She’s bubbly, blonde and has a B.A., an M.A., and a 34D.
With her always-sunny outlook, down-to-earth demeanor and dare-to-dream attitude, Bridget Marquardt has won the hearts of male and female fans alike as part of Hugh Hefner’s harem triumvirate on E!’s hit reality series The Girls Next Door. With Season Four on the air and Season Three on DVD shelves, Hollywood.com caught Bridget with the cameras off and her clothes on as she chatted with us from her pink boudoir at the Playboy Mansion, dishing everything from her own “bucket list” to backyard girl-on-girl action to the kind of beads you’d better bring for her at Mardi Gras if you want to shoot your own pictorial.
Hollywood.com: Are you surprised at the amount of female fans that the show has, and especially you? When we talk to women, you’re always everybody’s favorite.
Bridget Marquardt: Initially we were very shocked, because we thought “Okay, the guys are going to watch it. It’s a Playboy show.” But then when all the girls tuned in, it was really shocking at first. But it’s understandable when you think about it. If they want to see a fantasy lifestyle of girls shopping and going to parties and planning parties and traveling, we live a very fantastic lifestyle, and they want to live vicariously through that. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: And why do you think that your fans have connected with you specifically? When you hear from them, what do they say that they just relate to with you or just love about you?
BM: A lot of things the fans say is that I’m really down to earth, and they feel that I’m sincere. I also inspire a lot of people, apparently. Girls will e-mail me and say that I’ve inspired them to go back to school to finish their degree. I’ve inspired them to lose weight, I’ve inspired them to follow their dreams, all kinds of things. So that’s a real honor and a great blessing in disguise from the show. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: One of the things that I love about the show is this subplot: Holly Madison would really like to get a ring on her finger. Do you guys have a game plan if Hef does indeed ever propose? Would everything pretty much remain the same with you and Kendra Wilkinson?
BM: Well, Hef’s still [legally] married to his wife, who lives next door, so we’re not worried about a wedding anytime soon. Something closer on the horizon, there’s a possibility of a baby. Holly really wants to have a baby –That’s not happening, she’s not pregnant. That’s not what I’m saying, but I think that would happen faster than her getting married. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: How long did it take you to adjust to life at the Playboy Mansion, from the time that you first sort of showed up with stars in your eyes until now where that lifestyle is your lifestyle?
BM: Well, my transition was pretty slow coming into the mansion. I really wanted to be part of Playboy. I moved to LA. I had my own apartment, and I started coming up for a couple events. And then I got invited to more events. And then Hef asked if I wanted to go out clubbing with all the girls, and I started doing that. And then that led to spending the night here, because you’re out drinking and everything. And then I just started slowly spending more and more and more time here until eventually Hef was like, ‘You might as well get rid of that apartment. You’re here more than you are at the apartment,’ so I did. I think it was a good thing that mine was such a gradual process, because it gave me a chance to get used to it and do it really slow and stay who I was and stay grounded.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: And for all the guys out there who all have had years of fantasizing about what a night’s like at the Playboy Mansion: how does the reality match their fantasies?
BM: Well, for anybody, even guys, the fact that it’s very family here. A lot of things are very traditional and that it’s not always a crazy, wild atmosphere. It’s surprising to people. But I think what’s good about the mansion, too, is we do have those crazy, wild parties, and we do have those crazy moments. Like just last week, we were having the 55th anniversary playmate casting call, and there were 200 girls here per day, naked all over the property, taking pictures with photographers. And that’s the kind of Playboy Mansion people have in their minds when they think of it. And it does happen here, but it also has a very family-like quality. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: What’s the naughtiest thing you’ve seen or heard about happening at the mansion?
BM: Girl-on-girl action right in the middle of the party for spectators standing around in a circle watching. It was one of our parties that people rent out the backyard – sometimes those get even crazier than Hef‘s parties, because people are here just totally acting out their fantasies. It’s probably the only time they’re ever going to get to come. So I feel like in a lot of ways, those are the craziest parties. They probably paid $1,000 to some charity even to come, and this is their only opportunity, and they’re just going to make the most of it.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Who’s the least likely celebrity that you imagine would turn up at the Playboy Mansion that you actually encountered there?
BM: Donald Trump. He’s been actually to several parties now, but the one he showed up to was Hef’s 80th birthday party, and that’s when I stripped out of the cake. So when I came back to the table, Donald Trump was there. I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ I said, ‘Am I fired?’ And he goes, ‘No, you’re definitely hired.’ Yeah, I got the job. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: And who would you love to run into that you haven’t seen at the Playboy Mansion yet?
BM: Hands down,George Clooney. And he’s my husband – I don’t know if you know that we got married. [Laughs] He has a wax figure in Las Vegas, and he’s at a wedding alter, and you can actually put on a wedding dress and have a bouquet of flowers and a veil and stand at the alter, and Hef and Holly and Kendra stood up for us. So the way I look at it, he owes me a honeymoon. If there ever comes a time when he comes here, I will be hiding under the table. I will be so scared to meet him. I’ll pass out. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: Aside from meeting George, is there something that, even though you’re living your dream, you’d really love to do that you’ve never had a chance to do?
BM: Oh, my gosh, there’s a ton of things. I have a whole “bucket list” of things I want to do. There’s like 65 things on there. I’m super-excited because of Mardi Gras and going to New Orleans for that was one of the top things on there, and I’m going to get to check that off pretty soon. One of my things is I wanted to invest in a condo, and I actually just signed the acceptance paper last night for a condo. I really, really want to go to Transylvania. I want to go really bad. And I want to host my own show, so we’re supposed to be getting pilot opportunities coming up this year with E!. So I’m excited about that, because I might be able to check off quite a few things this year. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: What’s the hottest outfit that you’ve bought recently?
BM: I have a couple being made right now. One [was] for the Playboy pre-Super Bowl party. And it’s a corset, but it’s made out of the football jersey material, and it’s going to be all done up. It’s going to say, ‘53’ on the back for Playboy. That’s the year it started. And it’ll have the Playboy bunny, and I’ll have little jersey shorts, and it’ll say ‘Playboy’ across the butt. I’m wearing that to the pre-Super Bowl party with some thigh-high boots.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: What do you tell girls that are coming to the Mansion for the first time and having their first Playboy experience in the magazine and on the website to help them prepare for their whole Playboy experience?
BM: My number one thing I tell people is just follow your dreams and don’t take no for an answer. I was told no twice before I came here and was doing this show and everything, for being in the magazine. So follow your dreams; if it’s something you really want, just keep striving for it. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: You’ve lived with Hef for a number of years now. He’s a man who has done a lot of amazing things in his life What have you learned from him?
BM: He really has followed his dreams, and look at what it’s gotten him. So I’ve learned that from him, and plus also to not take things quite so seriously and to still have time for fun in your life. As busy as he is and as self-made as he is, he still has time for all his friends. He still has time to do what he loves, watching movies. He still loves to eat candy and strawberry ice cream cones for dinner. He loves to play games. He has gym night on Wednesday nights with the guys. He wants to play dominoes with us girls. He plays backgammon every Sunday. He does what he loves. He makes time for that, and I think that keeps him young and optimistic and enterprising.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: We’ve loved seeing all three of you girls together in the magazine. Are we ever going to see you have your own individual layouts?.
BM: Oh, I wish. We are really, really pushing for that. Hef‘s already told us he does want to do another pictorial on us this year, and we’re hoping it can be individual, because we think that would be awesome. Actually we are contemplating the idea of doing three different covers. It would be all for the same month. So you buy all three to get the whole collection. That’s totally what we’re trying to do, but we also want our own pictorials.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Who is your all-time favorite Playmate?
BM: That’s really hard. It’s really hard. I really like [Miss December 1997] Karen McDougal, but my favorite cover ever is Jodi Ann Paterson’s Playmate of the Year cover [in 2000]. It was really hot, but Karen McDougal’s layout was awesome for a playmate. And then a non-playmate but a celebrity pictorial that’s my very favorite by far is Carmen Electra’s December 2000 one. It’s just so beautiful. It’s all winter. In fact, I’m going to try and recreate what she did for our 2009 Girls Next Door calendar.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: And for all the guys – and girls – at Mardi Gras who want an in-person peek at what’s under your outfit, what kind of beads will you insist on getting?
BM: Well, I only want the coolest, craziest ones. I want the ones that flash lights and have boobs on them, you know, that are really ornate and very, very cool. [PAGEBREAK]
