Holly Madison has defended Jessica Biel’s involvement in the forthcoming Playboy film Playmates, despite Crystal Harris publicly urging the actress to reconsider the project.
The former Girls Next Door star told TMZ that she was excited to see the story brought to the screen by writer and director Lorraine Nicholson, whom she described as an acquaintance and “a wonderful writer”.
Madison said she believes people should remain open to hearing different accounts of life inside the Playboy Mansion.
She explained that many people had listened to her own experiences and said she wanted to extend the same courtesy to others sharing their perspectives.
Her comments do not directly challenge Harris’s allegations or amount to a defence of late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Instead, Madison appears to be arguing that Nicholson should be allowed to present her interpretation of the controversial world.
Crystal Harris warns against romanticising Playboy
Madison’s intervention follows criticism from Harris, who was married to Hefner from 2012 until his death in 2017.
Harris sent Biel a private Instagram message asking her to reconsider appearing in the film if it intended to romanticise Hefner or the Playboy Mansion.
“I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship,” Harris wrote.
She also encouraged those involved in the production to listen to women who had spoken about their experiences before turning the Playboy era into Hollywood nostalgia.
Biel has not publicly responded to the message.
Jessica Biel is playing a fictional character
Playmates is reportedly a fictional drama rather than a conventional Hugh Hefner biopic.
Biel is expected to portray a fictional former Playmate who becomes Hefner’s wife. The character is not understood to be directly based on Harris or any of Hefner’s other real-life partners.
The film is inspired partly by Nicholson’s childhood experiences around the Playboy Mansion. Nicholson is the daughter of actor Jack Nicholson and actress Rebecca Broussard.
The story reportedly centres on a 13-year-old girl named Elle, played by Indiana Elle, who develops a friendship with an aspiring Playmate named Anna, portrayed by Lily-Rose Depp.
Bill Pullman is expected to play Hefner.
Madison has previously criticised Mansion life
Madison’s support for the project is notable because she has repeatedly spoken critically about her years with Hefner.
She lived at the Playboy Mansion and dated Hefner between 2001 and 2008 before becoming widely known through the reality series The Girls Next Door.
In subsequent interviews and memoirs, she described the environment as controlling and emotionally damaging.
Despite those experiences, Madison said she was willing to see how Nicholson approached the complicated subject.
“I love Lily-Rose Depp, too,” she told TMZ. “I can’t wait to see it.”
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