Crystal Hefner is opening up about her Playmate days.
On Monday, Feb. 8, the widow of Hugh Hefner took to her Instagram to thank her 3 million followers for their positive thoughts.
"I really appreciate all the positive and beautiful comments you guys leave," the former model wrote in the shared image. "It took a while for my page to get to a place of love. I used to get so much unnecessary hate in my Playboy days about my look, my relationship, and pretty much everything in between."
Crystal, 34, who was married to Hugh for five years prior to his death in 2017, continued, "Even though it's usually a reflection of the people posting, it still hurt. I'm happy to have started to curate a safe space on here and it's all because of everyone here now. Thank you. Crystal."
The sweet note comes days after the former Playmate of the Month revealed that she went through fat-grafting surgery back in October that led to a significant amount of blood loss.
"I had a fat transfer surgery October 16 and almost didn't make it through," she wrote in an Instagram caption on Jan. 6. "I lost half the blood in my body and ended up in the hospital needing a blood transfusion. I've been slowly eating my way back to health since then and I am now finally feeling ok."
The post continued, "I advocate for being natural since I got very ill and removed my implants and everything else toxic in my body in 2016. I should have learned my lesson the first time but I guess the universe keeps sending you the same lesson until you learn it. Our culture is a trap and makes women feel terrible about themselves. Movies (84.9% directed by men) make it worse. Social media makes it worse. Advertisements make it worse. Physically fake people make it worse (I was one of them)."
She discussed our culture's beauty standards, which are "impossible to keep up with" and how those superficial ideals defined a decade of her life.
"For ten years my value was based on how good my physical body looked. I was rewarded and made a living based on my outer appearance," Crystal recalled. "To this day I need to write reminders of why I'm worthy that have nothing to do with my physical appearance to convince myself that I'm enough."
She then noted feeling "sorry for the next generation" who look "up to people whose looks aren't even attainable without lots of filters, makeup, or money" adding, "women need to stop feeding into it."
The post ended with on the star calling her fat transfer the procedure "a huge slap on my own wrist" for succumbing to societal pressures "even now in my 30's - as I thought I would have learned my lesson by now."