Hugh Hefner's widow Crystal says she was 'exploited like never before' while living in the Playboy mansion

• Hugh Hefner's widow Crystal says she was "exploited" while living in the Playboy Mansion.
• Crystal married the Playboy founder in 2012, and remained with him until his death in 2017.

Crystal Hefner said she was "exploited like never before" in an emotional new Instagram post.

"I was part of Hugh Hefner's world for over a decade. ⁣By the time I left it had been a third of my life," the model, who married the late Playboy founder in 2012 when she was 26 and he was 86, captioned a recent selfie.

According to Crystal, she remained by Hefner's side "through wild times, calm times, and all the times in between up until the day he passed away in September 2017," but is only now coming forward with her story.

"I chose to be more private over the years because I'm an introvert at heart and while the mansion in some ways was a sanctuary in other ways I was exploited like never before," Crystal wrote.

She compared living with Hefner, who was 60 years her senior and died of natural causes in 2017, in the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles to "going trick or treating at a house" and then not being "let back out for ten years." She also hinted that she was working on a memoir.

"I'm ready to tell my story. I'm ready to tell you what it was really like," Crystal wrote. "How my personal path lead me to Hef's 'shangri la' and what I wish every woman would know."

Crystal's post comes as the late magazine editor is facing increased scrutiny, following accusations of misconduct made by past girlfriends and Playboy employees in the 10-episode A&E docuseries "Secrets of Playboy," which premiered in January.

Crystal herself even seemingly confirmed a claim made by Holly Madison (who dated Hugh from 2001 to 2008) that the deceased Playboy founder would take and distribute nude photos of intoxicated women on nights out, tweeting that she had found and destroyed "thousands" of those photos.

Hefner's son Cooper spoke out about the accusations made against his father in a statement posted to Twitter in late January, ahead of the "Secrets of Playboy" premiere.

"Some may not approve of the life my Dad chose, but my father was not a liar. However unconventional, he was sincere in his approach and lived honestly," Cooper wrote. "He was generous in nature and cared deeply for people. These salacious stories are a case study of regret becoming revenge."