Former ‘Price Is Right’ Model Reveals the ‘Truth’ About Working With Bob Barker: ‘Worst Time in My Life’

The Price Is Right famously called the models who presented the show’s prizes “Barker’s Beauties” — but behind the scenes, some of them wanted nothing to do with Bob Barker.

Models and former crew members are accusing the late host of fostering a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and discrimination over his 35 years on the show, in the new E! Documentary series Dirty Rotten Scandals, which premieres on Wednesday, March 18, per TV Insider.

One of them is Holly Hallstrom, who was part of “Barker’s Beauties” from 1977 until she was fired in 1995 for gaining weight due to medication, she claimed, though she believed it was really to punish her for not supporting Barker when fellow model Dian Parkinson sued him for sexual harassment in 1994.

Barker sued Hallstrom for slander and libel, but dropped the lawsuit 48 hours before going to trial — after the model had exhausted all of her savings defending herself, per the outlet. She finally won a multimillion-dollar settlement from him in 2005. Fellow models Janice Pennington and Kathleen Bradley testified on her behalf before leaving the show, along with several other crew members, some of whom also sued Barker for wrongful termination, sexual harassment and sexual discrimination.

“It was pure stubbornness because I knew I had the truth. That I could win,” Hallstrom, 73, told TV Insider of her decade-long legal battle. “That I could beat him with the truth, and I did. I beat him good.”

Speaking out about her experience “has been cathartic,” she revealed, “but also dredged up the memories from the worst time in my life. That has been really difficult. It has been emotionally exhausting.”

“I’m so happy people, the fans of the show, are finally going to hear the other side of the story,” Hallstrom added. “It has always bothered me that the fans, those people who genuinely love The Price Is Right, they loved us. They enjoyed so much about the show and everyone on it, but only got to hear one side.”

“I’m so grateful for this documentary, so that everyone, but especially the fans can hear what really happened,” she continued. “And that I was not the fat, lying, difficult to work with person that nobody liked as I was portrayed to be.”

Barker, who left the show in 2007, died at age 99 in 2023.