Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Harris, is asking Jessica Biel not to portray a fictional version of the Playboy founder’s wife in the upcoming movie “Playmates.”
Harris, who was married to Hefner from 2012 until his death in 2017, posted a screenshot of a text on Instagram on Oct. 8 that she sent Biel, urging her to pass up the role of Hefner’s fictional wife.
“Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s ‘wife’ if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world,” Harris wrote in a message to Biel, according to the screenshot she shared on Instagram.
“I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship. Many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well.
“There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors. I hope everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia.”
TODAY.com has reached out to Biel for comment about Harris’ post, as well as Harris for any further comment about what she wrote. Neither responded.
TODAY.com also reached out toHefner’s estate for comment about Harris’ allegations of experiencing “rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation,” but did not hear back.
The film is being made by Searchlight Pictures, which not did reply to TODAY.com’s request for comment about Harris’ post or Biel’s casting in the movie.
Variety reported Oct. 6 that Biel has joined the cast of “Playmates,” a coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl who befriends a woman competing with other hopefuls to become Playmate of the Month. Bill Pullman, Lily-Rose Depp and Indiana Elle are also attached to star in it.
Biel is slated to play Hefner’s wife in the movie. According to Variety, the character is fictional and not based on a real person.
Hefner was married two other times, to Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 2010 and Millie Williams from 1949 to 1959.
Harris followed up her post with another one, in which she showed appreciation for the “overwhelming response” she received.
“So many women are speaking up, sharing their experiences, and expressing that they’ve simply had enough,” she wrote.
“Victim blaming is still far too common, especially when it comes to narcissistic and emotional abuse. I know that not everyone has experienced these dynamics firsthand, and I’m genuinely glad for those who haven’t. But I also hope we can listen to and support the women who have, even when their experiences are difficult to understand.”
Harris also said she wants “to support women” and express her hope that the movie is “not something that will glorify Hugh Hefner. With women in the leading roles, my hope is that the film ultimately delivers a message of empowerment: that women can find fulfillment, independence, and a sense of self beyond Playboy.”
In 2024, Harris penned a memoir, “Only Say Good Things: Surviving ‘Playboy’ and Finding Myself,” in which she wrote that living in the famed Playboy Mansion was like living in a prison.
“I always had to be home by six o’clock. If I wasn’t, it was a problem. He would be upset. He would be yelling my name through the house,” she says of Hugh Hefner, writing that she felt like Rapunzel locked in a tower.
“I didn’t know then that I could rescue myself. I didn’t always know I needed to be rescued, but I knew I was trapped,” she added.
Harris also said Hefner was a “narcissist” and had a need to control the women who lived in the mansion.
“It’s like he wanted us to beg him for something, so he could feel even more powerful and probably have us feel small,” she told TODAY.com in 2024.
“It was weird and it was hard. Looking back, he did use me and manipulate me for his own gain in every way,” she continued.
In August, Harris said Hefner was “very abusive” and that she was “brainwashed” when she appeared on the “No One Asked Her” podcast.
“So I just thought I was the crazy one because all of the media put Hef on such a pedestal that I’m like, ‘OK, if they all see him as this larger-than-life amazing human, there must be something wrong with me,” she said.
Hefner has been accused of sexual misconduct before, with multiple allegations leveled against him in the 2022 A&E series “Secrets of Playboy,” released five years after he died in 2017.
“This series contains allegations of wrongdoing over decades by Hugh Hefner and others associated with him,” read a statement at the end of each episode. “The vast majority of allegations have not been the subject of criminal investigations or charges, and they do not constitute proof of guilt.”
