Holly Madison, the former girlfriend of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, has shared her experiences of living in the notorious mansion.
Despite having been in a relationship with Hefner for seven years from 2001 to 2008, Madison has described their relationship as a ‘false paradise’.
She has also divulged the realities of life inside the Playboy Mansion, shedding light on what went on behind closed doors.
In anticipation of the 2022 documentary Secrets of a Playboy, Madison referred to the mansion as ‘cult-like’.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, she claimed that the so-called bunnies received a weekly allowance of $1,000.
Nonetheless, she emphasized that living in the mansion came with its own set of strict regulations.
Madison detailed a curfew of 9pm and restrictions on leaving the mansion for extended periods.
She elaborated: “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.
“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 recounted her ‘traumatic’ first night with Hefner, mentioning that he was ‘literally pushed on top’ of her and became angry when she cut her hair too short.
Since Hefner’s death in 2017 at the age of 91, more details about life inside the mansion have emerged, including rumors about Hollywood stars participating 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 within the mansion. Insider reported that a former employee described the prevalent drug use as a ‘necessary evil’, with Quaaludes being referred to as ‘leg-spreaders’.
The Playboy Mansion itself was sold for $100 million a year before Hefner passed away, although he continued to live there until his death.