Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965) is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam".
She currently resides in Pahrump, Nevada.
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Fleiss was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, Paul M. Fleiss and Elissa (née 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.
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 Nagy. Fleiss stated in 2002 in an interview with Larry King 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 dollars. 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 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. 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 and sentenced to 7 years in prison. After two months she was released to a halfway house, 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 about revealing the names of her clients, she replied; "It's not my style".
In 1995, Nick Broomfield made a documentary about her prostitution ring called Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. In 2004, a made-for-TV movie was produced called Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, in which Fleiss was portrayed by actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Fleiss and reality TV personality Victoria Sellers (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 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 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 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 birds.
In 2005, Fleiss announced plans to open a brothel in Pahrump, Nevada 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.
After completing treatment for substance abuse, Fleiss became engaged to Dennis Hof, owner of Nevada's Moonlite BunnyRanch.
On November 25, 2010, Fleiss' home in Pahrump, Nevada caught fire.
Fleiss is Jewish, and has said that she is a vegetarian.
She owns an ultralight flight park in Pahrump, FAA designation NV54.
In 2003, Fleiss accused her ex-boyfriend, actor Tom Sizemore, of domestic violence. Sizemore was convicted by a California jury of domestic violence, making criminal threats, and making obscene phone calls.
Fleiss eventually moved to Pahrump, Nevada, where she came to live in solitude in Death Valley while caring for 25 parrots. Dr. 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 affinity for doing so with birds. She had developed a particular closeness to a macaw 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. 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.