Crystal Hefner revealed her experience during her years inside the Playboy Mansion. She said that leaving the famous home helped her understand how much Hugh Hefner had shaped her world. Crystal, Hugh’s third wife, lived at the mansion for nearly a decade and opened up about her experience during Firerose’s No One Asked Her podcast on Sunday, Aug. 16.
Crystal Hefner said leaving the Playboy Mansion helped her understand Hugh Hefner’s influence
Crystal said she now believes she was “absolutely brainwashed” while living with Hugh, but didn’t have enough outside perspective to realize it at the time.
“I think I was absolutely brainwashed, but there was nothing out there that validated me. So I just thought I was the crazy one,” Crystal said.
She also explained how Hugh’s public image made her question herself. The Girls Next Door star recalled, “All of the media put Hef on such a pedestal that I’m like, okay, if they all see him as this larger than life amazing human, there must be something wrong with me.”
Crystal married Hugh in 2012, and they remained together until his death in 2017.
Crystal also said leaving the mansion made her realize just how isolated she had become. “When I finally left, I didn’t even know how to turn the headlights on in my car because I was always home before dark,” she said.
The mansion’s daily routine also kept her close to home. Crystal told Firerose, “I couldn’t really have many friends outside of the girls that he was sleeping with.”
Crystal was just 22 when she first arrived at the mansion. What looked glamorous from the outside quickly became uncomfortable.
“But soon after he expected group s– the first night. The first night,” the model recalled, “I was like, ‘I didn’t really drink, but I did that night. I need to drink.’”
She also recalled something Hugh’s longtime secretary, Mary O’Connor, once told her: “Hef always picks the ones with the broken wings.” She said those words stayed with Crystal and made her think differently about how she ended up at the mansion. Crystal said, “That was powerful.”
“If I wasn’t broken, I wouldn’t have ended up there,” she concluded.
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