The widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has claimed that her ex-husband’s foundation has a tranche of sexualised pictures of women, some of whom could be underage.
Crystal Hefner, 39, who married Hefner in 2012, when he was 86, also says that she was removed from her position as president of the nonprofit because of her concerns about the security of the documents.
Crystal made the claims during a bombshell press conference at celebrity attorney Gloria Allred’s office on February 17.
She told reporters that some of the women allegedly pictured in documents held by the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation might not even know the photographs exist.
“These materials span decades, beginning in the 1960s, and may include images of girls who were underage at the time and could not consent to how their images would be retained or controlled,” Crystal said. “They may also contain images of women who did not consent to their images being taken in the first place.
“The scrapbooks include nude images, images taken before and after sexual activity, and other deeply intimate moments,” she continued. “They contain intimate material involving women who are now mothers, grandmothers, professionals, and private citizens who have spent decades building their lives with no idea these images were still being hoarded.”
According to Allred, the documents also include a list of women with whom thePlayboy founder had sexual relations. The list allegedly describes the sex acts that were performed.
Crystal added that a security failure or a leak of the documents could “devastate thousands of lives.”
Crystal, a former Playmate of the Month from 2009, has distanced herself from the magazine empire in recent years.
In January 2024, she published her bombshell tell-all book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.
In the book, she described an alleged culture of misogyny inside the infamous Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and the treatment that the women who lived there allegedly endured inside its walls.
“At the time, I must have been brainwashed or something,” she told The New York Times.
Crystal claims that she was told to “tone up” whenever she gained weight and that Hefner would demand that she dyed her hair blonde when her brunette roots began to show.
She also alleged that group sex events in Hefner’s bedroom allegedly followed parties at the mansion and that she felt pressured to keep up with goings-on at the mansion because she feared being replaced by a younger woman.
When Hefner was near death, Crystal claims that he told her to “only say good things” about him. She told The NYT that she planned to do so until watching the documentary series Leaving Neverland. The program follows two men who allege that they were allegedly abused by Michael Jackson.
Jackson’s estate has maintained that the late singer was innocent and, at the time of the documentary’s broadcast, noted that he was not found guilty of any wrongdoing.
Although Hugh Hefner has been accused of sexual abuse and coercion by some of his former girlfriends, the millionaire has not been found guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.
In 2022, however, Playboy said that it stands with the women accusing Hefner of coercing women into sex.
“We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences,” a statement from the company read.
The Independent has contacted the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation for comment.
