Hugh Hefner: "I Am in Perfect Health"

Thu., Mar. 5, 2009 2:00 PM PST by Marc Malkin

Hugh Hefner, Karissa Shannon, Kristina Shannon, Crystal Harris

Elayne Lodge/ Playboy

Hugh Hefner may be 83 years old, but he's still going strong.

I just got off the phone with the Playboy pooh-bah, who assured me that a recent report claiming he's in bad health is not true.

“I am in perfect health,” he tells me exclusively. “I’m in very good shape and feeling very good.”

So what's all this fuss about his well-being?

Fox News reported earlier today that Hef "looked far from his normally alert and healthy self" during a supposed brief appearance at Saturday's Kandykaneland Masquerade Ball at the Playboy Mansion with new girlfriends Crystal Harris and 19-year-old twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon.

Hef said he was at the party the entire night and kept going till about 4:30 in the morning. “And then I was up in the morning, played backgammon during the afternoon with a buddy before we watched the final episode of The Girls Next Door.”

As for the claim that the split from his Girls Next Door Holly, Kendra and Bridget took a toll on him, the Energizer Bunny Hefner said he’s doing better than fine.

“If there was any kind of emotional or physical impact from that, it was back in last summer and fall," he said. "But the recovery, thanks to the twins and to Crystal, has been really remarkable.”