Down The Rabbit Hole

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Author’s Note-Chapter 5

Chapters 6-11

Chapters 12-17

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Absorption Into Hefner’s Orbit

Content Warning: This section discusses women’s objectification, sex work, sexual intercourse, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation.

Early in the narrative, Holly clearly depicts herself as someone who is intentionally seeking close proximity with Hefner. Like other ambitious people, Holly perceives Hefner as someone whose acceptance has the ability to impart fame, public adulation, and wealth. What she had no way of knowing was that, once Holly—or any person like her—grew close enough to attract Hefner’s attention, she would fall into his orbit. Just as the moon cannot escape the gravity of the earth, Holly discovers that, try as she might, she cannot escape the gravity of Hefner and Playboy. Even when she strikes out on her own, and achieves financial and career success completely apart from Hefner, she remains irrevocably tied to him. Her proximity has come with a permanence that she did not anticipate.

As Holly describes it, this fate befalls a very specific type of woman: beautiful, usually blonde, well-built, and always under the age of 30. To gain access to the benefits they believe come along with being close to Hefner, this woman is willing to sacrifice other romantic relationships, outside career opportunities, and the freedom to determine her personal appearance. Once this impressionable, driven young woman is close enough to be “claimed” by Hefner, she quickly discovers that there is no going back. She is unable to break out of his orbit.

Those who willingly submit to the strictures Hefner places upon them do so because they believe certain rewards are possible for those who accept Hefner’s requirements and acquiesce to his rituals and rules. Through the use of various manipulative techniques, as well as lavish gifts, and the potential of shooting a Playmate pictorial for Playboy magazine, Hefner draws many women into close proximity with him. If ever these they decide to leave the mansion, Hefner often changes the rules of their game, making it more appealing to stay and more difficult to leave. For example, before she was his main girlfriend, Holly was invited to participate in Hooters’ national bikini contest. Hefner, however, refused to let her compete and forced her to quit working at Hooters altogether. Without outside income, Holly becomes isolated and stuck at the Playboy Mansion.

In a haunting twist, Holly realizes not long afterward that former Playmates, girlfriends, and associates also struggle to escape Hefner’s orbit. She sees that a grim future awaits her if she continues on her current course. When she leaves the mansion and reasserts control over her life, Holly achieves success as an entertainer and producer. Yet when the media discusses her victories, it inevitably reflects on her time with Hefner.

With this in mind, Down the Rabbit Hole can be read as another attempt on Holly’s part to at last shake free of Hefner’s orbit. Yet Holly’s podcasts and continued writings still revolve the relationship she had with Hefner and Playboy Enterprises in her twenties. She has yet to entirely escape her now-deceased boyfriend’s orbit.

Systematic Disempowerment

Hefner systematic disempowers those he draws into his world. Holly, who comes into the mansion at a moment when she literally has no place else to go, does not find the warmth and friendship there that she anticipated. Rather, she is met with hostility, jealousy, and intense competition. The Mean Girls, as Holly calls them, are eventually revealed to be, like her, innocent young women who have fallen prey to someone who knows how to manipulate them into continually disputing with one another to get the attention and favor of a man old enough to be their grandfather.

Like so many other young women who entered the mansion with dreams of becoming Playboy Playmates, Holly works diligently to follow Hefner’s rules, so as not to be ejected. Hefner can capriciously remove anyone from the mansion’s grounds, and he does periodically to keep all of the other women on their toes. He also routinely insults the women’s appearance to keep them feeling insecure about their beauty: a gift each clearly possessed, or else Hefner would not have invited them to the mansion in the first place. So pervasive are his insults about their appearance that virtually all of his girlfriends, including Holly, end up having some form of plastic surgery or other body modification performed on themselves.

The uncertainty of one’s status at the mansion has physical manifestations beyond just having plastic surgery. Holly, for one, develops a stammer. Hoping to appear unique, she also experiments with cutting off her long hair and changing her makeup. More seriously, Hefner’s manipulation causes serious psychological impacts. In Holly’s case, she finds herself holding her breath under water in the Playboy pool, trying to decide if she is brave enough to breathe in water and die by suicide—wondering if anybody would notice if she did. Just as Holly resorts to antidepressants to deal with the anxiety and uncertainty she feels, other girlfriends and Playmates often resort to street drugs and alcohol to cope with the subtle yet powerful mental cruelty they experience in the mansion. This disempowerment extends to their outside relationships as well. Cloistered in the mansion, the women struggle to maintain friendships and romances with people outside. Hefner has intentionally designed it to be this way. Among other things, he does not want his girlfriends to learn how popular they might be. The three Girls Next Door thus go through the entire first season of their reality show without realizing that they have fans who adore them. While they are Hefner’s girlfriends, none of them, even Holly, have him to themselves. Thus, there is no romantic intimacy in their lives. As Holly notes, in all the time she lives in the mansion, only one of his girlfriends maintains a lasting relationship with another man. In short, the mansion challenges the physical, intellectual, and emotional health of everyone inside of it. It also causes normal relationships with those outside to be virtually impossible to achieve and maintain.

Personal Growth Despite Severe Resistance

Holly uses implication (See: Literary Devices) to show the reader that she is a person of incredible persistence, intelligence, and resourcefulness. She remarks several times during the narrative that she is determined to be the “last one standing.” She says this when she imagines that the Mean Girls are her opponents, only later to discover that her real adversary is the man who wants her to be his main girlfriend. At her lowest point, Holly is locked into close orbit around Hefner and is systematically disempowered in such a way that she is chronically depressed, prohibited from seeking help from a counselor, and manipulated into thinking that she is unworthy of being a Playmate.

Despite all of this, Holly resiliently decides she will persevere and find positive light in her existence. Along the way, she is buoyed by small moments of encouragement: these are critical to helping her find balance and maintain hope. In particular, her friendship with Bridget and the maternal nurturing of Mary O’Connor provide Holly with inspiration and comfort. Because she has a great deal of free time during the day, Holly continues her higher education, taking classes that further her business acumen. She also learns a great deal about the history and the workings of Playboy Enterprises, discovering the creative processes of the magazine and the various production crews. These insights into the workings of Hefner’s business provide her with kernels of truth that dispel many of the myths surrounding himself and his empire. The most miraculous moment that stimulates much of Holly’s re-empowerment comes via an interview with E! producers, who recognize that Holly and the other two girlfriends are creative individuals with unique stories. This results in The Girls Next Door series.

Despite the best attempts of Hefner and the E! network to prevent Holly, Bridget, and Kendra from understanding how successful and popular they are with the public, they inevitably discover the extent of their accomplishments—and realize they have the potential to do even more. Each in their own ways, the women use the five television seasons as a chance to hone their personal and professional skills, entertain outside opportunities, and expand their worldview through travel. All of this helps them to recognize that they are essentially prisoners in the mansion. When one of the three finally leaves the mansion, the other two recognize the time has come for them to go as well.

Departing the mansion forces Holly to rely upon herself, which in turn stirs her creative resources. Apart from a failed liaison with Criss, during which she learns a great deal about romantic relationships, everything Holly attempts thereafter is a success. This is particularly noteworthy because Hefner continuously tries to recapture Holly and return her to the fold of his mansion. Ultimately, then, Holly’s drive to grow and achieve overcomes Hefner’s drive to keep her as his resident “girl next door.”