[IMG:L]She’s just your typical “Girl Next Door.” Okay, a little atypical, considering she’s one of Hugh Hefner’s trio of girlfriends, but when she’s getting ready for one of the Playboy Mansion’s ultra-exclusive black-tie parties or the annual fright-night Halloween party, Bridget Marquardt sure knows how to play dress-up (except, of course, when she’s naked in the pages of the magazine).
With her favorite holiday fast approaching, Bridget spooked Hollywood.com with tales of her fascination with Halloween, living in a haunted house, Hef’s reaction to her love of all things frightening, and going from sexy to scary.
Hollywood.com: Why is Halloween your favorite holiday?
Bridget Marquardt: I love the adrenalin rush that I get from being scared. I also love dressing up in costume and being something else.
HW: What is your favorite Halloween outfit ever?
BM: I did a reverse Bride of Frankenstein. I did a blonde wig with like a black streak and a skimpy little white bride outfit. So that was probably the favorite outfit that I did.
HW: What will you be this year?
BM: I’m going to be Little Red Riding Hood. Not just cute Red Riding Hood. I’m going to have scrapes and bite marks and my hair’s going to be all messed up and I’m going to have wolf hair stuck to me.
HW: It sounds like you put in a lot of preparation to each outfit every year. Is it a long process?
Bridget: Oh yeah. I plan like a couple months in advance, and I already have my Halloween costume hanging in my closet ready to go. It’s fun.
HW: You’re known for being one of Hugh Hefner’s sexy girlfriends. Are you able to forget all that and dress up really gross and scary?
BM: At the mansion, we’re expected to be sexy all the time. All the parties are lingerie and sexy. This is my time where I know Hef still wants it to be sexy, but I can go scary and bloody with it, too.
HW: One year I was a schoolgirl with a bullet through my head and it was the one time I just went for it and was really gross for Halloween.
BM: Yeah! I’ve done schoolgirl with a pencil through my neck before!
HW: Is the Playboy Mansion really haunted?
BM: Right. That’s the rumor. There’s a ghost story that goes with the house that Mrs. Lutz, one of the original owners, was either pushed or jumped to her death from the balcony onto the marble floor.
[IMG:R]HW: And you’ve actually had ghost experts come into the mansion to check it out?
BM: Well, we did it for the show and I feel like it wasn’t a legitimate ghost hunt. I really want like TAPS [The Atlantic Paranormal Society] to come in. Have you ever seen Ghosthunters on the Sci-Fi Channel? I want them to come in and check it out for me.
HW: Did the original paranormal experts find anything strange?
BM: They did, but I don’t know. They said a lot of it was coming through me and that I was like a conduit and that kind of stuff. I would like to have somebody more legitimate come in.
HW: What types of things have you experienced around the mansion?
BM: I’ve had weird things go on with my TV. Like it changes channels on its own or the volume will go up and down and toilets have flushed out of nowhere. It doesn’t happen very often, but there are things that have happened.
HW: Does it freak you out?
BM: No, it’s not commonplace, but I don’t freak out because it’s so surreal when it happens that you kind of second-guess and it doesn’t kind of hit to until later that, “You know what, there’s no explanation for that. That was really kind of creepy.”
HW: Does Hef believe the mansion is haunted?
BM: He’s not into it. He doesn’t think it’s haunted there, but I think at the same time he thinks it’s funny and cute that I like all that stuff and he would allow me to have somebody come in.
HW: Even if Hef doesn’t believe the house has ghosts, he still knows how to celebrate the holiday in style. Tell us about the annual Halloween party at the mansion.
BM: It’s Saturday the 27th. It’s the best party. I think it’s probably the best Halloween party in the world. It’s about 1,000 people, it’s tented, the decorations are totally cool, we have a haunted forest, we have the haunted side hill, we have the graveyard in the front, and we have the scariest haunted house ever.
HW: It sounds frightening and fun at the same time. Have you also visited any famous Los Angeles haunted sites?
BM: I try to go to different ones each year. Like last year we did a haunted tour. Holly [Madison] and I kind of go around and do it every year. Last year we did all three of us for the show—we went in a hearse and drove around and we did a lot of Black Dahlia sites—where the body was found; the Biltmore Hotel, which was the last place she was seen; and the house of Steve Hodell and that kind of thing.
[IMG:L]HW: It sounds like the other girls get into the spirit of the holiday with you.
BM: Holly loves it too, and I have to say Kendra [Wilkinson] got into it with us last year. It’s not really her cup of tea, but she got into it. She was a good sport.
HW: What is your advice to all of those Halloween partygoers this year?
BM: It would be no holds barred. Just go all the way with it. Don’t just throw something on. A lot of people are the same thing, like a schoolgirl. Go with it. Like you said, you were a dead schoolgirl. Do it all up. Take it the whole way. Halloween’s supposed to be scary, not sexy.
