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Topics: Hugh Hefner, News, US News, Podcast
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Hugh Hefner, News, US News, Podcast
Holly Madison has addressed Crystal Hefner's bullying accusations after she claims that they have been publicly criticising her.
Last month, Crystal, the widow of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, said in a statement that a 'small group of women have built public platforms around tearing me apart while claiming to stand for empowerment and accountability'.
Crystal went on to say of this group of women – believed to include Holly and Bridget Marquardt, both of whom are ex-girlfriends of Hefner – 'prefer public spectacle' instead of having conversations with her in private.
Bridget and Holly have their own podcast titled Girls Next Level. This is where the two women have been accused of publicly airing their grievances.
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Allegedly, because of the things they've said on the pod, Crystal has been subjected to hostile messages and even death threats, TMZ reported.
She went on: "You cannot preach integrity while orchestrating pile-ons. You cannot speak about justice while weaponizing half-stories.
"And you cannot claim moral authority while repeatedly attacking someone who has asked for private dialogue."
Now, Holly had addressed Crystal's accusations and said she's confused. She added that she supports Crystal's efforts regarding Hefner's scrapbooks, which are thought to be in the possession of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation.
His widow believes that these scrapbooks containing thousands of nude images, involving sexual activity and intimate moments, CNN reported, and she wants to make sure they are not made public.
Crystal even suggested that some of the explicit photographs may be of underage girls.
With this in mind, Crystal has called for an investigation into the foundation. She announced this in a news conference alongside women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred last month, who has filed regulatory complaints filed in two different states against the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation.
When asked about the matter by Danny Murphy and Evan Real on Page Six's Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, Holly said: "When this whole thing with Glora Allred came out where's she's trying to get certain things taken out or redacted from the scrapbooks, I'm totally supportive of that.
"I was speaking out about that way back in 2021. So I totally have her back on that.
"But when Bridget and I were talking on the podcast, we also had some other questions because we also love the tea. We want to know why she got booted off Hef's foundation [and] what was the whole lead up to this."
Holly continued: "She's been kind of sitting on these scrapbooks for the past nine years, so why now? We were just curious, and then she ran to TMZ saying that we were bullying her."
She went on to say that she thinks that, while Crystal is 'entitled to her feelings', the term 'bully' is being 'a little overused in this case'.
"We just had questions about it," Holly insisted. "And we've since gone on and made it clear that we're really supportive of the things being redacted from the scrapbook, of course."
When asked if she would like to sit down with Crystal and hash things out, Holly said: "I feel like I can be supportive of what she's doing, but I don't have to be like having a slumber party. You know what I mean?"
This isn't the first time Madison and Crystal have had beef. In 2024, Madison claimed Hefner had sent her a cease and desist letter based on comments she'd made on her podcast, accusing her of 'legal bullying'.
Hefner's sons, Marston and Cooper, have denied that their father's scrapbooks contain inappropriate images of underage girls.
"Over more than a quarter century of familiarity with these materials, we have never seen inappropriate images of minors, as has been suggested," they said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
"The scrapbooks document decades of personal, professional, and family history. Our father lived much of his life publicly and assembled these materials as a historical record, with the intention that they ultimately be preserved and reviewed in full context, not hidden or concealed."