Miss Cleo, whose real name was Youree Harris, was diagnosed with colon cancer that spread to her liver and lungs.
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The TV psychic became famous thanks to her catchphrase “CALL ME NOW”, TMZ notes, and is said to have died surrounded by family and friends.
“She has touched so many lives, both within her family and in the community”, her rep’s statement read.
Harris told in an interview to Vice that PRN used her face and won $24 million a month for two years, but she was not receiving her fair share.
After her psychic gig ended, Miss Cleo became a radio host and lent her voice to the character of Auntie Poulet for “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” in 2002, according to All Day. A former castmate told the Post-Intelligencer that Harris “had no Jamaican accent [at the time]-she was born and raised in L.A”. Fans took to social media to reminisce on the times they had called Miss Cleo in hopes of learning what the future may have in store. Harris died of cancer in Palm Beach County Tuesday, TMZ reported, at age 53.
Her success was cut short when, in the early 90s, lawsuits against the network began cropping up in states across the country alleging fraud.
She was born in Los Angeles but found fame as a Jamaican TV psychic in ads that ran from 1997 to 2003, according to the Daily News.
Harris will undoubtedly be missed.
Her father, David Harris, was from Texas.
Miss Cleo claimed to be a “devoted Shango Shaman” from Jamaica for over 20 years. The Federal Trade Commission said the psychic service promised a free reading, but consumers calling a toll-free number were directed to a 900 number charging $4.99 per minute.
In 2006, after her infomercials went off the air, Harris came out as a lesbian. I say, “Ya, mon, but me hear she not Jamaican”.
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In 2014, she appeared in a documentary called Hotline, which was about telephone hotlines.
