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Holly Madison

Birthdate	December 23, 1979 (1979-12-23) (age 30)1
Birth location	Astoria, Oregon, U.S.
Birth name	Holly Cullen2
Measurements	36D-23-36
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Eye colour	Brown
Hair colour	Brunette (natural) Blonde (dyed)
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Official web site

Holly Madison Cullen (born December 23, 1979) is an American model and television personality, best known for appearing as Hugh Hefner's number one girlfriend with Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson on the reality TV series The Girls Next Door. Although not a Playboy Playmate, she has appeared in nude pictorials with her Girls Next Door costars and fellow Hefner girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. Her most recent work was as a contestant on the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars.

Biography

Holly was born Holly Madison Cullen² in Astoria, Oregon.¹ Her father traveled around due to work in the timber industry, and from ages two through eleven, she grew up on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, near Ketchikan. Her family then moved back home to St. Helens, Oregon. She attended Portland State University for two years as a double-major in theatre and psychology.³

In 1999, Madison moved to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University. To afford college tuition, she competed to become a Hawaiian Tropic model and worked at Hooters. After being noticed, she began to receive invitations to the Playboy Mansion. After more than a year of visiting the mansion, Madison was invited to move in. She became one of Hefner's seven official girlfriends in August 2001. In February 2002, after all but two of his girlfriends left, Madison became Hef's "#1 Girl" and moved into his bedroom at the mansion.¹ She was named among the top Hooters girls of all time in 2008 as part of the restaurant's twenty-fifth anniversary.⁴

Madison has spoken openly about her plastic surgery, having had a rhinoplasty (nose job) and breast augmentation, going from a size A-cup breast to a D-cup.⁵ She has had her lower back tattoo of the Playboy Bunny removed.⁶

She was chosen to replace Jewel Kilcher on Dancing with the Stars after Kilcher was forced to withdraw (along with Nancy O'Dell) due to injuries sustained during rehearsal. She partnered with Dmitry Chaplin. On March 31, 2009 Holly and Dmitry were voted off the show in a double elimination episode.⁷

Career

In 2003, Madison shot a pictorial for Cyber Girl of the Week, a feature of the Playboy website. She also appeared on the cover and inside of the November 2005 issue of Playboy magazine, along with Marquardt and Wilkinson as part of a special pictorial promoting The Girls Next Door. The girls were featured again on the covers of the September 2006, March 2008, and the February 2009 issues of Playboy.

In season three of the show during the episode "My Bare Lady," Madison stated that she wanted to have a career producing Playboy spreads. During seasons three and four, Holly was shown working at the Playboy studios as an intern and later a junior photo editor. She also helped design and put together The Girls Next Door 2008 calendar.

In February 2009 she quit working for the company all together due to the split from Hefner making her position "awkward".⁸

A self-described animal lover, Madison started writing articles about pets in 2006 for a friend's quarterly magazine, The Coolest Little Pet Magazine. She describes herself as "mistress of the Mansion pooches". In April 2007, Madison was featured nude in a PETA ad, with the tagline "I'd rather go naked than wear fur".⁹

Holly Madison posing nude for PETA

In 2009, she attempted a Guinness World Record rallying women from all over Las Vegas to hold the World's "largest bikini parade ever", winning the title.¹⁰

Madison is currently starring in topless burlesque show Peepshow at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. She was brought in to replace Kelly Monaco after Monaco's three month contract was up.¹¹ Madison was likewise initially signed to a three month contract, but she has since extended her contract to a full year.¹²

Like former The Girls Next Door co-star, Kendra Wilkinson, Madison will star in her own reality show, titled Holly's World. The show was originally titled Planet Holly. The show will revolve around Holly's life at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. "It's all good-natured and not mean like other reality shows," Madison said of her show. "I'm really excited about the new series because I am also getting a legitimate co-producer credit for all the work I do behind the camera. It's not a vanity credit. I'm super excited to learn from the best and take on new responsibilities." ¹³ The show premiered with a "preview episode" on December 6 2009, but will not start airing regularly until March 2010.¹⁴

Personal life

In the past, Madison has stated that she wanted to marry Hefner and have his children. During an interview at the Playmate of the Year luncheon in May 2008, Hefner stated, "I love Holly very much and I think we’re going to be together the rest of my life, but marriage isn’t part of my puzzle. It’s not a personal thing; I just haven’t had much luck with marriages."¹⁵

On October 7, 2008, Madison announced in a video posted on TMZ.com that her relationship with Hefner had ended, but that she, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson are "still filming stuff together."¹⁶ Hugh Hefner confirmed the breakup stating that, "If Holly says it's over, I guess it's over." Hefner also confirmed that all three girls are committed to a sixth season of The Girls Next Door, and that he plans to find new live-in girlfriends.¹⁷

In November 2008, Madison began dating illusionist Criss Angel, but the relationship ended in February 2009.¹⁸¹⁹ Madison was interviewed by People on March 4, 2009, stating "I'm never dating anybody again. I don't need a man. I'm really happy with myself and being with my friends...I'm focused on forwarding my career. I'm working on producing my own shows. Girls Next Door was a great place to start but it was somebody else's show. I'm just ready to move on."²⁰ In the final episodes of Girls Next Door, which aired in February 2009, Madison made several references to the pending breakup with Hefner. In December 2009 she began dating Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden but this romance ended in January 2010.²¹

Filmography

Madison in an advertisement for PETA's anti-fur campaign.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Holly Madison

• Official Website
• Holly Madison at the Internet Movie Database