'Master Manipulator': Hugh Hefner's Son Accuses Ex-Stepmom Crystal of Changing Late Playboy Founder's Will
May 14 2024, Published 7:50 p.m. ET
Marston Hefner, the son of late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, unleashed a scorching critique of his father's widow, Crystal Hefner, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Appearing as a guest on Monday's episode of the Girls Next Level podcast, Marston accused Crystal of being a "master manipulator" and exerting control over his father's affairs, including his will and social gatherings at the Playboy Mansion.
"When Crystal came in, there started to be tribes," he told ex-playmates Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, "and so there were people who were on Crystal's team."
"She liked controlling the guest list," Marston, Hugh's son with second wife Kimberley Conrad, continued. "She liked taking girls off and on the guest list depending on how, whatever the whims were at the time… She liked being in that position where you had to go through her or you had to ask her for things."
Marston went on to say that when his father's health took a turn for the worse and he was "dosed with f------ medication," claiming Crystal "didn't want people to see him not able to walk, not able to talk."
"He was really sick and that's why she got all these NDA things," Marston claimed. He also accused Crystal of manipulation when it came to the assets left behind by his father, who died of cardiac arrest and respiratory failure at age 91 in September 2017.
"The year that he passed away, he changed the will and he gave me, another person, and Crystal more money," Marston said, adding, "I was looking at that when I was getting the inheritance, and I was like, 'Why?' When he wasn't here, when he didn't know what the f--- was up or down half of the time."
"And that's why I sent an email saying, 'I don't think he's competent anymore, guys, can we agree on this?'" Marston recalled, "And nobody really wanted to address what I perceived as the elephant in the room."
Marston's rebuke continued as he expressed skepticism about Crystal's recent memoir, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy And Finding Myself. He scrutinized her claims of feeling imprisoned and unloved in their relationship, raising doubts about her intentions and questioning her pursuit of fame and financial gain.
"'If you're not interested in fame, why are you buying Instagram followers?" he said.
Marston also claimed Crystal encouraged Hugh to make lavish purchases beyond his means, including a property that strained his finances.
Crystal was 26 when she married then 86-year-old Hefner in 2012, becoming his third wife.