Heidi Fleiss
Encyclopedia
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
, and also a columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
Madam
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
".
She currently resides in Pahrump, Nevada
Pahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
.
Early life
Fleiss was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, Paul M. FleissPaul M. Fleiss
Paul Murray Fleiss M.D. is an American pediatrician, breastfeeding advocate, and anti-circumcision activist based in Los Feliz, California....
and Elissa (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Ash), are divorced. Her parents adopted Elissa's sister's baby daughter Kim, then adopted Paul's sister's baby daughter Amy (born 1965). Heidi was born later the same year. Paul and Elissa then had Shana (born 1967), Jason (1968–2009) and Jesse (born 1977). On December 28, 2009, 41-year-old Jason drowned in the sea off Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
Work in prostitution
At the age of 22, Fleiss began managing a prostitution ring under Madam Alex after meeting the famous Madam 90210 in 1987 via film director boyfriend Ivan NagyIvan Nagy (director)
Ivan Nagy is a Hungarian film and television director best known for directing films such as Bad Charleston Charlie, Skinner, and Deadly Hero...
. Fleiss stated in 2002 in an interview with Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
that her relationship with Alex was "a very intense relationship" and that she "was kind of like the daughter she loved and hated, so she was abusive and loving at the same time." In the same interview, Fleiss said she was a prostitute for a short period.
By 1990, Fleiss parted with Alex and began to run her own prostitution ring. Fleiss has stated that she made her first "million [dollars] after only four months in the business" as a madam, and that on her slowest night she only made 10,000 dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
s. By 1991 and 1992, she was so successful that she began rejecting girls to work for her, and at this time other pimps and madams became envious of Fleiss' success. She attributes her subsequent investigation, in which the LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
began wiretapping phone conversations, and ultimately organized a June 8, 1993 sting investigation, to this. In June 1993, she was arrested for multiple charges, including attempted pandering
Procuring (prostitution)
Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. Examples of procuring include:*trafficking a prostitute into a country for the purpose of soliciting sex...
. News of the story broke in August 1993, causing a media frenzy.
Federal charges were filed in 1994, and Fleiss posted a $1,000,000 bail. The state trial began in the same year. In May 1996, her state conviction was overturned, and her appeal bond was set at $200,000. Her Federal trial began in 1996, and in September 1996 she was convicted of federal charges of tax evasion
Tax avoidance and tax evasion
Tax noncompliance describes a range of activities that are unfavorable to a state's tax system. These include tax avoidance, which refers to reducing taxes by legal means, and tax evasion which refers to the criminal non-payment of tax liabilities....
and sentenced to 7 years in prison. After two months she was released to a halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...
, with 370 hours of community service. She was released in September 1999 after serving three years.
Fleiss' ring reportedly had numerous famous and wealthy clients. When questioned by British TV presenter Davina McCall
Davina McCall
Davina McCall is an English television presenter and actress, most notable as the presenter of the UK version of Big Brother up until its move to Channel 5.- Early life :...
about revealing the names of her clients, she replied; "It's not my style".
Media appearances
In 1995, Nick BroomfieldNick Broomfield
Nicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators...
made a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about her prostitution ring called Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam is a feature-length documentary film by Nick Broomfield. It is an examination of the woman herself, Broomfield attempting to uncover if she truly is a 'horrible person', and what made her that way....
. In 2004, a made-for-TV movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
was produced called Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss
Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (film)
Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss is a based on true events made for television movie stars Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss...
, in which Fleiss was portrayed by actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on the HBO television series The Sopranos.-Early life:...
.
Fleiss and reality TV personality Victoria Sellers
Victoria Sellers
Victoria Sellers is an English model, actress, comedienne, and jewelry designer.-Early life:Sellers attended Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles in West Los Angeles, a private school run by French immigrants that now has a number of campuses...
(a friend of Fleiss since their teens, although their relationship had hit the rocks during the period Sellers was interviewed for Broomfield's documentary) hosted and produced an instructional DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
titled Sex Tips with Heidi Fleiss and Victoria Sellers in 2001. She is a periodic guest on Fox News programs and is currently featured in Maxim Magazine's "Ask Heidi" column.
In January 2010, Fleiss was the third housemate to enter the final series of Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother 2010 (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2010 was the seventh and final series of Celebrity Big Brother to air on Channel 4 and E4. It began on Sunday 3 January 2010 and aired for 27 days until the final on 29 January 2010, the longest ever celebrity series in the UK...
in the UK; she was the second to be evicted. During her appearance on Big Brother, she stated that she does not want children, as she would be a poor mother, and would respond to an unplanned pregnancy by terminating
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
it—her exact words were "Thank God for abortion!"--this comment elicited angry responses from viewers. She did not return for the finale; Davina McCall said Fleiss had to look after some exotic
Exotic pet
An exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal pet, or an animal kept as a pet which is not commonly thought of as a pet.The definition is an evolving one; some rodents, reptiles, and amphibians have become firmly enough established in the world of animal fancy to no longer be considered exotic...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s.
Business interests
In 2005, Fleiss announced plans to open a brothelBrothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
in Pahrump, Nevada
Pahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
called "Heidi Fleiss' Stud Farm". In 2007, Fleiss opened a laundromat called "Dirty Laundry" in Pahrump, as her plans for the brothel had been put on hold due to a "slight complication." In 2009 she said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel. She opened a fashion boutique in Los Angeles after being released from prison.
Personal life
After completing treatment for substance abuse, Fleiss became engaged to Dennis HofDennis Hof
Dennis Hof is an American pimp, entrepreneur, and restaurateur. He is best known as the former, owning two brothels in Nevada. His brothels are in Moundhouse, Nevada, a few minutes outside Carson City, less than an hour by car from Reno, Nevada...
, owner of Nevada's Moonlite BunnyRanch.
On November 25, 2010, Fleiss' home in Pahrump, Nevada
Pahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
caught fire.
Fleiss is Jewish, and has said that she is a vegetarian.
She owns an ultralight flight park in Pahrump, FAA designation NV54.
Domestic violence case
In 2003, Fleiss accused her ex-boyfriend, actor Tom SizemoreTom Sizemore
Thomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Strange Days, Pearl Harbor, Heat and Black Hawk Down....
, of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
. Sizemore was convicted by a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
jury of domestic violence, making criminal threats, and making obscene phone call
Obscene phone call
An obscene phone call is an unsolicited telephone call where a person derives sexual pleasure by using sexual or foul language to an unknown person. Making obscene telephone calls for sexual pleasure is known as telephone scatologia and is considered a form of exhibitionism...
s.
Drug problems
Fleiss eventually moved to Pahrump, NevadaPahrump, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 24,631 people, 10,153 households, and 7,127 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 82.7 people per square mile . There were 11,651 housing units at an average density of 39.1 per square mile...
, where she came to live in solitude in Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
while caring for 25 parrots. Dr. Drew Pinsky
Drew Pinsky
David Drew Pinsky , best known as Dr. Drew, is an American board-certified internist, addiction medicine specialist, and radio and television personality. He has hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show Loveline since the show's inception in 1984. On television, he hosts the talk show Dr...
, who treated Fleiss for substance abuse
Substance abuse
A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...
, performed brain scans on her that showed significant frontal lobe
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
dysfunction, which Pinsky surmised was behind her inability to empathize with people, and her affinity for doing so with birds. She had developed a particular closeness to a macaw
Macaw
Macaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...
called Dalton who died tragically.
In 2009, Fleiss was treated for substance abuse at the Pasadena Recovery Center, which was filmed for the third season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew is a reality television show airing on the cable network VH1 that chronicles a group of celebrities as they are treated for alcohol and drug addiction by Dr. Drew Pinsky and his staff at the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California. The first season premiered...
. One of her fellow patients was Sizemore, against whom her prior restraining order had lapsed. Both Fleiss and Sizemore consented to appear together on the show before filming began, and their reunion, depicted in the third episode, was amicable, though Fleiss subsequently expressed mixed feelings about his presence there. During the filming of the program, Fleiss left the center and was involved in an accident with her SUV near her home in Nevada. She subsequently returned to rehab. She continued her sober living on VH-1's Sober House with Dr. Drew for several weeks.