Featured Image Credit: Holly Madison/Instagram/Alamy
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Joe Harker
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Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend, Holly Madison, has compared living in the Playboy Mansion to being in a 'cult'.
Madison dated Hefner between 2001 and 2008, and has been revealing some of the things that went on behind closed doors at the Playboy Mansion for the upcoming series Secrets of a Playboy.
She says that the famous Playboy bunnies were given weekly payments of $1,000 by Hefner but lived under some strict rules, including having to be back in the mansion by 9pm and not being allowed to leave for long periods of time.
Per the Daily Mirror, she said, 'The reason I think the mansion was very cult-like, looking back on it, is because we were all kind of gaslit and expected to think of Hef as, like, this really good guy.
She continued, 'You started to feel like, "Oh, he’s not what they say in the media — he’s just a nice man'. Another thing that reminds me of a cult is how it was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there.
'He said it made him jealous, and he would appreciate it if I quit my job – so, instead, we were given $1,000 a week as an allowance. You had a 9 o’clock curfew, you were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren’t really allowed to leave unless it was, like, a family holiday.'
Madison also discussed her 'traumatic' first night with Hefner, talking about how he was 'literally pushed on top' of her and lashed out at her because she cut her hair too short for his liking.
Details of life inside the mansion have emerged since Hefner's death in 2017 aged 91, including rumours about Hollywood stars taking part in 'scandalous nights' and sex parties where 'carloads of women' were brought to the Playboy Mansion.
There have also been allegations of drug use and sexual abuse at the mansion, with Insider reporting that a former employee of Hefner's had described the rampant drug use as a 'necessary evil', with Quaaludes referred to as 'leg-spreaders'.
The Playboy Mansion itself was bought from Hefner for $100 million a year before he died, though he continued to live in it until his death, with neighbour Daren Metropoulos becoming the new owner.
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