Playboy founder Hugh Hefner passed away Wednesday night at the age of 91. The icon, who reportedly died of natural causes, leaves behind his four children and his wife, 31-year-old Crystal Hefner née Harris. Harris was a former Playmate, and the two married in late 2012. Currently, she runs an adventure and travel blog, but as of this morning, both her Instagram and Twitter are inaccessible.
It's unknown when exactly she decided to shut down her Instagram and make her Twitter private, or if it was in response to her husband's death, but we wouldn't blame her for wanting to stay out of the fray. Hefner's legacy is as lauded as it is controversial. While he's often praised for his work squashing outdated notions about sex, and his lesser known work involving civil rights, the AP also reports that in 2016, former bunny Chloe Goins sued Hefner and Bill Cosby for alleged battery and gender violence.
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Crystal made headlines back in 2016 when she went public on Facebook about her decision to remove her breast implants and embrace natural beauty.
"Over time, implants (both silicone and saline) break down and wreak havoc on your body," she explained in the post. "The shell on silicone and saline implants is comprised of silicone and over 40 other toxic chemicals: tin, zinc, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, formaldehyde and talc to name a few. Your immune system is constantly fighting them, leaving you vulnerable to other illnesses."
For Crystal, this led to food intolerance, back pain, fatigue, and recurring infections, and it took opening up about her symptoms on social media for her to discover that "Breast Implant Illness" was real and happening to her.
Now, her Facebook is mostly inactive aside from links to various pop culture articles (it may have been hacked), but she's already deluged with comments about her husband's passing, which is a likely why she deleted her other social media accounts.
"SAY CONDOLENCES TO HUGH HEFNER.." one user demanded on an unrelated post, which may have been well-meaning, but brusque messages can be hard to read during a period of grieving.
"My thoughts are with you beautiful lady," wrote another user. "He enriched a lot of peoples lives and you should be proud of him and yourself. My favourite saying is life is nothing but a dream on the way to death, so at least he lived his dream to the fullest and was able to share this with you. Embrace and celebrate his death like he would celebrate his life."
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We hope that, whether or not Crystal's decision to distance herself from social media is related to Hugh's death, she's getting the support and space that she needs.
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