Hugh Hefner’s former spouse has disclosed the worst aspect of the Playboy Mansion, and it might just catch you off guard.
Crystal Hefner, who was wed to Hefner from 2012 until his passing in 2017, moved into the renowned estate in 2009 when she began her relationship with the Playboy magazine founder.
She has since claimed that the mansion was plagued with mold, dust, and had adverse effects on her health.
The expansive 21,987-square-foot mansion, originally constructed in 1927, was purchased by Hefner in 1971 for $1.1 million, which would be approximately $7,452,740 today.
This grand property boasted a games room, screening room, wine cellar, tennis and basketball courts, a swimming pool, waterfall, the iconic grotto, and even a three-building ‘zoo’ on its grounds.
Despite its impressive features, not everyone has had positive things to say about it.
Reflecting on the Playboy Mansion, as noted by RadarOnline, Crystal remarked: “This was a beautiful English Tudor home – and my family is from England – on five acres in the middle of LA.
“But over time, I saw that this place doesn’t really get cleaned that well and there’s mould. It just felt rundown and gross after a while.
“The whole time the mansion was breaking me down, one way or another. Now it was breaking down my health. The house was literally making me sick.
“Everything was mouldy and dusty and it was just hoarder central in the mansion.”
Crystal wasn’t the sole critic of the mansion’s condition.
Hefner’s past companion, Izabella St. James, claimed the place was in desperate need of significant renovations.
“Everything in the mansion felt old and stale,” she penned in her memoir, Bunny Tales.
“And Archie the house dog would regularly relieve himself on the hallway curtains, adding a powerful whiff of urine to the general scent of decay.”
She continued: “Each bedroom had mismatched, random pieces of furniture. It was as if someone had gone to a charity shop and bought the basics for each room.
“The mattresses on our beds were disgusting – old, worn and stained. The sheets were past their best, too.”
In addition, the docuseries Secrets of a Playboy features a former mansion valet, Stefon Tetelbaum, who recounted having to ‘sterilize dildos’ from the floor.
“I had to put on rubber gloves and pick up the dildos from the floor and put them in a special bucket,” she recounted.
“The maids would take them downstairs, spray them with a steam cleaner to sterilize them and then put them in plastic bags. I would carry them back upstairs and put them back in the headboard.”
Not long after St. James’ memoir release, a notable health scare affected over 100 individuals who had attended an event at the mansion, leading them to suffer from respiratory problems.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s investigation identified the source of the outbreak in a hot tub, which contained the bacteria responsible for Legionnaires’ disease.