Holly Madison & Bridget Marquardt Call Out Crystal Hefner's 'Hypocrisy' After Cease & Desist Letter

On the latest episode of their Girls Next Level podcast, the former reality stars hit back at Crystal's legal letter, with Holly accusing Hugh Hefner's widow of "hypocrisy."

Crystal -- who was married to Hugh from 2012 until his death in 2017 -- sent the cease and desist earlier this month, per TMZ, after Holly, Bridget, and Hugh's son, Marston Hefner, slammed Crystal on a May episode of Girls Next Level. On the episode, Marston suggested his stepmom "might be a master manipulator."

Holly and Bridget shared their thoughts on Crystal's letter, but didn't refer to her by name, instead calling her "Cease and Desist Lady."

"The thing that really blows my mind about this is she's trying to send a cease and desist, basically threatening a lawsuit for us airing our opinions, and this woman is at the head of a free speech foundation," Holly said of Crystal, who is the president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, which "supports and funds today’s pioneers defending civil rights and liberties, with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies," according to its website.

"I can't deal with the hypocrisy right now," she added.

"'First it was NDAs, now it's cease and desists," Bridget said. "Nobody's allowed to talk but her. Apparently, the First Amendment is only for her."

Holly stressed that she's "not backing down," labeling Crystal's actions as "legal bullying."

"There's a thing I like to call 'legal bullying,' when people who think they're richer than everybody else pay their attorneys to send cease and desists to people to shut them up," she said.

She added that she thinks Crystal should "step down" as the president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation. "That's a joke!"

Holly and Bridget also addressed Crystal's claim in the cease and desist letter, in which she alleged that the two podcast hosts and Marston accused her of "doping up" Hugh towards the end of his life for her own financial gain.

However, Holly alluded that Marston's words were misinterpreted, claiming that Hugh's son was "a little bit disturbed [by] the amount of medication his father was receiving."

"But he said that when you're that rich and powerful, there's always going to be somebody who can write you a prescription," she added, noting that she's "paraphrasing" Marston's comments. "I took that to mean as he just felt like when you have that kind of access there's always going to be a doctor somewhere who's going to maybe give you a little too much if you want it."

While Holly said she didn't think that had "anything to do with Cease and Desist Lady," Bridget added that Crystal "took it very personally," with the pair referencing that Crystal first brought this up in an Us Weekly interview.

Responding to Marston's claims that Hugh was "dosed with f--king medication," Crystal said she "wanted him to be on as least as possible of any of that type of thing" as she tries not to take prescription medication herself.

"She's real defensive about that topic for some reason," Holly said on Sunday's podcast, to which Bridget reacted to Crystal's comments in Us Weekly, saying, "I thought, 'We never say that!'"

"And then, now it's in the cease and desist so I'm like, 'No, she really thinks that we said that,'" she continued, adding that she wonders why Crystal's lawyer didn't just listen to the podcast to see that they "actually didn't say that."

Holly noted that "any attorney worth their salt would be like, 'Don't do this, you don't have a case here.'"

TooFab has reached out to Crystal's rep for comment.

In the cease and desist letter, which was obtained by TMZ, Crystal, via her legal team, claimed that the remarks Holly, Bridget, and Marston made on the May 12 episode of the Girls Next Level caused her "serious harm," and labeled their comments as "malicious and intentionally misleading."

Regarding her claims that the three suggested she was involved with "doping" Hugh prior to his death, Crystal's lawyer said, "Nothing could be further from the truth. As we understand it, Ms. Hefner was steadfast in her commitment to Mr. Hefner through his final days, ensuring that he was cared for and received the best medical attention available."

TMZ noted that the letter also stated that they would take legal action if Holly continued to make "false" claims about Crystal.

"Ms. Hefner will not have her name and reputation tarnished by opportunists," Crystal's lawyer told the outlet. "We stand by the contents of the letter and will enforce Ms. Hefner’s rights to the fullest."

Meanwhile, Holly took to social media to react to receiving the letter, and poked fun at the whole thing,

"Imagine running a free speech foundation and then sending someone a cease and desist for talking," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on June 10, adding a handful of laughing crying emojis.

In a follow-up post, Holly claimed, "Your attorney can't even find my correct email address."