Holly Madison is looking back on her years living at the famed Playboy Mansion with a mix of nostalgia and candor. The television personality and author, who was one of Hugh Hefner’s longtime partners, recently opened up about her experiences, describing a life that was far more complex than the glamorous image often portrayed. Madison lived at the Holmby Hills estate from 2001 to 2008, initially as one of seven girlfriends before becoming one of Hefner’s primary partners alongside Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson.
While she shared the main bedroom with the Playboy founder, Madison revealed that life inside the mansion involved certain expectations. During a recent podcast appearance, she spoke frankly about the group dynamics, describing the mandatory group encounters as something she found “disgusting” and openly hated. She contrasted this with the private time she spent with Hefner alone, which she characterized as a “very different story” and far more normal than people might assume given their significant age difference.
Addressing the public’s fascination with their relationship, Madison pushed back against common assumptions about their intimate life, joking that she never witnessed the “old balls” that commenters often referenced online. She quipped that they often kept the lights off, adding a humorous note to the conversation. Beyond the bedroom, Madison also shared quirky and less-than-glamorous details about daily life in the mansion, noting the presence of odd supply trays stocked with items like Vaseline, baby oil, and Pepto-Bismol placed all around the property.
Despite the challenging aspects of her relationship dynamics, both with Hefner and the other women in the house, Madison’s reflection is multifaceted. She maintains that she thoroughly enjoyed her time posing for the magazine and even working behind the scenes producing photoshoots. For her, the experience was a mixture of fulfilling a childhood dream and navigating the complicated realities of a very unconventional lifestyle.
