She does it all! Holly Madison has earned a massive net worth — and her bank account keeps growing over a decade after leaving Playboy. Keep reading to see how she makes money today.
What Is Holly Madison’s Net Worth?
The model’s net worth is estimated to be $16 million, per Celebrity Net Worth.
How Does Holly Madison Make Money?
Holly famously dated Playboy creator Hugh Hefner from 2001 to 2008, but she’s made the bulk of her wealth on her own. After cutting ties with the magazine mogul, the model hit the ground running with her own projects.
She starred as Bo Peep in Peepshow, a choreographed burlesque stage performance created by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, to much critical acclaim. Holly starred in the Las Vegas show from 2009 to 2012.
She then became a first time executive producer with her television special, Holly Has a Baby, which documented the birth of her daughter, Rainbow, whom she shares with ex-husband Pasquale Rotella, in 2013. Holly later gave birth to her and Pasquale’s son, Forest, in 2020.
Starting a family didn’t slow Holly down. She continued to act in various projects — like 2015’s Sharnado 3: Oh Hell No! and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She also appeared as herself on Good Morning America, Top Chef Masters, Hell’s Kitchen and more.
Holly garnered a lot of attention for her two books — Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny in 2015 and 2016’s The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice and the Road to Reinvention. Particularly, her candidness about her experience with Playboy in her first book has led to more business opportunities.
Holly now hosts a podcast called “Girls Next Level” with former Playmate Bridget Marquardt, where they reveal surprising truths while rewatching old episodes of Girls Next Door. The Oregon native also serves as executive producer for ID’s Playboy Murders, which premieres on Monday, January 26.
Was Holly Madison Paid by ‘Playboy’?
While it seems as though Holly would have made a good chunk of change from her time at Playboy, that’s actually not the case. When answering questions via YouTube, she made a surprising revelation after being asked if she earns royalties from Girls Next Door.
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“No, of course not. I was on a reality show, I wasn’t protected by any union. That work wasn’t seen as under jurisdiction from SAG-AFTRA,” Holly explained in 2021. “Nobody was looking out for us as far as residuals and of course that was never built into our deals because why would that be built into our deals?”
Holly acknowledged that things have changed quite a bit in entertainment, but it was a different time when the reality show premiered in 2005.
“Not that residuals are that much money anyway or that it matters, but just the way we were treated and how we weren’t allowed to have lawyers or agents look at our contracts, that would never fly, that would never happen today,” she explained. “And just the fact we were already in this weird, personal relationship that was very culty, and then just the fact that when they started showing nudity on the show that we thought would be blurred out, we weren’t ever warned … the whole thing is gross to me.”
