Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself

by Crystal Hefner

In college I’d learned about the “sunk cost fallacy,” which is when someone is so heavily invested in something, they don’t walk away, even if it would be better for them if they did. A gambler who’s lost thousands will bet their last hundred on one last round and lose it, instead of escaping with that last little bit. A real estate investor keeps pouring more money into a bad deal instead of accepting the initial loss. I was deep in the throes of sunk cost fallacy. I’d invested so much that I couldn’t just walk away.