Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Harris, is asking Jessica Biel to not painting a fictional model of the Playboy founder’s spouse within the upcoming film “Playmates.”
Harris, who was married to Hefner from 2012 till his loss of life in 2017, posted a screenshot of a textual content on Instagram on Oct. 8 that she despatched Biel, urging her to move up the function of Hefner’s fictional spouse.
“Please rethink enjoying Hugh Hefner’s ‘spouse’ if this movie intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world,” Harris wrote in a message to Biel, in response to the screenshot she shared on Instagram.
“I used to be truly his spouse, and I skilled sexual, emotional, monetary and bodily abuse in that relationship. Many different girls have come ahead with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as effectively.
“There are additionally deeply troubling issues involving minors. I hope everybody concerned on this movie takes the time to hearken to the ladies who lived it earlier than serving to Hollywood flip it again into nostalgia.”
TODAY.com has reached out to Biel for remark about Harris’ put up, in addition to Harris for any additional remark about what she wrote. Neither responded.
TODAY.com additionally reached out toHefner’s property for remark about Harris’ allegations of experiencing “rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation,” however didn’t hear again.
The movie is being made by Searchlight Photos, which not did reply to TODAY.com’s request for remark about Harris’ put up or Biel’s casting within the film.
Selection reported Oct. 6 that Biel has joined the forged of “Playmates,” a coming-of-age story a few 13-year-old woman who befriends a girl competing with different hopefuls to develop into Playmate of the Month. Invoice Pullman, Lily-Rose Depp and Indiana Elle are additionally hooked up to star in it.
Biel is slated to play Hefner’s spouse within the film. In keeping with Selection, the character is fictional and never primarily based on an actual individual.
Hefner was married two different occasions, to Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 2010 and Millie Williams from 1949 to 1959.
Harris adopted up her put up with one other one, during which she confirmed appreciation for the “overwhelming response” she acquired.
“So many ladies are talking up, sharing their experiences, and expressing that they’ve merely had sufficient,” she wrote.
“Sufferer blaming remains to be far too frequent, particularly in relation to narcissistic and emotional abuse. I do know that not everybody has skilled these dynamics firsthand, and I’m genuinely glad for individuals who haven’t. However I additionally hope we are able to hearken to and assist the ladies who’ve, even when their experiences are obscure.”
Harris additionally mentioned she desires “to assist girls” and specific her hope that the film is “not one thing that can glorify Hugh Hefner. With girls within the main roles, my hope is that the movie in the end delivers a message of empowerment: that ladies can discover success, independence, and a way of self past Playboy.”
In 2024, Harris penned a memoir, “Solely Say Good Issues: Surviving ‘Playboy’ and Discovering Myself,” during which she wrote that dwelling within the famed Playboy Mansion was like dwelling in a jail.
“I at all times needed to be dwelling by six o’clock. If I wasn’t, it was an issue. He could be upset. He could be yelling my title by the home,” she says of Hugh Hefner, writing that she felt like Rapunzel locked in a tower.
“I didn’t know then that I may rescue myself. I didn’t at all times know I wanted to be rescued, however I knew I used to be trapped,” she added.
Harris additionally mentioned Hefner was a “narcissist” and had a necessity to regulate the ladies who lived within the mansion.
“It’s like he needed us to beg him for one thing, so he may really feel much more highly effective and possibly have us really feel small,” she instructed TODAY.com in 2024.
“It was bizarre and it was onerous. Wanting again, he did use me and manipulate me for his personal achieve in each means,” she continued.
In August, Harris mentioned Hefner was “very abusive” and that she was “brainwashed” when she appeared on the “No One Requested Her” podcast.
“So I simply thought I used to be the loopy one as a result of the entire media put Hef on such a pedestal that I’m like, ‘OK, if all of them see him as this larger-than-life superb human, there should be one thing improper with me,” she mentioned.
Hefner has been accused of sexual misconduct earlier than, with a number of allegations leveled in opposition to him within the 2022 A&E collection “Secrets and techniques of Playboy,” launched 5 years after he died in 2017.
“This collection accommodates allegations of wrongdoing over a long time by Hugh Hefner and others related to him,” learn a press release on the finish of every episode. “The overwhelming majority of allegations haven’t been the topic of felony investigations or costs, and they don’t represent proof of guilt.”