Holly Madison had removed herself from Hugh Hefner’s life years before his death, so she does not feel the need to mourn his death publically.
On Saturday, in an interview with People, the former Playboy model said in a statement, “When he passed away, everybody expected me to have some big reaction or post about it on social media, and it just felt weird,” adding, “I didn’t have any emotional attachment to him anymore in any way.” The 43-year-old model continued, “I’d already come out talking about what a toxic relationship this was for me,” adding, “Why am I supposed to post a memorial on my Instagram?”
The “Holly’s World” actress extensively spoke about her “traumatic” escapades with the disgraced millionaire in the Playboy mansion via interviews and various books. According to Page Six, Madison unveiled some insinuating information about her relationship with Hefner, which lasted between 2001 and 2008, in her 2015 book, “Down The Rabbit Hole.” She revealed the sexual and mental abuse she had to endure with the now-deceased millionaire.
Apart from this, she continued unveiling the secrets that took place in the Playboy mansion, including calling their sexual relationship “hell.” In an infamous ‘Girls Next Level’ podcast episode in August 2022, the “Holly’s World” star said, “We thought of it as a chore that we had to do or else we’ll get kicked out of the house. Everybody just wanted to make it go by as quickly as possible,” she continued by saying, “You’re literally sitting there naked having s*x in front of a group of people who hate you and talk s**t about you while you’re having s*x — and you can hear it. It was just like hell.”
When Hefner died in September of 2017 at the age of 91, Page Six reports that she said she did not get any “relief at all.” Madison, who snipped ties from the Playboy Mansion back in 2008, explained, “… I felt like I had taken myself kind of out of that universe pretty solidly,” further adding, “But it was a really odd time,” she continued, “Before he passed away, there had been maybe five or six years where I just had not spoken to him at all. He had become a completely different character in my mind.”
Via an interview with People that Page Six is reporting, Madison tells the magazine that she still gets clapped back for revealing the secrets of the Playboy Mansion, explaining, “There’s still people who want to attack me for telling my truth, even if it has nothing to do with them. Just because when you’re coming from the mansion, it’s kind of this high-stakes environment where people attach who they are to this title of being a playmate or being associated with Playboy, so they don’t ever want to hear a bad word about it.”
Since the reveal, other Playmates have opened up about their experience in the Mansion as well.