Only say good things : surviving Playboy and finding myself / Crystal Hefner.

By:

Hefner, Crystal

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2024Edition: First editionDescription: viii, 231 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of unnumbered plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781538765678
1538765675

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

DDC classification:

791.4502/8092 23

LOC classification:

PN4900.P5 H44 2024
CT

Contents:

The promise -- Trick or treat -- First blood -- Awkward teenage blues -- True love -- Silk pajamas -- Hugh Hefner calling -- The rules of engagement -- Why go anywhere -- Picture perfect -- Stick to the schedule -- Prey -- America's princess -- Runaway bride -- Now playing the role of wife -- In sickness and in health -- The man behind the curtain -- Aftermath -- The inner voice.

Summary: "A raw and unflinching look at the objectification and misogyny of the Playboy mansion, a woman's stolen young adulthood and her journey to self-acceptance, and a rare look inside Hugh Hefner's final days. Crystal offers a vulnerable and clear-eyed look at how her experience with Hugh Hefner catalyzed her transformative journey from someone who prized external validation over all else to a person who finally recognizes her true worth. This candid memoir provides a fascinating look behind the scenes at a powerful cultural icon and brand, and an equally empowering perspective on hard-won lessons about who we allow to determine our value."-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Adult Nonfiction

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books	791.45028092 HEF	Checked out	05/28/2024	36748002556159

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A JANUARY 2024 APPLE BOOKS STAFF PICK AND AUDIBLE EDITORS SELECT
NAMED A BEST BOOK TO READ THIS JANUARY BY THE GLOSS

A raw and unflinching look at the objectification and misogyny of the Playboy mansion, a woman's stolen young adulthood and her journey to self-acceptance, and a rare look inside Hugh Hefner's final days.

At just twenty-one years old, Crystal Harris' life changed forever when she attended a party at the notorious Playboy mansion. Picked out of the crowd by Hugh Hefner, she became one of his infamous "girlfriends," attending glamorous Hollywood parties and traveling the world. Yet this seemingly alluring lifestyle had a dark side. Hef controlled his girlfriends with strict rules regarding everything from their hair and makeup to their curfews, and Crystal was forced to compete with other women for her spot in the highly hierarchal system. Living at the mansion, she felt more like a fixture than a resident.

She quickly rose to the top, but being Hef's number one girlfriend came at the cost of Crystal's identity outside her role in the Playboy universe. Her fate seemed sealed when Hef surprised her with a marriage proposal she could not imagine refusing. But as Crystal Hefner, she grew increasingly restless to understand who she truly was away from what she saw as Playboy's toxic culture.

In ONLY SAY GOOD THINGS, Crystal offers a vulnerable and clear-eyed look at how her experience with Hugh Hefner catalyzed her transformative journey from someone who prized external validation over all else to a person who finally recognizes her true worth. This candid memoir provides a fascinating look behind the scenes at a powerful cultural icon and brand, and an equally empowering perspective on hard-won lessons about who we allow to determine our value.

"A raw and unflinching look at the objectification and misogyny of the Playboy mansion, a woman's stolen young adulthood and her journey to self-acceptance, and a rare look inside Hugh Hefner's final days. Crystal offers a vulnerable and clear-eyed look at how her experience with Hugh Hefner catalyzed her transformative journey from someone who prized external validation over all else to a person who finally recognizes her true worth. This candid memoir provides a fascinating look behind the scenes at a powerful cultural icon and brand, and an equally empowering perspective on hard-won lessons about who we allow to determine our value."-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

This juicy debut memoir from Hugh Hefner's widow provides an intimate account of her decade-long stint inside the Playboy Mansion. Adrift during her senior year at San Diego State University in 2008, Crystal was encouraged by a friend to send a photo to Playboy during one of the magazine's open calls. She was swiftly invited to a Halloween party at the mansion, where Hefner picked her out of a lineup to join him in his private quarters; the next day, he invited her to move into the mansion full-time. Crystal enthusiastically accepted, and, over the next five years as one of Hefner's "girls," she unsuccessfully attempted to establish an emotional connection with the much older man, who occasionally exhibited tender feelings toward her but mostly treated her with coldness and cruelty. After Crystal left the mansion briefly to date Jordan McGraw, the son of TV personality Dr. Phil, Hefner proposed to her. She accepted, feeling that he "needed her." Married in 2012, the two remained together until Hefner's death in 2017. Crystal writes at length about the mansion's chilling atmosphere: Hefner kept keys to every door, and insisted Crystal and his rotating roster of other girlfriends maintain their hair and weight (at one point, he taps Crystal's hip and tells her it's "time to tone"). The mogul, who comes across as narcissistic and obsessed with his legacy, insisted that his close contacts "only say good things" about him--when Crystal doesn't, it lands as liberating rather than petty. This tell-all is surprisingly empowering. Agent: Lara Love Hardin, True Literary. (Jan.)

Kirkus Book Review

One of Hugh Hefner's widows discloses the joys and pitfalls of life at the Playboy Mansion. A self-described "good girl" born in Arizona, Hefner (b. 1986 as Crystal Harris) grew up in a family fractured by the early death of her father. In 2008, as a "dazzled, starry-eyed" 21-year-old San Diego State psychology major, she was "chosen" to attend the annual Playboy Halloween party. She soon began dating Hefner, and she moved swiftly from girlfriend, to centerfold, to a member of Hef's "modern harem," to becoming his third wife in 2012, and, ultimately, his caretaker. The author reveals intimate details of the regimented structure inside the estate's "exotic zoo of girls and animals" and some rather unsurprising behind-the-scenes bedroom antics--which, even on their first night together, felt "odd and robotic--like Hef was just going through the motions of something that had once been fun and sexy." Instead of the lavish fantasy life she'd imagined, things became "transactional," with "no wiggle room to say no," including mandatory unpaid appearances on the TV program The Girls Next Door. The author was required to adhere to cruelly critiqued appearance, weight, and fashion standards, as well as a tight curfew ("the pantry staff would start frantically calling my phone at exactly 6:01 p.m."). She ended up retreating to her tiny vanity to enjoy peaceful minutes to herself away from the all-seeing eyes of Hef and his "bossy" longtime secretary. "Playing the role of someone else's image of you every day and every night is exhausting," she writes. When Hef died at age 91 in 2017, the author promptly left the property and began resuming the kind of life she'd left behind many years before. Her frank memoir scratches some of the glitter off Playboy's notorious legacy of sexual freedom, luxury, and excess. An illuminating tell-all. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.