“The Price is Right” model Holly Hallstrom slammed the game show’s late host Bob Barker while discussing her firing Wednesday.
“I hate that guy,” the 73-year-old star of E!’s new docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals declared in a new interview.
Hallstrom explained to People that he found himself on Barker’s ST list after he “refused to testify in court on behalf of[the presenter]” when Diane Parkinson accused Barker of sexual harassment in 1994.
“I wanted nothing to do with it,” Hallström continued. “I was the only person[in Barker’s Beauties]who was asked to take a deposition and didn’t testify. I didn’t want to commit felony perjury. That’s exactly what would happen if I did.”
Hallstrom believes this was the “last straw” for Barker, but said the department “couldn’t fire her for that.”
“Instead, Barker said I was overweight and that’s why I got off the show. I wasn’t surprised he used that as an excuse, a reason, a justification to fire me,” she claimed.
Barker later denied this, but Hallstrom argued, “How can you say you weren’t fired because of your weight when you were removed from 50 percent of the show and when you appeared on camera you hid behind cars and large appliances?”
Ms. Hallstrom was “devastated” and “didn’t want to retire,” she told the magazine, adding that she had “no choice” but to retire in 1995, 20 years later, because Mr. Barker “wanted (her) gone.”
When Hallstrom, who had not signed a non-disclosure agreement, spoke out during her departure, Barker filed a defamation lawsuit, which resulted in Hallstrom waiting until his death in 2023 to further address the rift.
“He… dragged me into court for 10 years until there was nothing left for me,” she recalled, saying she then sued Barker for malicious prosecution.
“Even if he lost, he would have done it again in a heartbeat,” Hallstrom said, referring to the out-of-court settlement.
Since Barker died of natural causes at age 99, Hallstrom has found sharing her story freely to be a “liberating” experience.
“They say the truth will set you free. Well, it will set me free. Absolutely, 100 percent,” she gushed.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s “Dirty Rotten Scandal,” Hallstrom called Barker a “narcissistic egomaniac” who couldn’t “hold back” after his wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, lost her battle with lung cancer.
She claimed that after a “long period of mourning” he “let loose” and “suddenly became… Mr. Man About Town.”
Barker then broke up with his long-time girlfriend Nancy Barnett, and while they were dating, Barker allegedly had an affair with Parkinson.
The scandal “took a huge toll” on the show, Hallstrom told viewers, explaining, “There were fights on set, there were shouting matches, it was massive, and I think ultimately it ruined The Price is Right.”
