HBO Max To Make A Heidi Fleiss Drama

Heidi Fleiss may be very well known to some and not so much to others. She is a former ‘Hollywood Madam,’ a woman who ran a massive prostitution ring in the heart of Los Angeles with clients ranging from writers to actors. She was very famous in her time and was also a regular on many TV shows where she would give interviews and opinions. She was also a columnist in her time. She never ended up revealing the names of her Hollywood clients even after years of running the businesses, claiming:

“It’s not my style,” in an interview with a British journalist. Now, HBO is all set to make a series about her dramatic and, at the same time, traumatic story. Fleiss, who is now 57 years old, is a consultant on the show.

Fleiss’ Life Drama

Fleiss led an interesting life. She was exposed to the prostitution business by her then-boyfriend Iván Nagy back in 1987. It was there that she met Madam Alex, who was responsible for running the massive prostitution ring. She claimed that her relationship with Madam Alex was very intense. It was considered both abusive and loving by her. 

The business was not booming after some time when Alex’s prostitutes were nearing retirement age. She then tasked her ‘daughter-like’ Fleiss with bringing in new employees and younger prostitutes to bring the business back to life. Fleiss, later on, went on to abandon Alex’s prostitution ring to open up her own. 

Later, charges were pressed against Fleiss, including attempts at pandering, which is the act of providing or arranging sexual activities of prostitutes with clients. Fleiss had previously bragged about how she made millions only months into her business and that she would make at least $10,000 even when nights were slow.

Later, the court asked her to pay a fee of $200,000, and she was sent to prison for seven years. However, she got out midway and was sentenced to 370 hours of community service. She was also charged with tax evasion when multiple charges were pressed. 

Actors like Charlie Sheen admitted to having used Fleiss’ services throughout their careers. The madam then moved away to Nevada, where she expressed the wish to open up a brother, but she never ended up actually doing it. She later appeared, in reality, in TV shows such as Big Brother and VH1’s Celebrity Rehab. 

The Show And Other Movies

Her life has previously been documented in the movie Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss and by Nick Broomfield in a 1995 documentary. She later opened up a parrot sanctuary in Nevada, where she lived. The drama series is being written and executive produced by The Staircase creator Maggie Cohn.

Cohn has also been responsible for Narcos: Mexico and Lou, a Netflix movie about a mother and her neighbor embarking on a journey to find her kidnapped daughter. The movie starred Allison Janney and Logan Marshall-Green. 

Fleiss also dated recently passed actor Tom Sizemore and accused him of domestic violence in 2003. She was given only a 20-month sentence for the tax evasion charges and later made the headlines when she was treated for drug abuse at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Interestingly, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew was filmed and at the same time, and one of her patients was Sizemore.

The two had to come together since Fleiss’ restraining order against Sizemore had passed by then. Fleiss didn’t look entirely comfortable with Sizemore’s presence at the time but expressed only mixed feelings about him being around. She was later found in an accident which eventually led her back to rehab.