Holly Madison Says Playboy Mansion Felt Like A 'Cult' During Her Time With Hugh Hefner

Holly Madison has opened up about what her life was really like inside the famous Playboy Mansion, and she didn’t hold back on describing some of the stranger things she witnessed.

The former Playboy Bunny, who was also Hugh Hefner’s long-term girlfriend, has talked about how what looked glamorous from the outside was, in reality, far from it. She has spoken publicly about how her relationship with Hefner felt like a “false paradise,” and that the overall experience of living in the mansion came with some deeply unsettling aspects.

Madison lived at the mansion from 2001 to 2008, a full seven years, during which she says the women staying there were paid weekly, odd trays were spotted in rooms, and the whole setup felt oddly similar to being in a “cult.”

Speaking with the Daily Mirror ahead of the 2022 documentary Secrets of a Playboy, Madison revealed what really went on behind the mansion’s closed doors. 

She said that every bunny had to follow a strict 9 p.m. curfew and that was just one rule among many.

She shared that the women weren’t allowed to leave the mansion for long stretches, further adding to the feeling of being cut off from the world.

And while they received a weekly allowance $1,000 to be exact - that paycheck came with some serious strings attached.

Despite the generous payment, Madison said the living conditions inside the mansion weren’t what many people might think. The rules were strict and the lifestyle was anything but free.

She added: "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 Hef as, like, this really good guy."

"You started to feel like, 'Oh, he's not what they say in the media — he's just a nice man'. Another thing that reminds me of a cult is how it was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there."

"He said it made him jealous, and he would appreciate it if I quit my job – so, instead, we were given $1,000 a week as an allowance. You had a 9 o'clock curfew, you were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren't really allowed to leave unless it was, like, a family holiday."

Madison also spoke about her first night at the mansion, calling it a traumatic experience. She said Hefner was "literally pushed on top" of her. She recalled how he even got angry with her over something as small as cutting her hair too short, which he didn’t like.

In an earlier interview with People, Madison described seeing strange trays all over the mansion. These trays, she said, were stocked with “makeshift lube” and could be found in bathrooms, near the pool, and even by the tennis courts.

Holly Madison dated Hugh Hefner for several years Getty Images/ Denise Truscello/WireImage

Since Hugh Hefner passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, more stories have come to light about what life was really like inside the mansion. There have been reports of wild parties, celebrity encounters, and nights filled with scandal and sex involving “carloads of women.”

There were also serious claims of drug use and sexual misconduct. According to Insider, one former employee described the drug scene as a “necessary evil,” mentioning how Quaaludes were often referred to as “leg-spreaders.”

A year before Hefner’s death, the Playboy Mansion was sold for $100 million. Still, he continued living there until the very end.