‘Lethally Blonde’ Star Holly Madison Talks About The Modeling Jobs She Did In College: “I Would Do All Kinds of Things”

Holly Madison opened up about the modeling jobs she had in college in the sixth episode of Season 2 of her true crime series Lethally Blonde on Investigation Discovery.

“When I was a college student in LA, I would do all kinds of things,” Madison shares in the episode. “I worked for Hawaiian Tropic. They would pay you to show up to events in a Hawaiian Tropics shirt and give you a little bit of cash. And it would give you photos.”

The season finale, titled “A Model Murder,” aired on April 29 and follows the 1992 murder of aspiring model Kimberly Pandelios in Los Angeles.

Pandelios, a mother-of-one, disappeared after meeting with a photographer to prepare for a photoshoot.

“Being an entry-level model, Kimberly constantly needed to be looking for the next job or the next thing that could possibly pay her bills or propel her to next level,” Madison says. “Unfortunately, since there’s nobody regulating the model industry — there’s no real union — there are all kinds of scams aspiring models could fall into.”

The former Playmate elaborates on the dangers, saying, “They could be talked into doing things they’re not comfortable doing. They could be abducted. Especially when you get on the amateur level, you start to see sex work and sex trafficking creeping into the model industry.”

In an earlier episode, Madison spoke about some of the people involved in the industry and how they don’t always have models’ “best interests in mind.” She said, “You have agents, and directors, and producers who are all trying to get that finished product. It’s a business and people are there to make money… They’re not there to be your friend.”

Madison also mentioned that talent doesn’t always have security once they leave work premises. “You’re very safe, you’re behind these gates, you have security. But when you leave, performers find themselves getting into situations where their safety can be at risk,” she said.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, registered sex offender David Rademaker was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2006 for the 1992 killing. Rademaker used an alias to bring Pandelios to the Angeles National Forest under the guise of a photo shoot. He later raped and drowned Pandelios in a shallow creek.

Lethally Blonde is streaming on Discovery+.