Hugh Hefner’s Widow Asks Jessica Biel to Reconsider Playing the Playboy Founder’s Wife in Upcoming Film

Making her position clear, Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Harris, confirmed she reached out to Jessica Biel to ask her not to play the late Playboy founder’s wife in an upcoming film, Playmates.

Harris, who married Hefner for four years before his death in 2017, took to Instagram this week to share a screenshot of a DM she sent the former 7th Heaven star about the situation.

“Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s ‘wife’ if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world,” she wrote. “I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial, and physical abuse in that relationship.”

Harris also stated that “many other women” have come forward about the alleged abuse they endured from Hefner over the years. “There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors,” she pointed out.

“I hope everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it,” Hefner’s widow added. “Before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia.”

Harris previously claimed that Hefner was “emotionally abusive” and “very restrictive” during their marriage.

“When I was at the mansion, I didn’t know who I was,” she explained during a 2024 interview with E! News. “When you don’t know who you are, that could be dictated to you by somebody else, and if that’s given to you by someone else, it could also be taken away. So, it’s very important for you to have your own power.”

Although she “loved and cared for” Hefner, Harris said she “was never truly in love with him.”

“It’s hard to be in love with someone who wants multiple people in the bedroom,” she noted. “And really only cares about themselves and their own needs and wants.”

Harris has since remarried to businessman James Ward.

Before Harris, Hefner was married to Mildred Williams from 1949 to 1959, and Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 1999.

Along with Biel, Lily-Rose Deep, Bill Pullman, and Indiana Elle are slated to appear in Playmates.