Crystal Harris admits she regrets five-year marriage to Hugh Hefner

Crystal Harris has opened up about her marriage to Hugh Hefner, sharing her 'regrets' about the relationship with the Playboy founder.

Harris, who starred in the final season of The Girls Next Door, met the magazine mogul when she was in her 20s and he was 60. They married in 2012 and remained wed until his death at 91 in 2017, following a cardiac arrest.

In a video posted on her social media on Tuesday (July 14), Harris, who has previously shared the ins and outs of their relationship in her 2024 memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, got candid about their five years together.

Following Hefner’s death, many allegations were made against him, including accusations of rape.

Harris previously said she felt 'imprisoned' by Hefner and the whole experience of living in the infamous mansion.

The model turned realtor, 40, explained her mindset when she was younger, saying she believed marrying him would add to her 'value' as a person.

In the video, she said: “I regret being in my mid-20s and thinking that marrying one of the most famous men in the world meant I had finally made it, that I finally mattered or had value.

“I regret the years I spent making myself smaller so his world could feel bigger. I regret learning to stay quiet when I could have spoken. I regret the version of myself that I had to abandon just to survive in that environment. I regret that it took me as long as it did to understand what was actually happening — like, years.”

Harris also said that people 'never expected' her to speak out about the relationship and to, instead, 'stay in the story that was written for me, the grateful young wife, the lucky girl'.

“But I’m done living in that story. Yes, I regret it, and saying that out loud is one of the most honest things I’ve ever done,” she added.

Although Harris has 'regrets', she appreciates the woman she has become since.

“I’m grateful for the woman I became on the other side of it. But yes, I regret it,” she added.

Harris has moved on from her time in the Playboy Mansion and married Hawaiian businessman James Ward earlier this year.

Sympathetic fans flooded the comments on her video, showing their support and sharing their own stories of troublesome relationships.

However, among the waves of supporting comments, was US comedian and actor Jon Lovitz’s remark.

Lovitz, who was a close friend of Hefner’s and even attended his wedding to Harris, wrote: “Do you regret the house he bought for you to live in, after his death? And keeping the money, after you sold it? And all the times your mother was at the mansion? And do you regret all he did for you? And do you regret leaving him and then coming back to marry him?”

Dozens of people criticized Lovitz’s comment, calling it 'insensitive' and 'horrible'.

UNILAD has reached out to representatives for Lovitz and Harris for comment.