Holly Madison and Zak Bagans have called off their relationship of nearly two years, TMZ reported Thursday, bringing to an end a romance that first began when the former Playboy model went to the Ghost Adventure star’s Haunted Museum in Las Vegas back in May 2019. There’s no bad blood between the two, TMZ added, but the reason for their split is unclear.
Madison and Bagans had kept their relationship low-key throughout the years, only confirming they were dating after eagle-eyed fans picked up on similarities in their Instagram Stories. The two stayed largely out of the public eye, making their split even more cryptic for people who were invested in their love story.
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The Girls Next Door star famously dated Hugh Hefner previous to her relationship with Bagans but looked back on her relationship as abusive years later. “During the end, I definitely recognized that he was verbally abusive, and that was what made me snap,” Madison told Buzzfeed News in 2015. “There were so many things in the relationship I wasn’t fully comfortable with, but I was able to justify them in my mind because there were other advantages to being there.” When she was preparing to be Hefner’s only girlfriend, the model recalled Hefner “went off on” her “three times in one weekend,” and she remembered thinking to herself, “I just can’t be here anymore if this dude’s just going to be a jerk.”
Madison would go on to marry Pasquale Rotella in 2013, and Rotella filed for divorce in September 2018. He wrote at the time in a lengthy Instagram caption, “It is with love in our hearts and a deep respect for one another that Holly and I have amicably decided to separate. First and foremost, we are forever partners and parents to two beautiful children and are fully committed to raising them in an environment filled with love and positivity.”
Calling Madison a “talented woman and a beautiful soul,” Rotella added that the two remained the “best of friends” and would continue to support each other while co-parenting daughter Rainbow and son Forest. “Though it was not a decision we made hastily or take lightly, Holly and I welcome this next chapter in our relationship and have every confidence that the future will bring only the best for us and our kids. We will always be family. Thank you all for your continued love and support,” he added at the time.
