Was Hugh Hefner deaf? Crystal Hefner reveals the 'hellish' quirks of late Playboy tycoon
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hugh Hefner's widow Crystal Hefner, 37, claims in her memoir ‘Only Say Good Things’ that the late ‘Playboy’ founder would pop Viagra pills to improve his sexual performance. The pills made the Playboy tycoon deaf, according to the memoir.
Crystal, who wants to revert to her maiden name Harris once she earns her PhD in Psychology, said in an interview with Daily Mail, “Hef always said he'd rather be deaf and still able to have sex. Weird.”
It is also said that during his famous ‘Sunday Fundays’ when 200 young and glamorous women visited the Playboy Mansion, the famous owner took so much Viagra that his hearing was impeded.
In certain studies, it has been shown that the pills are linked with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), which left Hefner, who died at the age of 91 in 2017, almost deaf in one ear.
Crystal's memoir ‘Only Say Good Things’
Crystal became the magazine’s cover model in the July 2011 edition where she posed half naked. She was also billed as "America’s Princess."
Speaking about her appearance, Crystal said, “That chest was too big,” before adding, “I looked like a blow-up sex doll from China.”
She continued, “My implants were just props, they felt like I was wearing a costume.”
Crystal stayed in the Playboy Mansion for ten years, five as Hefner’s girlfriend and five as his wife.
Crystal's memoir, which narrates her experience in the Mansion, is titled ‘Only Say Good Things’. While the title reflects Hefner's wish, the book is expected to be rather unflattering of him. “I was so 'Team Hef,” Crystal said, “and I still am to a certain degree.”
She said that she met Hefner when she was a 21-year-old student in San Diego and Hugh was 81. After five years as his girlfriend, she married him in 2012.
Crystal said that her husband used to dictate even her nail polish choices. However, his authoritarianism went further than that. Whenever Hefner was in the house, he had issued a curfew of 6 pm, Crystal says.
Crystal had to stay back home to share dinner with Hefner, which consisted of chicken soup, cream cheese and crackers, and watch his favorite movies. At night, she was then expected to participate in the group sex.
She said, “It was embarrassing. I don't know the most people there'd been in our bedroom at one time but – a lot. Pretty bad. We were like, 'Oh, now it's your turn.'”
She added, “Nobody really wanted to be there but I think in Hef's mind, he still thought he was in his 40s, and those nights, the people, the mansion, solidified that idea. He felt, 'I've still got it.'”
Hugh Hefner's former twin lovers' comments on his hearing
Before Hefner’s death, his former 18-year-old twin lovers Karissa and Kristina Shannon said in an interview with The Sun, "You have to lean down and talk into his good ear for him to understand you.”
They further said, "We could sit right next to him and he wouldn’t have a clue what we said,” before adding, "He said he would rather have sex than have his hearing."
Who is Crystal Hefner dating now?
In 2022, InTouch Magazine reported that Crystal was dating the ‘Are You The One?’ Season 1 star Ryan Malaty as the rumored couple was sharing multiple PDA-filled pictures.
While Crystal didn’t speak much about her recent love life, she did say she spent the last few years living a more ordinary life and writing her book.
She further said about the difficulty of acting her age, “I'm having a hard time with relationships. I need to catch up to my age.”
She shared her predicament, saying, “The worst thing is that people were always inviting me to meet someone, a man, and then he'd be way older.” She added, “I feel like everyone was trying to pass me around to the next 80-year-old. It's awful.”