'I Think I Was Absolutely Brainwashed': Crystal Hefner Recalls Controlling Marriage to Hugh Hefner

Crystal Hefner is taking another look at her years with Hugh Hefner and the life she had inside the Playboy Mansion.

During an episode of Firerose’s “No One Asked Her” podcast released Sunday, August 16, Hugh’s third wife opened up about the control she says she experienced while living at the famous Los Angeles home. Crystal said it took leaving the mansion for her to understand just how much her world had been shaped around Hugh.

“I think I was absolutely brainwashed, but there was nothing out there that validated me. So I just thought I was the crazy one,” Crystal said.

She also explained how the public image surrounding the Playboy founder affected the way she viewed herself.

“All of the media put Hef on such a pedestal that I’m like, okay, if they all see him as this larger than life amazing human, there must be something wrong with me,” she recalled.

Crystal lived at the Playboy Mansion for nearly a decade and married Hugh in 2012. They remained together until his death in 2017.

During the conversation, Firerose opened up about experiencing a similar disconnect between how the public viewed her former husband, Billy Ray Cyrus, and what she says their relationship was like privately.

“People always say, ‘Well, why didn't you leave?’ But you and I both know how impossible that is,” Firerose told Crystal. “You don't know what's real anymore. You have a very limited reality and everything has been systematically removed from you.”

Crystal then shared an example from her own experience that showed how isolated her life had become.

“When I finally left, I didn’t even know how to turn the headlights on in my car because I was always home before dark,” Crystal told Firerose.

She said the Mansion’s routine also made it difficult for her to maintain a life away from the property.

Crystal described the regular 6 p.m. movie nights as something that effectively kept her at home every evening.

“I couldn’t really have many friends outside of the girls that he was sleeping with,” Crystal said.

The conversation also went back to the beginning of Crystal’s relationship with Hugh.

She was 22 when she first arrived at the Playboy Mansion. Crystal recalled initially looking at Hugh’s roped-off cabana “like I was kind of at the zoo” before unexpectedly being invited beyond the barrier.

For Crystal, stepping inside meant entering a world she had grown up associating with wealth, glamour and success.

But she said the experience quickly became uncomfortable.

“But soon after he expected group s-- the first night. The first night,” she said. “I was like, ‘I didn’t really drink, but I did that night. I need to drink.’”

Looking back, Crystal believes her upbringing and low self-esteem at the time made it harder for her to recognize the situation she was entering.

She also remembered advice from Hugh’s longtime secretary, Mary O’Connor, that has stayed with her over the years: “Hef always picks the ones with the broken wings.”

Crystal said the comment had a lasting impact on her and made her reflect on why she ended up at the mansion in the first place.

“That was powerful,” Crystal said. “If I wasn’t broken, I wouldn’t have ended up there.”

As OK! previously reported, Hugh died in 2017 at age 91, nearly five years after marrying Crystal. His cause of death was ruled to be heart failure and septicemia.

Hugh was estimated to be worth roughly $50 million at the time of his death.