Holly Madison has been candid about how body dysmorphia has affected her in the past, but the former Playboy model tries to stay away from “diet talk and body talk” with her kids.
“We’re really focused on healthy eating. I’m really careful not to say anything about dieting or weight or anything in front of my kids,” Madison, 44, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting her new true crime series, Lethally Blonde. “If they’re trying to shove something unhealthy in front of me, I just say, ‘Oh, I’m doing a health thing.’”
Madison shares two kids, daughter Rainbow, 11, and Forest, 8, with ex-husband Pasquale Rotella. When it comes to their daughter, Madison is “really focused” on making sure that Rainbow “values the things she enjoys and that she’s passionate about.”
“We don’t want her to get into the mode where she’s really focused on the way she looks, or trying to get attention for the way she looks or validation through that,” Madison continued. “I think we’ve been really successful so far. She’s on a better track than I was at that age for sure. I was already trying to look some sort of way when I was 11.”
Madison was a Playboy Bunny for seven years, gaining notoriety on the reality show The Girls Next Door, which aired from 2005 to 2010. The Down the Rabbit Hole author admitted to suffering from body dysmorphia during her years at the Playboy Mansion in a 2021 TikTok video. Years later, Madison appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and claimed that eating disorders ran “rampant” in the mansion.
“There was a lot of bulimia at the mansion, to the point where people would end up in the hospital sometimes,” she said during the November 2023 episode. “Bathroom pipes had to be replaced.”
Madison reflected on that “crazy” story with Us, admitting her initial thought was “people are exaggerating,” before it was confirmed. “There were a lot of people struggling with eating disorders and it was hard,” Madison added.
Now that her time as a Playboy Bunny has come to an end, Madison is gearing up to launch her Lethally Blonde docuseries which “involves a woman who was an OnlyFans model,” she told Us, among other true crime cases.
“It involved a relationship with a history of domestic abuse. It involved a lot of security camera footage, a lot of things like that that are just fascinating and it’s still current,” she continued. “It’s still going on. She hasn’t been sentenced yet and her parents were recently taken into custody for allegedly tampering with evidence. So, it’s a very compelling case.”
Madison’s involvement in Lethally Blonde comes following the recent success of The Playboy Murders, which premiered in January.
Lethally Blonde premieres via ID on Monday, March 25.
