Inside the Playboy Mansion – where appearance was judged and the bedroom was ‘traumatizing’
THEY were young women who thought life in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion was the ultimate dream.
But Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt soon realized that being a Playboy Bunny wasn’t so glamorous, and that it was going to be a living nightmare.
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Both Playboy models were one of Hugh’s original girlfriends for years on The Girls Next Door – but while it all seemed full of glamor and glitz to many fans, the reality was much darker.
Airing from 2005 to 2010, The Girls Next Door gave viewers a glimpse into the Playboy Mansion, starring Hefner’s then three main girlfriends Holly, Bridget and Kendra Wilkinson.
Bridget, 51, and Holly, 41, have since spilled the beans about some Real took place behind the closed doors of Hefner’s mansion, where the late magazine publisher lived until his death in 2017.
The bubbly couple – who have both since become TV personalities – met in the multi-million dollar property where they lived together for seven years.
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In the early 2000s, Bridget recalls, the mansion was “the place to be.”
”Everyone wanted to be there; every celebrity, every girl I knew wanted to be part of it, to be a playmate, to go to the parties.
”They had the best parties in the world there.
“It’s the place where you wanted to go and be seen, and you wanted to be part of that whole lifestyle.”
During their stay at the lavish Californian property – which had 29 rooms – the friends met some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and George Clooney.
Since no one was allowed to have cameras and there would be no paparazzi, “people felt comfortable going there and partying,” Holly explained.
But while the A-listers were living the good life, Hugh’s girlfriends had to “sit at the table all the time and ask if you needed to get up to go to the toilet.”
She added: “You could dance a little, but you greeted everyone […]so we didn’t feel free at all.”
Like the others living in the glamorous mansion, Holly and Bridget felt pressure to conform to the beauty standards of the time – and ”eating disorders were really rife”.
”There was a lot of bulimia in the mansion – to the point where people sometimes ended up in hospital.
Facts you didn’t know about the Playboy Mansion
Girlfriends versus playmates
Rumor has it that Hugh Hefner would have two to a dozen “girlfriends” with him at a time. These friends are not to be confused with Playmates. Each friend had her own room, but one ‘special lady’ was referred to as friend number one and stayed with Hef in his room. Each friend received a bonus amount of $1,000 per week.
Hef’s wild side
The Playboy mansion houses a private zoo. It is one of the few private homes that actually has a zoo permit. Hefner is a lover of birds and they can be found all over the property. There are plenty of peacocks, macaws, flamingos, toucans and ducks. The highlight is a cage with about 100 squirrel monkeys.
The Elvis legend
There is a secret room in the mansion, called ‘The Elvis Room’. Legend has it that the king himself, Elvis Presley, had a small slumber party in the room with up to eight eager bunnies.
”To the point where the bathroom pipes had to be replaced.”
Bridget bravely confessed after being labeled ‘the big girl’ that they would try to ‘fat shame’ her – and still struggles with the nasty comments to this day.
To get into the glamorous spot, which Hefner bought for $1 million in 1971, women also had to be a certain age – and there was a limit too.
“That was definitely a Playboy thing,” Holly said.
“I feel like the unspoken age limit for a playmate was 28.”
Rating system
Those who entered the villa would also have Polaroids taken at the many star-studded bashes – which Hugh, who has died aged 91, would then give a grade from A to D.
”D – you’re not invited back, C – you might be on the big party list, B – you’re on all the party lists, A – you get invited to the pool parties and stuff like that,” Holly revealed.
But the sorted snaps, the pair said in a recent podcast, were the least of their worries.
Holly said: ‘When I think of the worst, I think of whatever was in the bedroom and just the fact that everyone would be invited in there.
“We couldn’t agree on who could come in and who could watch, and who could do anything – and it was just traumatizing.”
Bridget agreed, saying it couldn’t get “worse” than what happened in the bedrooms.
”We had that No voice at that time – it was really difficult.”
“Looking back, it took me a few years to deprogram,” Holly added.
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