Following the release of Crystal Hefner’s explosive tell-all memoir, Hugh Hefner’s ex Kimberley Conrad defends the late Playboy founder.
As previously reported, Hefner’s widow wrote about her marriage in her book Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself. She stated the union was toxic and backward. They were married from 2012 until Hefner’s 2017 death.
“At the time I thought I was on top,” Hugh Hefner’s widow told PEOPLE prior to the book’s release. Crystal spoke about first coming to the Playboy Mansion in 2008. “I thought, wow, if I just like everything that he lives and do all the things that he wants me to do, then I’m the favorite. And I was, but I just lost myself in the process.”
Meanwhile, Conrad had some thoughts about her ex’s widow and her book. Hefner and Conrad were married from 1989 to 2010 and shared two children with him. She told TMZ that Crystal had no credibility and claimed she was exploiting Hefner while he was still alive.
“As a few people speak their version of their idea of events in hopes of riding a wave of headline relevance, and making a quick buck, we should all ask ourselves whether we want to live in an environment where people refuse to take accountability,” “And use words loosely like ‘force’ and ‘survive’ to describe choices they made willingly at a certain point in their own lives.”
Hugh Hefner’s ex also said that Crystal wasn’t forced into marrying the Playboy founder. She was also not forced to live at the Playboy Mansion. Conrad pointed out that Crystal made those decisions to give herself “notoriety, opportunity, and money.”
“We should be wary of those who try to destroy things,” Conrad added. “Because they are no longer benefiting from them.”
Kimberly Conrad Also Says It’s Not Fair That Hugh Hefner’s Not Here to Defend Himself
Continuing to speak out against Crystal Hefner’s new book, Kimberly Conrad also stated that it’s not fair that Hugh Hefner is not alive to defend himself.
Conrad also praised her ex as being a “pioneer” of free thought and expression. She then said that Hugh Hefner was a “leading voice” behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time. Conrad knew him as being an advocate of free speech, integrity, sexual freedoms, and civil rights.
In a final clapback against Crystal, Conrad added, “If you want to talk about exploitation, this is exactly what these women have done with Hef in his later years and at the end of his life.”
Crystal added that she released the book years after Hefner’s death because she needed time to reflect. “I’ve been in a lot of therapy trying to figure it out,” she told NPR.
She also said she hopes to help others in “abusive relationships” with her book. She wants to teach young women about “value and self-worth” as well.
Crystal is among a group of women who have spoken out about their time at the Playboy Mansion and being with Hugh Hefner.
Holly Madison, a famous girlfriend of Hefner, had written about her relationship with him in her 2015 book. She also spoke in a 2021 A&E docuseries about her Playboy experience. “I didn’t realize that getting into the Playboy world was a dangerous choice.”
Other women who have spoken out about the Playboy Mansion and Hefner include Izabella St. James, Karissa Shannon, twins Carla and Melissa Howe, and Jill An Spaulding.