Girls Next Door star Holly Madison defends Jessica Biel's Hugh Hefner biopic… after Playboy mogul's widow Crystal torched the film

Girls Next Door star Holly Madison is standing behind Jessica Biel's involvement in the controversial Hugh Hefner biopic Playmates.

Madison, 46, who was the Playboy mogul's 'number one girlfriend' during the seven years they dated in the early 2000s, revealed she 'can't wait to see it.'

Her enthusiasm for the project directly opposed the stance taken by Hefner's widow Crystal Harris, who publicly shared an Instagram message she had sent to Biel this week urging her to reconsider.

But Madison expressed her support for the film’s writer and director, Lorraine Nicholson, the daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard who based the story partly on her own childhood experiences at the Playboy Mansion.

Biel, 44, who revealed her body did 'crazy things' after giving birth to her and Justin Timberlake's two sons, is set to play Hefner's wife in the film produced by Searchlight Pictures, but it will be an entirely fictional role, even though Hefner was married three times during his lifetime.

Lily-Rose Depp will play Anna, one of the seven hopefuls vying to be Playmate of the Month.

Madison told TMZ that Nicholson, the daughter of Jack Nicholson and an acquaintance of hers, is 'a wonderful writer.'

She added: 'I love Lily-Rose Depp, too. I can't wait to see it.'

Madison has been open about her own complicated experience living at the famed Holmby Hills estate, describing it as a cult-like atmosphere, while acknowledging the differing perspectives of other Playboy Mansion residents.  

She arrived to the mansion as a 21-year-old college student in 2008 and became Hefner's third wife in 2012 until his death in 2017 at age 91.

During an appearance on Firerose's No One Asked Her podcast in August, Harris said: 'I think I was absolutely brainwashed.

'Hef was old enough to be my grandfather. We [had a] 60-years difference. In the interviews I'd say, "Oh, you know, he's like a kid! He likes to have fun,"' she shared, then asked herself, 'Why did I say that?' 

Harris strongly believes the film Playmates is a mistake if it intends to romanticize Hefner and the Playboy world.

Harris urged Biel to 'please reconsider' her role in Playmates, citing her own experiences of abuse in her marriage, and emphasized the point by sharing a screenshot of the direct message she had sent The Sinner actress.

It read: 'Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s "wife" if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world.

'I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in this relationship.

'Many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well. There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors.

'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.'

Although Hefner was married to Mildred Williams and Kimberley Conrad, as well as Harris, in his lifetime, the character Biel will play is entirely fictional, per Variety.

According to the official logline, Playmates tells the story of Elle (Indiana Elle), a 13-year-old know-it-all who considers the Playboy Mansion her second home, meets Anna (Depp), one of seven hopefuls vying to be Playmate of the Month. The two form an unlikely friendship and try to help each other get what the other wants most, a magazine cover and a boy.' 

Nicholson’s short film Life Boat, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, but Playmates will mark her feature-length directorial debut.

Speaking to W Magazine, Nicholson also recalled her friendship with Hefner's sons, Marston, now 36, and Cooper, now 35.

She called the mansion 'such a place of innocence, paradoxically,' adding: 'I was regularly swimming in the grotto. I didn't know that the place had this other side by night.'

Nicholson had her first movie experience when she was cast as an extra in her father's movie Something's Gotta Give when she was just 13.

'Nancy Meyers let me be an extra in Something's Gotta Give because I wanted to be an actor,' Nicholson recalled.

'But my parents wouldn't let me pursue acting until I went to college, which was smart, because I then realized I didn't actually want that.'