Ex Playboy model says Hugh Hefner used nonconsensual photos as 'revenge porn'
Former model Holly Madison, who lived at the infamous Playboy Mansion from 2001 to 2008, has claimed Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner took nonconsensual photos of women at his home to use as "revenge porn" against them.
Speaking on the Power: Hugh Hefner podcast, 41-year-old Madison reflected on her time spent at the world's most notorious home, alleging that Hefner repeatedly abused his position of power against "heavily intoxicated" models to keep control of them.
"When girls would go out with [Hefner] and come back to his room after, he was constantly taking photos of these women on his disposable camera," Madison told podcast host Amy Rose Spiegel. "And these women were almost always intoxicated. I know I was — heavily intoxicated."
She continued: "They wouldn't just be his regular girlfriends [Hefner frequently had numerous girlfriends at any one time, often alternating his 'main girlfriend']. They would be new girls who were joining him for a night for the first time, or women who had flown out from across the country to test for a centrefold in allegedly professional conditions. And they'd be invited out and oftentimes would be pressured, not necessarily directly by him."
"He's constantly taking all these pictures," Madison added. "So if you were messed up and if you were in his bathtub with your top off and some other girl is doing some sexually explicit pose on you and he took a picture of that on his disposable camera, he'd make a copy and give it to everyone that night and put it in a scrapbook." She also claimed that, at one point, Hefner had considered donating "his scrapbooks to a public library."
Despite the term 'revenge porn' being somewhat new, Madison describes Hefner's behaviour as just that – pointing out how due to the influence of alcohol, the images were nonconsensual. "It's kind of revenge porn before I even knew what revenge porn was," she explained. "It's like, you're taking these pictures. They're not consensual because you're so wasted. And the next morning you find out they've been given to everybody who was out with you."
The former model continued: "I don't know if he just assumed that was okay because all these women want to be in the magazine so bad. 'They must be okay with getting naked, so I'm going to take pictures while they're wasted and just hand those pictures out.' That's the kind of thing that can make you feel stuck in a situation or over-invested. It's one of those things that makes you feel a little more backed into a corner."
During her interview, Madison also took a deep-dive into how she's been condemned for speaking out against the magazine tycoon (whom she dated for several years whilst living at the Playboy Mansion).
"'She knew what she was getting into.' I can't tell you how many people say that to me," she recalled. "I don't know how they can form that opinion because they don't know anything about the context of the time period or what people knew about his private life."
"I think it's kind of a misogynistic thing," Madison added. "[There's an assumption that] if there's a situation that involves a woman and sex and you're over the legal age of consent then you're completely responsible, and any negative about the situation is your fault from then on, and you should have known what you were getting into. But there was absolutely no way for me to have known all the nuances of the situation."
As for how she's come to terms with what happened to her, the 41-year-old says she's grateful for the growing awareness around consent, noting how Hefner's behaviour would "never be accepted today."
If you need support, call Refuge’s Freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or go to nationaldahelpline.org.uk. Contact the Revenge Porn Helpline here.
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