EXCLUSIVE – Crystal Hefner, 37, has quietly split from actor boyfriend Ryan Malaty after two years – and has already moved on with 23-year-old rising tennis star Alex Kotzen: ‘He’s her sexy boytoy’

Crystal Hefner appears to have inherited her late husband’s penchant for dating younger people.

DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that the 37-year-old model quietly split from 34-year-old actor Ryan Malaty – her boyfriend of two years – last month and has already moved on with a 23-year-old student.

Crystal, who was once married to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, was recently pictured with Alex Kotzen, a budding tennis star attending Columbia University.

According to an insider, the two are said to be “having fun,” which Alex described as Crystal’s “sexy boytoy.”

DailyMail.com has exclusively learned that the stunning beauty ended her relationship last month with ex-boyfriend Ryan Malaty, 32, pictured here in 2021

According to a source, Crystal has not been single since she met Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, pictured together in 2014, three years before he died at the age of 91.

“Crystal ended her relationship with Ryan last month,” they told DailyMail.com exclusively. “It just wasn’t Ryan and it was very amicable. They had just grown in different directions and he wasn’t the one.

“Alex looks more like her sexy boy toy right now. She’s not with him. Crystal hasn’t been single since she met Hugh and is just having fun. No one hates it either. Go get it, girl!”

Crystal, a graduate of San Diego State University, and Ryan reportedly split in early September — just days after she paid tribute to the Are You the One? alum on his 32nd birthday.

‘Congratulations. I love you,” she commented on his Instagram post on September 7.

The pair started dating in the summer of 2021, not long after her divorce from Nathan Levi. They enjoyed a vacation in Mexico in July before taking a trip to Disneyland the following month.

They both shared the same photo from the theme park, with Ryan calling Crystal his “Mouseketeer.”

Ryan, whose TV credits include My Dead Ex and That One Time, also documented their romantic getaway to Egypt in October. With a photo of the two of them he wrote: ‘In this whole wide world we have found each other, our greatest adventure is on its way.’

Both parties have not yet publicly addressed their split.

Alex and Crystal were aware that they were being photographed during their walk, but they didn’t seem to care

Although the source insists the pair are ‘not together’

But Crystal has apparently had a welcome distraction in Alex, with the pair appearing delighted in each other’s company during a stroll through Central Park last week.

The former Playboy playmate – whose memoir Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself is gearing up for a January 2024 release – was dressed in a Gucci sweater emblazoned with Mickey Mouse, while Alex looked casual in a black jacket and Nike -sneakers.

The two giggled and ate ice cream together before heading to a nearby bar.

Crystal is busy promoting her upcoming book, which will further explain her controversial romance with Hugh and other life challenges.

In July, she spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com about her relationship with the business mogul, describing it as “very complicated.”

“It was one where no matter how I was treated, I always felt like I had to protect him, which is why I haven’t shared my story until now,” she said.

‘I’ve had to do a lot of self-discovery since he passed away. I have had to discover who I am without it being dictated to me. Not only did I have to find my voice, but I also had to learn how to use that voice.

“My book is a testament to the power of time, processing everything I’ve been through and embracing my truth.”

Crystal and her ex Ryan, pictured in October 2021 while on holiday in Egypt, are said to have had an ‘amicable split’

Crystal said, “Happy birthday. I love you” on Ryan’s post on September 7, around the time they broke up

The blonde beauty shared this photo from Hawaii on Oct. 25 with the caption, “I hope we all get the happy ending we deserve. I love you’

She will reveal how Hugh “chose her from the crowd” to become “one of his infamous ‘girlfriends'” before the couple, who shared a 60-year age gap, tied the knot on New Year’s Eve in 2012.

Crystal started dating Hugh in January 2009, when she was 23 and he was 83. They were married for five years before he passed away in 2017 at the age of 91.

Her tell-all memoir candidly explores how her young adulthood was “stolen” after attending her first party at the infamous Playboy mansion at just 21 years old.

The blonde beauty said people “took pleasure in making fun of her and the other young women, which further damaged her self-esteem.”

Crystal was by Hugh’s side when he died on September 27, 2017 at the Playboy mansion in Holmby Hills, California.

At the time, she posted on Instagram: “I was with him at the end. We had already discussed what would happen. “You move on, but know that I love you very much,” he said, and we cried.”

In September 2020, Crystal admitted she was finally ready to “move on” and started dating space engineer Nathan after being introduced by mutual friends.

The model was married to Playboy mogul Hugh from 2012 until his death in 2017, pictured together in 2010.

When she announced their relationship, she posted online: “It took me three years to feel normal again. Now I’m ready to move on. I just started dating again. He is caring and kind, everything I need…

“The friends who introduced us thought we would get along great, and we’re doing really well. I love that he’s not in the entertainment industry. He has a very nice job and wants to become an astronaut.’

Their relationship came about amid Crystal’s health issues, when a fat transfer procedure nearly killed her.

“I lost half the blood in my body and ended up in the hospital because I needed a blood transfusion,” she said of the terrifying fear.”