Only Say Good Things by Crystal Hefner

I remember High Hefner making the newspapers and tv for being a millionaire playboy that in the 70s/80s stars flocked to his mansion to be in the company of his ( ! ) bunnies.

Fast forward to now and that type of lifestyle and the way the women were treated is now ( thankfully ) a world away as being seen as something or someone to aspire to.

Crystal came to the mansion and Hugh at the very end of that era and by then he was an elderly man and the lifestyle he kept as tawdry.






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This book feels like an honest account of one woman’s experience in the most famous mansion in the world. This is a warts and all book but not just an excuse to blame all on one side but show the open faults on everyone involved and also how easy it is for those lost out there to believe that attention and fame are substitutes for love and affection. What ever your views on the man this book just made my heart cry for this poor girl who all threw her life had been used and abused by men and who thought that it was what she was worth. I hope she now has peace and love in her life.

I remember watching the E! show The Girls Next Door and was mesmerised by the lives of the Playboy bunnies and Hef's girlfriends. There was something naughty and frivolous about their lives, something a little bit plastic and not real that made it such an entertaining show. After reading Holly Madison's book about her time at the mansion, I gained an insight into the seedier, darker side of the Playboy mansion and the man obsessed with power and control - Hugh Hefner. Crystal Hefner has always been a bit of an enigma. The woman who convinced Hef to marry again (or so the world thought) and became his sole companion up until his death. So when I heard she was releasing her story, I knew I had to read it.

Crystal doesn't shy away from any aspect of her life before, during and after Hugh Hefner. She documents that fateful night she's chosen by Hefner to join him at the mansion, as well as adding context to her life growing up and loosing her father, and her first love, at such a young age. She arrives at the mansion as a young, impressionable and broken girl. And Hugh swoops in and takes advantage of this. As Crystal says, 'he always kept the ones with broken wings'. And their relationship is a complicated one. Hugh constantly undermined Crystal, reminded her she was lucky to be there, to the point where she believed it. She was to be seen, not heard, the good girl looking for her knight. Hugh became her jailer, yet she cared for him deeply too and did everything he ever asked of her. When he was gone, and she was finally free, he left a big hole in her life and she felt lost. She had to find herself again.

A frank and eye opening read about time in the Playboy mansion, where sexual liberation is at the whim of powerful men. I only hope that times have changed and we never get anything like the Playboy legacy ever again.

I knew nothing about Crystal Hefner before I started this book and I was really surprised by some of the stories. While I didn't think the Playboy house was the centre of female empowerment, its even more shocking than you'd imagine. After a party at the Playboy mansion, Crystal was asked to move in and take on the role of Hef's girlfriend. The girlfriends were expecting to observe curfew, look perfect and never speak negatively about Hef. Crystal eventually married him although it wasn't what she wanted. It's a fascinating insight into a whole other world and a quick read.

Interesting read with a voyeuristic glimpse behind the dusty curtains of the Playboy mansion
Crystal reveals just enough of her life with Hugh Hefner to make your skin crawl all over. What a creepy old man.

A really brilliant insight into the Playboy world, Only Say Good Things is honest. raw and a tough read at times.
4 stars.

3.5 stars.

It's very difficult to review and rate somebody's personal story and experience....let me just say that.

I think intrigued, disgusted, fascinated, whatever your opinion on Hugh Hefner, one has some sort of feelings about him and his Playboy empire.

I watched The Girls Next Door, like a moth to a flame....and I think that show was really to make it seem like the lifestyle was cute and fun all the time....and perhaps an attempt to humanise Hugh a little bit.

Crystal's book I inhaled in one night and I was intrigued about getting a real glimpse behind the curtain. The book is very interesting and honest, a few explicit moments (the scene with the shampoo bottle when she was 14 made me really sad and uncomfortable).

I think what I found polarising in the book is that Crystal does give us a very real idea of who Hugh actually was....but I think despite all her healing, she was still desperately trying to preserve some image of him...she could have been more raw, more real....but I think she says it in the book, not using this term, but her relationship with Hugh is reminiscent of somebody with Stockholm Syndrome.

I hoped she go into why she was so defensive and dismissive of other people's claims and experiences, or perhaps mention if she had any regrets around that.... Also her sisters, where were they....did anybody try to encourage her to leave the lifestyle? I wanted a lot more, but that is me.... because maybe I'm nosey and always interested in family dynamics.

W.r.t the writing, I felt there was a lot of repetition and maybe we'd go off track a few times and I felt like I missed a part of the story..it felt disjointed at times. All in all, an intriguing read though....and not to be all judge Judy, but wow that man.....let me rather not....