03 March 2024 , 12:26
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Heidi Fleiss, a former Celebrity Big Brother star and once known as the Hollywood Madam, has made a big career change.
The 58 year old, who was part of the 2010 series of Celebrity Big Brother won by Katie Price's ex Alex Reid, now works at a bird sanctuary in Nevada, rescuing macaws.
Fleiss was one of the most talked-about women globally when she was arrested in 1993 for running a high-end prostitution ring. She reportedly had an elite client list and was said to earn £442k a week. But her empire crumbled in June 1993 when she was arrested and charged with five counts of pandering.
She later served seven years in prison on separate federal tax evasion and money laundering charges. Now, Fleiss lives a very different life away from LA and showbiz. The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant refers to herself as a "retired Hollywood Madam turned active Macaw patroness."
Heidi Fleiss went to prison in 1998 (The People)
She entered the Big Brother house in 2010 (PA)It's believed that she owns 23 exotic and endangered birds, some of which she has reportedly travelled to the "ends of the earth" to acquire, according to The Daily Star. In 2022, Fleiss claimed that someone injured one of her macaws before Christmas of the previous year by shooting it in the leg with a pellet gun.
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Heidi is so distraught about her pet being shot that she's offering a £3,900 reward to catch the person responsible. She told the local newspaper: "I want to castrate him, I want them to get the death penalty for shooting my little Chuey, who was just flying around doing nothing - and they shoot her."
Heidi isn't only known for her pets. She penned a book titled Pandering in 2002 and another one about dating in 2004. She once dated Tom Sizemore, a renowned actor from Saving Private Ryan, for three years. In 2010, she briefly appeared on Celeb Big Brother in the UK, as the second contestant to exit.
Heidi participated in the last series of Big Brother aired by Channel 4. The show then moved to Channel 5 in 2011 and ran for 15 series. Following its cancellation in 2018, Celebrity Big Brother has made a comeback on ITV1, with the new series beginning on Monday. According to rumours about the line-up, the new episodes will feature big names like Fern Britton, rugby champ James Haskell, X Factor legend Louis Walsh, and Love Island stunner Ekin-Su Culculoglu. Meanwhile, AJ Odudu and Will Best return as hosts.