Alert – Crystal Hefner fires back at Holly Madison and stepson Marston after she was branded a ‘master manipulator’ who ‘dosed’ Playboy mogul Hugh with medication

Hugh Hefner’s ex-wife Crystal Hefner has broken her silence after being called a ‘master manipulator’ by her former stepson Marston Hefner.

Marston, son of the late Hugh Hefner, made the shocking statement during an appearance on Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt’s Girls Next Level podcast last week, where he blasted Crystal and said she was chasing fame and fortune.

Holly has also slammed Crystal, accusing the former DJ of ‘copying’ her 2015 memoir Down The Rabbit Hole with her own tell-all tome, Only Say Good Things.

Responding to Marston’s claims, Crystal told Us Weekly, ‘I feel that obviously he has a lot of pain and hurt still from the relationship or lack thereof with his father.’

She added, ‘And there are some things I think he’s trying to heal or get answers to that he’s realizing may never be answered. So maybe he’s filling in the blanks themselves.’

Hugh Hefner’s ex-wife Crystal Hefner has broken her silence after being called a ‘master manipulator’ by her former stepson Marston Hefner

Crystal also accused Holly Madison (left) and Bridget Marquardt (right) of wanting attention after they hosted Marston on their podcast

Crystal also strongly denied Marston’s claims that she had Hugh ‘dosed with f***ing medication’ and that she had ‘invited strangers’ to Hugh’s funeral. 

‘I was married to him. I was closest to Hef,’ she insisted.

Regarding Holly and Bridget, Crystal said that the duo were trying to ‘sabotage’ her and ‘pull my life apart’.

‘If I have a problem with someone, I’ll go to the person and talk to them. Obviously they just want attention,’ she sniffed.

Earlier this month, Crystal told Us Weekly that she wished Holly would ‘stop picking on me’. 

It comes after Marston launched a scathing attack on Crystal and appeared to suggest that she took advantage of the Playboy mogul before he died.

Marston, 34, made the damning claims about his father’s widow on the Girls Next Level podcast, suggesting the 38-year-old was hellbent on power and oversaw changes to his father’s will when he was mentally fragile.

The 38-year-old opened up about the feud in Us Weekly magazine

Responding to Marston’s claims, Crystal said, ‘I feel that obviously he has a lot of pain and hurt still from the relationship or lack thereof with his father’

Marston made a series of damning claims about his father’s widow Crystal on the Girls Next Level podcast last week, suggesting she was hellbent on power. (Crystal pictured with Hugh)

Marston (left), 34, accused Crystal of being a ‘master manipulator’ – and  appeared to suggest she took advantage of the Playboy mogul before he died (pictured with his brother Cooper)

Speaking to hosts Holly and Bridget, he said: ‘When Crystal came in [to the mansion], there started to be tribes. And so there were people who were on Crystal’s team.’

He said she became addicted to the ‘idea of control and power,’ and would determine who could and could not enter.

‘She liked controlling the guest list,’ he said. ‘She liked taking girls off and on the guest list depending on how, whatever the whims were at the time… She liked being in that position where you had to go through her or you had to ask her for things.’

Marston, who welcomed a child with his wife last year, also accused Crystal of destroying the fun he used to have with his father during games night at the mansion when they would play Uno, claiming she brought a ‘dark energy’ that dissuaded him from ever returning. 

Her alleged obsession with control appeared to extend to matters of Hugh’s will, with Marston suggesting Crystal oversaw changes when his father was ‘sick’ and ‘dosed with f***ing medication,’ which he claims left the businessman unaware of his surroundings.

‘He was really sick and that’s why she got all these NDA things,’ he said. ‘According to her, she didn’t want people to see him not able to walk, not able to talk.’

Marston questioned some of Crystal’s claims in her memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy And Finding Myself – as well as her motivation for writing it

Hefner’s ex-girlfriend Holly (left) has also accused Crystal of ‘copying’ her memoir

Marston and his brother, Cooper, pictured with their father Hugh and mother Kimberley Conrad in 1998 

Crystal, pictured right, was the final wife of the Playboy founder – pictured together with Kristina and Karissa Shannon at Hugh’s 83rd birthday pool party in 2009

Marston, whose mother is model Kimberley Conrad, said his father would struggle to remember how to play backgammon with him, owing to strong medication for his back pain.

‘The year that he passed away, he changed the will and he gave me, another person, and Crystal more money,’ he said. ‘And I don’t know how much more, I don’t remember if Crystal got more than us….

‘I was looking at that when I was getting the inheritance, and I was like, “Why? When he wasn’t here, when he didn’t know what the f*** was up or down half of the time, why would he change his will?”‘

He continued: ‘And that’s why I sent an email saying, “I don’t think he’s competent anymore, guys, can we agree on this?” And nobody really wanted to address what I perceived as the elephant in the room.

‘And then more than that, it’s like why is it when somebody can’t play his favorite thing and doesn’t know where he is, why is he changing his f***ing will? Why are people allowing that to happen?’

Crystal famously wed the magazine publisher in 2012 when she was 26 and he was 86. They were married until his death, aged 91, in 2017 as a result of heart failure and septicemia after contracting a deadly strain of e-coli. He left a reported $43 million fortune.

Earlier this year she published her explosive memoir, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy And Finding Myself, in which she made a number of bombshell claims, including that she never loved the late magazine kingpin and she felt imprisoned in their four-year marriage.

Marston revealed how he messaged Holly and Bridget, referring to Crystal as a ‘master manipulator’ after reading her book, and questioned some of her claims – as well as her motivation for writing the memoir.

Suggesting she buys Instagram followers, he asked: ‘If you’re not interested in fame, why are you buying Instagram followers? 

‘If you’re not after money, then why was she hustling as Crystal DJ Hefner? And she said that she was building a real estate empire, but she was building one as a Hefner. So she did need to be there in order to build it, in my opinion.’

Crystal (pictured with Hugh on his 84th birthday in 2010) made a series of explosive claims about the notorious libertine in her memoir 

She made a number of bombshell claims, including that she never loved the late magazine kingpin and she felt imprisoned in their four-year marriage

Marston, who runs an OnlyFans account to fund his love for collecting Pokémon cards and rare comic books, then accused Crystal of allowing Hugh to buy a property for her against the advice of his accountants.

‘I heard that it was far beyond his budget,’ Marston continued. ‘It was not wise. And I heard that his financial advisors were like, “Don’t purchase this, dude. You can’t afford this….” 

‘And he said, “I love this person and I’m going to…” This is my own subjective feelings is like, why would you ask your husband who is in debt to purchase you a mansion that he can’t really afford if you don’t need the money?’

DailyMail.com contacted representatives for Crystal for comment. 

Crystal was Hugh’s third wife. He married her in 2012, two years after his divorce from Kimberley was finalized.

They were married for 21 years from 1989 and also share son Cooper, 32.

Hugh’s first wife was Millie Williams with whom he had children Christie and David.