Crystal Hefner believes Playboy founder Hugh died 'just in time' because his empire 'absolutely would not' have survived the #MeToo movement that swept the world weeks after his death

When Hugh Hefner passed away in September 2017 at the age of 91, no one could have predicted that less than a month later, the #MeToo movement swept through Hollywood, exposing years of sexual abuse by some of the industry's most high-profile men.

The late founder of Playboy magazine, who held sex parties at the historic LA mansion where he lived from 1971 until his death, would certainly not have survived if he had lived any longer, according to his third and last wife, Crystal Hefner. .

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Crystal said her husband died 'just in time' – adding that the mansion would 'absolutely not' have survived the powerful #MeToo movement.

“I've been thinking about this because #MeToo happened literally a month after his death. He left Earth just in time,” said Crystal, who released her memoir Only say good things: Surviving Playboy on Tuesday – said.

“I feel like the mansion was so unique and couldn't be replicated. It was a weird social experiment at the time, but I don't know how he would have held up during the #MeToo,” the former Playboy cover model added.

While Crystal is adamant that the Playboy empire “absolutely would not” have continued after Hef's death, she did not believe her late husband would have suffered the same fate as Harvey Weinstein, the powerful film producer now serving 23 years in prison for rape and sexual abuse.

'I never saw [Hef] like a predator. But I do remember when the Cosby stuff came out, like when I was at the mansion, and Hef knew about it,” Crystal said, referring to the 60 women who came forward in 2015 to accuse actor and comedian Bill Cosby of drugging . and rape them.

In her book, Crystal revealed that during their marriage she “sought girls” for sex orgies with herself and the late magazine mogul.

She described how Hugh liked to have “at least five girls” at a time when they would get intimate in the bedroom.

She told DailyMail.com during the sit-down that she never had sex alone with her late husband during their marriage, which lasted from 2012 until his death.

'I was scared. He was used to some kind of show, some kind of circus up there. So just me? That is not enough. It's easy to feel like you're not enough there,” Crystal painfully recalled.

The former Playmate also admitted that it had been a “relief” to recruit other women to have sex with Hef so she didn't have to have sex with him “all alone” – an admission that has caused some backlash among fans taken care of.

“I feel like people are trying to impose something on me that, you know, doesn't really apply. It's not like we really started liking bars or anything like that. So many girls would come to the mansion and so many girls would be like all of Hef and want to go up there,” she said.

'People just flocked in. So I didn't really have to do anything. It was endless. It was to the point where I was like, “Oh, my god, okay.” It was difficult.'

The blonde beauty, who told DailyMaill.com that she recently decided to change her last name back from Hefner to her maiden name, Harris, wrote in her book that she was “never in love” with her last husband.

She told DailyMail.com that she also didn't believe he was in love with her.

“I think he loved me as much as he could. I think he loved sex, and himself most of all,” Crystal said, laughing.

After years of therapy, which Crystal said was necessary to heal after leaving her ten-year stay at the mansion, she was still able to laugh at some of the madness that took place there.

One of the absurdities was the mirrored ceiling above Hef's rotating bed, where decades of orgies took place.

“I've always wondered, 'What's that mirror on the ceiling? Probably barely,'” she joked to DailyMail.com during her candid sit-down.

In her story she wrote that so many women were vying for the chance to be with Hef under the mirror on the rotating love mattress.

'There were always so many girls eager to have a turn in Hugh Hefner's bed, standing next to me at every party, desperate to be chosen. I felt torn; part of me wanted to reject them for their own good. But I also knew someone was coming, so it might as well be someone who really wanted to go,” she wrote.

“Sometimes they would try to hang around and hold on to Hef and suck on him. There seemed to be an endless stream of women desperate to get into the mansion; it never slowed down.

'And it further reinforced the feeling that I couldn't possibly walk away. The more other people wanted what I had, the tighter I clung to it. If someone stuck around for a while, I tried to find out what they wanted. Female friend? Playmate? What?'

The model, who was married to Hugh until his death at the age of 91 in 2017, made it clear she did not enjoy the group sex encounters with her husband and the other women.

She wrote, “Here I was in the Playboy Mansion, in Hugh Hefner's bed with Hugh Hefner inside me, beautiful naked women around me, and there was nothing sexy about it.

'This wasn't about making love. It was about power, control and influence. It was a performance. I auditioned for a role. I thought it was about my strength.

'After a while he was just done, no climax, just done. Suddenly he waved us away and almost pushed us aside…' she wrote.

Crystal continued that he would “finish the job himself” and while his face was “contorted like he was in pain,” she “freaked out” because he was “having some sort of eighty-one-year-old man fit.” but he was fine.

'It was the strangest five seconds of my life. He gave us each a pat on the back. “You can stay here overnight if you want, and you are welcome to spend the weekend with me and my babies,” she wrote in her book.

In the memoir, Crystal shared more details about life in the Playboy Mansion – famously populated by Hugh's hand-picked Playboy bunnies – including how her husband had a “vicious streak” and was addicted to Viagra and painkillers.

Hugh died on September 27, 2017 at the age of 91 due to heart failure and blood poisoning after contracting a fatal form of e-coli, leaving behind a fortune reported to be $43 million.

Less than a month later, on October 16, 2017, actress Alyssa Milano took a stand against sexual abuse on social media, paving the way for women worldwide to come forward.

The Who's The Boss actress tweeted: “If all women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote #MeToo as a status we might give people an idea of ​​the scale of the problem.”

A-list actresses – including Jennifer Lawrence, Gwyneth Paltrow and Uma Thurman – shared their own experiences and #MeToo was born.