Hugh Hefner, the twice-married founder of Playboy, is taking the plunge again.
Hefner, 84, said in a posting on Twitter that he and his girlfriend Crystal Harris, 24, got engaged on Friday.
In a Christmas message on Twitter, 84-year-old Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner said he had proposed to girlfriend Crystal Harris, a former Playmate of the Month 60 years his junior.
"When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears. This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory," Hefner tweeted.
Hefner sent a second message on Sunday to clear up any lingering doubts about his intentions.
"Yes, the ring I gave Crystal is an engagement ring. I didn't mean to make a mystery out of it. A very merry Christmas to all," it said.
Harris, a stunning 24-year-old blonde, did not explicitly confirm she had accepted his Christmas Eve proposal but, encouragingly, retweeted his messages.
Harris will become the third wife of an ageless lothario who has used a whiff of sex and his own suave mystique to create the world of the consummate Playboy over the past six decades.
Known for his his trademark red-satin smoking jacket and black silk pyjamas, "Hef," as he is commonly known, incarnates the rakish lifestyle he popularized in another era.
The Chicago-born Hefner set up Playboy magazine in 1953 and remains its chief creative officer.
Crystal Harris appeared as the centerfold in the December 2009 edition when she was Playmate of the Month.
Hugh Hefner has over the years admitted affairs with dozens of Playmates and enjoyed the company of endless blondes at his sprawling, decadent mansion in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles.
Hefner and Harris have reportedly been an item since April.
The Playboy founder first married at 23 to Mildred Williams, a fellow student at Northwestern University in Illinois, where he had briefly studied women and gender issues.
Hefner's second wife was Playmate of the Year Kimberley Conrad. He has two children from each marriage.
