• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend Holly Madison opens up about her connection with him in the Playboy mansion

Home> News

Updated 11:07 4 May 2025 GMT+1Published 17:31 2 May 2025 GMT+1

Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend Holly Madison opens up about her connection with him in the Playboy mansion

Holly Madison has become outspoken about her time with Hugh Hefner

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

A former Playboy mansion bunny has reflected on her time with Hugh Hefner and revealed the difficulties of living that ‘fast lane’ life.

Holly Madison shot to fame in the 2000s and became known as one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, alongside two other Playboy bunnies.

The former Playboy magazine cover model became a star on the reality TV show The Girls Next Door and has now opened up about what the experience was really like.

Advert

She now hosts a podcast alongside another one of Hefner’s ex-girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and the pair remain close to this day despite different experiences in the house.

Holly spoke about the difficulties of living life that life and reflected on the negative impact it had on her.

Holly (right) shot to fame in the 2000s and became recognized as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends (M. Tran/FilmMagic)
Holly (right) shot to fame in the 2000s and became recognized as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends (M. Tran/FilmMagic)

Speaking to the Mail Online, she said: “When you're involved in a world where you're highly sexualized or sexualizing yourself, and there's a lot of things at stake and things you could possibly gain, like fame, money, opportunities, there's people around you who are jealous of those things. It's truly living life in the fast lane.”

Advert

She added that it took her years to truly open up about her experiences in the mansion and noted that she would often try to be positive anytime someone asked her about her time there.

She claimed it was an ‘easy way to dismiss everything, and tie my experiences up in a nice little bow'.

But in all honesty, she knew she wasn’t being entirely truthful about her experiences.

In her 2015 memoir, as well as in her podcast, she claimed that the late Hefner was ‘controlling’ through their relationship and has remarked at how ‘miserable’ she was overall with the experience.

Advert

Holly has spoken out about a miserable time in a relationship with Hefner (Michael Bezjian/WireImage)
Holly has spoken out about a miserable time in a relationship with Hefner (Michael Bezjian/WireImage)

Over the years, this has resulted in some pushback from some former Playboy bunnies due to it differing from their own experiences with Hefner and the mansion.

However, Holly has explained that she has previously noticed a level of discomfort in some of the other ex-girlfriends of Hefner and concluded they too were trying to make the best of their situation.

Speaking about them she said she could 'tell something was a little wrong, even though they were trying to have a great experience’.

Advert

She added: “I could always see that there was a little bit of sadness behind their eyes, or they seemed a little upset, and I never really knew why, but I always kind of had a suspicion that maybe they had a similar experience to me.”

Featured Image Credit: Laurence Cottrell/FilmMagic via Getty Images

Topics: Celebrity, Hugh Hefner

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Experts issue urgent warning against popular new tanning 'drug' that could cause brain swelling and cancer

    The viral trend promises to give users a natural glowing tan

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Horrifying details emerge after plane carrying 200 passengers flies with no pilot after first officer collapsed

    The plane was diverted and thankfully all 200 passengers onboard landed safely.

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Family win $100,000 in settlement after being accused of not paying $200 bill

    Peter and Ann McGirr were slammed in a Facebook post which falsely claimed they hadn't paid their bill

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Chilling story of man who told family he was leaving with aliens and hasn't been seen since

    What happened to Granger Taylor has remained a mystery for 45 years

    News
  • Kendra Wilkinson explains why she 'never bonded' with Holly Madison while in 'throuple' Hugh Hefner relationship
  • Why former Playboy twins feared they'd end up like Anna Nicole Smith amid 'trauma' after years in Hugh Hefner's mansion
  • Holly Madison shares gross reason why Hugh Hefner didn't want any Playboy models wearing red lipstick
  • Holly Madison explains why she doesn't mourn Hugh Hefner