When did Holly Madison appear on ‘The Girls Next Door’? Reality TV star reveals she would like to reconcile with former co-star Kendra Wilkinson
Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson met in the early 2000s while living at the Playboy Mansion. They starred in the reality show The Girls Next Door, which focused on the lives of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends—Holly, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra—during its first five seasons.
Holly Madison was a part of the show since its debut in August 2005 until her exit after the last (sixth) season in 2009–2010. She was often described as Hugh Hefner’s “#1 girlfriend” and the mansion life’s less formal chief. She was in all six seasons of the show and was at the center of the story, revealing her involvement in managing mansion events and her problems in life.
Wilkinson moved to the mansion in August 2005, having turned 18 that year. Her arrival brought a lively atmosphere to the group, quite different from Madison’s disciplined temper. She was on the show right from the beginning but left after the fifth season when she got engaged to Hank Baskett, an NFL player.
Although the show made the trio of Holly, Kendra, and Bridget Marquardt appear close friends, there were heated tensions backstage, especially between Madison and Wilkinson.
Holly Madison Open to Reconciling With Kendra Wilkinson
Holly Madison has recently been willing to reconcile her broken relationship with her former co-star, Kendra Wilkinson. The two who were integral to the Playboy Mansion public narrative have had a rocky relationship since being on the show.
Though the show made it seem that they were friends, there was a lot of tension that was kept behind the scenes. In her 2015 book Down the Rabbit Hole, Madison shared with the world how strained her relationship with Wilkinson was.
She called Wilkinson “the fakest person I’ve ever met” and claimed that she tried to befriend her, but she didn’t want to be her friend. Madison also alleged that Wilkinson tried to prevent new Playmates from approaching her and Bridget Marquardt.
Their feud became public as both gave different versions of life in the Playboy Mansion. In 2012, Wilkinson told CNN she was never really friends with Madison or Marquardt. But recently, Madison has softened her stance. On May 5, 2025, she told Us Weekly she’s open to fixing her relationship with Wilkinson.
“It would be nice to be on good terms for sure, but I really don’t know where she’s at. I look back at our relationship and what went wrong and I see a lot of fault with executive producers who [were] working on her show and my show after we left.”
She further added:
“I just don’t know how aware she was of it because at the time, the person who was starting a lot of the drama was a person who was giving her a job,” she explained. So she doesn’t want to see that.”
The statement implies that although Madison is hurt by the past, she also has empathy for Wilkinson’s situation, understanding the pressures that come with working in the world of reality TV.
The extended divide between Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson has developed over many years of personal differences, the reality TV pressure and the public misunderstandings. Although their time on The Girls Next Door cemented their role as pop culture figures, the tensions off-screen suggested a much more complicated picture.
