How ‘The Girls Next Door’ Helped Destroy Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson’s Friendship
· Vice
The Girls Next Door—a reality show about Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner’s live-in girlfriends—was a game-changer for reality television in the early 2000s. The show was generating so much attention for series stars Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson, and Bridget Marquardt that Madison and Wilkinson got their own spin-offs. As they reached undeniable success, it cost them their friendship.
Visit newssport.cv for more information.
The first season of The Girls Next Door sees Wilkinson moving into the Playboy Mansion as Hefner’s latest girlfriend. Her bold, unwavering attitude immediately causes tension in the house.
Madison had already been living in the mansion for three years and had a more reserved personality. Wilkinson was 18 when she moved into the mansion, so the glitz and glamour of Playboy hadn’t worn off just yet. As the seasons go on, it’s clear that there’s more going on behind the scenes than the audience is privy to.
By 2012, the girls are moved out of the Mansion and onto the next stage of their lives. Madison—who left in 2008, and Wilkinson, who departed just a year later—head off to film their respective spin-offs. Madison moves to Las Vegas and stars as a lead in Peepshow at Planet Hollywood—which drives the wedge between them even further.
Wilkinson’s show was an immediate hit for E!, bringing in 2.6 million viewers in the series premiere. It was E!’s biggest premiere since 2002’s The Anna Nicole Show. Kendra followed her life post-mansion, as she’s at a crossroads with her next steps. It ran three seasons, and in 2012 she premiered Kendra on Top on WeTV.
From Playboy Mansion Friends to Feuding: What Happened Between Holly and Kendra
Madison recalls the “cycle” they went through that drove the wedge between the former Playmate pals. “It was stuff that had to do with our spinoffs, and working with the same producer. I really feel like he tried to pit us against each other and got in our heads. So, that’s a shame,” she said on Hot Goss.
The producer is the late Kevin Burns who helped co-create Girls Next Door. Madison previously shared that Burns admitted he purposefully was trying to stir up drama between them for views. “Things got weird with me and Kendra, and I felt like he was encouraging that,” she said on Juicy Scoop in 2022.
“He wanted us fighting, he wanted drama, he wanted me to come on her show and like brag about how much money I was making in Vegas so she’d get a little poke in the a** to take more jobs to make her show more interesting. I don’t know, that’s what he told me.”
Kendra releases memoir sliding into home
In 2010, Wilkinson releases her memoir Sliding into Home about her life growing up and living in the mansion as a girlfriend. It isn’t until Madison is writing her own memoir that she reads Wilkinson’s, at the behest of her publisher. She and Marquardt clear up inconsistencies on an episode of their podcast, Girls Next Level, in 2022. “I looked at Kendra’s book, and then I got f—king pissed,” Madison said. “Because I saw everything that she had said about us that was just untrue.”
They discuss Wilkinson’s arrival, and their accounts differ significantly from hers. According to Wilkinson, she was invited to spend a weekend at the mansion after meeting Hefner. Upon arrival, she says nobody gave her a tour of the mansion, but Madison and Marquardt deny this. Marquardt says she showed her around while Madison points out she wouldn’t have been able to get into the guesthouse by herself without a key.
“Then she says that Hef offered her Room 2, and she said, and when Bridget found out, Bridget freaked out and said, ‘Room 2, that’s gonna be my scrapbook room!'” Madison continues.
Marquardt explains that Hefner paid “rent” on the rooms in the mansion, so to think he’d give a giant room up for her scrapbooking was amusing to her. Madison says she finds it “weird” Wilkinson remembers the room number but not the tour of the mansion.
Holly releases Down the Rabbit Hole
In 2015, Madison released her explosive memoir Down the Rabbit Hole. Inside, she drops bombshells about life in the Mansion, the toxic environment, and alleged abuse by Hefner. Wilkinson takes a public stance, siding with Hefner. “I’m protecting the reason I’m here. I’m protecting Hef, I’m protecting myself, I’m protecting the things that actually made us famous. I’m very appreciative, and I’m very loyal, and he did no wrong. He did no wrong to anyone,” she said on Morning Men.
Since that time—which includes the Playboy mogul’s death—she’s taken a much different stance on the situation. She admits to struggling with mental health issues because of her time in the mansion.
“Look, at the end of the day, I owe Hef nothing,” she told PEOPLE in 2024. “I’m not going to sit here and protect him. Hugh Hefner decided to date millions of girls, right? That’s not my responsibility. And whatever happened with him, with his relationships, that was his thing. It’s not my responsibility to protect a man for his life choices.”
A path to reconciliation?
Wilkinson has made it clear she wants to put her Playboy past behind her, because it was only five years of her life. In 2021, she took to Instagram to publicly call out Madison once more. While Wilkinson claimed she had “no idea” sex was involved while living in the mansion, on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Madison says everyone knew. She herself couldn’t move in without doing it.
After E! News posted Madison’s remarks, Wilkinson hopped in the comments. “Dude… it’s 2021,” she said, adding a laughing emoji. “Times have changed,” she continued in a follow-up comment. “I forgive and have kids to love and focus on.”
She has two children with her ex-husband, former NFL receiver Hank Baskett, and a realtor business, featured on HGTV.
As for Madison, despite the hurt, she’s not against having a conversation with Wilkinson. “Kendra and I don’t speak, but I’m not opposed to speaking,” she said on Hot Goss.
Madison is the host of The Playboy Murders and Lethally Blonde—currently airing its second season—on Investigation Discovery. Alongside Girls Next Level, she hosts a solo podcast, As You Wish. She has two children with her ex-husband, Pasquale Rotella, founder/CEO of an EDM company.
The post How ‘The Girls Next Door’ Helped Destroy Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson’s Friendship appeared first on VICE.