Crystal Hefner has applied to change her name

Court documents on the matter obtained by People magazine didn't list a hearing date but in California, legal name changes typically require a public notice period and a formal court hearing before they can be carried out.

Crystal previously claimed she only loved Hugh - who died in 2017 aged 91 - like an elderly relative.

She wrote in her memoir 'Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself': "Life in the (Playboy) mansion wasn't the fairy tale I had once hoped it would be.

"From the outside, sure, it had all the trappings of a fairy tale. But it wasn't, and everyone who lived there knew it.

"I was never in love with Hef, but I loved this old man in the ways you are supposed to love your elders.

"In the ways you are supposed to love someone who is nearing the end of a long and complicated life."

The model also spoke of her late husband's insistence on controlling how she looked.

She said on Tamron Hall: "[He wanted me to] be helpless, be small, have bleach blonde hair and stay skinny and have big fake boobs."

She added Hugh would "tap" her head whenever her natural brunette roots would show through and once hit her thigh and said she needed to "tone up".

Crystal added he also wanted her to be "seen and not speak", and said: "That was hard. This charming man all of the sudden is changing."

She said she was so worried about keeping him happy she lost all sense of self and "became whatever he wanted".

After a series of surgeries, Crystal announced in 2022 she had "everything fake" removed from her body.

She also reflected on the "really big power imbalance" of her marriage.

She told People magazine: "I realised I was dealing with a really big power imbalance. It seemed like a world of success and fantasy, but everyone's having to sleep with an 80 year old. There's a price. Everything has a price."