Holly Madison pointed out that her and Crystal Hefner’s memoirs about their time in the Playboy Mansion share some similarities besides the subject matter.
“Anybody who’s read my book that came out eight years ago and then read her book, tell me the narrative voice doesn’t sound exactly the same,” Madison, 44, claimed during a recent appearance on the “LadyGang” podcast. “Drives me up a wall.”
Both Madison and Crystal, 37, dated late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Madison, who starred on Girls Next Door for the first five seasons, dated Hugh from 2001 to 2008 and moved out of the mansion the following year. Crystal began seeing Hugh in 2009 and the couple tied the knot in 2012. Crystal remained married to Hugh until he died in 2017 at age 91.
Madison wrote her memoir, Down the Rabbit Hole, in June 2015. Meanwhile, Crystal released her book Only Say Good Things in January, eight years after Madison released hers. While Madison confessed that she expected to have a similar story to Crystal about her time with Hugh, she was surprised that their writing styles were also similar, especially their shared use of “fairy tale references” and “psychological catchphrases.”
“I’m weirded out by it, especially since she had a ghostwriter,” Madison claimed. “Like, do your research and don’t copy.”
Madison shared that the same publishing team who worked with her also collaborated with Crystal which made her raise her eyebrows.
“You would have thought that it went through somebody reading it that would be like, ‘That’s a little bit too similar,'” she quipped.
Madison noted that fellow Girls Next Door alum Kendra Wilkinson also wrote a memoir about her time in the Playboy Mansion, but unlike with Crystal, she could tell they were written by different people.
“If you take my book and Kendra’s book, it’s two completely different people even though we lived there at the same time,” she explained, “like, it’s two completely different voices, as it should be.”
Despite the similarities, Madison was glad that Crystal was able to share her experience and even validated some of her memories.
“It’s always hard to come out and tell your story first, especially when you’re crucified for it,” she admitted. “When my book came out [Hugh] was still alive, it was before the Me Too movement went mainstream … The book was very successful, but I got dragged. Now it’s a little bit easier for other people to come out and share their stories.”
Last month, Madison exclusively told Us Weekly that Crystal’s feelings about a rivalry between the women while they filmed Girls Next Door was “absolutely true.” (Crystal wrote in her memoir that a rivalry was created between her and Madison for the reality series.)
“I think the show definitely probably asked her to say certain things that then pissed me off from a distance,” she confessed in March. “But Crystal and I have connected and been good since. She’s also done other things, so I don’t blame it on the show.”
