Holly Madison has a lot to say about her time with Hugh Hefner. [Buzzfeed]
Here’s the trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. [Pajiba]
Would you like to see the Dior men’s show? [OMG Blog]
Margot Robbie went to the Chanel show at PFW. [JustJared]
Rihanna is committed to bare legs in January. [GFY]
Julianne Moore is helping Kristen Stewart’s Oscar campaign. [LaineyGossip]
First look at the Tiger King thing, Joe vs. Carole. [Towleroad]
Jennifer Lopez is still wearing too many necklaces! [Tom & Lorenzo]
More details about Garrett Hedlund’s arrest. [Dlisted]
Evan Rachel Wood details Marilyn Manson’s abuse. [Jezebel]
Wow, RHOSLC’s Jennie Nguyen sounds like a monster. [Starcasm]
No story on the brave “Movie star and me” Jake Gyllenhaal piece? Or did i miss it? Was hoping to see it discussed on here today – can’t stop thinking about it
Yes, PLEASE give us your take on the “Movie Star and Me” story. I also can’t stop thinking about it. This kind of predatory behavior, whether it’s lawful or not, needs to be brought into the light.
Whoa …… what is this about? Anyone share a link?
I read it. It was creepy and depressing and felt very real and sadly familiar. Not the movie star part but the trap setting banter. She’s brave for telling her story considering who it’s about.
Here is the link. I hope this blows up.
https://medium.com/@domenicamferaud/the-movie-star-and-me-5d711ee661e3
I read a spoiler before I read it and absolutely believe who it’s supposedly about.
Holy shit I just finished reading this, the whole thing is horrible. Her “mentor” put her in this position and I have nothing good to say about the actor he’s horrible.
Everyone read it. It’s really well-written and it took an amazing amount of stones to be that vulnerable and to essentially expose the disgusting behavior of a production team and a famous celeb.
It has to be Jake G but the only thing that doesn’t seem to line up for me is the presidential election viewing party and the play that Jake was in. Wasn’t it 2019 when that play debuted and it would obviously be 2020 when the party would occur. Anyone..???
@Kitten – my guess is this was the “Sunday in the Park with George” production Jake did in 2016 – the timelines would match.
@ Liger Mom–Thank you! I was thinking “Sea Wall/A Life” not “Sunday” and yes, that definitely matches up. What a gross person he is smdh.
omg I just read this thing and it’s revolting. I had such a crush on Jake when I was a kid, and post Me Too it doesn’t shock me at all to discover he’s an emotionally abusive, sexually coercive piece of shit, yet I’m still so disappointed.
I swear to god, show business is right up there with politics as the worst industry. Just coddled, emotionally stunted perverts, psychopaths, and the shameless sycophants who cater to them for profit all the way down.
Yeesh. The women who mistreated her in this story are so snotty and manipulative, they’d be at home in The Gilded Age…or an Edith Wharton novel. (Especially the “movie star’s” sister and mom. They are the type of “liberals” that give real ones a bad name. Nice to know feminism for them full-stops at treating their brother/son’s victims like disposable garbage. 🤮🤮 And I used to think Maggie Gyllenhaal was cool. 😡😡) As for the mentor and director—pimps, pure and simple. So nice to know some women feel powerful enough to play these disgusting reindeer games. 🤮🤮
Yes! I actually emailed them about this asking them to cover it!
I read the spoiler and totally believe it! I also agree that she is brave.
I think it’s him but unfortunately, its not a crime to be a MASSIVE jerk. His entire family sounds like trash. His sister lives in the same neighborhood where my kids used to go to grade school and I’ve run into her a few times there and a nail salon. She always seemed fine but I guess as long the peasants aren’t trying to intermingle, she’s good. The mentor…. ugh.
From the essay, at least, his family sounds completely over it.
Wow, so much to unpack about that story! It could be an educational case study in male privilege and predator power dynamics. That production team is complicit. It’s never safe when a whole company or project depends on keeping a predatory man child happy.
It makes me think of when Aziz Ansari got called out as part of the #MeToo movement. Like, it’s not rape but it’s definitely manipulation and it’s undeniably exploitative when coming from a famous male actor. Poor form.
Quite a powerful piece, helps me understand something that happened to me when I was older than her but still vulnerable. I’m so grateful for women telling their stories, because it’s so easy to be gaslit by it all…
Honestly, the actor sounds like a narcissist. It makes me wonder if the are that’s what happened with Kristen Dunst and Taylor a Swift. Except it lasted longer and was public.
Oh. My. Goodness. The love bombing. The emotional withholding. All laid out on a superspeed scale. And with all of her workplace bosses in on it for their own ends. Revolting.
Curious how you know it’s him? Any giveaway details that I’m missing?
– the almost equally famous sister
– the time period aligns with when JG was in Sunday in the Park with George
– the author worked on Sunday in the Park with George
Her book “Down the Rabbit Hole” was eye opening. The whole Playboy empire is totally tainted. I’ll admit I bought into some of the feminist ideals they pushed around sexuality but now, it’s obvious it was all a front. A gross, nasty front.
I listen to the Celebrity Memoir Book Club, so Clair & Ashley read this so I didn’t have to. As a collective, the post-mansion Playboy Bunny books reveal deep-seated misogyny & the age-old men taking advantage of young women.
There is a really good podcast called “Power” about Hugh Hefner. I highly recommend it. It is an eye opener.
I remember the phrase “thigh opener” from college, and lord knows I avoided the type of guys who used it, but presumably most outgrew that rapey talk eventually. For how many decades did our culture glorify a very elderly man using that type of terminology?
I always liked Holly. I watched that Girls Next Door show when it was on, and my impression was that she seemed strong and in control of herself, and a little sad. It just goes to show you how insidious that whole life was for so many women. Playboy and Hef were talking the talk about female empowerment, but it really seemed like all those women were holding their noses and biding their time, hoping to get as much as they could out of the situation before they ducked out. It’s a bummer. They deserved more.
I watched that show too. It was sad to see holly eat only 3 bowls of Raisin Bran a day because she needed to lose weight and maintain for hh. She really seemed dependent on him and holding his attention. Forcing a smile when he complimented another girl.
Along with how the playmates had to plan escapes from the mansion.. everything from that show is an inside look at brainwashed young women.
I remember watching Girls Next Door and thinking how gross and cultish it was, but since it seemed like all of the women were happy with the arrangement, it must be…okay? Despite being open minded, it never sat well with me. Like a lot of weird and unhealthy celebrity relationships that get criticised, sometimes the public sees it for what it is, despite their efforts to make it look like “everythIng is fine”. None of what Holly says is any surprise to me.
I’m just here to express my support for both bare legs in January and too many necklaces! I love JLo and RiRi so much.
My heart goes out to Holly. It is awful what she went through. And beyond that they were coercing her thru revenge p**n and threats like that. Sick. And yet Hefner was widely celebrated. Did not get his comeuppance at all.
It sucks how much we can often internalize the harmful aspects of our society and allow people who do not deserve us to mistreat us. I can identify on a smaller (much) scale with what she experienced in some relationships. Including with a Man who loved to tout his “feminist” ideals yet constantly coerced me to do sexual stuff I didn’t really want to do. Took me a long time to get out from under the emotional abuse and my own mental fog to dump him
That’s because Hugh represented one of the dark sides of the whole “sex positivity” movement. He always hid behind the idea that his critics were just “prudish” or “puritans” who couldn’t handle his libertine lifestyle and sold the whole idea of Playboy as “empowerment” – meaning women should be thrilled and honored to pose for it. Too many were willing to look past what it really was. Hell, the tagline of the magazine was “Entertainment for men” – obviously! There is nothing empowering about Playboy, or Hugh Hefner. Empowerment comes from within and therefore, it looks different to every woman and her circumstances. Anytime a man is telling a women what her empowerment should look like, he certainly has ulterior motives.
+1
Ok did anyone hear about Tiffany Haddish getting arrested for a possible DUI? They found her asleep at the wheel. This story sort of got buried…not sure why. If it’s true, that is really, really disappointing. I expected so much better from her.
The Holly interviews have been really interesting, but perhaps not surprising to anyone who knows the content of her book or Izabella St. James’ book. The whole set up was really gross.
She also revealed her autism spectrum diagnosis, which I think adds another layer to all of it. I can’t imagine receiving that diagnosis as an adult and re-thinking my entire life through that lens.
My heart truly goes out to all those affected by Hefner. It is not liberating or feminist to define sexuality according to men and the male gaze. I am glad the MANY stories are getting some traction.
Playboy has always been problematic. Look at Steinem’s exposé on their exploitation of labor.
dirty rich old man predates on poor young woman, shocker. we can all start by not calling this kind of relationship “dating”.
I don’t know – are there really people out there who didn’t think Hef was a dirty old perv the entire time? Honestly, trying not to slut shame here, but I’m having a really difficult time in wondering what exactly his “decades younger” supposed girlfriends actually thought they were getting into with him. Of course this just doesn’t justify rape, but the situation on its face was creepy even without specific knowledge of sexual assaults, and surely at least some of them would have seen it that way at time.
At some level, I think it is reasonable to ask these women (they were all adults, so let’s not infantilize them by calling them girls) were thinking when they agreed to “date” a wealthy famous old guy who was likely the same age as their grandfathers. I’m having a hard time believing they were in it for romance, you know what I mean?
I was in my early twenties when this show was on, and I don’t consider myself a naive person, but I did watch it and think, “Huh he’s kinda nice after all.” I guess it didn’t occur to me that there was a physical component to their so-called relationship. I thought it was more for companionship, and that they were just sort of ornamental… which s problematic enough, but they made it seem like they were all just kind of hanging out and living normal lives that just happened to be at the Playboy Mansion.
I don’t know. It was a weird time. In a way, I can see how these small-town girls got roped into it. They were sold a fantasy, and once they realized that they had been lied to, it was too difficult to get out. She describes it as cult-like, and that’s the nature of a cult: Take away what little they have while giving them everything they’ve ever wanted to ensure that they never even want to leave. If they do, they have nothing to return to.
I loved that show so much, and I have always considered myself a feminist. First, it was definitely marketed and packaged to look harmless, right? To look like they were living this bubbly, fun ,privileged life. The show went out of its way to hide Hefner’s controlling nature (remember one time they went to Las Vegas, and they had to fly there at like 5 am bc Hef made them be home by 10 every night or something?)
I definitely did not think they were having sex with Hef. It just really seemed like they were there for arm candy and to make him look good, not like his personal harem. I realize now that was just a very deliberate choice for the show’s producers etc.
The whole idea of Playboy as female empowerment is ridiculous, and yet somehow huge parts of our society and culture bought into it for years. I don’t think its that far fetched that women like Holly and Kendra had absolutely no idea what they were getting into with the Playboy mansion and Hugh Hefner.
This is a bad take and you should feel bad about it.
It doesn’t really matter. Just like it doesn’t matter why Evan Rachel Wood ended up with Marilyn Manson, or any other victim got involved with someone. Plenty of abusers were loved by or married to their victims. It apparently didn’t make a difference in the behavior. It couldn’t have been easy for these women to tell these stories, knowing that society doesn’t fully have it together enough yet to treat their experiences the same way the experiences of Wholesome people who get caught up in cults and abusive relationships are treated.
It does matter. If nobody talks about the beginning of such relationships, only focusing on the horrible ending, then other women won’t know how to recognize signs of abusive behavior before it’s too late. Although I think Evan and Manson’s thing is a whole other different animal than Hefner and his bunnies, but both relationships and their manipulative behavior should be exposed through and through, from all sides. This doesn’t translate as blaming the victim, but rather as understanding how an abuser works and manipulates.
Holly was always my favourite. It’s kind of astonishing the way that I/we watched the show and just accepted what we saw as being normal or aspirational, even though looking back, there were signs that their living conditions were less-than-ideal.
When Holly said in her book that Kendra’s dogs were untrained and would just pee everywhere, I could immediately picture the carpet that they had tried to hide with selective angles. I think there was an episode where they showed it and kind of played it off as a joke, but it wasn’t a one-time thing. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The man was a pig.
I can understand she felt trapped and psychologically weak to leave, but what I don’t get is why she ever willingly moved in there in the first place? It’s not like he kidnapped all these women. Was it ever explained in her book, like what on earth makes you go and move in with him of your own free will? I assume money, but then could she not just make money as a Playboy model or something? Hell working in the porn industry professionally sounds better than living in Hefner’s mansion as his slave. Just, why??