Hugh Hefner’s ex-wife, Kimberly Conrad, criticized Crystal Hefner, the Playboy founder’s widow, for revealing disturbing details about their relationship and her time at the Playboy mansion.
Conrad, who was married to Hugh from 1989 to 2010, believes that Crystal only attacks Hugh to profit from her recently published memoir, ‘Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.’
The 61-year-old expressed concern about people speaking about events in a way that avoids accountability and uses words like ‘force’ and ‘survive’ to describe choices they made willingly. This raises the question of whether we want to live in an environment where people refuse to take responsibility and use language loosely. Using clear and concise language is essential to avoid confusion and ensure accountability.
Conrad claimed that Crystal had ample opportunities to leave Hugh and the Playboy mansion but chose to stay for the notoriety, opportunity, and money.
Conrad warned against those who try to destroy things simply because they no longer benefit from them.
Despite Crystal’s recent claims about their toxic marriage, Conrad insisted that Hugh was being exploited by the 37-year-old in his later years and at the end of his life, not the other way around.
The late magazine publisher’s former Playboy model partner spoke out because she believed it was unfair that Hugh could not defend himself. She shares two children with him.
She referred to her ex-husband as a pioneer of free thought and expression. She was a leading voice behind significant social and cultural movements, advocating for free speech, integrity, sexual freedoms, and civil rights.
Conrad praises Hugh, but Crystal has a different recollection of her time with the Playboy head honcho.
She describes her nearly five-year marriage with Hugh as emotionally abusive and traumatic. Crystal told E! News on Thursday that she never felt like she had a way out.
She cared for Her, but in some ways, she felt he couldn’t be in love with her.
During a separate interview with People, the memoirist mentioned struggling with a significant power imbalance.
She described the world of success and fantasy, where everyone had to sleep with an 80-year-old, and how everything had a price. She found it challenging to express her true feelings.
Crystal described sex with Hugh as ‘odd and robotic.’
She questioned whether he even enjoyed it and wrote that he seemed less sex-savvy than some of the teenage boys she had been with years ago. It was clear to her that Hef had never taken a moment in his entire life to figure out how to please someone else.
Crystal reflected on Hugh’s strict rules for her and his other girlfriends while living in the rundown, gross mansion. The rules included:
Wearing only neutral nail polish.
Having a strict 6 p.m. curfew.
Dyeing her hair blond.
She said, ‘I’d have to bleach it, and it would burn my scalp, and I’d have blisters. But for some reason, I thought this was all normal, and that’s what it meant to be seen as beautiful in Hef’s eyes.’
Crystal met Hugh when she was just 21.
Hugh invited her to live with him and his then-teen girlfriends Karissa and Kristina Shannon.
They wed in 2012 and remained married until he died at age 91.
Several former Playboy Bunnies, including Crystal and the Shannon twins, have spoken out about their traumatic experiences while living in the mansion. These experiences were detailed in A&E Network’s ‘Secrets of Playboy.’