Hugh Hefner & Holly Madison’s History: Everything To Know About Their Romance & Her Accusations

]

The ‘Girls Next Door’ alum was one of the ‘Playboy’ founder’s girlfriends for seven years, but Holly has since revealed some of the darker aspects of being a ‘Playboy’ model.

Holly Madison rose to fame as a model for the famous Playboy magazine. The now-42-year-old blonde beauty became a reality star in 2003, when she was one of the three featured ladies on the series The Girls Next Door, which followed Holly, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson in their lives at the Playboy Mansion along with the magazine’s founder Hugh Hefner. Holly was known as Hugh’s number one girlfriend during her time in the mansion, and the two dated from 2001 until 2008. Since the split, Holly has come forward with many accusations against Hugh, and she’s revealed that her relationship with the late founder, who died in 2017, wasn’t as sweet as it may have seemed on TV. Find out more about Holly and Hugh’s relationship, and the accusations she’s made against him since splitting up, here.

When did Holly and Hugh meet?

Holly visited the Playboy Mansion a number times throughout college. After having spent much of her young adulthood in the mansion, she decided to move in when she was 21 in 2001. While she was working as a model for the suntan oil Hawaiian Tropic, Holly said she got her first invite to a party at the Playboy Mansion, where she first said hello to Hugh.

Holly’s opened up about why she originally decided to move to the mansion in her memoir Down The Rabbit Hole, which came out in 2015. She admitted to feeling like she was in a “desperate situation” during an April 2021 interview with the podcast Call Her Daddy. During the interview, she alleged that Hugh offered her quaaludes, and she was “wasted,” when they first had sex. She said that she was shocked after their first time having sex, because she noticed other girls with Hugh during her first night out with him. “When I got up there, I was so wasted and thrown into it, that once it was done, there was something about the experience that made me feel very out of control,” she said at the time.

Holly also recounted her first night out with Hugh as one of his girlfriends during a December 2021 interview on the Power: Hugh Hefner podcast. She said she expected the night out to be more like a “first date” and said he was “literally pushed on top of me,” when she wasn’t planning on having sex with him.

Shortly after the two started dating, Holly said that she felt “trapped” by some of the mansion’s rules and Hugh’s personal preferences for her. In the years since they’ve split, Holly had admitted to asking Hugh if she could tryout to be a Playboy Playmate, and he would “hold it out of reach” and let various girlfriends try out for it. She alleged that Hugh “flipped out” at her, after she cut her hair short, in an interview as part of the A&E docu-series Secrets of Playboy. “He was screaming at me and said it made me look old, hard and cheap,” she said.

‘The Girls Next Door’

Holly admitted to thinking she’d only live in the mansion for about a year tops, during the Power interview, but she became well-known as one of Hugh’s featured girlfriends on the reality show The Girls Next Door in 2003, two years after moving in. She was regarded as the Playboy publisher’s number one girl. The show ran for six seasons, and Holly appeared in 80 episodes. The show not only showed the lives of the girls surrounding Playboy events, but it also gave an in-depth look to Holly’s relationship with Hugh.

The model revealed that after she learned about the show, she was “annoyed,” because she wasn’t cast as the “ambitious” girl in the Power interview. Holly also explained that she thought that the show would also help her get into the magazine. In some episodes, she admitted to how she wanted to be in the magazine, and how she was disappointed that she was to see other girls come and try out to be Playmates. “He had known for years that we wanted [to be in the magazine], and he very deliberately kept it away from us, and I think, very much enjoyed making us think that we weren’t good enough,” she said in the podcast.

During their time on the show, she became a junior photo editor for Playboy, and she had great things to say about the position, and the show also shifted the dynamics in their relationship. “He wasn’t trying to date other people or sleep with other people, and we weren’t going out to clubs, and we weren’t doing the bedroom thing,” she said on Power. “I felt like his attitude toward me really changed, and he really did start to care for me.”

In the years since the show has ended, Holly has admitted to some of the difficult things she was struggling with behind-the-scenes, both on her own and with Hugh. She admitted to feelings of body dysmorphia, and a strong desire to lose weight, in a July 2021 TikTok video.

Holly and Hugh Break Up In 2008

After seven years together, Holly ended her relationship with Hugh in October 2008. Hugh alleged that the two had broken up, because they didn’t have plans for marriage or children in a 2008 interview with The Associated Press. “If Holly says it’s over, I guess it’s over,” he said at the time, while saying that Holly was still living in the mansion, but staying in a different room. After the breakup, she announced she still planned to work with Bridget and Kendra, and she appeared in four episodes of the of the last season of Girls Next Door, before she produced the spin-off Holly’s World.

After Holly and Hugh split, the Playboy publisher did get engaged (and later married) to the model Crystal Harris. After their engagement was made public, Holly admitted to feeling “surprised” at the news. “I have a lot of different feelings on it. I don’t just feel one way. I kind of didn’t want to put a generic statement out there like ‘Congratulations!’ because I felt everyone would see through that,” she told E! News at the time.

Holly’s accusations since the breakup

In the years since the breakup, Holly has shed tons of light onto the darker aspects of living in the mansion. She opened up about wanting to “drown herself” while she lived in the mansion as part of the Secrets of Playboy series. “I remember there was a point in time a couple of years in. After we had gone out and after we had all been in the bedroom. Everybody’s leaving and walking out, and I was in the bathtub. And I just wanted to drown myself. I just felt like I was in this cycle of misery,” she claimed. Even after the breakup, Holly was still a junior photo editor for Playboy until 2009, which she quit after not finding the job “challenging,” via E! News.

She’s also pushed back on the narrative that Hugh was a “good guy” or “nice man.” She’s called her relationship with Hugh “abusive” and said that he’d commonly practiced love-bombing (or being overly-affectionate early on in a relationship). “The reason I think the mansion was very cult-like looking back on it is because we were all kind of gaslit,” she said as part of the A&E docu-series.

After the breakup

Long after the breakup, Holly eventually married Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella in 2014, and the pair had two children: Rainbow Aurora, 8, and Forest Leonado Antonio, 1. Unfortunately, Holly’s marriage to Pasquale wasn’t meant to be, and the two divorced in 2018. Hugh married his third and final wife Crystal Harris in 2012, and the two were married until the Playboy founder died at age 91 in September 2017.

Hugh Hefner Girlfriends Through The Years, Including Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, & Kendra Wilkinson

]

Ahead of the ‘Secrets of Playboy’ docuseries – that promises to tell the ‘hidden truths’ about Hugh Hefner – learn about the women who dated Hef.

Hugh Hefner had many partners before his death in 2017 at the age of 91…and many of them will tell their story in Secrets of Playboy. The ten-episode A&E docuseries will break down barriers and expose the truth” while offering an “unflinching look at the personal effects of Hugh Hefner’s empire, while also exploring his legacy’s larger influence on our society and modern-day views of sexuality,” per Deadline.

During Hugh Hefner’s life, the Playboy creator was married three times: first to Mildred Williams, from 1944 to 1946; to Kimberley Conrad from 1989 to 2010, though the couple separated in 1998; and to Crystal Harris from 2012 to his death in 2017. However, in between those gaps, Hugh was rarely single. The man always had a woman – and in many cases, two or three – on his arm. Here are just some women who have come to date Hugh Hefner.

Barbara Lynn Klein / Barbi Benton

Barbara Lynn Klien — better known to the world as Barbi Benton, singer, and star of Hee-Haw and Deathstalker — first met Hugh in 1968 on the set of his television show, Playboy After Dark, according to PEOPLE. She was 18, and he was 42, and the age gap was one reason she wasn’t interested in him at first. However, Hugh put the charm on her – and he put her on the cover of Playboy four times – in 1969, 1970, 1972, and 1985 (h/t Insider).

He was very romantic,” she told People. “He was one of the most romantic men I’ve ever met. He was always rubbing my neck, holding my hand, squeezing me, and making me feel loved. He was also affectionate with other girls … and he loved kissing. I didn’t mind, because I was very secure in our relationship.”

Hef convinced her to change her name to Barbi Benton, and she’s credited with convincing Hugh to buy the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills. They broke up in 1976, and she married George Gradow in 1979.

Sondra Theodore

Sondra Theodore was romantically involved with Hugh Hefner from 1976 to 1981. She was 19 when they first met. He was 50. Sondra was the July 1977 Playmate of the Month and lived in the Playboy Mansion. Ahead of the Secrets of Playboy docuseries, Sondra told Entertainment Tonight that she was “groomed” by Hefner. “I saw a man obsessed with sex, couldn’t get enough of it and [it] wasn’t ever enough for him. He got bored easily and the taboo was something he searched out.”

Shannon Tweed

Before Shannon Tweed was Gene Simmons’ better half, the actress and model briefly dated Hugh Hefner. She met Hugh when she was 24 and attended a Playboy mansion party. The two dated for two years, which coincided with her being named 1982’s Playmate of the Year.

“When you see pictures of him in real clothes, those were the ones I got him,” she told CKOM in 2017, noting that she got Hugh to dress in something other than his trademark pajamas. “He looked very smart in his clothes.”

Shannon noted that Hugh was supportive of women’s rights. “What he wanted to say was,” she said,” it’s okay for women to want to have sex and to not feel embarrassed or slut shamed about it. And it’s okay for women to want the same things men want.” In 1983, she met Gene at a Playboy mansion party, fell in love, and has been with him ever since.

Carrie Leigh

Carrie “lived with Hefner for five years in the 1980s,” according to a 1999 article in the Washington Post. She was listed as being 22 in a 1986 Rolling Stone article (Hugh, at the time, was turning 60.) “I’ve been a model since I was 14,” she told RS. “I came here to do cover tests. I had never really thought of being a Playmate. It wasn’t like I was from a town in Ohio and didn’t know what was happening.”

A Canadian from Vancouver, Carrie was 20 when she stayed at the Playboy mansion while trying out for a photo session. “I remember the evening quite well,” Hef told RS. “I was playing Monopoly. It was one of those things where you look across the room and. . .something happens. Just two weeks earlier, my relationship with [Playmate] Shannon [Tweed] had ended. And I was determined not to get involved again. But the mutual attraction was very obvious. We fell for each other.”

After they broke up, Carried filed – then dropped – a $35 palimony suit, then sued him for publishing unauthorized photos of her. She told the Washington Post that she left Hef because the Playboy life was constricting. “It’s almost like a cult,” she said in 1999. “When you live in an environment like that that’s so different from how other people live, you start forgetting who you are and what you believe is right. It’s like the song ‘Hotel California’–‘Mirrors on the ceiling, pink champagne on ice. We’re all just prisoners here.’ You know? ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave’? It took me a few years after I did leave to wipe it out of my head.”

Brande Roderick

After Hugh and Kimberley Conrad separated in 1998, he kept himself busy by dating a handful of Playmates, including Brande Roderick. Ahead of the Secrets of Playboy docuseries, she spoke with NewsNation’s Asheligh Banfield and defended her former flame. “Hef was a wonderful person,” she said. “I feel so sad that I even have to defend him because he’s (was) such an amazing person who has done so much for so many people,” she said, per Page Six. “And the fact that some women are coming out because they have a book coming out (or) they want 15 more minutes of fame.. and to do it now is disgusting.”

Hugh told The Daily Beast in 2017 that he was “kind of beat up emotionally and bruised,” after his marriage to Conrad. “And I started dating an actress named Brande Roderick, and almost at the same time met a pair of twins named Sandy and Mandy Bentley. For the next two years, my live-in girlfriends were Brande, Mandy, and Sandy—which reads like bad fiction, but was true.”

“When the relationship with Brande broke up, I added more girls. At one point, it was up to seven. Izabella was one of those seven.”

Tina Marie Jordan

Tina Marie Jordan, who was Playmate of the Month for March 2002, was briefly involved with Hugh from 2000 to 2001. She co-hosted the Two Chicks and a Bunny radio show with Kerri Kasem and Galen Brown on KLSX 97.1

Izabella St. James

Izabella St. James – born Izabella Katarina Kasprzyk – dated Hugh following his breakup with Brande. She moved into the Playboy Mansion in 2002 and moved out two years later. In 2006, she wrote Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion. The memoir claims that Hugh was someone who kept his blonde girlfriend posse on a tight lease, devoured Viagra only to “lay there like a dead fish.”

Hugh confirmed some of the allegations – that his girlfriends got a $1,000 a week allowance and had to adhere to a 9 p.m. curfew – while denying some while talking to The Daily Beast. “Despite what she writes, [Izabella] didn’t leave of her own volition. She left because she was asked to leave because she didn’t get along with some of the other girls. She was in conflict with some of the nicer girls like Holly [Madison] and Bridget [Marquardt], and I kind of cleaned house.”

“One of the things that set my relationships apart from many others is the fact that I have managed to remain close to many of my former girlfriends, including my former wives, because I’m a decent human being,” claimed Hefner. “And I treat women very well. I take pride in that.”

Holly Madison / Bridget Marquardt / Kendra Wilkinson

Perhaps the most high-profile example of Hugh’s polyamory was E! ‘s reality television series, The Girls Next Door, which featured Hugh and his three girlfriends – Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson.

Holly shared her stories of Hugh with the Secrets of Playboy docuseries. “There was definitely no, like, romance or seduction or anything like that,” she said. “It was dark in the room, but there was a giant movie screen of porn in front of the bed. He [Hefner] was in the middle of the bed, and then the women were surrounding him, but they’re all backlit.”

“It was all very mechanical and robotic, and you would kind of follow the other women’s lead, and it was really gross to me how Hef didn’t want to use protection,” she added. “The impact it had on me was so heavy.”

Holly has clashed with Kendra in the past, especially over their experiences with Hefner.

Karissa & Kristina Shannon

After Holly, Kendra, and Bridget, Hugh moved on to twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon. The romance was brief. The two moved out of the Playboy Mansion and into the nearby Playboy House in 2010 when Hugh got involved with Crystal Harris. When the twins brought home some young boyfriends, Hefner reportedly asked the twins to move out.

]

Dakota Johnson says Jesse Eisenberg ignored her on ‘The Social Network’ set Dakota Johnson recalls her interaction with Jesse Eisenberg on the set of 2010’s “The Social Network” as … less than ideal. In a new interview for Vanity Fair with Andrew Garfield — who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin to Jesse’s Mark Zuckerberg — Dakota says that while Andrew was engaging and friendly on-set, Jesse basically ignored her. “You and Jesse were so busy on that movie, and I was obviously in it for four seconds, but I spent a few days on set just watching,” recalls Dakota, who had a minor role in the film. “I remember sitting down with you guys when you were having lunch one day, and you asked me loads of questions. You were really nice … and Jesse didn’t acknowledge me,” she continues. “He was probably in character,” she adds. “Oh boy, I don’t know. I feel like I need to defend him in some way,” Andrew replies. “There was maybe some of the Zuckerberg coming through in that moment. He was probably overwhelmed by –” Before he can finish, Dakota chimes in. “By beauty!” she jokes. “By your beauty, yes,” Andrew says, playing along. Jesse’s rep took a major hit a few years after “The Social Network,” when he was branded “rude” and irritable for his behavior during a 2013 interview with journalist Romina Puga. (“Cry after the interview is over,” he said at one point in the clip, which quickly went viral.) Romina later wrote a blog post saying Jesse had “humiliated” her. He’s since apologized. RELATED: Forgotten celebrity couples of the ’90s

Holly Madison reflects on ‘cult-like’ Playboy Mansion life: ‘We were gaslit’ In a new trailer for the upcoming A&E series, “Secrets of Playboy,” former “Girls Next Door” star Holly Madison says Hugh Hefner “gaslit” the women in his enclave at the famed Playboy Mansion. Now 42, Holly recalls in the clip how Hef kept a tight rein on multiple aspects of her life during their relationship, which began in 2001 and ended in 2008. (The Playboy magnate died in 2017.) “The reason I think the mansion was very cult-like looking back on it is because we were all kind of gaslit and expected to think of Hef as like this really good guy. And you started to feel like, ‘Oh, he’s not what they say in the media, he’s just a nice man,’” she says in the teaser. At another point in the clip, Holly describes feeling “isolated from the outside world” at the Playboy Mansion. “You had a 9 o’clock curfew. You were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren’t really allowed to leave unless it was like a family holiday,” she says. Holly also recalls working as a waitress once a week as a backup plan, should the Playboy situation not “work out.” Hef, however, wasn’t into it, according to Holly. “He said it made him jealous, and he would appreciate it if I quit my job,” she says. “So instead, we were given $1,000 a week as an allowance.” The 10-part series, which features interviews with a variety of Hef’s former girlfriends and employees, airs Jan. 24 on A&E. RELATED: Hugh Hefner’s highs and lows

Bob Saget’s widow Kelly Rizzo opens up about her loss and his ‘message’ of love In the wake of Bob Saget’s unexpected death on Jan. 9, his widow, Kelly Rizzo, says she’s just starting to feel “a sense of calm” for the first time since she lost her husband. “I think you get to a point where your body will just physically not let you cry anymore — or at least, all day,” Kelly told Hoda Kotb in an interview that aired on “Today” on Jan. 20. “Still, every second is horrible, but you start to come to terms with it a little bit. So I think I’m possibly getting there,” she said. “Or I’m just numb. I can’t tell what it is right now.” The food and travel blogger, 42, met Bob over Instagram before they started dating and eventually married in 2018. When Hoda mentioned Bob was known among friends as “an ‘I love you’” kind of a guy, Kelly smiled. “He put it all out there,” Kelly said, recalling how Bob would never shy away from telling those he cared about how he felt. “He told them that he loved them — he told them endlessly and tirelessly. That was his entire message.” It’s not surprising, then, that the couple’s last conversation was “just all love,” as Kelly put it. She said they’d spoken hours before he was supposed to have been on a plane headed home and she told him she couldn’t wait to see him. “He valued every single second that we had together, that’s why this is so heartbreaking,” she explained, her voice breaking. “But at the same time, I know that we maximized every second and there was nothing left unsaid.” Bob was laid to rest last week at a private ceremony attended by friends and family. He was 65. RELATED: Stars we lost in 2021

Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa ‘drifted apart,’ had different ‘priorities’ before split: Report Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet’s split came after the uber-pretty pair realized they’d “drifted apart and wanted different things” for their lives, a source recently told E! News. Coming out of a busy year of promoting “Dune,” “Justice League” and other projects, Jason, 42, is already in pre-production for at least one new film, according to imdb, with two more, including the “Aquaman” sequel, due out later this year. “Jason is very focused on his career and wants to work. He has found success and it’s driving him and is very fulfilling,” the insider explained. “Lisa wants to be in L.A. and is not interested in going on location for long periods of time with him.” While Jason’s said to be prioritizing his career, Lisa’s “priorities are different,” with health and wellness occupying a top slot for the 54-year-old star, according to E!’s source, who adds that Jason “was moving in a different direction and it did not fit together with her lifestyle.” The actors announced their separation on social media on Jan. 12 after 16 years as a couple. They share two kids — Lola, 14, and Nakoa-Wolf, 13 — and Jason reportedly remains close with Lisa’s daughter Zoe Kravitz, as well as Zoe’s dad, Lenny Kravitz. “[Zoe] loves them both but understands that it was time for them to move on,” the source says.

Kristen Stewart and fiancee Dylan Meyer hit Disneyland with Ashley Benson “Family trips to Disneyland!” That’s how Ashley Benson captioned an adorable Instagram Stories post from her trip to the “happiest place on Earth” this week with engaged pals, Kristen Stewart and screenwriter Dylan Meyer. One pic from the group trip showed Ashley, K. Stew, Dylan and their friends wearing matching Walt Disney Pictures sweatshirts as they smile for the photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, per People, while another shows the crew at Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge section on Jan. 19. The “Pretty Little Liars” and “Spencer” stars have reportedly been pals for a few years, as evidenced by the comments Ashley occasionally leaves on social media when Kristen and Dylan show up together in photos. Kristen confirmed she and Dylan are engaged in November during an interview with Howard Stern. “I wanted to be proposed to, so I think I very distinctly carved out what I wanted and she nailed it,” Kristen said of the proposal. “It was really cute, she did very well. We’re marrying, it’s happening,” she added.

Britney Spears and Sam Asghari enjoy a date night after ruling on surveillance allegations Britney Spears took a breather from the ongoing drama with her family on Jan. 19 and stepped out for dinner in Los Angeles with her fiance, Sam Asghari. According to E! News, the couple enjoyed a private meal at Soho House in West Hollywood, where a source said she “looked very relieved and happy” to be seated after wearing dark shades on her way inside, seemingly hoping not to attract attention. “It seemed like she was very excited to be out and was smiling a lot,” said the insider who spotted them. “Britney looked really happy with Sam and he was making her laugh a lot.” At some point during their dinner, the couple posed for a photo on a couch. “The world is ours baby,” Sam wrote alongside the pic when he later shared it. Britney’s been feuding publicly with her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, over the release of Jamie Lynn’s new memoir, “Things I Should Have Said,” the subject of a cease-and-desist letter Britney’s lawyer reportedly sent. Despite Brit’s ongoing issues with her relatives, she continues to gain more independence since her 13-year-long conservatorship ended in November. This week, the judge overseeing her case ruled Britney does not have to set aside money to cover the legal fees her father, Jamie Spears, wants her estate to pay, since she now controls her own finances. The judge also ordered a “mini-trial” on allegations Jamie secretly surveilled his daughter’s communication for years, according to Deadline.

Chrissy Teigen celebrates six months of sobriety Chrissy Teigen has half a year of sobriety under her belt. The “Cravings” author celebrated her milestone on Instagram on Jan. 19, sharing her thoughts on what’s changed — and what hasn’t –since she stopped drinking. “6 months no alcohol! Honestly kind of sucks saying it because even though I don’t ever crave it now, time has not exactly flown by haha,” she wrote. “I prob won’t be excited til a larger milestone like at leasssst 5 years, and sometimes I don’t even know if I necessarily won’t ever drink again?” she continued. “I have no idea what I’m doing honestly, but I do know a few things: I now have endless energy, way less anxiety (no more benzos!) and I am happier and more present than ever. It’s pretty cool. I look forward to having my full body reset after 1 year, then reevaluating to see my new hopes and wishes for the future! Let’s goooo.” The post got lots of love and support from Chrissy’s friends, famous and otherwise, some of whom said they were in a similar place with their own sobriety. Others, like Octavia Spencer, simply chimed in with words of encouragement. “You hit a rough spot in the road and changed your tires. Now you’re enjoying the ride,” Octavia wrote. “That’s something to celebrate. ❤️.” Chrissy, 36, quit drinking in 2017, but later admitted it didn’t stick. She started again in December 2020, but has said she had “hiccups” prior to six months ago — around the same time she was coming to terms with the fallout from a cyberbullying scandal.

Martine Colette, Founder of Wildlife Waystation, Dies at 79

]

Martine Colette, who founded the Wildlife Waystation outside Los Angeles and ran the animal sanctuary for more than four decades, died Sunday of lung cancer at Lake Havasu, Ariz., a publicist announced. She was 79.

In 1976, Colette opened the Wildlife Waystation, a 160-acre refuge in the Angeles National Forest near Sylmar and Tujunga. Under her direction, it rescued more than 77,000 animals, representing 200-plus species, before it shuttered in August 2019.

Larger than most municipal zoos, the Wildlife Waystation was frequented and supported by Hollywood luminaries including Betty White, Mickey Rooney, Mick Fleetwood, Hugh Hefner, Dyan Cannon, William Shatner, Nicollette Sheridan, Jack Hanna, Dennis Hopper, Kate Linder, Rex Lee, Stefanie Powers, Lou Ferrigno, Alex Trebek, Jo Anne Worley, Loretta Swit and Jillian Barberie.

Carol Asvestas of the American Sanctuary Association called it “the mother of all sanctuaries.”

The daughter of a Belgian diplomat, Colette at a young age observed wildlife while traveling with her father in Africa. During these formative years, she witnessed the horrors of trapping camps, hunting and exploitation of animals around the world.

In 1965, after making the move to Hollywood and building a costume design business, Colette rescued her first animal, and she built the model for how to take in and rehabilitate abandoned and injured animals. The Wildlife Waystation grew to enjoy an international reputation, with animals from Ireland, New Zealand and around the world given refuge there.

Colette organized and led a caravan to aid in the rescue of 27 big, maltreated cats from the Ligertown Game Farm in Idaho and was the first to accept chimpanzees from biomedical research. She also hosted class field trips and organized outreach programs to schools and kept her place going through fires, floods and bureaucratic challenges.

“It’s not an option to just say, ‘Oh, well, this month I can’t do it,’” she said. “You have to go on, and you have to do it.”

Colette was named a designated animal expert for the City of Los Angeles and was honored by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife and the California State Assembly for her years of service.

She died surrounded by friends, and one of her final remarks was, “Soon, I’ll be walking with tigers.”

Though her facility closed, two hybrid wolf-dogs and 16 chimpanzees are waiting new homes with the support of California Fish & Wildlife.

Plans are underway for a memorial this spring. Donations in her memory may be made to the Wildlife Waystation website.

National Geographic Documentary Films Acquires Sundance Documentary THE TERRITORY About Indigenous-Led Land Defense in the Amazon Rainforest

]

From Oscar®-Nominated Filmmakers Darren Aronofsky and Sigrid Dyekjaer and First Time Feature Director Alex Pritz

WASHINGTON, January 23, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Received with overwhelmingly positive praise after its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, National Geographic Documentary Films announced today that it has acquired the rights to the documentary THE TERRITORY.

Screening in the World Cinema Documentary competition, THE TERRITORY provides an immersive on-the-ground look at the tireless fight of the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by illegal loggers and an association of nonnative farmers in the Brazilian Amazon. With awe-inspiring cinematography showcasing the titular landscape and richly textured sound design, THE TERRITORY draws audiences deep into the Uru-eu-wau-wau community while delivering unprecedented access to the other side of the conflict as loggers illegitimately clear land and a network of desperate farmers rally together, readying to colonize the protected rainforest.

Partially shot by the Uru-eu-wau-wau people, the film provides verité-style footage, captured over three years, as the activists risk their lives to set up their own news media team in the hopes of exposing the truth.

THE TERRITORY is the debut feature film from director Alex Pritz and has been co-produced by the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau community, with activist Txai Suruí onboard as an active executive producer. The project is produced by award-winning filmmaker Sigrid Dyekjaer (THE CAVE), Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures (THE WRESTLER, BLACK SWAN, WELCOME TO EARTH), and Passion Pictures (THE RESCUE), along with Will N. Miller, Lizzie Gillett and Gabriel Uchida. THE TERRITORY has been made by Documist, Associação Jupaú do Povo Uru-eu-wau-wau, Real Lava, Passion Pictures and Protozoa Pictures in association with TIME Studios and XTR with backing from Luminate and Doc Society.

Story continues

Initial praise for THE TERRITORY was strong out of Sundance with Variety describing it as “urgent,” “riveting” and “sharply crafted,” while Indiewire praised it as “Gorgeously [and] ingeniously conceived,” noting the film “[paints] an intimate first-hand portrait of joy, pain, and community, before bursting with rip-roaring intensity as it captures a high-stakes struggle for survival unfolding in the moment.”

“THE TERRITORY is an urgent story of courage and resilience, beautifully told by first-time feature director Alex Pritz. We are honored to bring the story of the Uru-eu-wau-wau people to the world and help further the conversation and raise awareness around the endangered Amazon rainforest and its indigenous people,” said Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president of Global Scripted Content and Documentary Films for National Geographic. “We are equally excited to be working with our longtime friend Sigrid Dyekjaer whose talent for shepherding stories of impact and advocacy is unprecedented and with our frequent collaborator Darren Aronofsky, a visionary storyteller with an unmatched eye for breakthrough talent.”

Additionally, the team behind THE TERRITORY will launch an impact campaign with the goal of elevating Indigenous voices and fighting deforestation through nature and community-based solutions. Among multiple tactics and partnerships, they will support global Indigenous-led efforts to hold the international community accountable for the protection of the Amazon rainforest and cessation of violence against land defenders worldwide.

THE TERRITORY producers brokered the deal with the National Geographic Documentary Films team.

National Geographic Documentary Films will release THE TERRITORY theatrically later this year before the film heads to its streaming platforms.

About National Geographic Documentary Films

National Geographic Documentary Films is committed to bringing the world premium, feature documentaries that cover timely, provocative and globally relevant stories from the very best documentary filmmakers in the world. National Geographic Documentary Films is a division of National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between Disney and the National Geographic Society. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 134 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

DOC SOCIETY

Founded in 2005, Doc Society supports a network of independent storytellers with direct grants and editorial expertise throughout the life of their film and impact campaigns. To date we have helped fund more than 500 award winning projects including: CITIZENFOUR, An Insignificant Man, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Edge Of Democracy, The Look Of Silence, The White Helmets, Whose Streets, Virunga, Softie, Roll Red Roll and The Silence of Others. In 2021, Doc Society launched the Climate Story Fund to support compelling storytelling from around the world that move us closer to a climate just and biodiverse future.

DOCUMIST

Documist brings together cinema and journalism to create original documentaries with a humanist spirit. Founded in 2014, Documist is based in New York and Toronto and has produced nonfiction films in over 30 countries. The team has produced and directed documentaries that have played at Sundance, IDFA, Tribeca, TIFF and SXSW. THE TERRITORY is Documist’s first feature film.

LUMINATE

Luminate is a global philanthropic organisation focused on empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies. We work with our partners to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in and to shape the issues affecting their societies, and to make those in positions of power more responsive and accountable. www.luminategroup.com

PASSION PICTURES

Passion is an Academy Award-winning independent production studio that creates and tells incredible stories. Passion has produced over 90 documentaries including One Day in September, Searching for Sugarman, Listen to me Marlon and most recently Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story and The Rescue. Passion’s Oscar and Bafta winning work with partners including Netflix, National Geographic, Showtime and the BBC has been elected at Sundance, Telluride, Tribeca and festivals worldwide.

PROTOZOA PICTURES

Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures is a film and television production company based in NYC. Their credits include Aronofsky’s π, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE FOUNTAIN, THE WRESTLER, BLACK SWAN, NOAH, MOTHER! and his upcoming film THE WHALE; as well as JACKIE, WHITE BOY RICK, SOME KIND OF HEAVEN, and PACIFIED. Upcoming features include CATCH THE FAIR ONE and THE GOOD NURSE. Their TV credits include ONE STRANGE ROCK and WELCOME TO EARTH for NatGeo. Upcoming TV credits include KINDRED for FX, LIMITLESS for NatGeo, and BLACK GOLD for Paramount+.

REAL LAVA

Real Lava is a new Danish Production company. Founded by Newen Studios and the Oscar nominated producer Sigrid Dyekjaer, the company is focused on producing ambitious, cinematic documentary films and series. Sigrid Dyekjaer is a multi-award-winning producer who has made 30 documentary features in the past 23 years. Her most recent credits include Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave” which was nominated for an Oscar and won Emmy, Peabody and Cinema Eye awards. Real Lava’s upcoming films include “Merkel”, a portrait about Angela Merkel and female leadership directed by Eva Weber and co-produced by the Academy Award winning Passion Pictures. “The Territory” is the first film in the newly founded Real Lava.

TIME STUDIOS

From one of the most globally iconic brands, TIME Studios is an Emmy Award®-winning television, film and immersive studio focusing on the development, production and distribution of truth-based premium unscripted and scripted storytelling that moves the world. With technical innovation and a brand defining visual language that dates back 98 years, TIME Studios aims to impact communities and the world at large with ideas that forge true progress. Combining the industry’s leading creators with TIME, one of the most trusted brands that reaches an audience of over 100 million people globally, TIME Studios is uniquely positioned to bring massive audiences to the world’s most impactful stories.

XTR is a global nonfiction entertainment studio. XTR works with outstanding creators to produce, distribute, finance and develop documentary films, series, and podcasts for all platforms. With a focus on audience appeal and a commitment to artistry, the award-winning studio uses a data-driven strategy to inform all phases of the filmmaking process. Since its inception in 2019, XTR has produced and financed over 80 documentary features and series. In 2021, XTR films have received more awards nominations than any other studio working in nonfiction. XTR - based on a true story.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220123005088/en/

Contacts

For press inquiries, please contact:

Adam Kersh, 917-426-8866, Adam@fusion-entertainment.com

Emma Myers, 917-426-8866, Emma@fusion-entertainment.com

For National Geographic Documentary Films:

Felicia Wong, 310-962-8587, fwong@clucollective.com

Kristin Montalbano, 202-912-3244, kristin.montalbano@natgeo.com