Playboy wasn’t playing.
Holly Madison, the former “The Girls Next Door” star and ex-girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, is now hosting the reality series “The Playboy Murders” (returning for Season 3 on Monday, May 5 at 9 p.m. on ID and streaming on Max).
“I feel like there was kind of a cult mentality with a lot of the people who surrounded Hef,” Madison, 45, exclusively told The Post.
Playboy mogul Hefner, who died in 2017 at age 91, dated Madison from 2001 to 2008, when she was in her 20s, and he was in his 70s.
Madison – who lived in the Playboy mansion during that time – recalled that everyone looked at Hefner “as not human, and infallible.”
She added, “You can’t even say – not even something bad, but you can even say something bad-adjacent about him without being like, excommunicated.”
Madison compared the Playboy world’s attitude about Hefner to Scientology.
“In Scientology, they call it a suppressive person when someone goes against the church. And I kind of felt like I was treated that way,” explained Madison, who also hosts the “Girls Next Level” podcast.
“If I would even say something after I moved out, something as simple as, ‘oh, no, I’m happier now.’ That was bad,” she warned. “So, I do feel like there’s definitely a cult mentality with some people. You look at some of the signs of what makes a cult, and I could definitely apply them to the Playboy world.”
Season 3 of “The Playboy Murders” covers various deaths, murders, and near-misses with crime that people in the Playboy world had. For instance, the first episode looks at the death of Playboy casting assistant Kimberly Fattorini, who died after a night out, leaving unanswered questions. Another episode covers Playboy Bunny Adrienne Pollack’s 1973 death.
Because Madison lived in the Playboy world and knew some of the people covered in “The Playboy Murders,” she’s not a TV host with distance from the subject.
“It’s definitely emotionally heavy for sure,” said Madison, who also wrote the book, “Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny.”
For “The Playboy Murders,” she said, “I just try and focus on what I know about the women through the research, through the people who’ve come forward to speak…It’s horribly tragic that these stories have to be told anyway. Since they have to be told, I try and do it the best way possible and try to honor her memory as much as I can.”
Madison feels like a misconception that the public have about women like her is that they’re “one dimensional” or use their “sexuality or looks to trick people.”
“There’s always like the gold digger stereotype, or when usually those women are at the lower end of the power imbalance,” she explained.
Because of this, Madison has made it her goal to highlight the story of a Playboy woman whose life ended tragically on a deeper level. “I like to try and focus on what was this woman pursuing? What were her dreams? Where did she come from? What were your insecurities growing up?” she told the Post. “Everything that’s relatable.”
Despite her rough Playboy past, Madison doesn’t have any regrets.
“I like where I ended up,” she mused. “I mean, it’s so easy to look back and say, ‘well, I was clearly in over my head here. Or, I made a bad decision there. Or everything would have been neater and easier and I would have arrived at this place quicker if I would’ve done this.’”
“But you never know that. Life is meant to be experienced and you’re here to learn,” she went on. “I don’t think any of us come here for an easy life with no trouble at all – because that doesn’t happen to anybody.”
Madison welcomed daughter Rainbow, 12, and son Forest 9, with her ex-husband Pasquale Rotella, who she divorced in 2019.
Now, her life is simply “amazing.” She quipped: “I’m keeping super busy with the podcast and the TV shows, so everything’s really rewarding.”
