Holly Madison Explains Why Hugh Hefner Hated Red Lipstick on Playboy Models

Holly Madison is opening up about one of Hugh Hefner‘s alleged “control tactics.”

In a new interview, the 43-year-old former reality star – who dated the late Playboy founder for seven years – explained why Hugh hated when Playmates wore red lipstick.

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“I think it was a control tactic, but also, when I was brand new, I wore red lipstick out a couple of times, and he didn’t say anything about it, because when you were the new girl in the group, you were always treated well,” Holly shared on the Ahead of the Curve with Coco Mocoe podcast.

“Somebody said, like, the higher up you are in a cult the worse you’re treated because they want the new people to want to bond and feel into it,” Holly continued.

Holly first moved into the Playboy Mansion in 2001 when she was 21-years-old. She started dating Hugh that same year.

“So I would wear red lipstick when I was new,” Holly recalled. “It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a big deal until, like, six months into it, when I was living in his bedroom, and I was the main girlfriend, then he felt like he had the leeway to yell at me over it.”

Holly went on to say that Hugh didn’t like when women wore red lipstick because he believed that it made them look older.

I think he didn’t love it, because when he invented the concept of a Playmate in the ’50s, he wanted the women to look very young and fresh-faced because he felt like the look in the ’50s at the time was very — He described it as ‘somebody’s older sister,’” Holly explained.

“It was very more sophisticated, fashion model, red lipstick,” Holly continued. “It was a lot of fabric and big skirts and everything, and he hated that. He wanted skimpy and fresh-faced and very young looking.”

She added, “So I think that’s where his hatred of red lipstick came from [because] to him, that was an older mature woman,and it wasn’t, like, the barely legal thing anymore.”

Holly and Hugh dated until 2008 when she moved out of the Mansion. He went on to marry Crystal Hefner, whom he remained to until 2017 when he died at the age of 91.

Earlier this year, Holly revealed why she had no desire to talk to Hugh before his death.