Hugh Hefner’s Widow Crystal Recalls Not Having A Say On Her Implants

Crystal Hefner is still sharing insights into her marriage with Hugh Hefner and her time at the mansion. 

In a recent podcast interview, she discussed the limited control she had over her own body, including not being able to decide on getting implants during her marriage to the Playboy founder.

Over the last few weeks, Crystal has been disclosing bits of her life with Hugh while promoting her new memoir, "Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself." 

She continued on that path when she appeared on the recent episode of "The Skinny Confidential" podcast, where she revealed that she had no control over the size of her implants.

According to her, the decision regarding the size of the implants was made by Hugh — an act that she described as his "judgment call." Reflecting on the situation, Crystal said:

"The doctor just put them in. Looking at the photos back in the day, I look like a s— doll from China. Like, it's embarrassing. It was like props to me."

The 37-year-old had previously revealed that she underwent the removal of her implants in 2016 due to health complications. 

Although she initially thought she had Lyme disease, Crystal soon discovered she was dealing with Breast Implant Illness, where the implants break down and potentially poison the body, causing various symptoms. Speaking of her symptoms while on the podcast, the former "Girls Next Door" star stated:

"I just got worse and worse and worse...Brain fog. I knew I had the words, but I just couldn't. I couldn't, like, grab them from my brain. My whole body was, like, burning and on fire."

Crystal hinted at the severity of her illness, revealing that during the surgery, her doctor — Dr. Lu-Jean Feng — had to use "open heart surgery tools" to literally scrape parts of the implant shells from her rib cage.

"Implants are gross. There's so many chemicals in them that are not natural at all. Like if it doesn't come from the earth... Why are we putting it in our body?" she added, before divulging that she felt instant relief after the procedure. In her words:

"When I came out of surgery, my lungs felt twice the size. Like, whoa, I can breathe. My pain in my neck instantly went away. I'm like, this is the first time I've had surgery where, you know, you wake up better... I was happy." 

The details about Crystal's implants and the subsequent health challenge emerged after she discussed her choice to distance herself from the Hefner name and return to her maiden name, Harris. 

As The Blast reported, the model expressed her decision during an appearance on Rachel Uchitel's podcast "Miss Understood" in January. In the conversation, Rachel asked about the influence of the Hefner name on Crystal.

Crystal, who was Hugh's third and final wife, shared that her late husband's secretary was responsible for changing her last name to match the late Playboy boss' after their 2012 marriage. 

Hence, only when she began working on her memoir, could she reflect on her feelings associated with carrying the renowned name. After pointing out that she "just hid out" for five years before she began writing her book, Crystal said, "So, I wasn't really around people to talk about it or really dive into it."

However, since the memoir's release, "it's something" that she has been "internally thinking about." She continued, "I don't want to be Hefner. I'm done with that. I've closed the book now that I've written it and I feel like my name needs to go back to what it originally was."