Crystal Hefner Claims Animals Were Abused at Playboy Mansion

Crystal Hefner claims the many animals at the Playboy Mansion were abused and "depressed" when she lived at the infamous estate with her late husband Hugh Hefner.

In her new memoir, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, Hefner's widow alleges the menagerie of animals who lived on site at the mansion were seriously neglected.

Alleged Animal Abuse at the Playboy Mansion

In her book, Crystal claims Hugh always kept two pet lovebirds in a cage in his bathroom. However, the birds would often die and get replaced with a new pair. Eventually, someone on staff realized the birds were dying due to thirst as their water dispenser was faulty.

"So sad, those little birds. Yeah, I feel like I was constantly crying for everything and everybody there. It was so sad," Crystal told People about the tragic neglect of Hugh Hefner's pet birds.

Elsewhere in her book, Crystal claims that even though Hugh and the Playboy Mansion had a "zoo license," the animals on property, which included monkeys and peacocks among other exotic creatures, were visibly unhappy, and that she could often hear them crying outside her window.

"Even with the window shut, I could hear their plaintive voices in my mind. ‘Help, help,’ they cawed and wailed — at least that’s what it sounded like to me," she writes in the memoir, according to HuffPost.

“All those animals were so depressed and sad looking, you walk by the cages and you’re just... none of them were happy,” Crystal told People.

Crystal is currently working with animals rights organization PETA on a campaign against the "cruelty" of cashmere.

She previously teamed up with PETA in 2021.