Youree Harris, who found fame as TV psychic Miss Cleo, has a died at age 53.
Harris died in Palm Beach County, Florida, following a prolonged battle with cancer. She gained a huge following with her Psychic Network TV commercials featuring her famous catchphrases, “Call me now!” and “The cards never lie!”
But Harris was criticized by the Jamaican community for faking her Jamaican accent. It was later revealed she wasn’t even Jamaican.
The jig was up when federal prosectors got ahold of her driver’s license and revealed she was American.
Harris was born in Los Angeles and raised in Seattle. Using the alias Ree Perris, Harris left a trail of fraud victims from Washington state to California.
The FCC filed a federal civil case against Harris for deceptive billing and collection practices. She reportedly earned millions of dollars scamming callers.
“I’m not a psychic,” Harris told the New Times in 2007 at the peak of the controversy. “I am a mambo, a Haitian high priestess — that’s what I was trained to do. Being a psychic that was not my idea. That was a package that was put together. And it wasn’t me.”
She told The Advocate she was a lesbian and the mother of 2 daughters. She claimed she only earned $450,000 from the TV commercials and Miss Cleo merchandising.
“People really believed that I owned [Psychic Network]. I’m said to have gazillions of dollars. I wish people would tell me where it is,” she said.
Thanks to loyal reader Robyn W. for the tip.
