What Did Holly Madison Do After ‘Playboy’? Get into True Crime, Obviously

Holly Madison’s name still lights up any conversation about early-2000s pop culture, but don’t get it twisted: She’s moved way past the Playboy Mansion. These days, Madison is a producer, true-crime host, author, and Gen X mom who’s left the bunny ears firmly in the rearview. 

On The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast with Michael and Lauren Bosstick, Madison spells out exactly how she outgrew her Playboy chapter and built a multidimensional life on her own terms. 

Who is Holly Madison today?

Madison’s curiosity always ran deeper than centerfolds. “Anything from like health and wellness to unsolved mysteries to, you know, history,” she says, sharing what set her apart from the other “Girls Next Door,” while Lauren adds that she was the only Playmate who “loved him [Hugh Hefner] for his brain.”

That encyclopedic curiosity now powers three TV seasons of The Playboy Murders, a hit rewatch podcast (Girls Next Level), and Lethally Blonde, her second true-crime series. Factor in joint custody parenting in Las Vegas, and you have a woman who happily calls herself a “sloth” during downtime but whose actual calendar is anything but slow.

She almost passed on The Playboy Murders

When production company Lion TV first pitched Madison the show, her gut reaction was a hard pass. “‘Yeah. I don’t want to do it. I’ve done too many Playboy things,’” she said to her agent at the time. “‘It’s like oversaturation at this point.”

Her agent insisted she at least read the deck. “I looked at the cases,” she says, noting that so many of them featured situations she’d never heard of before, despite being a self-proclaimed encyclopedia of Playboy knowledge. “And I was like, ‘this is a show I’d actually watch.’ So I was like, I’ll do it.”

That pivot turned into three seasons, and counting, of headline-grabbing true crime on Investigation Discovery (and streaming on HBO Max). Madison’s voice-of-reason narration anchors each episode, spotlighting victims rather than glamorizing the brand that once made her famous.

Growing up and moving on from the Mansion

Madison spent seven formative years behind those iconic Playboy Mansion gates, but growth demanded a geographic—and emotional—exit. “When I left the Mansion, I moved to Vegas,” she says. “You can’t ever really get out from under the Playboy umbrella. For a while, I didn’t like that.”

To reclaim her narrative, she leaned into entrepreneurship: a marquee spot in the Vegas burlesque hit Peepshow, two New York Times bestselling memoirs, and eventually motherhood. “I just focus on trying to make the best memories I can for my kids,” she says, sharing a common refrain amongst 21st-century moms. “Stay present, keep them off their iPads.”

How she handled early-2000s fame

Reality TV fame in the pre-Instagram era was a different beast. “It was a long time before we were really allowed to do things on our own,” she says. “It wasn’t until season three that I started to feel like, oh, people really know my name.”

That delayed recognition came with strings attached, because Madison’s on-screen stardom didn’t equal freedom off-screen: “He [Hefner] was very controlling and very possessive and didn’t want me away from the house.”

Still, she strategized: using the popularity of The Girls Next Door to negotiate more autonomy and eventually parlaying a Dancing with the Stars spot into her own Vegas residency. It’s textbook Gen-X resilience—leveraging every platform to build the next one.

What’s next for Holly Madison?

Season three of The Playboy Murders premiered on May 5. Unlike previous seasons, which all featured murders that were solved and adjudicated, six of the episodes in this season feature open cases. “Some of the cases are unsolved,” she notes. “I hope that by sharing these stories, maybe some new leads will come up.”

Hot on its heels: season two of Lethally Blonde, focusing on true-crime stories outside the Playboy orbit. And yes, a third memoir might surface—eventually. Asked if she’d write again, Madison admitted, “Maybe in a couple of years.”

Holly Madison isn’t erasing her Playboy past—she’s contextualizing it. By owning both the glitter and the grit, she’s modeling how to turn a once-in-a-lifetime platform into lifelong purpose. And that, dear reader, is the glow-up that deserves attention.