Holly Madison details abusive relationship with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner

Holly Madison, who was knee-deep in the Playboy world, is hosting a six-part true crime saga The Playboy Murders that will explore the tragedies that took place with the women involved in the brand and lifestyle made popular by her ex-boyfriend Hugh Hefner.

Speaking to Yahoo ahead of the series’ Monday night premiere, Madison shed light on her promiscuous life and what her relationship with Hefner looked like.

"I just felt like I could relate to some of these victims because they were coming from the same kind of career or the same kind of places that I did," Madison said.

"I hadn't heard about so many of these stories and I thought I knew everything about Playboy history and about what happened to all the Playmates and everything. So I really wanted to dive deeper into it.

"I feel like what I experienced with Hef was definitely emotional and verbal abuse. And I ended up leaving after so many years because the verbal abuse was just getting so bad I couldn't stand it anymore,

"When I tell my story, there's so many people who wanna say, 'Well, why didn't you leave? Why did you stay for so long?' And I love talking about that kind of a thing because I just think there's such a misunderstanding about it and I can relate.

"When I was young I would hear stories of celebrities in abusive relationships and kind of the public's reaction was like, 'Well, if you didn't leave after the first thing that went wrong, you know, it's your fault for staying.' That was kind of the attitude. And I remember thinking that too before I really had that experience myself."