Holly Madison is done playing it fast and loose with her romantic choices—and she’s ready to do things differently this time around.
The 46-year-old former Girls Next Door star opened up to Us Weekly about her approach to dating in 2026, and it’s a marked departure from her well-documented past. When asked about reports circulating earlier this month linking her to prominent Las Vegas attorney Steve Dimopoulos, Madison didn’t confirm or deny the connection. Instead, she addressed what’s really on her mind: taking her time, keeping things private, and actually knowing someone before the world gets wind of it.
“I have taken my time to get to know somebody before I claim anything, because look at some of my past choices, rough … and that’s a mess,”Madison told Us Weekly while promoting season 2 of Lethally Blonde, the Investigation Discovery true crime series where she serves as host and executive producer. It’s refreshing candor from someone whose love life has been tabloid fodder for decades—from her high-profile years with late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (2001-2008) to her six-year relationship with Ghost Adventures’Zak Bagans, which ended last May.
The rumors about Dimopoulos may have legs, or they may not. Madison spotted the pair together at the T-Mobile Arena during a Vegas Golden Knights game in mid-May, and she did post a picture of him—but she’s adamant it was platonic. She suspects her ex deliberately surfaced the story as cover.“In a perfect world, I would love to date somebody for, like, a year before anybody in the outside world knows about it,”she explained. Fair enough. After navigating high-stakes breakups and the public microscope that comes with them, wanting to vet a partner in private feels less like secrecy and more like self-protection.
Madison shares two children—daughter Rainbow, 13, and son Forest, 9—with her ex-husband Pasquale Rotella, whom she divorced in February 2019. Being a parent while constantly in the spotlight adds another layer to her caution.“I second-guess myself,”she admitted, which tracks for someone actively working to break old patterns.
The bigger picture here is less about who she’s dating and more about the shift in how she’s dating. Madison’s building something new on her own terms, away from the glare. And honestly, that’s worth paying attention to when the rest of the story finally comes out.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.