Holly Madison is getting hilariously honest about one very awkward part of being a famous former Playboy Bunny, explaining it to her kids.
The Girls Next Door alum, now 45, says she still hasn’t told her children exactly why people recognize her in public. Instead, she’s out here winging it with made-up stories.
In a new chat with E! News, Holly revealed that when her 12-year-old daughter Rainbow and 8-year-old son Forest ask why people know her, she doesn’t go into her Playboy past or her time living in the mansion. “I don’t know; I’m still making up weird excuses,” she admitted. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I just do YouTube’ or whatever.”
And honestly? Can you blame her? As she points out, today’s kids have no concept of what Playboy even is. “It just doesn’t exist the way it used to,” Holly said. “People always ask me, ‘How are you going to talk to them about it?’ I have no idea. I will cross that bridge when I get there.”
Holly Madison’s fame originally exploded back in the mid-2000s when The Girls Next Door aired on E! from 2005 to 2009. The show followed life inside the Playboy Mansion and gave the world a peek into what it was like to be one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends. Now, two decades later, Holly’s still trying to navigate the long shadow of that fame, especially with two kids who aren’t old enough to understand it.
Talking about the show’s 20-year anniversary, Holly said, “I feel so old! I guess that’s a lifetime ago. It’s so crazy.” She called the show a “snapshot in time” and added, “I always say it’s the one show you can’t reboot, because it was like catching this little cult bubble in real time.”
But that hasn’t stopped her from going back and watching it herself. Holly’s been doing her own rewatch and said that it hits totally different now. “You can watch it for all the eye candy like you did the first time,” she explained. “Or, you can watch it knowing all the stuff that’s going on behind the scenes, and that adds a whole other layer.”
While she’s not totally ruling out another run in reality TV, Holly’s very clear about where she draws the line. “I wouldn’t do anything about my personal life,” she said firmly. She even turned down a spot on the first season of The Traitors, not because she wasn’t interested, but because she didn’t even know what it was. “I just thought they were calling me a traitor,” she joked, “and I was like, ‘No.’”
Now that she actually knows what the show is about, she’s open to reconsidering. And she’s pretty confident she’d kill it. “I have a good poker face,” she quipped.
So for now, Holly Madison is keeping her past under wraps when it comes to her kids, making up YouTube cover stories and putting off the big Playboy talk for another day. Whether or not she ever returns to TV, she’ll always be remembered for that bizarre, iconic chapter of pop culture, and honestly, she seems totally fine letting the mystery live on a little longer.
Jamie Wells has a knack for getting the inside scoop on Hollywood’s biggest stars and up-and-coming talent. With a sharp eye for industry trends and an ear for viral moments, Jamie covers everything from red-carpet events to behind-the-scenes drama in movies, TV, and celebrity culture.
