Hugh Hefner's widow shared strict rules former Playboy owner had models follow

The widow of Playboy owner Hugh Hefner has shared the strict set of rules models would be expected to follow in her recent biography.

Hugh was known for founding Playboy magazine at the age of 27, later going on to expand his empire to include a variety of international nightclubs and throwing exhibitionist parties at his mansion.

His status in pop culture would be re-introduced to a new generation via the reality series The Girls Next Door during the early 2000s which featured the mogul and a variety of girlfriends who lived with him at the Playboy Mansion.

The series and stories of wild parties which occurred behind closed doors at the Los Angeles abode would go on to become stuff of Hollywood legend.

Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine would reach peak popularity in 1972 ( Robert Mora/Getty Images)

But what was it actually like to live in the Playboy Mansion?

One person who is more than able to answer this question is Hugh's third wife and widow Crystal Hefner, who joined The Girls Next Door in 2009. She had originally been introduced to Hugh at a Halloween party the year before when she was just 22 and Hugh was 82.

A romantic relationship would form despite the 60-year age gap, with the pair tying the knot in 2012.

Crystal would remain married to Hugh until his death in 2017, at the age of 91.

Seven years on from the Playboy founder's passing and it would appear that Crystal has had time to re-examine their relationship from a different angle.

She made the decision to open up about her five-year marriage to the magazine founder earlier this year in her bombshell memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, which included allegations of abuse against the businessman.

Hugh and Crystal would tie the knot despite a 60-year age gap (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy)

One of the revelations in her book included the strict 'rules' which came alongside being a live-in girlfriend, including hair colours, nails and more.

"Our nail polish couldn’t be anything but some neutral colour, no French manicure," she explained in an interview with People about the expectations Hugh would have when it came to his girlfriends' appearances.

One of the more heartbreaking revelations involved Crystal being expected to bleach her hair the moment her roots would begin to show.

"I’d have to go bleach it and it would burn my scalp and I’d have blisters," she said, adding: "But for some reason I thought this was all normal and that’s what it meant to be seen as beautiful in Hef’s eyes."

Crystal has now spoken about her experience in 2024 memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself (Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Crystal's memoir also corroborated accounts from other bunnies detailing the allegedly poor state of the mansion.

"This place doesn’t really get cleaned that well and there’s mould, and it just felt just kind of run down and gross after a while," she said.

Abuse allegations would also be covered in A&E's expose documentary Secrets of Playboy in 2022, leading the brand to put out a statement denouncing the former owner's actions and severing ties with the Hefner family.