Holly Madison Opens Up About 'Intimate Emotional Connection' with Her Boyfriend After Autism Diagnosis at 42 (Exclusive)

Just last summer, Holly Madison was diagnosed with autism at the age of 42.

The former Playboy model, who became a best-selling author, podcast host and true-crime producer after leaving the mansion, tells PEOPLE she appreciates the revelation because it helped her reconcile many of her earlier interpersonal experiences.

“I’m so glad I got that diagnosis because I can recognize how I function the way I do, why I function the way I do, how I relate to people,” says Madison, now 43. “I feel like just knowing that helped my social skills.”

Holly Madison.

Denise Truscello/WireImage

According to the National Institutes of Health, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects the way people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Although symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life, ASD can be diagnosed at any age.

“The doctor told me that I have high executive function, which means that I can mostly continue with my life and do things ‘normally’,” she said in a December appearance on A conversation with death podcast.

“I think because I’m quieter, I’ve only recently learned to make eye contact, I’m often in my thoughts, things like that, so people take it as offensive. They say, ‘Damn, you’re not really interested in me, fuck you,'” she said with a laugh. “I’m just not on the same social wavelength as other people, but don’t take it personally. So I like being able to explain it.”

Madison has been open in the past about how challenging she’s always been with her peers, even while living in the Playboy Mansion where she spent most of her 20s.

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“I look back and see how I used to have so many problems connecting with people. I think it influenced some of the decisions I made,” she now tells PEOPLE. “Feeling like I connected with certain people more easily and thinking, ‘Oh, this must be because I’ve never connected with anyone before,’ that kind of thing, and actually, I think just being on the spectrum was a struggle for me .”

Holly Madison for her new true crime series ‘Lethally Blonde’.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery

After moving out of the mansion when she was 29, Madison continued to date Pasquale Rotello, with whom she has two children: Rainbow Aurora, 11, and Forest Leonard, 7.

Although the two divorced in 2019, Madison still looks back fondly on their time together for the gift of her two children.

Holly Madison, with her two children Rainbow and Forest.

holly madison/instagram

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“I know many people who have gone through a similar situation as me [in the mansion] it even lasted for a period where they said they were celibate for a while. That was not the case for me,” shares Madison. “I immediately returned to relationships. And I’m glad because I got two great children.”

Reflecting on how her boyfriend handled her autism diagnosis, Madison — who reportedly dated Zak Bagans for several years — applauds him.

“I’m lucky enough to date someone who has always kind of understood and accepted me for who I am, so getting the diagnosis wasn’t super shocking for him,” A deadly blonde now says the producer. “I’m fortunate that I haven’t had much trouble in recent relationships in terms of feeling an intimate emotional connection with someone.”

Madison’s new series A deadly blonde airs Mondays at 10/9c on ID.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education