Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend says living in Playboy Mansion was like a 'cult'

Holly Madison, ex-girlfriend of Playboy editor Hugh Hefner, has opened up about what it was really like living in the infamous mansion.

Despite dating Hefner for seven years between 2001 and 2008, Madison has spoken out about their relationship being a 'false paradise'.

And she hasn't stopped there either, revealing what it was really like behind the closed doors of the Playboy Mansion.

Ahead of the release of 2022 documentary Secrets of a Playboy, Madison branded the mansion 'cult-like'.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, she alleged so-called bunnies were paid on a weekly basis - a sum totaling a hefty $1,000.

However, she explained living in the mansion wasn't all just wad fulls of cash but came with some strict rules too.

Holly Madison dated Hugh Hefner for seven years (Chad Buchanan/Getty Images)

Madison explained there was a curfew of 9pm and bunnies weren't allowed to leave for long periods of time.

She continued: "The reason I think the mansion was very cult-like, looking back on it, is because we were all kind of gaslit and expected to think of Hef as, like, this really good guy.

"You started to feel like, 'Oh, he’s not what they say in the media — he’s just a nice man'. Another thing that reminds me of a cult is how it was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there.

"He said it made him jealous, and he would appreciate it if I quit my job – so, instead, we were given $1,000 a week as an allowance. You had a 9 o’clock curfew, you were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren’t really allowed to leave unless it was, like, a family holiday."

Madison has opened up about life inside the mansion (Robert Mora/Getty Images)

Madison also discussed her 'traumatic' first night with Hefner, talking about how he was 'literally pushed on top' of her and lashed out at her because she cut her hair too short for his liking.

Details of life inside the mansion have emerged since Hefner's death in 2017 aged 91, including rumours about Hollywood stars taking part in 'scandalous nights' and sex parties where 'carloads of women' were brought to the Playboy Mansion.

There have also been allegations of drug use and sexual abuse at the mansion, with Insider reporting that a former employee of Hefner's had described the rampant drug use as a 'necessary evil', with Quaaludes referred to as 'leg-spreaders'.

The Playboy Mansion itself was bought from Hefner for $100 million a year before he died, though he continued to live in it until his death.