Las Vegas Weekly

April 12, 2010 · 3:20 PM

Exclusive: Hef’s gal pal reveals Playboy Club news and record deal

By Robin Leach

Ana Berglund, Jaime Pressly, Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris celebrate Hefner's 84th birthday at the Palms on April 10, 2010.

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Hugh Hefner’s now steady girlfriend the beautiful Crystal Harris is helping the Playboy magazine mogul bring back the legendary Playboy Clubs! Crystal told me exclusively that she will soon open new Playboy Clubs in Miami and Cancun, adding to the only one now in the world here at George Maloof’s Palms.

The first Playboy Club opened in downtown Chicago in 1960, and the last Playboy Club, in Manila, Philippines, closed in 1991. Now the two new clubs continue Hef’s impact on social lifestyles, and she says she’s going to sing at both openings.

Crystal also excitedly told me exclusively that she’s signed a new record deal with MCA Universal, and her first single will be released this summer. She wants to shoot her music video debut with many of her Playmate friends “simply because that’s never been done before, and I don’t understand why nobody’s used the most beautiful women in the world!”

The 24-year-old British American model from San Diego, who was the December 2009 Playmate, led the entire Moon crowd in “Happy Birthday” to Hef as he celebrated his 84th birthday this past weekend at the Palms -- we posted a story and preview photo gallery yesterday. Hef and Crystal were side-by-side throughout the entire Las Vegas visit, and twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon were nowhere in sight having moved out of The Playboy Mansion and now on Playboy cross-country promotional tours.

Hef told me as we walked to dinner at N9NE Steakhouse from The Mint high-roller lounge, where he’d played blackjack and met Palms high rollers: “This has been my best birthday yet. I couldn’t have asked for more or better. Crystal has made this perfect. I guess I was really ready for a serious one-on-one relationship. She’s the real deal, very sweet and wonderfully romantic.

“I hope this lasts for the rest of my life. Obviously, the breakup with Holly (Madison) was devastating at the time, but it must have been for a good reason -- so that the breakup would lead to Crystal. We simply are the best fit you could imagine despite the age difference!”

Incidentally, Hef also told me that he loved our Vegas DeLuxe interview with him that we posted Friday, and now we’re both following each other on Twitter! Our thanks to photographers Denise Truscello and Joe Fury fromN9NE Group, who added their photos along with mine of our every-step-of-the-way photo gallery coverage of the celebrations, plus the Palms and Richard Corey for these videos.

And Crystal proved it with a very special birthday gift. She told me in N9NE that she’d bought him an iPad and loaded it with his favorite newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and a new Twitter application.

“He tweets all the time, so now he can tweet to his heart’s content” she laughed. “When we get back to The (Playboy) Mansion, I’ll put all the photos from his birthday weekend onto it, and I’ll even put photos of his favorite Playmates and the Playboy Web site on it to for him!”

Hef brought along Playmates Anna Berglund, Kimberly Phillips, Claire Sinclair and Kelly Carrington, and Palms owner George Maloof joined the group for Hef’s traditional dinner of sliced tomatoes, Mansion signature lamb chops and Mansion peas. The Playmate pals snapped dozens of photos during the dinner party, and executive chef Barry Dakake brought out Hef’s favorite and only dessert, strawberry shortcake, and the entire restaurant sang “Happy Birthday.” Hef signed a dinner plate to add to the chef’s celebrity collection.

Then it was time to party at The Playboy Club and in Moon, where yet another birthday cake was presented to him. While Crystal and her Playmates danced for Hef, actress Jaime Pressly stopped by, as did Mad Men actor Bryan Batt, who has designed a limited-edition Hef loveseat collection. Peepshow star Holly Madison brought six friends from the show to the 1980s-themed party.

Earlier in the evening, Holly had filmed a segment of her and Hef dining in his Playboy Suite, and, yes, Crystal watched from behind the cameras! Hef told me: “It was great to see Holly. The filming went great, and I’m so pleased she’s doing so well for herself with Peepshow and her new Holly’s World series coming soon.” Holly told me that the reality TV series will now debut on E! the second week of June instead of Memorial Day as previously planned.

Hef and Crystal cut the chocolate birthday cake that was wheeled into their VIP booth at Moon and then picked off the two cake figures depicting them. Naturally, Hef chose the Crystal body part, and she bit off his head amid laughter from the Playboy posse.

The birthday boy summed up: “I always have a great time when I come to visit Las Vegas, but this with Crystal was extra special. I’m in a very happy place and in a wonderful relationship. If it comes down to marriage again, I don’t want to wreck what we have, but I won’t say no.

“I hope to live to 105 and that we’ll still be together celebrating birthdays.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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