Crystal Hefner Has Something To Say About Her Late Husband's 'Revenge' Photos
Holly Madison rose to fame as one of the girlfriends of Hugh Hefner on E!'s "The Girls Next Door" (via Us Weekly). Set in the Playboy Mansion, the show commenced with Madison as the main girlfriend along with Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson – the final season featured three new girlfriends, Crystal Harris, Kristina Shannon, and Karissa Shannon; Harris went on to marry Hugh in 2012 and they were wed until his death in 2017.
Since the show's ending, Madison has told the world what it was really like for her to deal with Hugh. Some of her efforts included her book entitled "Down the Rabbit Hole," that outlined her time at the mansion. Among other startling confessions, Madison revealed that she'd contemplated suicide while staying there (per the Los Angeles Times). Madison's story is also featured in the A&E docuseries "Secrets of Playboy," a disturbing look at the "complex" environment that Hugh established and the ramifications that his influence had on "power and sexuality," among other things (via YouTube).
Within her quest to shed light on her experience, Madison revealed another disturbing detail about her time at the mansion. Surprisingly, her claims were corroborated by Crystal Hefner, the Playboy patriarch's widow.
Crystal Hefner supported Holly Madison's claims
In the A&E docuseries "Secrets of Playboy," Holly Madison revealed that Hugh Hefner would take pictures of the girls that partied at the Playboy Mansion, herself included, on a disposable camera. The pictures of the women were taken while they were drunk, and were then copied and distributed to fellow partiers. The existence of the photos was largely spread as a rumor for some time, and was also said to be in conjuncture with hidden camera footage. Why did Hugh go to such lengths? As noted by the New York Post, the millionaire allegedly used the content for blackmailing purposes.
Madison described what it felt like to have those pictures in the world, saying, "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 ... It was just gross."
In a surprising move, Crystal Hefner – Hugh's widow — confirmed the existence of the photos and the tactics in question. In perhaps an act of solidarity, Crystal had Madison's back. She tweeted, "I found thousands of those disposable camera photos you are talking about @hollymadison. I immediately ripped them up and destroyed every single one of them for you and the countless other women in them. They're gone."
Madison tweeted back with a simple, "Thank you @crystalhefner," but the series of tweets certainly speaks for the behavior that went on in the mansion behind closed doors. There's nothing we like to see more than women supporting each other, and plenty of Twitter commenters on both posts seem to feel the same.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).