Holly Madison

Hi, everyone!

No matter who I talk to, everyone wants to know how an ordinary girl like me came to live at the Playboy Mansion. Here is an abbreviated version of my story: I was born in Astoria, Oregon (home of The Goonies), but soon moved to the sparsely populated Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. Growing up, I spent a lot of time playing in the woods, reading Nancy Drew mysteries and watching bears rummage through our garbage. Wanting to give their kids "a more normal life," my parents moved my family to Oregon when I was in middle school. I look back on my middle/high school days and see an Alaskan fish out of water who wasn't good at socializing or fitting in, despite being involved in numerous school activities. I think everyone saw themselves as a nerd in high school, though, don't you? Wanting to be an actress like Marilyn Monroe or Jean Harlow, I chose to study theater and psychology at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

Frequent family trips to Disneyland led me to love Southern California and, after two years at PSU, I transferred to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. To pay the bills, I worked as a Hawaiian Tropic model and as a roller skating waitress at Hooters in Santa Monica. All the prettiest girls from Hooters talked about the exciting parties they attended at the Playboy Mansion. After hearing the hype, I was naturally thrilled when one of Hef's friends saw me in a Hawaiian Tropic contest and put me on the Mansion's party list. The Midsummer Night's Dream party was my first Mansion experience. I attended with a few of my girlfriends from Hooters. We explored the place (which looked amazing!) and saw lots of celebrities and Centerfolds. I was most excited to meet Hef, Seth Green from the Austin Powers movies and Heather Kozar, one of my favorite Playmates. Feeling overwhelmed, my girlfriends and I left early (but not after feeding the squirrel monkeys).