Life in the mansion has taken on a different light over the past decade and thanks to the newly released docuseries Secrets of Playboy. We have learned that the glamour hid a toxic and misogynistic lifestyle that oversexualized the young models.
Despite this, some of Playboy magnate Hefner’s loyal fans still claim that these women knew better and should not blame the magazine magnate, who died in 2017 aged 91. Hefner’s son Cooper recently also tweeted that the salacious story was nothing more than “a case study of regret becoming revenge”.
So, what have the former Playmates been up to since the show, which of the housemates are still friends, and are there any new dramas?
Holly Madison
Playboy’s notorious “bunny” and Hefner’s OG ex-girlfriend lived at the Playboy Mansion from 2001 to 2008. After the E! series wrapped up, she had her own spin-off titled Holly’s World and also penned two memoirs: 2015’s Down the Rabbit Hole and 2016’s The Vegas Diaries.
Recently, Madison dropped a shocking bombshell on the Secrets of Playboy documentary, describing her intimate nights with Hefner as “very mechanical and robotic” adding that “I think I definitely thought I was in love with Hef but it was very Stockholm syndrome”.
Madison was also known for her infamous feud with fellow The Girls Next Door’s cast member Kendra Wilkinson. In her 2015 memoir, Madison described Wilkinson as “the fakest person [she’d] ever met” and afterwards the two often clapped back at each other on Twitter and in interviews.
She reignited their feud, again, in a 2021 podcast interview, saying that Wilkinson lied when she claimed she didn’t sleep with Hefner before moving into the mansion. Wilkinson seemed unbothered and wrote an Instagram post telling Madison that “time has changed” and “I forgive and have kids to love and focus on”.
The 42-year-old lives with her three children from her marriage to ex-husband Pasquale Rotella and seems closest with Playboy bunny Bridget Marquardt, to whom she dedicated a birthday post last year.
Bridget Marquardt
After being one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends for six years, Marquardt now lives a life that is the polar opposite to her time as a Playmate.
In 2019, she started vlogging on her YouTube channel as well as hosting a podcast, Ghost Magnet with Bridget Marquardt, in which she talked about spooky goings on and investigated paranormal activity.
She once told E! News that Hefner visited her dream after his death and said it helped her find closure: “I didn’t get to say goodbye to him. I didn’t like that.”
The bubbly model was a fan favourite back in the day and has since appeared in reality shows like Celebrity Family Feud and Last Comic Standing.
She got engaged to director Nick Carpenter in 2015 and tried to start a family, having frozen her eggs back in 2006. Speaking on Australia’s The Morning Show in 2017, she opened up and said that, “None of my eggs survived. It was devastating for me, all this time I thought I had an amazing insurance policy but it didn’t work out.”
Recently, Marquardt defended her friend and fellow Playboy bunny Madison in the new docu-series and said, “Hef would be pretty abrasive in the way he said things to Holly,” and further added that Hefner was “very needy” of Madison and “always wanted her next to him”.
Kendra Wilkinson
The third original cast member of The Girls Next Door is known for her outspoken personality and that infamous feud with Holly Madison.
After living in the mansion for five years, Wilkinson left Playboy and found long-running television gigs. She had her own spin-off series Kendra (2009-2011), Kendra on Top (2012-2017) with her ex-husband, NFL player and businessman Hank Baskett.
She now stars in Kendra Sells Hollywood (2021) on Discovery+, which chronicles her current life as a real estate agent.
Speaking to People on her new adventure last year, the 36-year-old television star said that co-parenting “was a rough start for me to get used to it” and she is ready to date again. “I want to explore that other side of me, and I hope to find love again. I want to fill my home with someone else’s energy. It will be nice to have that again.”
Wilkinson doesn’t appear on the new docu-series and seems to have left her life at the mansion behind for good. She currently lives with her children, Alijah and Hank.
Crystal Hefner
Harris became Hefner on New Year’s Eve 2012 when she married the magazine mogul, and she lived in the mansion until his death at 91 in 2017 - ending her decade-long stay.
During Madison and Wilkinson’s feud in 2021, Crystal sided with Wilkinson.
She explained her choice in a post on a social media app MeWe: “I was at the mansion for a DECADE almost four years ago now and these ladies and their drama were there years before that. I side with Kendra here.” She then asked why these women can’t get along after “sharing an incredibly uncommon and rare experience”.
However, a new story has emerged after Madison alleged on the Secrets of Playboy documentary that Hefner was “constantly taking photos of these women on his disposable camera” without their consent.
On January 25, Crystal Hefner tweeted and this time confirmed Madison’s side of the story: “I found thousands of those disposable camera photos you are talking about Holly Madison. I immediately ripped them up and destroyed every single one of them for you and the countless other women in them. They’re gone.”
The model-turned-traveller has been to 33 countries since Hef’s passing and is now enjoying loving time with her new beau, reality TV star Ryan Malaty. She recently got into the crypto space and often tweets her support for NFT creators like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Skulls.
Karissa and Kristina Shannon
The 32-year-old twins made appeared in the later season of The Girls Next Door alongside Crystal Hefner.
In 2017, the pair were arrested after a drunken fight - with each other. TMZ reported that Kristina punched Karissa in the face and Karissa responded by knocking out her sister’s teeth.
The Shannon twins have also appeared in multiple adult films as well as small roles in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere in 2010. According to US Weekly, the pair now run the Glam Beverly Hills salon together.
