At 19 years previous, former Playboy playmates — and twins — Karissa and Kristina Shannon’s lives took a drastic flip after transferring into Hugh Hefner‘s Playboy mansion.
In a brand new interview, the twins, now 35, open up in regards to the troubling expertise they shared whereas dwelling within the mansion with Hefner, who died in 2017, and fellow playmates, explaining the way it led them down a harmful internet of dependancy and sharing the steps they took to finally discover peace.
“We always say ‘Playboy’ will always be a part of our lives. We were ‘Playboy’ fans and we still are ‘Playboy’ fans. Even though it turned out to be very traumatic for us, there were also a lot of high points,” Karissa advised Folks journal.
From the get-go, the Florida natives mentioned they had been met with bouts of “extreme jealousy” from different playmates after Hefner confirmed favoritism towards them.
“We got a lot of jealousy from the other playmates because we were twins. We were the first twins to each get our own months, which made Playboy history. We were the youngest playmates and the youngest girlfriends,” Kristina mentioned.
“When we’re taking pictures, he would want to get in the middle of the twins to take a picture. Or he would be like, ‘Can you move the twins toward the front of the table? I want to sit next to them.’ So the girls started getting really jealous,” Karissa famous.
“It made Kristina cry. Kristina literally cried and wanted to leave the mansion when we were shooting. And I told her, ‘These girls are older. They know how to play the game better. But we’re pretty. We’re here. We’ve made it this far.’ And so we ended up staying and Kristina got through it, but there was so much bullying,” she added.
Throughout their four-year keep on the mansion, Karissa mentioned the expertise “left a huge hole in both of our hearts and our spirits.”
“It really crumbled who we are, especially when [Hugh] took our religion away,” she explains. “Our believing in Jesus became a big problem, and losing that was just really big trauma that we dealt with. We had no family that was there to back us up like a lot of the girls.”
After transferring out, the twins confronted one other wave of challenges, together with loss and substance abuse.
“When we moved out, we had a couple of years where we went through this individuality phase,” Karissa mentioned. “I feel like every set of twins goes through it, particularly in your early 20s. We were both into different things and trying to be individuals, because Hef really did force the twin thing on us, more than anyone else had ever. But we’ve always been extremely close. I believe we’re twin flames, closer than most twins.”
“Everyone was saying we were going through our ‘Anna Nicole phase’” Kristina mentioned. “We gained weight. There was alcohol and pills. We were really unhealthy and lost and, even at points, suicidal. We had no one. It was just us trying to figure it out after losing ourselves.”
After hitting rock-bottom, the duo determined to maneuver again to their residence state of Michigan.
“We drove the whole way without stopping until we got to Michigan. I remember getting into Colorado and smelling that fresh air … it was just different,” Karissa mentioned. “Being in nature desensitized us. We ended up being diagnosed with manic depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Being outside the city helped us slow down.”
“We were totally just ready to be selfish for the first time. And we were all about God and praying constantly to Jesus,” she added. “We were literally praying and just trying to change our lives. And I feel like this is when we really grew up.”
“I feel like out of all of this, God was humbling us,” Kristina famous. “He was humbling us and letting us know, ‘I have another plan for you.’ He’s restoring us, and that’s what we feel like now. We are completely different people, but still ourselves.”
“We’re still the playful twins who did Playboy, but we care about other things now. We are all about organics. Everything we eat, all our food is organic. All our water’s alkaline, our sheets are organic,” she added.
Nowadays, the twins proceed to prioritize their psychological and bodily well being one of the best ways they’ll.
“We meditate every day together, and we’re into meal-prepping and not eating out, really self-care and just taking time for ourselves and learning how to be selfish, learning how to say no,” Karissa mentioned.
“We went in our hearts, we went through our healing era, which took years. I didn’t think we would ever come out of it. But Michigan changed us. We love being in Michigan and then going to L.A. or Vegas for work,” Kristina added.
