Who Is Crystal Harris Hefner's Boyfriend, Nathan Levi?
They're getting cozy on vacation this week.
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock Crystal Hefner lost her husband, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, in 2017. Since then, she's been single and spends her time traveling and helping with the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, an organization that promotes civil rights.
This week, she was spotted out and about with a man for the first time since Hef's death. Photographers captured her on the beach in Punta di Mita, Mexico with hunky new beau Nathan Levi. The pair was packing on some serious PDA and they looked like they couldn't be happier together.
Who is Crystal Harris Hefner's boyfriend, Nathan Levi?
This is Crystal Hefner's first public relationship since Hugh Hefner died.
Hefner married her late husband in 2012 and remained by his side until his death in 2017. Since then, she has kept her private life private and she hasn't had any public relationships. This vacation with Nathan Levi is the first time the one-time first lady of the Playboy Mansion has been linked to a new man.
Nathan Levi is much closer to Crystal Hefner's age.
Hugh Hefner was 86 at the time of their marriage. Crystal Harris, as she was then known, was only 26 when they walked down the aisle and she had been dating Hef off and on since she was 23. Her new man is much younger than her first husband was: Levi is reportedly 32 years old, a nice match for Hefner, who is 34.
Nathan Levi is a spaceman.
Ok, Levi isn't literally a spaceman but he makes his living with space flight. According to reports, he works for Elon Musk's SpaceX corporation and he was involved in the SpaceX Dragon launch in March 2020. That's a job that he can keep indefinitely, too. The Dragon is designed as a vessel to transport personnel and cargo to and from the International Space Station and the company hopes to be launching regular flights in the future.
Levi is also a pilot and sources close to the couple say he took Hefner out flying on their first day. The grand gesture impressed the one-time Playmate of the month and she kept seeing him after that.
Levi would like to go into space himself.
It's no surprise that a trained pilot who helps engineer space flights would have aspirations of reaching for the stars — literally. People close to Levi report that he would actually like to try going into space himself. We don't know if he has ever applied to be an astronaut but working on SpaceX flights certainly seems like a good way to get a foot in the door of the next wave of space travel.
Crystal Hefner is a travel and lifestyle influencer.
Since becoming a widow, Hefner has focused on her own health. She was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2016 and has been public about her struggles with the effects of that illness. She also learned that her breast implants were making her sick and she had them removed, which she said provided immediate relief from some health issues she had been having. She travels extensively now and posts photos on her Instagram feed as well as videos to her YouTube channel. She has also said she invests in real estate, something she did before going into the Playboy empire.
Levi enjoys traveling with Hefner.
Levi's spirit of adventure isn't just about space; he's happy to explore Earth as well. Friends of the couple say that Levi has accompanied Crystal as she pursues her travel goals. In the four months since they started dating, they have been on various trips within the United States together. This trip to Mexico is the first time they have gotten their passports stamped in a new country as a couple.
The travel time has been appealing to Levi, who insiders say is a bit of a workaholic. “He’s wanting to have more of a balance between work and being with her, since he feels like he’s found someone really special," a source close to the couple told reporters.
Hefner thinks her new boyfriend is as perfect as Hef was.
Friends of Hefner say that part of the reason she stayed single for the past few years is that her last relationship was with a man who was a living legend. No one she met after that measured up to Hugh Hefner until Levi came along. "He’s smart, caring, and makes her feel secure,” the insider noted. “It’s been hard for her to find someone who measures up to the legend of Hugh, and this guy seems to be it. He’s an amazing guy and all her friends adore him.”
Hefner is famously cautious in relationships.
Even Crystal Hefner's relationship with Hef was a study in being slow and cautious. She met Hef in 2009 when he was ending the relationships with the three women who became famous on The Girls Next Door reality series. After his "number one girlfriend" Holly Madison moved on, he invited Harris to move in with him. She shared her man with the Shannon twins, Karissa and Kristina for a while but eventually, the other girlfriends moved on and Hef got more serious about the woman who would become his third wife. "I just simply found myself in a relationship with Crystal in which I felt that the more committed to one another we were, the closer we got, and the more we loved one another,” he said of their relationship. They got engaged in 2010 and planned to be married in 2011.
In the days before their wedding, however, plans changed. The bride got cold feet and called off the nuptials just five days before she was set to walk down the aisle. She explained that it was simply a change of heart on her part.
"I called it off because I didn't think it was the right thing for me to do," she said at the time. "It was mutual between Hef and I. There was no fight, we sat down and we talked about it."
After a few months apart, the pair reconciled and they got married in 2012. They were together until Hef's death in 2017.
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hefner.
She hasn't taken her relationship with Levi Instagram-official yet but from the looks of things, it's only a matter of time before she does.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.