crystal harris

 Playboy founder Hugh Heftner to marry girlfriend

Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy, is to marry for the third time at the age of 84, to a 24-year-old former Playboy Playmate of the Month.

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris Photo: AP

1:09PM GMT 26 Dec 2010

Hefner, 84, said on Christmas Day in a posting on Twitter that he and his girlfriend Crystal Harris, 24, had got engaged on Christmas Eve.

"When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears. This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory," Hefner tweeted.

Hefner, whose magazine was founded in 1953, was divorced from his second wife, Kimberley Conrad, earlier this year. His first marriage to Mildred Williams ended in divorce in 1959.

Miss Harris, whose parents are British but was born in America, was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 2009.

Hefner, known around the world by his nickname, Hef, has championed sexual freedom and civil rights, published stories challenging McCarthyism and the Vietnam War, and backed homosexual causes and the legalisation of marijuana.