Following her diagnosis earlier this year, Holly Madison, a former Playboy model and Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend, has shared some insight into her experiences as an autistic person.
Madison talked candidly about her experience as an autistic person and how she initially became aware of her condition when she was a guest on the Talking to Death podcast.
She remarked, “I’ve been suspicious of it for a while.” “Because my mother told me that she always had her doubts about that being real.”
She continued by saying that her mother had warned her that she “used to zone out a lot when she was younger” and that she “always kind of had trouble socially, not picking up on things the same way other people did.”
The 43-year-old went on, “But all I did was make up reasons why. I assumed it was because I was raised in Alaska before moving to Oregon for middle school, which I perceived as a significant societal shift. I am just a rather shy person. That’s how I kind of always dismissed it. However, I found out earlier this year after receiving a diagnosis.”
“And obviously, I’m highly functioning,” she added. Compared to other people, it’s not as severe. I therefore do not speak for everyone; there’s a reason they refer to it as a spectrum.”
Additionally, Madison revealed on the show that she underwent multiple Zoom assessment tests before receiving an official diagnosis early this year. “The doctor told me that I have high executive functioning, which means I can pretty much go about my life and do things ‘normally.'”
“I feel that I’ve insulted or annoyed people or that people haven’t actually loved me throughout my life. They perceive me as conceited, haughty, or as superior to everyone else,” she remarked. “I also don’t really have a gage for when other people are done speaking, so I tend to interrupt a lot, which pisses people off.”
Madison shared her perspective on how her autism affects her social interactions.
“I was never making eye contact before at all,” she stated. “I can apologize to people if I interrupt or talk over them and tell them why.”
This “helps other people be more understanding” of her disease, she said. “I don’t take things as personally now that I have a little bit more patience,” she remarked.
