Holly Madison told TMZ on Saturday that she “can’t wait to see it,” voicing support for Lily-Rose Depp and writer-director Lorraine Nicholson as their film “Playmates” faces criticism over its portrayal of Hugh Hefner. Madison, 46, was in a relationship with Hefner during her time as a Playboy Bunny from 2001 to 2008, and she says she’s approaching the project with an open mind.

The film centers on Elle and Anna, portrayed by Indiana Elle and Depp, as they vie to become Playmate of the Month. Elle is 13 and treats the Playboy Mansion as a second home, and the story traces her bond with Anna. Playmates marks Nicholson’s feature directorial debut.

Lewis Pullman portrays Hefner, who died in 2017, and Jessica Biel, 44, plays a wholly fictional former Playmate who becomes his wife.

Crystal Hefner, 40, who was married to him from 2012 until his death, had called on Biel to step back. “Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s ‘wife’ if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world,” she wrote in a post on Thursday. “I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in this relationship.”

She cited other women’s allegations of rape, coercion and drugging and urged those behind the film to listen before proceeding. “I hope everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia,” she said.

Crystal described life at the Playboy Mansion as “traumatizing” in her 2024 memoir, “Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself.” In February she filed a complaint against the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation over his personal scrapbooks, saying the materials span decades beginning in the 1960s and “may include images of girls who were underage at the time.”

Biel has not publicly addressed the role.