How Miss Cleo Did Money

Carmen Aiken sent along this hot Miss Cleo tip last week, and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to share it with all of you. Mike is gone so here we go: Miss Cleo On Her Allegedly Fake Patois And Getting Ripped Off By The Psychic Readers Network.

Jordan Sowunmi interviews Miss Cleo, born Youree Dell Harris, for VICE and she sets the record straight once and for all. Many people mistakenly assume that Miss Cleo was implicated in the 2002 FTC suit against the Psychic Readers Network but in reality she was only an employee and spokesperson, making 24 cents a minute.

Were they paying you well when they had you doing all this television and press? Were you seeing any of the wild profits that they were making?

Let me tell you; I’m going to quote you a number from the FBI. They were pulling down — [using] my face, my talent — $24 million a month, for two years straight. For the first 30-minute infomercial I did for them, I made $1,750 for the two and a half days on set. I had a bad contract. But everybody else thought I had more money than God, and my response to that usually was, “Well, God is a poor son of a bitch.”

And still now, people believe what they want to believe. So they say I still have money, but I want to know where it’s at.

And if you’re worrying about Miss Cleo’s current financial situation, don’t:

Do you have a lot of clients now?

Oh, yeah, my clients are international, sweetie. I have clients in New Zealand, Australia, a few here in Toronto, a bunch all over the US, Jamaica, obviously. Honey, that’s how I make my money. I’ve got kids and grandchildren; I like being able to help.

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