Holly Madison And Bridget Marquardt Reveal How Disturbing The Playboy Mansion Really Was
A number of shocking allegations have been made against the late Hugh Hefner and his Playboy brand since the notorious publisher died in 2017. Some of the biggest revelations were made in the 2022 A&E documentary series "Secrets of Playboy," in which several former Playmates and others once associated with the controversial brand shared their stories about what it was really like to be at the Playboy Mansion.
Holly Madison — who was at one time considered to be Hefner's main girlfriend — even likened Playboy to a cult during the miniseries. "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 Hefner as, like, this really good guy," she explained, claiming that those who lived in the mansion were encouraged not to have people come over or leave the vicinity for extended periods of time. She also spoke candidly about the way Hefner was portrayed on the E! reality show, "The Girls Next Door," which Madison appeared on alongside Hefner and his other girlfriends, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson. "I feel like on 'The Girls Next Door,' Hef was portrayed as, like, a kindly grandpa, but that's not how he is. It would make me so angry how manipulative he was. Hef controlled every aspect of our life," Madison claimed.
Now, Madison and Marquardt are dropping even more bombshells about their Playboy past — and they're pretty disturbing.
Bridget Marquardt called the Playboy Mansion 'a disaster'
Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt got very candid on the August 22 episode of their "Girls Next Level" podcast, claiming the Playboy Mansion was full of junk. "It was just a disaster in there. The lights were out, but there were two giant TV screens in there that were playing porn," Marquardt recalled of her first introduction to the mucky mansion, as Madison likened Hefner to a hoarder.
They also spoke about their sexual encounters with Hefner and others at the same time, with Madison sharing, "I just remember feeling so gross and so used. I felt like this girl was being so nice to me and so welcoming, but really I was just another piece of meat for her to throw under him so she looks better." Marquardt also spoke out, suggesting she was urged to do group things she wasn't comfortable with and felt disgusted the next morning. "Icky is the best way to describe it because I just felt yuck all around, and I felt crazy lonely... I just felt gross, like I wanted to throw up."
Both have been extremely candid about what went down over the years, with Madison making explosive claims in her book, "Down the Rabbit Hole." Speaking about the book to BuzzFeed in 2015, she explained, "I didn't want to oversensationalize the sex, because to me that wasn't the most important issue. It was only one of the things that made me feel bad."