Holly Madison says living at the Playboy mansion was like being in a cult: 'It was so easy to get isolated'
- Holly Madison called the atmosphere at the Playboy mansion "cult-like" in a new "Secrets of Playboy" clip.
- According to the reality star, she and other women who lived there were "gaslit" and "isolated."
Holly Madison called the atmosphere at the Playboy mansion "cult-like" in a new clip from the upcoming docuseries "Secrets of Playboy."
"We were all kind of gaslit and expected to think of [Hugh Hefner] as this really good guy. And you started to feel like, 'Oh, he's not what they say in the media. He's just a nice man,'" Madison, who lived at the mansion as Hefner's girlfriend from 2001 to 2008, said in the clip.
"Another thing that reminds me of a cult of how it was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there," the reality star continued. Per Madison, the women living at the mansion had a 9 o'clock curfew, were "encouraged to not have friends over," and weren't "really allowed to leave" unless it was a "family holiday."
"The sex always happened kind of like, the same time, the same night," Madison revealed. "We would go out to a club every Wednesday and Friday, and that would be expected when we got home."
The "Down the Rabbit Hole" author even said that Hefner told her to quit her waitressing job, since it made him "jealous." She then relied on the $1,000 per week allowance that the women at the mansion were given as her main source of income.
A representative for Playboy shared the following statement with Insider in regards to the allegations made in the docuseries.
"Today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy. We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences. As a brand with sex positivity at its core, we believe safety, security, and accountability are paramount," the statement read. "The most important thing we can do right now is actively listen and learn from their experiences. We will never be afraid to confront the parts of our legacy as a company that do not reflect our values today. As an organization with a more than 80% female workforce, we are committed to our ongoing evolution as a company and to driving positive change for our communities."
Madison has been outspoken about her experience with Hefner at the mansion, and said in a different clip from "Secrets of Playboy" that Hefner once called her "old, hard, and cheap" after she got a short haircut.
And on the topic of sex with Hefner, the reality star previously revealed on a podcast that she was "wasted" during her first time having sex with ex-boyfriend Hugh Hefner, and the whole experience made her feel "mortified and embarrassed."
"I was wasted. He was literally pushed on top of me," Madison said of their first sexual encounter. "After it happened, I was just mortified and embarrassed, and it had way more of an emotional impact on me than I thought it would."
This story has been updated to include the statement Insider received from Playboy.