Hugh Hefner's Widow Crystal Wasn't Sure If She Was Happy At The Iconic Playboy Mansion

Hugh Hefner's last wife, Crystal Hefner, recalled her time at the iconic Playboy Mansion.

In a recent interview with People magazine, Crystal spoke about Hugh's mansion and admitted she wasn't sure whether she was happy while she was there. She remembered Hugh keeping a birdcage in his bathroom with two lovebirds and how they reportedly kept dying and getting replaced.

"It was all an illusion," she told People. "I don't even know if I was ever happy there, to be honest."

In 2016, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and breast implant illness. Her blood work suggested toxic mold exposure from the mansion, which she shared in her memoir.

"The whole time, the mansion was breaking me down, one way or another," she wrote. "Now it was breaking down my health. The house was literally making me sick."

In the interview, Crystal shared her first impression of the house and how she was initially bedazzled by it. However, she later saw the flaws inside the building, which was built on Hugh's empire and sexual fantasy that embodied the spirit of Playboy.

"This was a beautiful English Tudor home -- and my family is from England -- on five acres in the middle of L.A.," she said about living at the mansion. "But over time, I saw that this place doesn't really get cleaned that well, and there's mold. It just felt rundown and gross after a while."

She remembered that on her first night, she walked up to Hugh's room and saw photos of famous people hanging out with Hugh, and when she toured the house, she saw the cracks. She noticed the sunken living rooms and shag rugs. The items were reportedly expensive but appeared a little worn around the edges.

There were also boxes of tissues over the lust pits that looked like a brothel. When asked if she could recall the game rooms all too well, Crystal said she went there a lot but was "always afraid to touch too many things" as those areas were always open during parties.

"I have no idea what happens in there," she added.

While Crystal wasn't sure if she was really happy during her stay at the Playboy Mansion, she was, however, certain that she was never "in love" with the late Playboy founder despite their nearly five-year marriage.

"I realized I was dealing with a really big power imbalance. It seemed like a world of success and fantasy, but everyone's having to sleep with an 80-year-old. There's a price. Everything has a price," she explained.

"I thought, wow, if I just like everything that he likes 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."

Crystal's memoir, "Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself," hit the shelves on Jan. 23.

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Hugh hefner, Playboy Mansion