Former ‘Price Is Right’ model exposes dark truth about Bob Barker era
Holly Hallstrom says her time on "The Price Is Right" came at a steep cost.
The former model, who showcased prizes as one of "Barker’s Beauties" — a nod to "Charlie’s Angels" — is speaking out in a new episode of E!’s documentary series "Dirty Rotten Scandals," premiering Wednesday.
The episode examines allegations that the beloved game show was marred by a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and discrimination.
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Bob Barker, who hosted the show for 35 years, died in 2023 at age 99.
Hallstrom appeared on the show from 1977 until she was fired in 1995, a decision she has said was blamed on weight gain caused by medication. However, Hallstrom alleges she was actually dismissed after declining to publicly support Barker when fellow model Dian Parkinson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in 1994.
Barker consistently denied wrongdoing and maintained that any relationships were consensual.
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"I want people to know the whole story, not just Barker’s side of it," Hallstrom told Fox News Digital. "After all these years, people who have only heard one side are going to hear the other side, and our side is court-documented testimony. You can’t argue against that."
When Hallstrom was invited to "come on down" and audition for the show, she said she was immediately sold. Onstage, contestants competed for prizes by trying to guess their exact retail value, a simple premise that quickly became a television sensation.
"I thought it would be like working for the circus every day," she recalled. "It was so big, bright and colorful. The people were so happy and excited to be there. It was just a wonderful environment. I thought, ‘I would love to work here, plus they’re going to pay me all this money?’ It was very exciting. It was scary, don’t get me wrong. It was terrifying to be auditioning for a show that size. And it’s a live audience, live theater."
Hallstrom said the atmosphere quickly changed on set. In the episode, Hallstrom said show producers pressured her to alter her appearance to keep her role.
"I was very young, and at that time, everyone was getting breast implants," she explained to Fox News Digital. "They were kind of the new thing. And I loved my job. I thought, ‘This is what you have to do. If you’re going to be an actress on TV, you have to look the part.’ I thought it was just part of the job, having the job, getting the job, keeping the job.
"It turned out that I hated my breast implants. I hated them for years and years. And the fact that I had to pay for them didn’t surprise me because the executive producer at that time was cheap. He’s like, ‘I’m not paying for them. You want this job? You pay for your breast implants yourself.’"
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But things worsened when Parkinson filed her lawsuit. Parkinson alleged that Barker had forced her to perform oral sex, and that she agreed to have sex with him only because she feared losing her job, Business Insider reported. According to the episode, many attempts were made to contact Parkinson. Fox News Digital also reached out to the former model for comment.
"When Dian filed her suit, oh boy, that was the beginning of when everything got really bad," said Hallstrom. "I thought the whole situation, all the publicity, all the media attention, I thought it was horrible. I thought it was tacky. I was glad [co-creator] Mark Goodson had died [in 1992]. He would’ve been mortified to see that kind of tacky scandal on what was a family show."
"I didn’t want to be involved in it at all," said Hallstrom. "Barker wanted us to go on all these talk shows and say he was the victim and that Dian was lying. I didn’t participate because I didn’t want to, and I thought it was tacky. And also because I could not honestly say, ‘Oh yes, Dian is lying,’ or ‘Oh no, Dian is not lying.’ I was not present for those conversations."
"I just avoided doing all of Bob’s PR tour," Hallstrom continued. "Finally, I was told I would be appearing on ‘The Suzanne Somers Show,’ period. And I did. Of course, all they wanted was for me to say that Dian was lying. When Suzanne asked me if I thought Dian was lying, I just babbled some answer, and that was that.
"But then that week, I read in the tabloids, ‘Holly says, ‘Dian is lying.’ I never said that. I called the tabloid and demanded a retraction. They printed a retraction. But that was the beginning of the big rift between Bob and me. That’s when I got on his s--t list."
Parkinson dropped her lawsuit in 1995. At the time, her attorney said the legal battle had become too emotionally and financially draining, while impacting her physical health. Barker maintained that their relationship was consensual.
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"Barker went all over television saying, ‘Her case was dismissed, and I’m totally vindicated,’" Hallstrom recalled. "I said, ‘That’s not true.’ I would not comment on that. I did not participate in those interviews. ... I would not change my testimony to suit Barker. That’s when I was told my weight was a problem. I was off the show."
"That was, well, probably the worst thing in my life at that point that had ever happened," Hallstrom admitted. "It only got worse from there."
Hallstrom and Barker spent nearly a decade locked in a legal battle after he sued her for defamation, according to Business Insider. She responded with a countersuit alleging defamation, along with claims of emotional distress and discrimination.
According to the outlet, Hallstrom said she was effectively blacklisted in the entertainment industry and pushed to the brink financially. She also declined settlement offers, saying she refused to be silenced by a nondisclosure agreement.
"As soon as I said I was fired because of my weight, for the first time in his career, Bob Barker was bombarded with hate mail," said Hallstrom. "They would bring boxes, bags of letters to the network by the truckload. That’s when Barker said, ‘Holly is lying. Weight was never mentioned.’
"But I knew that I had the show on videotape showing where I was cut out, supposedly because of my weight problem. If it ever went to court, I would win. But the problem was, Barker spent the next 10 years fighting to keep his own lawsuit against me from ever going to court."
"I knew that it was just a matter of time that one of two things would happen," she said. "I was going to run out of money and have to accept the settlement with the non-disclosure, or I was going to hang in there until Barker ran out of legal moves. That’s what finally happened — he ran out of legal moves at the same time I ran out of money."
Two days before Hallstrom’s case was scheduled to go to trial, Barker and CBS had agreed to settle, Business Insider reported. The outlet reported that the network agreed to pay her a settlement reportedly in the millions. The terms were not disclosed, and settlements do not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.
"I was not going to sign a non-disclosure for that show or anything," she said. "I was not going to sign away my right to free speech. It also meant that Barker could not do to me what he did to Dian, go out and claim victory and vindication. ... He could not say anything about me as long as I could speak out for myself. And he never said another word."
Today, Hallstrom doesn’t watch old clips of herself, a reminder of a chapter she now views very differently. Even so, she says she has no regrets about taking the chance and auditioning for the show.
"I see myself, and I see someone who is trying so hard to appear graceful and poised like a professional model," she said. "But I also see a young woman who was having a wonderful time entertaining people. And those were the happiest parts of my work, those hours when we were shooting in front of the audience."
"No matter what was happening backstage, I still felt the happiness of the audience," she said. "And to be in that position, to bring people happiness, is a gift. It was worth everything that was happening backstage."
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"All the backstage stuff disappeared as soon as I stepped on stage," Hallstrom added.