Only Say Good Things

Combining the nostalgic writing of Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died with the urgency of Emily Ratajkowski's My Body, this gripping memoir from Hugh Hefner's widow lays bare the shocking reality of life in the Playboy mansion.

'I was 21 years old when I found myself on the front stoop of the Playboy Mansion; its ornate front door feeling like a route to success. I want to tell the real story of my time there - the good and the bad, the dark and the light. The story I wish I had heard when I was a young woman, trying to find my way in the world. Before I showed up at a party, allowed myself to stay, and made the decisions that would shape my life.'

For 10 years Crystal Hefner lived at the Playboy mansion, sacrificing her body and agency to satisfy the desires of its owner, Hugh Hefner. Having obtained the status, love and acceptance she'd been taught to crave when she became the 86-year-old's wife at just 26, she thought she'd finally 'made it'. Instead, she felt lost.

Now, 6 years after Hefner's death, Crystal is ready to unpack the events that led her to the mansion and ultimately prevented her departure. In this gripping memoir, she reveals the shocking realities of a life lived at the centre of 2000's pop culture, where glamour and objectification went hand in hand. In doing so, she explores why it is that so many women choose to fit themselves into a mould that has been designed by men to shrink them.