Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘aka Charlie Sheen’ living up to its title in every way conceivable by shining a light upon the titular actor’s meteoric rise and fall from grace, we get a docuseries unlike any other. It actually incorporates not only archival footage but also exclusive interviews from all those close to the matter to really underscore the star’s success, problems, as well as eventual redemption. Amongst those to thus feature here was Heidi Fleiss, the infamous Hollywood Madam from whom he often used to hire prostitutes while also allegedly sometimes pandering them to his friends.
Heidi Fleiss Stepped Into the World of Prostitution as a Young Woman
It was on December 30, 1965, in Los Angeles, California, when Heidi Lynne Fleiss was born to elementary school teacher Elissa Ash Fleiss and pediatrician Paul Fleiss as one of their six children. She was raised in the same area, in the Los Feliz neighborhood in greater Hollywood, meaning she was no stranger to seeing the behind-the-scenes activities of stars by the time she was an adult. The fact that she had started a dating film director in her early 20s only solidified this further, ultimately leading her to meet Madam Alex Adams in 1987 and suddenly become her heir apparent.
According to Heidi’s own accounts, she herself worked as a prostitute for a short period to learn all the inside tricks of the trade before preparing to take over Madam Alex’s well-established ring. However, as time passed, she realized she could begin her own – albeit technically illegal – perfectly consensual sex empire without any baggage or ties from the past, and that’s precisely what she did. It was around 1990 when she launched her high-priced call-girl operation primarily based out of her base of Beverly Hills, just to be successful that she earned her first million within four months.
Heidi has since reportedly claimed she made $10,000 on her slowest nights, with such great women as well as clients from across the globe that she could often even take or refuse jobs as she pleased. “If you want to get into a business and you want to do it the best, I don’t care whether it’s cookies, cars, whatever it is, you have got to get down in the trenches…” she once said on ‘Larry King Live.’ “That cookie formula, you just don’t come in and start running it. You have got to know how much sugar, flour, chocolate chips. I was down in the trenches for a little bit, and I went straight to the top.”
Heidi Fleiss Faced Federal Criminal Charges For Her Profession
While Heidi was allegedly well-known across Hollywood streets for years, it was only in 1993 when the 27-year-old was arrested for running her prostitution ring – she was charged with pandering. She reportedly posted her $1 million bail without any issues, returned home, and started wondering, “How did I f**k up the best job on Earth?” despite being so careful about almost always using cash. As per her statements in the aforementioned series, she always knew she would get caught one day, yet she never expected it to be this soon or this high-profile, owing to Charlie Sheen’s name getting involved.
Heidi actually clarified that Charlie’s name would have never come up were it not for his paying with a traveler’s check once because he was likely on a film set with no actual cash lying around. “His name would have never, ever come out. Ever,” she asserted in the documentary original, and she has indeed always refused to reveal the names of any of her other clients, as it is simply not her style. The Madam was convicted of the charges against her in May 1996, only for the verdict to be overturned upon appeal.
Heidi subsequently faced federal charges of tax evasion, with the courts arguing she made millions from her operations over a period of at least 3 years, yet never paid taxes on her profits/income. In the end, in September 1996, she was found guilty following a jury trial, and then she was sentenced to 37 months in jail with an additional order to pay $400 in fines. However, she was released on November 19, 1998, after serving just 20 months at FCI-Dublin under the stipulation of 370 hours of community service.
Heidi Fleiss Currently Owns and Operates Different Ventures in Nevada
Although Heidi had relocated to a new home by the beach in California before going to prison as well as established a lingerie brand called Heidi Wear, things changed following her release. She actually found herself moving to the small town of Pahrump, Nevada, in the early 2000s with dreams of remaining in the sex business by opening an all-male brothel catering to women. She even had a name picked out for it, Heidi Fleiss’s Stud Farm, yet it didn’t pan out in the way she had imagined, owing to the possible criminal aspects and likely stereotypes. This is what pushed her to start dabbling in different industries like never before.
Heidi briefly ran a laundromat named Dirty Laundry in 2007, just to eventually find her calling in rescuing caged exotic birds from captivity. She reportedly owns the private FlyingS Ranch Ultralight Flightpark in Pahrump, Nevada, where she feeds the freed birds, rehabilitates them, and loves them as though they were her kids. In fact, the 59-year-old has since even started referring to herself as the Macaw Messiah, especially as the rescued menagerie of exotic parrots now resides with her on her ranch.
Heidi has allegedly been devoting herself to his project for the past decade. “These birds have no other option other than to live in a cage, die in a cage,” she once told People. “Once I realized this problem existed, I couldn’t continue living my life without doing something about it… Maybe it had something to do with going to prison and knowing what it was like to live your life in a cage. I was scared to death in there every day.” Thus, seeing the birds soar across her ranch brings her a true sense of peace.
Heidi has also indicated that she would one day love to see a bill outlawing the ownership of exotic birds as pets being passed, but she understands it would be a difficult and time-consuming process. Until then, she is determined to keep doing her best to save as many such birds as possible with the help of her non-profit, as well as generous donations to keep bird food and bird medicine stocked. Coming to Heidi’s personal standing, who is presently even managing the private use airport on her property and thinking of relocating to Las Vegas, she appears to be single as of writing. She was romantically involved with actor Dennis Hof from 2009 until his death in 2018, so she may still be grieving and have no interest in finding another companion just yet.
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