Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, says she’s experiencing life through a new lens thanks to new boyfriend James Ward.
The former Playmate — who released her memoir “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself” earlier this year — gushed over her relationship with Ward as she reflected on her “emotionally abusive” marriage to the late Playboy founder.
“With James, my feelings are valued, validated,” Crystal told People in an interview published Wednesday. “I am seen and I am heard.”
Crystal, 38, was famously married to Hugh for five years before his death in 2017. He passed away at the age of 91.
After taking time to heal, the bestselling author revealed she now has a different outlook in her relationship with Ward.
“I’m nurturing the real me, my adventurous spirit, my inner child,” she explained. “I feel like I’ve become the person I always needed when I was growing up. I feel accepted and more myself than ever before.”
The new couple began dating in April after being set up by mutual friends, Us Weekly reported.
Ward, 41, owns SeeThrough Sea on Kailua-Kona in Hawaii, where he provides adventure and photography tours. He’s lived in the Aloha State since 2013, per his website.
Crystal’s new romance comes after she divulged intimate details about her marriage to Hugh while promoting her memoir in January, even describing their relationship as “traumatic.”
“In some ways that he treated me, I just felt, OK, this guy can’t really be in love with me,” Crystal told E! News at the time.
“It was emotionally abusive. It was very restrictive. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was away from it for a while,” she added of their marriage.
Crystal also made headlines that month when she admitted she was never “in love” with her late husband.
“I realized I was dealing with a really big power imbalance,” she told People at the time, adding that she “lost [herself] in the process.”
