Head over heels! Hugh Hefner‘s widow, Crystal Hefner, has found love again nearly three years after his death.
The former Playboy Playmate, 34, was seen getting cozy with new flame Nathan Levi on Monday, July 20, during a romantic getaway at the Casa de Mita resort in Punta de Mita, Mexico. Crystal and the spaceship engineer, 32, showed some serious PDA on the beach and took a dip in the water after locking lips on the sand.
The duo met through mutual friends and have been seeing each other for four months, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
“Crystal is the happiest she’s been in year,” the insider adds. “He’s so caring and wants to make her happy. He’s very kind and gentle with her and super smart. … It’s been hard for her to find someone that measures up to the legend of Hugh Hefner and this guy seems to be it.”
The Arizona native was the third wife of the late Playboy magazine founder, who died in September 2017 at age 91 after going into cardiac arrest and experiencing respiratory failure. The former couple tied the knot in December 2012 after three years of dating. Hugh was previously married to Millie Williams from 1949 to 1959 and to Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 2010.
Earlier this year, Crystal opened up about her “whirlwind” journey to self-discovery in the years since her husband’s passing. “[I’ve] been trying to find myself,” she told Us exclusively at the premiere of Corey Feldman’s My Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys in March. “I became someone else’s identity for 10 years. I’m finding my own identify and place in the world. It’s scary.”
To keep her mind off of the tragedy she faced, the Girls Next Door alum has been trying to stay busy and experience new things. “I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and seeing the world,” she said. “I didn’t do much of that living at the house. Hef and I were just homebodies. He didn’t like me traveling. … I guess I’m making up for lost time.”
Luckily, Crystal found a partner who shares her passions. “They have been traveling together as he’s wanting to have more of a balance between work and being with Crystal,” the source tells Us. “He feels he’s found someone really special in her.”
Shortly after Hugh’s death, Crystal told Us she would always be “eternally grateful” for the influence that the “American hero” had on her life.
“He gave me life. He gave me direction. He taught me kindness,” she said days after his passing. “He changed my life, he saved my life. He made me feel loved every single day. He was a beacon to the world, a force unlike anything else. … There never has and never will be another Hugh M. Hefner.”
Scroll down to see more of Crystal’s PDA-filled vacation with her new man.
