Hugh Hefner was surprised when that his girlfriend Holly was leaving him for Criss Angel. He said at the time, “I was devastated. I didn’t see it coming at all.” When asked if he still talked to Holly, he claimed they still get to see each other because “she still works at the magazine.”

Well, no longer. Now not only has she left the mansion, but news has broken that Holly has officially left her position as Playmate Editor at the magazine. This leaves her free to move to Las Vegas with Angel, where he is still performing his badly-reviewed “Believe” show.

Holly has responded to the press by writing a blog entitled “Annoying!!!!” outlining her reasons for leaving the magazine. Among them: the commute, and that her job became routine. She also denies that the job was just for the reality show.

So it’s out on the gossip sites that I quit my job at Playboy, which is true. I quit for several reasons: 1. I moved to Vegas and that job doesn’t pay enough to make a commute worthwhile (I never cared about the salary when I got the job-I made my money doing Girls Next Door and I just did the job because I loved it.) 2. After two years of it, I no longer found it challenging. It got to be routine, which was sad for me, since I was initially so passionate about the job and the creative aspects involved. 3. It was awkward. Not that anyone tried to make it awkward or didn’t treat me fairly . . . it just was.

It annoys me when people call the job fake as if it was just a set up for the show. If I had wanted a fake career for Girls Next Door I would have stuck with the jewelry line because that required very little of my time. I spent way more than full time directing shoots, editing, making mock layouts and approving retouching.

So as you can imagine, when one is trying to move on with their life, it isn’t beneficial to spend so much time on something that doesn’t pay much and sadly enough is no longer rewarding to you.
But I loved my job while I had it, appreciate the opportunity and the experience greatly and wish whoever takes my place the best.
Love-Holly

[from Holly’s MySpace]

From watching her show The Girls Next Door (which I have to admit I enjoy), I got the impression that she really enjoyed the job. When she wasn’t sighing over the fact that Hef wouldn’t marry her, she was talking about how much she loved the creative aspect of the magazine, and working on photoshoots. It seemed like that’s what she wanted to pursue after the Playboy thing ended. But every job gets old after a while, and after she moved out of the mansion, I can imagine that it would get a little “awkward.” She and Bridget always struck me as responsible, creative girls who just also happened to have bangin’ bodies.

But trading her position at a magazine to be the live-in girlfriend of everyone’s favorite joke? This sounds like a downgrade to me. If the relationship doesn’t work out, she’ll probably go back to her roots. Wonder if she’s retired from doing pictorials, too, or if she’d still get naked for the Playboy cameras if the opportunity arose.

Holly Madison is shown at the launch of the Girls Next Door book on 12/20/08 and with criss Angel on 11/6/08. Credit: PRPhotos