Infamous Scandals

by Anne Williams

  On 6 June 2001 drag queen Jonathan Kenney, who was Barrymore’s lover, and an unemployed ex-dustman called Justin Merritt were arrested on suspicion of murder. There was an inquest, but an open verdict was reached because of lack of evidence. At this stage, Cheryl Barrymore intervened and claimed that her ex-husband had lied under oath, saying that he had rubbed cocaine onto several friends’ gums, and that he could have swum into the pool to save Lubbock. Barrymore’s lawyers countered this claim by saying that Lubbock had died accidentally and that he might have been attacked as his body lay in the mortuary, in an instance of necrophilia. The police issued a statement to the effect that this was an absurd suggestion – leaving the case wide open and unsolved.

  Relations between Barrymore and his ex-wife had reached an all-time low by this point. Sadly, Cheryl Barrymore was then diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of only 55 in April 2005. After her death, Barrymore published his own autobiography, Awight Now: Setting the Record Straight, in which he claimed that Cheryl was a controlling person who had suppressed his true personality to the extent that he was forced to take solace in drugs, alcohol and gay sex. Not surprisingly, the sordid scandal surrounding Barrymore’s social life ruined his career as a ‘family’ entertainer, and he was no longer able to function as a TV game show host.

  Barrymore moved to New Zealand for a time, with his partner Shaun Davis, in an attempt to escape the press. But his problems were not over – there would be no running away. In January 2006, a lawyer named Anthony Bennett began a private prosecution of Barrymore, teaming up with Lubbock’s father to form The Lubbock Trust. Barrymore and Lubbock’s father, Terry, met up in a hotel to discuss the matter, and reportedly Terry was persuaded that Barrymore was not responsible for the death of his son. However, the disputes continued, and eventually it became clear that the Essex Police had bungled the investigation, and that there had been some sort of cover-up.

  The future

  As all this was going on, Barrymore made a high-profile appearance on a reality TV show, Celebrity Big Brother, in which it became clear that he was in an extremely highly strung state. There was some controversy surrounding his relationship with another contestant, Jodie Marsh, and he was dubbed ‘Bullymore’ by her, but he proved popular among the viewers, mainly because he was one of the few people on the show to display any talent as an entertainer.

  On 14 June 2007 the police announced that they had arrested Michael Barrymore on suspicion of murder, along with Kenney and Merritt. This was over six years since the death of Stuart Lubbock. However, they were all later released without charges. Since that time, Barrymore has shown signs of wanting to resume his show-business career, although tabloid newspapers continue to report his drink and drug-fuelled antics on the gay scene. Whatever the future holds for the 54-year-old entertainer, it is clear that the scandal surrounding the death of Stuart Lubbock will continue to haunt him until what really happened that fateful night is made clear.

  Heidi Fleiss

  Heidi Fleiss became famous in the 1990s as the madame of a high-class brothel in Hollywood, a favourite haunt of many stars and wealthy entrepreneurs from the entertainment world. As the owner of a little black book full of names of the rich and famous, Fleiss was notorious for some years, before being jailed on various charges, including tax evasion. On her release she publicised her plans to run a ‘Stud Farm’ in the Nevada desert, where it is legal, under certain circumstances, for prostitutes to work in brothels. However, Fleiss’ plan was to have a brothel with a difference . . .

  Born entrepreneur

  Heidi Lynn Fleiss was born on 30 December 1965. Her father, Doctor Paul M. Fleiss, was a famous Hollywood paediatrician who made a name for himself by publicly opposing the practise of circumcision on infants and young boys. Her family was wealthy, and she came into contact with many rich, famous people from the world of entertainment.

  As a teenager, Fleiss became a babysitter and started a business hiring out herself and her friends to look after children. With her wealthy connections, she found she was earning a good living, so decided to drop out of high school in the tenth grade. At the age of 19, she went to a Beverly Hills party and met Bernie Cornfield, a famous financier. She fell in love with him, and the couple began dating, even though he was 40 years her senior. She later said that she was attracted to his intelligence: ‘He was this genius in so many ways . . . he was always trying to make me a better person and make me understand things.’ Despite her enthusiasm for her new lover, the affair did not last and she found herself single again.

  At the age of 22 Fleiss met another influential figure in her life – Madame Alex – a well-known brothel keeper in Hollywood. She was surprised to find that, far from being elegant and beautiful, Madame Alex was short, bald and not at all glamorous. However, she joined forces with her and was soon running the business for her new employer. Heidi found all sorts of ways to revamp the enterprise; for example, instead of employing the same girls year after, she used new prostitutes, thus making sure that the clientele had a variety of girls at their disposal. She also brought in young women that she had met as part of her social circle, as well as through Bernie Cornfield. Within a matter of months, according to Fleiss, the earnings of the business shot up from around $50,000 a month to $300,000.

  Top call-girl ring

  Despite the obvious success of the business, it was not long before Fleiss and Madame Alex fell out. Fleiss claims that Madame Alex did not pay her fairly, and did not value her managerial acumen highly enough. So, instead, Fleiss moved on to launch her own call-girl ring, with a stable of girls who became the most sought after in Hollywood.

  Fleiss took her work seriously and went to great lengths to find out the fantasies of all her clients, and to match them to the right women with the right wardrobe and accessories. She even arranged travel and payment details, as well as booking accommodation. For this, she earned a handsome salary. She went on record for her refusal to accept that her earnings were immoral in any way, saying, ‘I think it’s unfair men put laws on a woman’s body. I think a woman has a right to choose with her own body. I don’t think prostitution is a career . . . but maybe it is a little stepping stone.’ She added: ‘I don’t regret what I did at all. It’s consensual sex. These are men who are billionaires and these are women in their 20s. They are old enough to make adult decisions, adult choices.’

  In Fleiss’ eyes she was providing a service and helping her employees to meet the right men, who would possibly advance their careers in the entertainment industry.

  Prison sentence

  In 1993 Fleiss was arrested as part of an undercover operation to root out prostitution in Hollywood. Not surprisingly, some individuals on her extensive client list came to light, causing a scandal that rocked Tinseltown. One of the most prominent of her clients was the actor Charlie Sheen. Later, Sheen became known as a ‘living legend of sex’ after he claimed that he had had sex with five girls at once.

  ‘It was very organised,’ he commented. ‘Very ordered. All six people in that room came out of it pretty satisfied.’ Sheen also claimed to have had sex with a total of 5000 women. Naturally, with such a busy schedule, the services of a well-organised madame such as Heidi Fleiss would have been invaluable to him.

  Despite her protestations of innocence, Fleiss was brought to trial on federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and money laundering. She was also charged with attempted pandering, a type of pimping. She was convicted of the charges and received a prison sentence of 37 months, although she only served 21. Many commentators were outraged by the severity of her sentence, especially as none of her clients or employees were charged. Her father, Doctor Fleiss, was also convicted of money laundering and sentenced to serve one day in prison, as well as three years of probation and over 600 hours community service.

  The Stud Farm

  On her release from prison in 1999, Fleiss made the most of her new-found notoriety, and began a series of commercial enterprises.
One of these was a line of clothing called Heidi Wear; another involved selling sex aids. She appeared regularly on television to talk about her experiences, and was interviewed in many leading newspapers and magazines. She then announced her intention to open a stud farm in the Nevada desert, where in some areas brothel keeping is a legal activity, subject to state scrutinisation of the operation. The proposed brothel was due to be located about an hour’s drive away from Las Vegas. Instead of offering the sexual services of women to male clients, the brothel would offer an array of handsome men to provide sex for women.

  Fleiss’ vision of this pleasure palace was that it would be shaped like a castle, with marble-floored rooms, a spa, a sex-toy shop and secluded bungalows for love play to take place. The men she proposed hiring would be handsome, physically fit with a muscled physique, charming and well-mannered. They would also be issued with generous amounts of Viagra to cope with up to ten female clients a day, some of them not in their first youth or in good shape physically. In return, the women clients would pay a fee of around 250 dollars an hour.

  Dirty Laundry

  As Fleiss has admitted, the obstacles to launching the stud farm remain daunting. State laws require all prostitutes to have regular cervical STD tests, which obviously in the case of the stud farm would not apply. The statutes will need to be reworded to cover Fleiss’ stud farm operation. In addition, Fleiss faces considerable opposition from other brothel keepers in the area, who are worried that adverse publicity will ruin their business. Already her business partner, a successful Nevada brothel owner, has backed out of the project. Funding for the palace of sin, which will require around $1.5 million, is also lacking at present. However, Fleiss remains optimistic. She claims to have received over 1,000 applications from men who wish to work at the farm, including former soap opera stars and Hollywood actors. She also says that a number of wealthy, beautiful women have contacted her to arrange appointments. Fleiss maintains that her idea is ‘perfect for bachelorette parties or for women wanting uncomplicated, STD-free hook-ups’.

  At present, the stud farm is set only to cater for women, not for men. Interestingly, some gay men have asked for a legal opinion as to whether the brothel would be violating discrimination laws by letting only women use the stud farm’s services. In response, Fleiss has suggested the opening of a separate gay brothel.

  Despite these grand ideas, to date, plans for the stud farm have foundered. Instead, Fleiss has opened a laundromat named ‘Dirty Laundry’, a far more modest enterprise than her fantasy of a luxury bordello in the desert. She also sells sex aids in her ‘Little Shop of Sex’ in Los Angeles, and over the Internet. However, Fleiss continues to insist that one day the stud farm will be a reality, and the media continues to watch her activities and listen to her opinions with interest.

  Thérèse Humbert

  The life of the French woman, Thérèse Humbert, was one of fantasy and pure illusion. A peasant girl from the Languedoc region of France, she dreamed of a life of wealth and luxury and to fulfil this dream she pretended to be the heir of an imaginary millionaire. The scandal that was exposed in 1902 nearly destroyed the French Third Republic, and ruined the lives of thousands of creditors.

  Thérèse Daurignac was born in 1856 and her delusions of grandeur began at a very young age. She convinced her friends to pool all their jewellery so that she could fool people into believing she was rich. Her main stepping stone to success, however, was when she married her first cousin Frédéric Humbert, who was the son of the French politician Gustave Humbert. Although under normal circumstances her cousin would probably not have paid any attention to the poor peasant girl, Thérèse started to woo Frédéric with her fantastic story.

  deadly deception

  Thérèse told Frédéric that she had received a large inheritance under rather unusual circumstances. She claimed that she was on a train in 1879, when she heard someone groaning in the next carriage. Thérèse said she was able to gain access into the carriage by climbing along the outside of the train and crawling in through the window. Inside the compartment she found a man laying on the floor writhing in agony. She claimed to have aided the man by giving him some of her smelling salts, for which he said he was eternally grateful. The man told Thérèse that he was a wealthy American millionaire and that his name was Robert Henry Crawford.

  Thérèse went on to tell Frédéric that she thought that was the end of the matter and gave it no further thought. However, to her surprise, two years later she received a letter from a solicitor saying that Crawford had died and had made Thérèse a beneficiary of his will. To get round the fact that Thérèse was not actually in possession of any money, she said that the money had been put in trust and would be released when her younger sister, Marie, was old enough to marry one of Crawford’s two nephews, Henry Crawford.

  Together Thérèse and her husband approached the bank and applied for a loan, using the supposed inheritance as collateral. They moved to Paris where they bought an upmarket property in Avenue de la Grande Armée. The Humberts lived a life of luxury, earned themselves a lot of friends and influence and, as the years went by, the lies got bigger and so did the loans. Thérèse opened a salon and was soon mixing with the elite of French society. However, eventually they were forced to take out more and more money to cover the original loans and, although people started to become suspicious, no one could prove that her original story was false.

  The whole ruse was centred on a strongbox, which Thérèse kept at their Paris apartment. Inside the box was the alleged final will of millionaire Henry Crawford, naming Thérèse as the sole beneficiary. There was also supposed to be a second will, which left everything to Thérèse’s younger sister and Crawford’s two American nephews. Thérèse also insisted there was a third document in which the two Crawford boys agreed to give the entire fortune to her while the other two wills were being settled. The fourth fictional document in the strongbox was a deed in which the Crawford boys were supposed to waive their claim to the fortune in return for a payment of six million francs and Marie’s hand in marriage.

  Thérèse used all this evidence to convince her financiers to lend her the six million francs to pay off the Crawford nephews, and in return she would inherit over 100 million francs.

  In 1883, a French newspaper, Le Matin, published an article claiming that Thérèse Humbert was a fraudster. However, her father-in-law, who at the time was the minister of justice, backed Thérèse’s story. Over the years, the Humbert’s con reached such proportions of perfection that there were even trials at court where sincere lawyers represented the Crawfords and the Humberts. To get over the problem of the two Crawford nephews, Thérèse’s own brothers impersonated them, speaking in poor French with even worse American accents.

  The Humberts could possibly have continued to get away with their amazing ruse for years to come if it hadn’t been for the fact that the judge ordered Thérèse to reveal the address of the Crawfords. Without hesitation she said, ‘1302 Broadway in New York’, speaking out for all to hear. Of course no Crawfords lived at that address and the judge requested they hand over the security box.

  The next day, 7 May 1902, the crowds gathered to witness the opening of the box, but the Humberts had already fled the country. When the box was unlocked, it was found to contain an old newspaper, a button and an Italian coin of small denomination. The Humbert’s creditors sued and the scandal rocked the French financial world. The French press printed a list of all the famous people who had been taken for their fortunes, which included the exiled Empress Eugénie, the son of the president of the French Republic and the in-laws of the famous painter Henri Matisse. These, and many other VIPs, embarrassed by the whole affair decided to make themselves scarce.

  The Humberts were eventually caught up with in December 1902 in Madrid. Thérèse Humbert was sentenced to five years solitary confinement and hard labour, her husband also received five years, while the two brothers who had masqueraded as the Crawford nephews receiv
ed two and three years each. It was decided that Marie and Thérèse’s father-in-law, Gustave Humbert, were all just victims of the fraud and were allowed to go free.

  When Thérèse was eventually released from prison she left France and went to live in the United States. She died in Chicago in 1918 in disgrace and without a penny to her name. However, she will always be remembered for her hoax that fooled an entire society and caused one of France’s greatest ever scandals.

  PART FOUR: Politicians

  Bill Clinton

  The greatest worldwide sex scandal to hit the headlines at the end of the 20th century was undoubtedly that of Bill Clinton, President of the United States. Monica Lewinsky, an intern who was working at the White House during 1995 and 1996, had a sexual relationship with the president during that time, and when this became known, it helped lead to Clinton’s impeachment trial. Thus, it was one of the most important scandals of all time, severely affecting the president’s reputation, as well as giving Lewinsky a notoriety that is likely to last for the rest of her life.

  whiff of a scandal

  Monica Lewinsky was a young, hopeful White House intern when she met the president. From California, she had graduated with a psychology degree and moved to Washington, D.C. to work at the White House. She began as an unpaid intern in July 1995, and by November had secured a permanent job there with good prospects. However, in the spring of 1996 Clinton’s chief of staff started to noticed that Lewinsky was spending rather too much time in the company of the president. He decided to have her transferred to the Pentagon to try and avoid a scandal, but the president wasn’t entirely happy about the arrangement and intervened. He arranged for her to get an important position with top-security clearance as a confidential assistant to the chief Pentagon spokesman, Kenneth Bacon. For this position she would earn $32,700 a year and had travel privileges. Clinton continued to buy Lewinsky lavish gifts and would talk on the phone to her late at night, often engaging in ‘sex talk’.