Crystal Harris publicly asked Jessica Biel to reconsider starring in Playmates. She says the film should not turn Hugh Hefner or Playboy into nostalgia.
In an Instagram DM to Biel, she wrote: “Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s ‘wife’ if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world.” Harris also said, “I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship.”
Playmates and Jessica Biel
Playmates is written and directed by Lorraine Nicholson and is described as an LA-set coming-of-age story inspired by her childhood friendship with Hugh Hefner’s kids. Indiana Elle plays 13-year-old Elle, while Lily-Rose Depp plays Anna, one of seven hopefuls vying to be Playmate of the Month.
Bill Pullman is playing Hugh Hefner, and Biel’s character is a fictional role not inspired by any of his three wives. That detail sharpens Harris’s objection: the movie can frame the world around Playboy without making Biel’s part a direct stand-in for a real marriage.
Crystal Harris and Hugh Hefner
Harris was married to Hugh Hefner from 2012 until his death in 2017 at 91. She said many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation, and she added, “There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors.”
She posted that she hopes the film will not glorify Hugh Hefner and wrote, “With women in the leading roles, my hope is that the film ultimately delivers a message of empowerment: that women can find fulfillment, independence, and a sense of self beyond Playboy.” For Biel and Searchlight, the practical choice is simple: respond to the objection or let the film move ahead under the criticism Harris has now put on the record.
