Hugh Hefner's Ex-Wife Kimberly Slams the 'Playboy' Mogul's Accusers for 'Refusing to Take Accountability'
Kimberly Conrad came to late ex-husband Hugh Hefner's defense as he continues to face allegations of rampant drug use and implications of abuse from the grave.
Shortly after the release of Crystal Hefner's tell-all memoir, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, in which she spilled intimate secrets about the media mogul, Kimberly shared a statement calling out "a few people who speak their version of their idea of events" in order to make a "quick buck."
"I’m speaking out now for the first time about Hef because I feel compelled to speak on behalf of someone I love, who is no longer here to speak for himself," the model — who welcomed sons Marston and Cooper with Hugh during their marriage 21 year marriage — said.
"Hef lived an exceptional and impactful life," she continued. "Through Playboy, he defined a lifestyle that lies at the heart of how many people think and feel. With all his success, Hef was also a man."
Although Kimberly did not mention Crystal or any of Hef's other partners by name, she slammed people who "refuse to take accountability and use words loosely like ‘force’ and ‘survive’ to describe choices they made willingly at a certain point in their own lives."
She went on to praise her ex-husband for being a "pioneer of free thought and expression" and a "leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time, advocating for free speech, integrity, sexual freedoms, and civil rights."
- Crystal Hefner Admits She Was Never 'in Love' With Late Husband Hugh: 'I Lost Myself in the Process'
- Holly Madison 'Curious' If Crystal Hefner Will Spill Secrets About the Playboy Mansion in Her Book
- 'I Was Very Restricted': Crystal Hefner Was 'Home Before Dark Most Days' Due to Hugh Hefner's 'Controlling' Rules
"We should be wary of those who try to destroy things because they are no longer benefiting from them," Kimberly's statement continued. "People like that will never hold credibility, in my opinion."
"If you want to talk about exploitation, this is exactly what these women have done with Hef in his later years and at the end of his life," she concluded.
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This comes after OK! reported Crystal wrote that she was "never in love" with the media personality and alleged he'd been addicted to Viagra and painkillers in her bombshell book.
"With so many celebrities dying of overdoses from doctors who gave them endless supplies, people around [Hugh] got more careful, and the opiates had to be given to him like he used to give us allowance—in controlled doses," Crystal penned in an excerpt of her memoir.
Crystal also claimed it became her "job" to help find at least five girls at a time to "come up to the bedroom at parties at the mansion" and sleep with Hef.
TMZ reported Kimberly's statement about her late ex-husband.