Girls Next DoorStars Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt Name the One Celeb Who Would 'Act Like We Did Not Exist' Back in the Day

Mar. 15, 2025

Left: Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt in 2007; Right: Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner in 2007.Photo:Chad Buchanan/Getty (2)

Chad Buchanan/Getty (2)

On the Oct. 28 episode of their podcastGirls Next Level,Holly Madisonand Bridget Marquardt remembered meetingPamela Andersonback when they were Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends and filming their seriesThe Girls Next Door.

At the beginning of the episode — in which they talked about the season 3 episode “My Bare Lady” — Madison, 44, admitted she was nervous to talk about Anderson’s onscreen appearance because she has “fear of people’s opinions.”

“It’s not like a beef thing, and it’s not like I want to out this person because it’s kind of a dumb thing,” she explained. She wanted to talk about it, she said, because she perceives the behavior “differently” now than she did then.

“Back in my 20s, if somebody was really rude or standoffish to me, especially consistently, I assumed it was a major problem,” she explained. But now, in partbecause of her own autism diagnosis, she has a different perspective on those interactions.

Hugh Hefner (center left), Pamela Anderson (center right) and many Playboy models. Holly Madison is seen front center in 2003.Theo Wargo/WireImage

Theo Wargo/WireImage

At the start of the television episode, Hefner (who died in 2017 at the age of 91) and his three on-screen girlfriends — Madison, Marquardt andKendra Wilkinson— attend thePlayboyLegacy Collection event, which celebrates the magazine’s history with some of its most iconic photos. Frequent cover star Anderson, now 57, makes a surprise appearance, and while Hefner is thrilled, the girls are not.

Madison explained on the podcast that often when she talks about her past as aPlayboyplaymate living in the mansion, she’s asked about which celebrities were nice or which ones were not, and Anderson fell in the latter group.

“She would act like we did not exist on any level in such a weird way,” she said. “The only reason I’m bringing this up is I remember feeling like it was so strange that I wondered what is that all about.” She added that it changed later on and Anderson “would acknowledge me a little bit toward the very end.”

Holly Madison (left) and Bridget Marquardt in 2010.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

“On the episode where she brings out the cake naked, she gives me a big hug,” Madison remembered, referring to the season 4 episode “Hot Chocolate.” “But in the beginning, it was so distinct. And nobody else was like that,” she said, recalling friendly encounters she had with Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra and Paris Hilton.

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Madison added that at the time, she assumed Anderson must have been close to Hefner’s ex-wife Kimberley Conrad, whom he divorced in 2010. Or “maybe she was at such a weird level of fame where people always wanted something from her that didn’t feel comfortable talking to people,” she speculated. “Or maybe she had an experience where she tried to talk to Hef girlfriends before, and it went really poorly.”

Marquardt, 51, added, “I thought it was weird too that she completely ignored us and but yet fawned so heavily over Hef when his girlfriends are literally sitting right there.” She said that if that happened now withher fiancé Nicholas Carpenter, there would be a “problem.”

“I guess when people act like that, they just assume we’re all just there strictly for the money and don’t give a f—,” Madison added. “But that wasn’t the case with us.”

Holly Madison (left) and Hugh Hefner in 2005.J. Merritt/FilmMagic

Madison didn’t want listeners to think she didn’t have empathy for Anderson. “Look. I’m the most socially awkward person on the planet. I’m sure there’s a million people, especially from pre-2004 mansion era, who would love to come forward and say what a f—— b—- I am. So, I get it, but also I don’t because it was so extreme and so every single time.”

Madison, Marquardt and Wilkinson, 39, starred onThe Girls Next Doorfor five seasons, from 2005 to 2009. The sixth season followed three new girlfriends, including Crystal Harris, who wed Hefner in 2012 and was with him until his death.

Madison opened up to PEOPLE in 2023about what living in the Playboy Mansion was really like — and the lasting effect it had on her.

“I would definitely say that living in the mansion created a body dysmorphia for me because I was always kind of wondering what’s wrong with me," she explained. “[Hugh] had a way of making me feel like I wasn’t pretty enough, and I would look around to everybody else and constantly be wondering, what’s so different about them and why are they so much better?”

“It was constantly like, what can I do? What can I do? What can I change? How can I look better?” she said. Madisonbegan dating Henfer in 2001and in 2015 recounted her life in the mansion inher memoirDown the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny.

source: people.com