Holly Madison has been diagnosed with autism.
Holly Madison diagnosed with autism
The former 'Girls Next Door' star revealed her mother first raised the possibility that she could be autistic and Holly has agreed for some time.
Speaking on the 'Talking to Death' podcast, Holly said: "I’ve been suspicious of it for a while because my mom told me that she was always suspicious that that was a thing.
"I just made excuses for it. I thought it was because I grew up in Alaska, and then around middle school, moved to Oregon and I thought, ‘Well that was just a big social change.’ So I’m just very introverted. Like, that’s kind of always how I wrote it off."
Holly, 43, was diagnosed earlier this year with "high-executive functioning" autism and said she is "not on the same social wavelength" as others.
She said: "The doctors told me that I have high-executive functioning, which pretty much means that I can go about my life and do things ‘normally'. I think because I’m more quiet, I’ve only recently learned to make eye contact [and] I’m often off in my own thoughts, so people take that as offensive. … I’m just not on the same social wavelength as other people, but don’t take it personally.”
Sharing how her autism has affected her previously, she shared that people have disliked her after she “rubbed [them] the wrong way”.
She went on: “They think I’m, like, stuck up or snobby or think I’m better than everybody else. I also don’t really have a gauge for when other people are done speaking, so I tend to interrupt a lot, which [annoys people].
"I can [say sorry] to people if I interrupt or talk over them and tell them why. I have a little bit more patience now, and I don’t take things as personally.”
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