Miss Cleo was best known for her Jamaican accent and the phrase “Call me now!” on TV infomercials in the late 90s.
Advertisement
But even after her television career as Miss Cleo ended, Harris said she would still be treated affectionately by fans. One of her biggest (other) claims to fame was that she voiced Auntie Poulet in the 2002 video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”.
In that same Advocate interview, Harris said she really did have Jamaican roots. She had kept the secret from some family members over the years, though she affirmed that her parents, who had since passed away, knew about her orientation.
Iconic TV psychic Miss Cleo died on Tuesday, ABC News confirmed. She allegedly told some of her colleagues that she suffered from bone cancer and sickle cell anemia, an inherited blood disorder.
“She remained a pillar of strength throughout”, Cone said in a statement.
The psychic, born Youree Harris, was famous for her “Call me now!” tagline and she would take phone calls from viewers to share their fortunes.
“For the first 30-minute infomercial I did for them, I made $1,750 for the two and a half days on set”, she added. There was some indignant arm-crossing on everyone’s part and I don’t believe we parted as friends that night. But there are places where I go and people are like, ‘Yo! “Miss Cleo!’ and I try to run”, she said.
Advertisement
Despite fallout from the Psychic Readers Network’s demise at the hands of the Federal Trade Commission – a suit later settled out of court – Cleo said she still had callers as of just a few years ago. “So they told me, ‘No, no, no, we can’t use that word; we’re going to call you a psychic'”. “But then Miss Cleo – or Ree Perris, Youree Cleomili, Youree Dell Harris, Youree Perris, Rae Dell Harris, Cleomili Perris Youree, Cleomili Harris, or whatever she has called herself – left town with a trail of debts and broken promises”. “I live in a little town, and everybody there knows who I am”.
