Hugh Hefner's widow alleges late husband's foundation has his explicit photos of underage girls

Hugh Hefner's widow alleged that her late husband's foundation has his explicit photos of underage girls and is digitizing them.

Crystal Hefner, 39, who was Hefner's third and final wife, said at a news conference Tuesday with attorney Gloria Allred that she filed regulatory complaints with the California and Illinois attorney general’s offices to try to prevent any potential distribution of the images, which were allegedly in her late husband’s scrapbooks and personal journals, the according to The Los Angeles Times.

Hefner's name is synonymous with the Playboy magazine that he and some associates started in 1953. Though the magazine features nude and seminude photos of women, it became a magazine synonymous with American men's lifestyle and good taste.   

Allred and Crystal Hefner say the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, a Santa Monica-based organization that claims to advance progressive causes, possesses the decades-old collection of sexual images.

The attorney alleged that the foundation possesses “3,000 personal scrapbooks containing thousands of nude images of women and Hefner’s diary, which contains highly personal information regarding his sexual exploits including names of women he slept with, notes describing the sex acts that they performed ... and in some instances even information tracking women’s menstrual cycles.”

Crystal Hefner said the images were taken during sexual encounters between her late husband and the women, some of whom could not make informed consent at the time because they were under the influence after wild parties at the Playboy Mansion. The Playboy founder's widow also expressed concern that some of the encounters involved minors.

“The materials span decades, including in the 1960s, and may include images of girls who were underage at the time,” Crystal Hefner said.

Hefner also said she was fired as the foundation’s CEO after raising concerns about the contents of its collection. She didn't provide evidence of her claims, but expressed concern that the images could be sold or lost in a data leak while they are being digitized.

“I am deeply worried about these images getting out ... a single security failure could devastate thousands of lives,” Hefner said. “This is a civil rights issue. Women’s bodies are not property. Are not history. Are not collectibles.”

The foundation and the California and Illinois attorney general's offices did not respond to the Times' requests for comment.

Hugh Hefner died at 91 in 2017.