Hugh Hefner's widow, Crystal Harris, has expressed concerns about Jessica Biel playing a fictional version of the Playboy founder's wife in the upcoming film titled "Playmates."
In an Instagram direct message to the "Better Sister" actress, Harris pleaded that Biel not go through with the performance, writing, "Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner's 'wife' if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world."
Harris, who was married to Hefner for nearly five years up until he died in 2017, detailed the "sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse" she experienced with Hefner in her message to Biel.
"I was actually his wife," she wrote in the direct message, which Harris shared in a public Instagram post on Thursday, Oct. 8. "Many
other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well. There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors. I hope everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia."
USA TODAY has reached out to Biel's representatives for comment.
Variety and Deadline reported Biel's casting in the upcoming Searchlight Pictures movie on Oct. 6. Bill Pullman plays the magazine publisher, and the film will also star Lily-Rose Depp and child actress Indiana Elle, according to the outlets.
Hefner, a magazine magnate and businessman, built his brand on womanizing with the launch of Playboy in the early 1950s. He wed Crystal, his third wife, in 2012. Heralded by some as a pioneer in sexual politics, his contributions have been derided by others as misogynistic and promoting a culture of abuse.
Crystal Harris warns of diaries containing nude photos of women
In February, Harris, formerly known as Crystal Hefner, raised alarms that thousands of her late husband's personal scrapbooks were becoming public.
Harris filed regulatory complaints with the attorneys general of both California and Illinois over a foundation in her late husband's name that allegedly possesses scrapbooks containing intimate images of multiple women, including herself, according to a statement from her attorney, Gloria Allred, shared with USA TODAY on Feb. 17.
In the statement, Allred condemned the potential release of "approximately 3,000 personal scrapbooks containing thousands of nude images of women, as well as Hefner's diary containing highly personal information regarding his sexual exploits, including names of women he slept with, notes describing the sex acts they performed, and in some instances, even information tracking women's menstrual cycles."
"It is our honor to represent Crystal Hefner, who is not only Hugh Hefner's widow, but she is also a brilliant and outspoken advocate for women's rights," Allred wrote in a statement. "Crystal did not consent to having her intimate images stored by and accessible to the Foundation, and we believe that many of the other women and/or girls depicted did not consent either."
Allred says the Foundation removed Harris as chief executive officer after she voiced concerns about publishing the diaries. The one-time Playboy playmate also warned that the photographs could be of minors, or could have been taken while adult women were intoxicated and unable to give consent.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hugh Hefner's widow urges Jessica Biel to turn down role in Playboy film
