Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal Hefner, engaged nearly 8 years after Playboy founder’s death

Crystal Hefner and James Ward are getting married!

Ward popped the question on April 25 “with a six-carat, vintage mine-cut diamond set on a whisper-thin band” at Hefner’s Hawaii home following one year of dating, Us Weekly reported on Friday.

“It truly feels like a full-circle moment. James completely surprised me. He had a hidden staircase and a winding trail cleared to reveal a handcrafted deck perched above a dramatic cliffside overlooking the ocean,” Hefner told the outlet.

“It was the exact spot where we’d had a quiet picnic together a year ago — a place that became ‘ours.’ I had no idea he was secretly turning it into something permanent and symbolic,” she shared.

“I thought we were just going for a walk, but when I saw the flowers, the handwritten notes, and the sea stretching endlessly in front of us, I knew something extraordinary was about to happen.”

A rep for Hefner did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

Speaking with People after their big moment, Ward said it was hard to keep his proposal plans a secret from his fiancée, 39, due to their close nature.

“It runs so contrary to our connection to keep anything from her,” the See Through Sea tours owner shared, “[but] there was just that small buoying force of knowing how happy the surprise would make her that made it so worthwhile.”

“If you know Crystal, you know she doesn’t miss a thing,” Ward, 41, continued. “She’s that wonderful combination of smart and attentive, so I really had to step up my game to avoid an overshare.”

“I also had a LOT of help from a whole host of people that did so much of the work. I definitely have them to thank for the best parts of the surprise.”

Hefner and Ward began dating in April 2024 after being set up by mutual friends.

She gushed over her new romance in September 2024, sharing that she was in quite the different relationship than her previous marriage.

Crystal was famously married to Hugh Hefner for five years before his death in 2017. He passed away at the age of 91.

“With James, my feelings are valued, validated,” she said at the time. “I am seen and I am heard.”

“I’m nurturing the real me, my adventurous spirit, my inner child,” she explained. “I feel like I’ve become the person I always needed when I was growing up. I feel accepted and more myself than ever before.”