The Truth About The Surgery That Almost Claimed Crystal Hefner's Life

Widow to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Crystal Hefner (née Harris), revealed she suffered a near-death experience after undergoing a cosmetic procedure. She opened up about the frightening encounter via Instagram on Jan. 6, 2021, telling her fans she went under the knife despite previous complications from past surgical enhancements. Crystal had her breast implants removed back in 2016, telling her fans they "slowly poisoned" her and caused a bevy of health issues. After a few years of staying "natural," Crystal ended up giving cosmetic surgery another try in October 2020. She now regrets her decision after her latest procedure nearly killed her.

"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," Crystal wrote in her lengthy Instagram post. Explaining how she felt pressured to uphold a strict standard of beauty despite the dangers to her health, she wrote, "How our culture defines beauty makes it impossible to keep up with. Women are overly sexualized. I know from the worst kind of experience." Keep scrolling for details on the procedure that nearly took Crystal's life.

As Crystal Hefner posed with what appeared to be surgical tape around her breasts, she discussed her surgical procedure that went terribly wrong. "I had a fat transfer surgery [on] October 16 and almost didn't make it through," the blonde model shared on Instagram. "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." Per People, a fat transfer surgery "involves fat being removed from one area in the body and grafted to another area," such as the breasts or bottom.

While the widow is happy to be physically on the mend, mentally she says she still struggles with society's unrealistic standards of beauty, especially as a Playboy model. "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. 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," Crystal shared.

She continued, "I feel sorry for the next generation looking up to people whose looks aren't even attainable without lots of filters, makeup, or money and women need to stop feeding into it. This is a huge slap on my own wrist for caving into this pressure, even now in my 30's — as I thought I would have learned my lesson by now."