Former Playboy Playmate Karissa Shannon says a recent allegation from Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Harris, is accurate: the late Playboy founder allegedly urged Shannon to have sex with her twin sister, Kristina, while they were teenagers.
“He would try to force me and my sister to have sex with each other,” Karissa, 37, told Page Six on Wednesday.
Karissa and Kristina lived at the Playboy Mansion from the ages of 18 to 20.
Karissa said she was surprised by the public reaction to Harris’ claim that Hefner encouraged incestuous behavior between the sisters. She said she had assumed people already knew about his alleged demands.
Referring to Hefner’s insistence that the twins engage in a sexual encounter on their 19th birthday in October 2008, Karissa said the experience felt comparable to sexual “assault” and “rape.”
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Karissa Shannon, Kristina Shannon and Playboy for comment.
Former Playboy Playmate Karissa Shannon says Crystal Harris’ recent claim that Hugh Hefner asked her to have sex with her twin sister, Kristina, is true. Karissa, Kristina, Hefner and Harris are pictured in Toronto in 2009
Hefner, who died at 91 in September 2017, is pictured in 2008
Karissa told Page Six that she and Kristina pretended to engage in sexual acts to satisfy Hefner.
“My sister and I never actually did it together,” Karissa told the outlet. “That’s something I want to make clear.”
“We never, ever had incestuous sex. We never did that. We faked it every time, and it was horrible. We completely pretended.”
Harris was present for some of the encounters and knew the sisters were pretending, Karissa said. Hefner, who died at 91 in September 2017, allegedly “had no idea” and believed the encounters were genuine.
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Karissa claimed the staged incestuous behavior “made him so happy,” adding that Hefner described it as “beautiful.”
“He wanted to see it and wanted us to fool around with each other,” Karissa said of Hefner. “He said that if we really loved each other, we would do it together.”
Karissa said she and Kristina discussed Hefner’s requests before deciding, “Let’s just fake it.”
![Crystal Hefner, pictured earlier this year in LA, claimed Hefner had tried 'to get [the Shannon twins] to engage with each other sexually'](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/11/06/02/112315283-16267369-Crystal_Hefner_pictured_earlier_this_year_in_LA_claimed_Hefner_h-a-39_1793933577317.jpg)
Crystal Hefner, pictured earlier this year in Los Angeles, said Hefner had tried “to get [the Shannon twins] to engage with each other sexually”
From left, Kristina Shannon, Karissa Shannon, Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris are pictured in Beverly Hills, California, in December 2009
The twins are pictured at their 21st birthday celebration in New York City in 2010
Karissa also said she had “no idea” that other Playmates living at the mansion were actually having sex with Hefner and other people.
During an interview with Lisa Guerrero Unleashed last week, Harris said that events in the bedroom sometimes crossed serious boundaries.
Hefner had attempted “to get [the Shannon twins] to engage with each other sexually,” Harris alleged, adding, “That is incest and that is disgusting.”
Harris said she was relieved when the twins eventually left the Playboy Mansion, away from Hefner’s alleged demands.
“I didn’t want them to have to do something like that with each other,” Harris said. “So that was very, very hard.”
