy Mansion by sending in your picture.
I didn’t think I was Playboy material, but my invitation came through just a couple of hours later. We were driven to the mansion while the party was in full swing. Hef crooked his finger at me and said, “You. Come here”. We got chatting and he said he could find me a bedroom if I stuck around. That night I had group sex with him. I was 21. He was 60 years older. The sex felt odd and robotic.
How did you end up living at the Mansion – and were you paid?
A few days later, Hef invited me to move in. My modelling career had stalled, so I packed as fast as I could. I did my best to make him happy. He was a narcissist and I tried to reflect his self-importance back at him. I was quickly moved into the primary bedroom as Hef’s ‘main’ girlfriend.
On Fridays, we were given a $1,000 allowance to spend on whatever we needed to look like Playboy girlfriends. But we had to ask for it. Hef counted out the notes slowly and made us wait, hands clasped, like good girls. It made me feel terrible, like a hooker. He was careful not to give us too much; he didn’t want us building a nest egg.
Did you feel exploited?
Three months after moving in, we started filming The Girls Next Door, a reality television series which focused on the lives of Hef’s girlfriends. Hef was paid $44,000 per episode. I was paid zero. I just felt fortunate to be there.
Did your financial situation improve when Hefner proposed?
He first proposed on Christmas Eve 2010. He handed me a music box containing an engagement ring and said, “I hope it fits”. As far as proposals go, it wasn’t the most romantic.
He started planning a reality TV special called Marrying Hef, featuring me. I was handed a contract to sign and my heart sank when I discovered he was offering a token $2,500 ‘talent fee’ for the entire series. He was going to be paid $800,000. When I asked for more, he coolly replied, “What are you in this for?” No one yelled at Hef, but I did and stormed down to the security gate. Hef’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker, “If Crystal tries to leave, detain her!” I knew then I had to leave for real, but I had to be smarter.
Did you start making financial provisions?
I began setting aside some of my weekly allowance. I also began to do paid promotions and collaborated on bikini and loungewear lines. Just days before the wedding, I drove away from the mansion and the impending marriage.
How did you support yourself outside the Playboy Mansion?
I invested in a lingerie store in Los Angeles with a girl I had met at the mansion. But the venture quickly failed and I lost $80,000. Out of the mansion, I felt invisible, except to a certain foreign prince – a famous playboy type – who offered me $400,000 to see him in his country. It felt sinister and dangerous, like he was offering to buy me, so I turned it down.
Why did you return to the Mansion?
In my six months outside the mansion, I failed at everything. I felt unprotected and vulnerable, so I began to rewrite history. Life at the mansion hadn’t been so bad. Then I got a call from Hef’s assistant saying he was lonely without me. I was so susceptible to being wanted that I agreed to go back.
Did you sign a prenuptial agreement when Hefner proposed again?
Yes, but Hef and the Playboy Foundation awarded me very little relative to his net worth. They even stipulated that I had no right to use Playboy’s famous bunny head logo. When I showed the prenup to an attorney, he said he couldn’t let me sign it. It was grossly unfair to me. I didn’t care, so I showed it to another lawyer who didn’t argue.
Did you continue earning after your marriage?
I still saved every penny I could because the prenup stripped me of any claim to his millions after his death, which would go to his four children. I learnt how to invest in the stock market, formed a limited liability company, studied real estate and started buying properties I could flip or rent out. I also studied emerging cryptocurrencies and DJ’d every Saturday in Vegas for $7,500. Hef was fine with the DJing. I kept the rest of my income a secret. By then I was earning a few hundred thousand a year.
Did Hefner leave you anything on his death?
He set aside his Playboy retirement fund for me. He also bought a house and put both our names on the deeds because the mansion was sold in his lifetime, with a clause that he could live out his last years there. There was no such clause for me.
How do you support yourself now?
I own six properties – three in Hawaii and three in California – some of which I let. My main home is in the Hollywood Hills. Hef would be surprised by my financial success. He never had confidence in women.
Only Say Good Things by Crystal Hefner is out now in hardback, audio and ebook, published by Ebury Spotlight.
