What happened to Miss Cleo? Psychic reader's fascinating story explained (2024)

Psychic Reader Miss Cleo, real name Youree Dell Harris, is the focus of HBO Max's latest documentary, Call Me Miss Cleo.

As Miss Cleo on the Psychic Readers Network, Harris would urge viewers to "call me now!" advertising free calls for consumers to get their fortune read.

However, Harris and Psychic Readers Network found themselves at the center of controversy in the early 2000s, facing allegations of fraud.

Call Me Miss Cleo features interviews with Harris that took place in 2016 as well as celebrity fans Debra Wilson and Raven-Symoné. The documentary asks whether Harris knew what she was doing or whether she was being taken advantage of.

What Happened to Miss Cleo?

Youree Dell Harris, better known by her stage name Miss Cleo, was an American television personality.

She was best known in the U.S. as Miss Cleo, a spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call service called Psychic Readers Network. She appeared in several television commercials for the network that aired between 1997 and 2003.

Her other aliases included Cleomili Harris and Youree Perris.

Harris died on July 26, 2016, from colorectal cancer. She was 53 years old.
She was survived by her two children.

Early Career

In 1996, Harris opened her own theatrical production company in Seattle under the name Ree Perris and produced several of her own plays.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Harris left Seattle after the failure of her last play, Supper Club Cafe, in 1997. It soon emerged some of the cast of her productions weren't paid, with the money allegedly going towards her medical bills to treat bone cancer.

Miss Cleo and Psychic Readers Network Controversy

In the mid-1990s, Harris joined the Psychic Readers Network as Cleo. On-screen, she appeared as an informercial psychic, claiming to be a shaman from Jamaica.

Well known for her catchphrase "The cards never lie," she urged viewers to call the charge-by-the-minute number to have their fortunes read.

In the late 1990s accusations of deceptive advertising and fraud began to surface regarding Miss Cleo and the Psychic Readers Network.

Customers alleged they received emails stating: "[Miss Cleo has] been authorized to issue you a Special Tarot Reading!... it is vital that you call immediately!" however, these calls were not answered by psychics, but by actors reading from scripts, according to Slate.com.

Calls that were advertised as free also allegedly incurred charges. In total, the federal government said the "free" calls cost consumers of Psychic Readers Network $1 billion, The Washington Post reported.

In 1999, North Carolina launched a lawsuit accusing Access Resource Services (operating as Psychic Readers Network) of fraud and false advertising. Numerous other states followed, including Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Indiana.

In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged the owners of Access Resource Services and Harris' promoters, Steven Fader and Peter Stotz with deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices.

The FTC found the Psychic Readers Network did offer a free reading to customers, but consumers calling a toll-free number were directed to a 900 number and were charged $4.99 per minute. As a result, nearly 6 million people who made the calls, were charged an average of $60, according to The Washington Post.

Fader and Stotz settled by removing the $500 million debt owed by the customer to the network and paying $5 million to the FDC. All uncashed checks were also returned to customers.

Harris wasn't indicted in the lawsuit, but it emerged during the numerous legal battles that Harris wasn't from Jamaica as she had stated. It transpired she had been born in Los Angeles and her parents were American-born citizens.

Speaking to The Advocate after her birth details were exposed, Harris said: "I am who I am," adding that she had Jamaican roots.

As for doubt over whether she was truly a psychic, Harris explained: "I'm more a shaman, an elder in a community who has visions and gives direction to people in their village. My clients and my students are my villages. I take care of this community. If you sit down at my table, you have to take away a lesson and not just learn what is going to happen tomorrow. I also perform weddings — both gay and straight marriages — and house cleansings and blessings."

Post Psychic Readers Network

Under the name Cleomili Harris, she appeared in the 2014 documentary, Hotline, to discuss her experience at Psychic Readers Network.

She also worked in advertising and voiced the character of Auntie Pulet in the 2002 video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Call Me Miss Cleo is streaming on HBO Max now.