Like a train wreck you can’t look away from, fans continue to obsess over what went on at Hugh Hefner’s storied Playboy Mansion. The notoriously salacious setting served as the backdrop for all sorts of sexual perversion from some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Hefner died in 2017, but the legacy lives on.
His former girlfriend Holly Madison has been vocal about her experiences living in the Playboy Mansion. Most famously, Madison starred in the reality series “The Girls Next Door,” which took viewers on a journey inside the mansion, with all its intrigue. Now the former playmate is focused on the darker side of the mansion with the release of a tell-all docuseries.
The A&E special “Secrets of Playboy” is slated to premiere on January 24. In the new trailer, Madison recounts some of the worst aspects of being Hefner’s romantic partner.
“I got to a point where I kind of broke under that pressure and being made to feel like I needed to look exactly like everybody else,” Madison explained. She described having naturally long hair but wanting to set herself apart from the other blonde, big-chested women who also frequented the Playboy Mansion. So she boldly chopped her hair to her shoulders.
“I came back with short hair and [Hefner] flipped out on me,” the former Playmate revealed. “He was screaming at me and said it made me look old, hard and cheap.”
Hefner’s friend Jonathan Baker corroborated the story, explaining that the media mogul was, at heart, a control freak. “I remember when [Holly] cut her hair,” Baker said. “He was very unhappy about it. Yup, his world.”
Another former girlfriend, “Girls Next Door” alum Bridget Marquardt, recounted how Hefner was especially hard on Madison compared to other women in his life. “Hef would be pretty abrasive in the way he said things to Holly,” the former girlfriend explained.
“[Madison] came down with red lipstick one time and he flipped out, said he hated red lipstick on girls and [told her] that she needed to take it off right away,” she continued. Apparently, other women were permitted to wear red lipstick even when Madison wasn’t.
“It was very frustrating to live with every day,” Marquardt said. “All of the drama that was going on and the tension. I could definitely see that she was getting depressed and sad and her demeanor was starting to change.”
The trailer also hinted at more shocking stories to come, including how Madison was encouraged to experiment with actions she wasn’t totally comfortable with. “I felt like I was in the cycle of gross things and I didn’t know what to do,” the former reality shared during the clip.
Besides just dealing with Hefner’s temper, there were also instances of heavy drug use on the mansion grounds, which likely contributed to the overall vibe.