Crystal Hefner, the widow of the late Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner, is working to keep thousands of intimate images in his scrapbooks and journals private.
Crystal, 39, filed regulatory complaints with the attorneys general of California and Illinois, alleging that the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation mishandled sensitive private documents. According to Crystal, the materials include scrapbooks containing explicit images of women. She also alleges that some of the images are of underage girls.
Crystal, who is being represented by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, said that the images did not appear in Playboy magazines.
Allred said Crystal was removed as the chief executive officer of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation after she voiced concerns over publishing the private scrapbooks and diary.
“My focus is on how Hugh Hefner’s personal scrapbooks chronicle private moments that took place behind closed doors,” Crystal said during a press conference on Feb. 17.
“There are serious and unresolved concerns about the scope of what these books contain. The materials span decades, beginning in the 1960s, and may include images of girls who were underage at the time and could not consent to how their images would be retained or controlled.”
Crystal claimed that many of the scrapbooks “may also contain images of women who did not consent to their images being taken in the first place.”
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“The scrapbooks include nude images, images taken before and after sexual activity, and other deeply intimate moments. They contain intimate material involving women who are now mothers, grandmothers, professionals and private citizens who have spent decades building their lives with no idea these images were still being hoarded,” she continued.
“I believe they include women, and possibly girls, who never agreed to lifelong private possession of their naked images, and who have no transparency into where their photos are, how they are being stored, or what will happen to them next.”
She said that she is “deeply worried about these images getting out” due to “artificial intelligence, deepfakes, digital scanning, online marketplaces and data breaches.”
“A single security failure could devastate thousands of lives,” she added.
“This is not about money. I am seeking dignity, safety and the destruction of non-consensual intimate materials so that exploitation does not continue under the banner of philanthropy. Thousands of women may be affected. This is a civil rights issue. Women’s bodies are not property, not history, and not collectibles. And no organization should be allowed to claim the language of civil rights while denying women their most basic one: the right to control their own bodies and images,” Crystal concluded.
Allred alleged the foundation has in its possession “3,000 personal scrapbooks containing thousands of nude images of women as well as Hefner’s diary, containing highly personal information regarding his sexual exploits, including names of women he slept with, notes describing the sex acts that they performed and in some instances even information tracking women’s menstrual cycles.”
Allred said that they are asking the attorneys general to “initiate a prompt and thorough investigation of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation’s actions.”
“Crystal is especially concerned that these scrapbooks could contain images of minor girls. Moreover, Crystal is also concerned that some of the images in the scrapbooks may have been taken without the informed consent of the adult women depicted, such as while they were intoxicated,” Allred added.
The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation was established in 1964 “to embolden those who rebelled against outdated viewpoints and pushed forward new ones,” according to its website.
However, now the non-profit organization says that it “supports and funds today’s pioneers, defending civil rights and liberties, with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies.”
The foundation has not made any comments regarding Crystal and Allred’s claims as of this writing.
Hugh Hefner died of natural causes on Sept. 27, 2017, at the age of 91. He helped usher in the 1960s sexual revolution with his groundbreaking magazine, around which he built a multi-million-dollar business empire.
He began his career working as a copywriter for Esquire before founding Playboy in 1953 with the help of several investors, including his mother, who loaned him $1,000, according to a New York Times profile.
Hefner was married three times — in 1949, 1989 and most recently in 2012 to Crystal.
Crystal opened up days after the death of her late husband, saying, “I haven’t been able to bring myself to write most people back to thank them for their condolences.”
“I am heartbroken. I am still in disbelief,” she added.
Crystal called her late husband “an American hero” and “a pioneer.”
“A kind and humble soul who opened up his life and home to the world. I felt how much he loved me. I loved him so much. I am so grateful. He gave me life. He gave me direction. He taught me kindness. I will feel eternally grateful to have been by his side, holding his hand, and telling him how much I love him,” she said.
— With files from Global News
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