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By Lottie McGrath
News Reporter
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TV personality Holly Madison has shared a health update after her autism diagnosis, revealing she struggled to find a doctor who would treat her.
Last summer, the former Playboy House Bunny and Girls Next Door star revealed she had been diagnosed with autism after struggling with social cues throughout her life.
Appearing on the Talk Tuah with Hailey Welch podcast, Madison told Welch how she was initially diagnosed over Zoom after struggling to find a doctor.
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"I finally found a doctor that did it [autism diagnosis] because it's really hard to find a doctor that will do it for adults," she said. "We did seven different sessions over Zoom and they do all kind of tests on you."
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Part of the testing process, Madison added, was the doctor meeting with her mother and ex-husband, experience creator Pasquale Rotella, to get their "breakdown on how they have experiences interacting with me, what they have observed in my childhood or being married to me."
"I always thought there was something a little off with me," Madison told Welch. "I didn't understand why I was so introverted or why I would have trouble interacting with people. I just always thought 'well hey, I'm different in some way' and I didn't really get it.
"For me, it [autism] wasn't a conclusion that I came to. It was something when I was getting a divorce a few years ago, my ex-husband was talking to my mom about it and about some of my behavior and she said she always suspected I was on the spectrum. She used the term Asperger's, which is not a term people like to use anymore, but it is a term for high-functioning autism. And then I looked online and was looking at what the symptoms were and thought this sounds exactly like me. So I became more and more intrigued."
Newsweek has emailed Holly Madison's representatives for comment.
The former Bunny also said her past choices and relationship with Hugh Hefner made a lot more sense to her now.
"Knowing what I know now about being on the spectrum, those choices make a lot more sense," she said. "It makes sense that I feel like I can bond and fall in love with an older person who's really good at manipulating and working people. Because when I was younger, I felt like I never connected to guys my age at all.
"Now I understand what's going on, it helps a lot and I feel like I can adjust my behaviors and overcome what's going on."
Madison added that she is on medication for depression, but that she does not take any autism specific medications.
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