Crystal Hefner is able to take again her maiden identify eight years after Hugh Hefner’s loss of life.
Crystal, 39, detailed her struggles with getting Instagram to alter her username to her maiden moniker, Harris, on Thursday, June 12. She included screenshots of messages from Meta Help telling her that her case was being labored on, in addition to a picture that confirmed her trying to enter a username of random letters. An error message popped up that learn, “Username will not be accessible.”
“To everybody I’ve needed to block: I’m exhausted. In the event you’ve harassed me, you’re gone. I don’t owe anybody entry to my peace,” Crystal started within the caption. “However to those that are right here with open hearts, who genuinely assist my journey — thanks.”
The mannequin defined that she has “been making an attempt for thus lengthy” to get the social media platform to permit her to alter her username “again to [her] actual identify.”
“My authentic identify. The identify I didn’t really feel comfy with for a very long time, as a result of it by no means felt like mine anymore,” she continued. “It was modified for me. Not thoughtfully, not ceremoniously. It was accomplished swiftly, as quickly as Hef’s secretary had a wedding certificates in hand. I had no clue easy methods to change a reputation legally. I simply … turned another person, in a single day.”
Crystal added that she “embraced” the Hefner identify over time as a result of she was informed she “needed to.”
“The media and the trolls of the world informed me I wasn’t sufficient with out the identify, with out the home, with out the picture. I got here from nothing. I had spent a lifetime feeling small. So I clung to the story I used to be fed. And it labored — for some time,” she wrote.
Crystal stated she turned impressed when she heard Scooter Braun share on Steven Bartlett’s “The Diary of a CEO” podcast that the 43-year-old “didn’t consider he might accomplish nice issues along with his start identify, Scott,” and have become Scooter as an alternative.
Crystal Hefner Michael Tran / AFP
“I understood that deeply. As a result of I did accomplish issues with the Hefner identify. I made eight figures. I launched companies. I discovered a model of confidence,” Crystal continued. “However right here’s the factor — none of that was ever in regards to the identify. It was about me. And now, I need my identify again. Crystal Margaret Harris. Not as a result of I’m ashamed of who I used to be — however as a result of I lastly know who I’m.”
Crystal concluded by asking followers to achieve out if they’ve a “backdoor to Instagram,” explaining that the app wouldn’t let her change her username in any respect.
“I’ve additionally obtained ‘You want permission’ messages when making an attempt to alter my account identify as effectively. Thanks,” she wrote.
Within the feedback, one particular person defined that the problem was probably because of Crystal’s account being verified, noting that she must get the verified test mark eliminated earlier than making any username adjustments.
Crystal married Hugh on the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on New 12 months’s Eve 2012, Us Weekly confirmed on the time. She had been dwelling within the mansion since 2008. The couple remained collectively till Hugh’s loss of life at 91 years outdated in September 2017.
Within the years since Hugh’s passing, Crystal — who’s now engaged to James Ward — has pulled again the curtain on her marriage to the Playboy founder. She shared a number of candid confessions in her 2024 memoir, Solely Say Good Issues: Surviving Playboy and Discovering Myself.
“I used to be by no means in love with Hef, however I liked this outdated man within the methods you might be supposed to like your elders,” she wrote. “Within the methods you might be supposed to like somebody who’s nearing the top of an extended and sophisticated life.”