Crystal Hefner had to ‘be seen and not speak’

Crystal Hefner says she lost her own identity to become Hugh Hefner’s wife.

Hugh Hefner’s widow has recounted how life in the Playboy Mansion was so competitive, with multiple women vying for her husband’s attention, that she lost sight of her own identity in her attempts to become Hugh’s perfect woman.

Crystal told talk-show host Tamron Hall she was so desperate to beat out the other Playboy Mansion residents, who were “vying for his attention”, that she simply “became whatever he wanted me to be”.

And she painted a dire picture of just what that meant.

"He wanted me to just be seen and not speak," Crystal explained.

"Be helpless, be small, have bleach blonde hair and stay skinny and have big fake boobs."

To that end, Crystal said, Hugh practised extreme micromanagement, with the former Playboy owner homing in on the tiniest details of his wife’s appearance.

Naturally brunette, Crystal said Hugh preferred her blonde and would “tap” her on the head when he thought her roots needed a touch-up.

She also recalled her husband “hitting me on the thigh” when he noticed she’d gained weight, adding he told her matter-of-factly to “tone up”.

It was a dramatic change, Crystal said, from the love-bombing she had experienced when Hugh was wooing her.

"That was hard," Crystal, whose memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself is now available, reflected.

"This charming man all of the sudden is changing."