Luxe Life Blog

Photos: Holly Madison bids adieu to role of Bo Peep in ‘Peepshow’

Posted October 21, 2012 • 4:37 p.m.

Holly Madison stands in front of the newly transformed "Planet Holly."

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Blonde beauty Holly Madison brings her nearly four-year run as Bo Peep in the topless burlesque “Peepshow” to a close tonight at Planet Hollywood. News of her pregnancy and the February arrival of a baby daughter wonderfully caps her headline role -- and that as Las Vegas showbiz ambassador.

I’ve known Holly since the first day she arrived here after ending her romance with Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner, moving out of the Playboy Mansion and her Santa Monica, Calif., apartment and then finding star success on the Strip. She’s always been a perfect 10 -- always kind, courteous, polite, fearless and fun.

To mark the new chapter in her life, I asked Holly to pen a column and provide her favorite photos as she transitions from Strip headliner to motherhood.

She might be out of the spotlight for the next few months, but she promises to be back. She could return to “Peepshow” or take a role in another Strip project that she’s been discussing. Her life here and in L.A. with boyfriend Pasquale Rotella, the father of the baby and CEO of Insomniac (founder of the Electric Daisy Carnival), also will give her time for new TV projects.

Holly says, “You’re not going to lose me. I will always be in Las Vegas one way or the other. The city changed my life, and I’ll never forget that. I'm sticking around for sure. This is all another chapter in my life and like all the others that have gone before, I’m really looking forward to this one.”

Here’s Holly in her own words looking back on her successful stage run:

One of my most recent happy memories is the baby shower that the “Peepshow” cast and crew threw for me between shows. Everyone brought a children’s book for my baby. It was a really fun bonding time.

Las Vegas is not only a wonderful place to live, but also a city of opportunities. I was really lucky that I arrived at Planet Hollywood when Robert Earl owned it. He is a huge proponent of publicity and promotion; his team and he really helped me promote the show. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority included me in some fun publicity events, too.

Reflecting on “Peepshow,” there are days when automation goes down or something else goes wrong in the show. We have fun with it, though. When you do the same show night after night, performers welcome the challenge.

The crew probably stresses more than we do. Once, a fire alarm went off in the middle of the bathtub scene while the male acrobat was still dangling from the rope; all the lights in the theater came on. It was really awkward -- and very funny! A wardrobe malfunction in “Peepshow” is when something doesn’t come off when it’s supposed to.

Half of my meet-and-greet audiences after the show are from overseas. I really had no idea what kind of international reach the TV shows I have done had until meeting so many people from all parts of the world night after night.

I’ll miss playing the part of Goldilocks the most in “Peepshow” because it was a singing role and also had some funny lines. I definitely felt like I connected with the audience most during the Goldilocks scene.

There are so many things I will always remember from the “Peepshow” experience. I will look back on it as an archetypal time in my life, as distinct as my high school or college years, but much more glamorous.

I hope I don’t get too emotional or teary-eyed tonight. I don’t want to ruin my last show. I just want to have fun with the cast.

I learned a lot from the show, both about me and from being an ambassador for Las Vegas. I have learned to follow my dreams and not try to follow the crowd. When I was gearing up to do my own spinoff show after “The Girls Next Door” for E!, they wanted a blonde Kardashian ... but my first priorities weren’t getting involved in fashion or focusing on doing a new photo shoot every day.

I wanted to learn burlesque, learn to be a stage performer, move to Las Vegas and do my own brand of sometimes campy press. I’m happy I did! I don’t want to blend in and do what’s already been done or what everyone else is doing.

When I first started “Peepshow,” I knew that I had a few years of really hard work in front of me. I did that, and now I can balance my life more and also have a love life and a family life. I grew just like Bo Peep does in the show.

I found love, just like she did. I always knew I wanted to be a mom one day. Now I can back off work a little bit and find more balance in my life. … It was four years unlike any other.

Check back to Vegas DeLuxe on Monday for our report of Holly’s closing night. Her former assistant, “Holly’s World” co-star and Playboy knockout Angel Porrino takes over Monday, and then on Dec. 3 the curvaceous Coco Austin starts her run as Bo Peep through March.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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