What are the playboy Shannon twins doing now? What we know as Karissa and Kristina Shannon detail traumatic years in Hugh Hefner’s mansion

Kristina Shannon and her sister Karissa Shannon, in an exclusive interview with People Magazine, revealed about their traumatic life at the Playboy Mansion. The twins, who were cast into the spotlight at the age of nineteen, when they joined the Playboy Mansion, have now left Los Angeles and moved to their hometown, hoping to lead a quiet life.

Karissa Shannon, in their interview with People Magazine, explained how they came to this decision,

"Kristina and I decided to move. We didn't know where to go, so we decided to go back to where we were born and leave L.A. We sold the beauty salon we owned at the time, and said, 'Let's get the hell out of here and live a simple life. Let's just start healing.' "

Kristina Shannon and her twin sister previously ran the GLAM Beverly Hills Salon, a venture they shut down before traveling back to their hometown, in Michigan, to reconnect with their roots.

The sisters entered the Playboy mansion at the age of nineteen, and during the course of their stay at the Mansion, they began a relationship with High Hefner, with whom they had a sixty four year age differance. This relationship lead to them be featured on the reality TV show The Girls Next Door during its sixth and final season.

More about Kristina Shannon and Karissa Shannon's interview

Before recounting the traumatic experience at the Playboy Mansion, Kristina Shannon, during her interview with People Magazine, revealed more about their family dynamics that pushed the two sisters to work from an early age. She said:

"We came from a small, poor Italian family. My father was only 19 and my biological mother was 16. We moved from Michigan to Florida as babies and [were] raised there by our Nonna, who was our adoptive mother."

Karissa Shanon on the other hand, added how they got started with modelling for the resturant chain owned by Crawford Ker. She said:

"We had to take care of ourselves. That's where our modeling career really started. We worked odd jobs until we were 16, when we started working there."

Soon, their career took off and they arrived at the Playboy Mansion. After the Shannon twins reached the Mansion, they revealed that there were cases of extreme bullying and jealousy from other housemates.

"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."

During their interview, the sisters added that even by January 2010, after living in the Playboy Mansion for less than two years, they were unable to escape the lasting effects of their time at the Mansion. This time at the Mansion impacted them severely and lead to problems with alcohol and d**gs.

"We gained weight. There was alcohol and pills. We were really unhealthy and lost and, even at points, s**cidal. We had no one. It was just us, trying to figure it out after losing ourselves." said Kristina Shannon.

Previously, in 2022, during their appearance in the documentary series, "Secrets of the Playboy," the Shannon sisters revealed how they were allegedly forced to perform s**ual acts, with Karissa revealing that she became pregnant on one such occasion, but later had an abortion. The transcripts of the episode obtained by Daily Mail, read:

"Every time I've done it with him, it's assault,' Karissa said. 'For me, it's like r*pe. He used control mechanisms completely through everything, so I'm happy that I had the abortion."

Kristina Shannon further added :

"There was at one point an STD that went around. We caught chlamydia. And I remember going down to Mary O'Connor's office — his assistant slash, I'd say, house mom for us — and she's like 'Well that's what happens when you're s**ually active.'"

Karissa further added in the episode that Hefner wielded enormous power, resulting in the twins' isolation from the outside world.

"He has so much power. It's like a cult. The isolation that I had from the outside world."

The Shannon twins, who are now thirty five years old, further added how they ended up with a range of diagnoses after their traumatic life at the Playboy Mansion.

We ended up being diagnosed with manic depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Being outside the city helped us slow down."

Karissa further added:

"It really crumbled who we are, especially when he took our religion away. 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."

According to the sisters, although the expirience of living at the Playboy Mansion was traumatic, it pushed them to where they are today.

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"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."

Kristina Shannon and her sister Karissa Shanon are now hoping to start their life anew. They reveal in their interview that they hope to have twin children at the same time, sometime in the future.

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