From Playboy bunny to beach bunny
Bridget Marquardt has hundreds of bikinis. She needs them for her new TV show, “Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches.”
Cameras follow Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s former live-in girlfriend as she checks out the world’s best beaches. The show airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on The Travel Channel.
The 35-year-old blonde became famous on the E! reality show “Girls Next Door” as one of Hef’s playmates. Marquardt, along with co-stars Kendra Wilkinson and Holly Madison, recently moved out of the mansion and on with their lives.
Wilkinson is engaged and has her own reality show in the works. Madison, a “Dancing With the Stars” contestant, recently broke up with illusionist Criss Angel.
Q: Your new show seems fun.
A: It’s a dream job. I’m having a great time and love to just totally immerse myself in the different cultures and feel like when I go back home I can say, “I did this, I did this, I did this and I’ve seen it all!”
Q: What’s your favorite location so far?
A: Probably Jamaica. It has something for everyone.
Q: You recently moved out of the Playboy mansion. Was it emotional?
A: It was very emotional. I’d been there for seven years. I feel like that’s my family, my friends.
Q: Did Hef mind?
A: Actually Hef was really supportive. He’s really excited and always checks in on me.
Q: There are reports that 83-year-old Hefner isn’t doing well. How does he seem to you?
A: He seems to be fine. I saw him the other day, and he seems to be great.
Q: Did it get competitive among you, Holly and Kendra?
A: I would say so. I don’t know about the new girls, but even though we got along really well there was still some sort of competition. I think that’s true anytime you have three girls living together.
Q: Do you have a boyfriend?
A: Yes, I’m dating director Nicholas Carpenter (co-director on “The Telling,” a horror movie produced by Marquardt).
The birthday bunch
Actor Judd Hirsch is 74. Singer Mike Love (Beach Boys) is 68. Musician Sly Stone is 66. Singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 54. Model Fabio is 48. Singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 46. Actress Eva Longoria Parker is 34. Rapper will.i.am is 34. Rapper Young Buck is 28.