Down The Rabbit Hole

Terrified by the thought of living alone, Holly lives with Mary O’Connor upon her returns to Los Angeles. Mary is a long-time employee of Hefner who is unafraid of defying him.

Holly is unsure of where to take her career. At Criss’s behest, she had rejected most of the job offers that she received following her departure from the Playboy Mansion. When Dancing With the Stars asks if she might replace the singer Jewel, who suffered an injury during rehearsals, she agrees with only four days’ notice. Despite the hurried rehearsals and brutal physical training, she enjoys her month-long run on the show. After the competition ends, she makes promotional tours on both coasts.

Around this time, Holly is invited to audition for the lead role in Peepshow, a burlesque review based in Las Vegas. She falls in love with Peepshow after attending a single performance, and decides to pursue the opportunity.

The audition process for Peepshow is grueling. Holly’s self-confidence is shaken by the discovery that she and Lindsay Lohan are competing for the same part.

Hefner invites Holly to attend his birthday party at the mansion, and she goes because it will allow her to visit old friends. During the event, she meets Hefner’s three new girlfriends: a pair of twins, Kristina and Karissa, and Crystal, who eventually becomes Hefner’s wife and then widow. Not long afterward, the twins ask Holly if she will move back into the mansion to supplant Crystal. They explain that Hefner is not doing well physically and imply that Crystal is abusing him. Holly declines to restart her relationship with Hefner.

She is cast as the star of Peepshow, meaning she will perform live for 90 minutes each evening before an audience. She feels tremendously insecure about her abilities, as she has never faced a similar challenge. As she prepares for her opening, she texts Criss and invites him to attend her performance as a way of burying the hatchet between them. His new girlfriend responds from his phone, saying that Criss told her he broke it off with Holly because she was on antidepressants. Holly informs her that she was not on antidepressants when she was with Criss, and forwards several salacious texts that Criss had sent to her while living with the new girlfriend. Despite this unpleasant interaction, technical glitches, and Holly’s struggles with stage fright, her Peepshow premiere goes off seamlessly. She receives great reviews and advance ticket sales skyrocket.

A Las Vegas hotel is auctioning many of Marilyn Monroe’s personal possessions. Holly models some of Monroe’s clothes, and reflects on their spiritual kinship.

E! producers are eager to involve Holly in another reality program because she was central to The Girls Next Door’s success. Due to her work on Peepshow, she suggests filming in Las Vegas. The network rejects this idea, stating that all of its Vegas-based shows have fallen flat.

Kendra’s spinoff show, Kendra, is a great success. Holly and Bridget attend her baby shower, alongside Hefner and his three newest girlfriends. Unlike Holly and Bridget, Hefner and his entourage refuse to participate in any shower activities. This results in bad press for Hefner.

Peepshow becomes so successful that Holly receives a three-month contract and then an annual contract.

E! changes its mind and launches a new reality television show based on Holly’s life in Las Vegas, Holly’s World. The program is a hit and attracts 2 million viewers a week. Holly’s success arouses the ire of Crystal, Hefner’s new main girlfriend: Season six of The Girls Next Door, which stars Crystal and the Shannon twins, has just bombed so badly that E! declined to renew it for a seventh season. Recalling how E! producers had described Kendra, Bridget, and herself as replaceable, Holly notes ironically that “we weren’t so replaceable after all” (302).

Holly’s World is picked up for a second season and draws even more viewers. Despite Holly’s efforts to distance herself from her Hefner and Playboy, however, network producers and reporters continue devising scenarios in which she and Hefner must interact. E! decides Holly’s World will feature two women from the Playboy Mansion who have failed to get a reality program of their own. Producers cast the new arrivals in the role of villains and anticipate they will generate conflict.

Crystal and Hefner get engaged just as Hefner’s youngest son turns 18. Although Hefner and his previous wife have been separated for 13 years at this point, Hefner now feels comfortable divorcing. Holly’s producers talk her into filming an episode of her show at the Playboy Mansion, so that she can congratulate Hefner and Crystal on their engagement.

Holly pitches other creative plot ideas as well. One episode of Holly’s World is meant to see her reprising her role as a Playmate photo producer. Hefner, however, shuts it down because Crystal objects to Holly’s presence.

Five days before the wedding, Crystal breaks off her engagement to Hefner and leaves the mansion.

E! appoints a new president, who decides the network should break all ties with Playboy. Production of Holly’s World and Kendra ends, but not before E! runs a farewell special in which Holly tells her story of struggle, perseverance, and success. She receives much positive input from viewers, who recognize what she has endured:

To my surprise, viewers sympathized with my unhappiness and some even said they found the courage to reinvent themselves in their own lives. Inspired by my story, some women told me they were able to remove themselves from difficult situations, get over a breakup, or find motivation to get healthy (317).

A cable network picks up Kendra. The new producers ask Holly if Kendra could be her understudy for Peepshow. Holly feels this is a bad idea, but strives to find some common ground. Their negotiations continue for months, during which time Kendra grows angry and starts refusing to interact with either her own producers or with Holly. Eventually, Kendra gives an interview in which she says she is no longer friends with Holly or Bridget.

Peepshow remains a highly regarded and profitable show. Wishing to exit while it is still a hit, Holly decides her fourth year with the production will be her last. During its final season, she meets Pasquale Rotella, the entertainer behind the Electric Daisy Carnival. Prior to their encounter, she is skeptical about the notion of true love. But Holly and Pasquale hit it off immediately, and shortly discover that they perfectly fulfill one another’s lifelong desires. With just a few months to go on her Peepshow contract, Holly learns she is pregnant. She arranges to work through her fifth month of pregnancy before turning the show over to Coco Austin. Soon afterward, Peepshow closes.

Holly’s daughter, Rainbow Aurora, is born on March 5, 2013. Three months later, Pasquale proposes to Holly aboard his Ferris wheel, as fireworks explode above them. They are married in a ceremony at Disney World on September 10, 2013.