Holly Madison Facts: Hugh Hefner’s Best-Known Girlfriend And Her Playboy Mansion Companions

Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy magazine, who died at the age of 91 on Wednesday, had many girlfriends during his lifetime, who went on to become famous later.

The owner of the Playboy Mansion was known to live in with more than one girl from the array of models that his magazine hired, even when he was married, and Holly Madison was probably the most famous of the lot.

Hefner noticed Madison in 2001 when she was already working as a model for the Playboy magazine. After a torrid one night stand, she moved into his mansion as one of his girlfriends. Madison later disclosed that even though she did not have a high opinion of her boss, she jumped at the opportunity of living in with him.

“I lost the lease on my apartment. I felt like I'd already thrown myself to the wolves, so I might as well reap the rewards and not just be one more slut who walked through those doors,” she wrote in a tell-all book that she published after her relationship with Hefner had ended, Mail Online reported.

Madison’s celebrity status was enhanced after she moved into Hefner’s mansion. She bagged guest roles in reality shows such as “MTV Cribs” (2002), “The Surreal Life” (2003), “The Sharon Osbourne Show” (2004), and “Entourage” (2005).

The increasing stardom of Madison eventually prompted Hefner to co-create a reality show called “The Girls Next Door” in August 2005 on E! network. In the show, Madison starred as one of the leads, along with Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, and Crystal Harris — girlfriends who stayed at Hefner's mansion at the time, the Famous People reported.

After ending her relationship with Hefner in 2008, Madison began dating Pasquale Rotella in 2011, whom she married in 2013. The couple has two children — Rainbow and Forest.

She has since written a book called “Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales from a Former Playboy Bunny," where she recounts her time spent with Hefner with all the unsavory details.

Here are some interesting details about how Marquardt and Wilkinson hooked up with Hefner and what they thought of him.

Bridget Marquardt

Marquardt dated Hefner from 2002 to 2008, when she was also a Playboy model. She currently vlogs on YouTube and sells handmade aprons and hair bows on her Etsy shop.

Last year, she described her time spent with Madison and Wilkinson at the mansion as something indescribable. “It's kind of sad. Like I feel like we have a bond, the three of us. It's kind of like, it's not like a sisterhood, it's not like friends, I mean it is friends, but it's something totally different than any other relationship you could possibly imagine,” she told E! Online.

“I was still going back to some of the parties. Occasionally, my boyfriend [Nick Carpenter] I would go back,” she said on Australia’s The Morning Show, People Magazine reported. “I was still in touch with Hef — and then we kind of lost contact.”

Marquardt offered her condolences on the event of the Playboy founder’s death on Instagram.

Kendra Wilkinson

Kendra Wilkinson met Hefner at a party in April 2004. After he requested her to be one of his girlfriends, Wilkinson moved into his mansion, which was already occupied by Madison and Marquardt at the time, ArticleBio, an entertainment news website, reported.

After ending her relationship with Hefner, Wilkinson dated former American football player Hank Baskett for several years, before getting married to him on June 27, 2009, at the Playboy Mansion. Following Hefner’s death, Wilkinson said: “He changed my life. He made me the person I am today. I couldn’t be more thankful for our friendship and our time together. I will miss him so much but he will be in my heart forever.”