Former Playboy Playmate Karissa Shannon has corroborated allegations that Hugh Hefner, the late founder of Playboy, demanded incestuous sexual acts between her and her twin sister, Kristina.
In an exclusive interview with Page Six, Karissa Shannon, 37, stated that Hefner's widow, Crystal Harris, was often present and aware that she and Kristina were faking these encounters. "He would try and force me and my sister to have sex with each other," Karissa claimed. "Me and my sister never actually did it together. So that’s a statement I want to say. Like, really, we never, never had incest[ous] sex. Like, we never did that. We faked it. We faked it every time. And it was horrible."
Shannon, who lived in Hefner's Los Angeles estate with Kristina from ages 18 to 20, recalled that Hefner believed their staged intimacy was real. "He wanted to see it and wanted us to fool around with each other and said that if we really loved each other, we would do it together," she said. She added that she and her sister agreed to fake the acts, knowing Hefner believed it to be genuine.
Shannon's account aligns with recent claims made by Crystal Harris. Shannon expressed that she had previously described her sexual experiences with Hefner as feeling like "assault" and "rape," including a forced threesome on her and Kristina's 19th birthday.
Reflecting on other women who lived at the mansion, Shannon wondered if earlier residents, such as Sandy and Mandy Bentley, had actually engaged in such acts. "I felt bad for those girls because [Hefner] was younger in those days, so he was harder to fool. So I’m like, ‘Oh my God, those poor girls are probably ruined.'" Shannon stated that the women seemed "very quiet" and "ruined" by their time at the Playboy Mansion.
Shannon also confirmed Harris's claim that actor Jon Lovitz was among the men who frequented the mansion and engaged in exploitative behavior. Lovitz has reportedly responded to these claims, stating he was flattered by Harris's description of him.
Shannon has since moved on from her past experiences. She is now pregnant with a baby boy due in April and is engaged to be married. She described her fiancé as "super sweet and supportive" and noted that they share similar values, including sobriety. She intends to raise her son to be a gentleman, embodying the opposite of what she perceived Hefner to represent.