Heidi Fleiss

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965)<ref name=biography.com>Template:Cite web</ref> is an American former madam. She ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles and is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam". Fleiss also formerly worked as a columnist and was a television personality regularly featured in the 1990s American media.

Early life

Fleiss was born to a Jewish family and raised in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her father, Paul M. Fleiss (1933–2014), was a pediatrician and her mother, Elissa (née Ash), was an elementary school teacher. Their marriage ended in divorce.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She has two brothers: Jesse (born in 1977), and Jason (born in 1968), who drowned at age 41 in 2009;<ref>Template:Citation</ref> and three sisters: Amy, Kim, and Shana.<ref name=LATimes>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Prostitution and tax evasion

At the age of 22, Fleiss began managing a prostitution ring under Madam Alex after meeting her in 1987 via Fleiss's film director boyfriend Iván Nagy.<ref name=W>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fleiss stated in 2002 that Alex and she had "a very intense relationship" and that Alex's view of Fleiss "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 worked as a prostitute for a short period to learn all aspects of the trade. At the time she was learning to take over Alex's business there was a labor shortage, as most of Alex's prostitutes were approaching middle age and planning to retire from prostitution. Alex had Fleiss revitalize the business by recruiting a new batch of young, attractive women.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

By 1990, Fleiss severed her links with Madam Alex and began 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 made $10,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By 1991, Fleiss was so successful that she was able to reject women who wished to work for her. In June 1993, she was arrested on charges including attempted pandering.

Federal charges were filed in 1994, and Fleiss posted $1 million bail; the state trial began the same year and Fleiss was convicted. In May 1996, her state conviction was overturned and her appeal bond was set at $200,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was convicted of federal charges of tax evasion in September 1996 and sentenced to 37 months in prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fleiss served 20 months at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California. She was released to a halfway house on November 19, 1998, and ordered to perform 370 hours of community service.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Fleiss's ring reportedly had numerous prominent and wealthy clients. When questioned by British television presenter Davina McCall about revealing the names of her clients, she replied "It's not my style".<ref name="time1994">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Media appearances

In 1995, Nick Broomfield made a documentary about her prostitution ring titled Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam.<ref name=W/> In 2004, a TV movie was produced titled Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss.

In 1996, after having been convicted of being a madam, and shortly before her incarceration for such offenses, she was interviewed by Ruby Wax.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fleiss and reality-TV personality Victoria Sellers hosted and produced an instructional DVD titled Sex Tips with Heidi Fleiss and Victoria Sellers in 2001.<ref name=troubled>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2010, Fleiss was the third housemate to enter the final Channel 4 series of Celebrity Big Brother in the UK;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> she was the second to be evicted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She did not return for the finale.

Business interests

In 2005, Fleiss announced plans to open a brothel in Pahrump, Nevada named Heidi Fleiss's Stud Farm"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, Fleiss opened a laundromat named Dirty Laundry in Pahrump as her plans for the brothel had been put on hold due to a "slight complication".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009, she said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel because she did not want to "deal with all the nonsense in the sex business". Instead, she said she would focus on renewable energy, which she described as "perfect for Nevada" and "the wave of the future".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She opened a fashion boutique in Los Angeles after being released from prison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Template:As of,<ref name=2018FAA>Template:Cite web</ref> and since at least January 2017,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fleiss owns and manages the Flying S Ranch Ultralight Flightpark, an ultralight private use airport in Pahrump, with FAA designation NV54.<ref name=2018FAA/>

Personal life

In 2003, Fleiss accused actor Tom Sizemore, her ex-boyfriend, of domestic violence. Sizemore was convicted of the charge.<ref name="fleiss">Template:Cite web</ref>

Fleiss eventually moved to Pahrump, Nevada,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a small town near Death Valley<ref name=ActingOut>Template:Cite web</ref> while caring for 25 parrots.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Drew Pinsky, who treated Fleiss for substance abuse, performed brain scans on her that showed significant frontal lobe dysfunction, which Pinsky surmised was behind her inability to empathize with people, and her propensity for doing so with birds.<ref name=RochlinOnline>Template:Cite web</ref>

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. 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,<ref name=RochlinOnline/> and their reunion, depicted in the third episode, was amicable,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though Fleiss subsequently expressed mixed feelings about his presence there.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the filming of the program, Fleiss left the center, and she was involved in an accident with her SUV near her home in Nevada. She subsequently returned to rehab.<ref name=ActingOut/>

After completing treatment for substance abuse, Fleiss briefly became engaged to Dennis Hof, owner of Nevada's Moonlite BunnyRanch.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fleiss said in 1994 that she is a vegetarian.<ref name="time1994"/>

In August 2013, Nevada police found nearly 400 marijuana plants growing at her home in Pahrump, Nevada, but did not arrest Fleiss and submitted their report to the district attorney's office.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2022, Fleiss announced that she would be moving to Missouri after someone shot one of her parrots with a pellet gun.<ref name="pellet">Template:Cite news</ref>

In media

In 1993, Fleiss became a prototype for the character of Lauren Ethridge in Season 2 of Melrose Place (played by Kristian Alfonso).

In 2021, composer Billy Recce released his musical theater concept album "Little Black Book" about Fleiss' story, co-conceived by director Will Nunziata.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, "Little Black Book" was produced at the Bowery Ballroom, starring Tony-Nominee Orfeh, directed by Kristin Hanggi.

In 2022, Fleiss was the subject of HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story, an iHeartRadio podcast produced, written and hosted by Molly Lambert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

She will be played by Aubrey Plaza in an upcoming biopic.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	The Doom Generation	Liquor store clerk	film debut
2003	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Herself
2004	Alien 51	Evelda
2009	Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie	Fluffy	voice
2010	Celebrity Big Brother	Herself	contestant; placed 11th/12
2025	aka Charlie Sheen	Herself

Published works

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Further reading

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External links

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