Holly Madison Reveals How Surviving Playboy Trauma Fueled Her to Help 'Adult Entertainment Industry Victims' (Exclusive)

Holly Madison is diving back into the world of true crime.

The former Playboy bunny-turned-podcast host is launching Lethally Blonde, a new series with Investigation Discovery, on March 25, and Madison tells PEOPLE that she values the opportunity to help share the stories of those who have been sexually exploited.

“I love being a part of a show that's exactly the type of show I would watch even if I wasn't involved. And to be able to talk about a world I know and tell so many different stories — and try to get to know the victims better and portray them as more than just a clickbait headline —  is really satisfying for me,” she says. 

Madison, 43, who also worked on true crime series The Playboy Murders with ID, has found herself in a “pretty interesting niche” after her days in the Playboy mansion. She’s an author, a mom, and now a true crime TV host and executive producer, but she still knows all too well how easily people in the industry she came up in can be taken advantage of.

“I think telling the stories in a more victim-focused way is important. I think it is really bothersome to viewers to have so much emphasis put on the perpetrators sometimes. That can be seen as glorifying them,” she explains. “And it should be all about the victim. That's the person whose life was lost and whose family is suffering, and I try to portray those people in as much of a well-rounded way as I possibly can.”

Having moved into the Playboy Mansion when she was just 21 years old, Madison has spent nearly all of her adult life grappling with similar challenges to those of the victims in Lethally Blonde. She previously told PEOPLE living in the mansion under Hugh Hefner's judgement resulted in her experiencing body dysmorphia.

"I was always kind of wondering what's wrong with me," she told PEOPLE at the time.

Now, Madison is turning her experience into expertise as she guides viewers through the six-episode season of Lethally Blonde.

“I think all the stories I've told about my own life have lent a little bit of credibility to me talking about these. Because in Lethally Blonde, we're talking about cases that involve people on the fringes of the adult entertainment industry. So there's so many things I can relate to as far as their struggles trying to make it in the industry,” she says. 

Still, Madison’s story is distinctly different than the stories she’s helping to portray on TV: Unlike those six victims, Madison lived to tell the tale. 

“I'm not sure that the series makes me look at my past too differently. I feel really fortunate that I was able to have a positive outcome,” says The Girls Next Door alum. “And I think my past was definitely a lesson in establishing boundaries, so that's definitely a theme I can relate to.”

Madison ultimately decided to leave the mansion when she was 29, and she calls her move-out “jarring.” 

“When I decided to leave the mansion, I did it in part because my mental health just couldn't take it anymore, and I knew if I wanted to have a family of my own, I was running out of time," she says. "I went from thinking I was going to stay there forever and not really being too prepared to move out to the next day realizing I needed to."

Shortly after, Madison began dating Pasquale Rotella, with whom she now shares two children: Rainbow Aurora, 11, and Forest Leonardo, 7. (The couple finalized their divorce in early 2019.)

Madison maintains that her decision to leave the mansion was what was best for her, and she's grateful she trusted her gut.

"I think it's very important to listen to your instincts. It's the only way you can see ahead sometimes," adds Madison. "I think definitely it can be hard to know where to draw the line when you don't know who you are or have your boundaries established. I think being in your early 20s, being college age, you're still so young and you haven't really been out in the world and had a lot of experience yet. So, I think it's a rare person that really can establish boundaries that early and really knows who they are."

Lethally Blonde premieres Monday, March 25, at 10/9c.