Holly Madison recently revealed that she’s been diagnosed with autism. She spoke openly about it with Payne Lindsey on his podcast.
The 43-year-old explained that, according to her doctor, she had high executive functioning, which meant that she could pretty much go about her life and do things, as Holly said “quote unquote normally.”
Holly Always Suspected She Might Be On the Spectrum
Before getting her autism diagnosis, Holly had shared that she suspected that there was a chance that she might be on the spectrum.
During an interview with Alex Cooper on Holly’s podcast, “Call Her Daddy,” the reality TV star spoke about how she had a hard time fitting in. She thought that she might have Asperger’s and considered visiting a doctor to get an official diagnosis.
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After getting that diagnosis, she also told Payne that she’d been suspicious of it for a while and always had trouble socially — she struggles with not recognizing social cues and not picking up on things the same way other people did.
However, she she kept making excuses for it. At first, Holly thought that it might’ve had something to do with her upbringing. She explained that she thought it was because she’d grown up in Alaska, but around middle school she moved to Oregon, which was a big social change for her. She was very introverted, and she’d always written her challenges off as that.
How Knowing About Her Autism Changed Holly’s Interactions
Holly said that knowing about her autism meant that she could justify some of her behavior patterns. When speaking to Payne, she revealed that because she was more quiet, she’d only recently learned to make eye contact. She went on to say that she was often in her own thoughts, and that sometimes people were offended by that.
She added that others sometimes assume that she isn’t interested in them. Holly also confessed that she just isn’t on the same social wavelength as other people, but that people shouldn’t take it personally, and that she likes being able to explain that now that she officially knows that she’s autistic.
But those aren’t the only social difficulties that Holly has struggled with. She also opened up about how she didn’t really have a gauge for when other people were going to be done speaking, so she tends to interrupt a lot. When Payne assured her that she hadn’t been interrupting him during their interview, she thanked him and added that she was learning.
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The podcast host later asked Holly if there was anything that she’d like to share with his listeners about autism in general, or about her own experience being on the spectrum. She responded that everybody operates differently, and it’s important to have a little bit of patience when interacting with anybody. No one knows what a person might be dealing with or what their level of social function is, after all.
Holly first confirmed that she’d been diagnosed as someone on the spectrum during an interview on Coco Mocoe’s podcast, “Ahead Of The Curve.” The World Health Organization describes autism spectrum disorders as a diverse group of conditions that are identified by different sorts of challenges with things like communication and social interaction.
