It was confirmed that the famous psychic Miss Cleo has passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 53 after her fight against cancer.
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“The reason it’s scary is because in my personal experience, black cultures throughout the world have a more hard time accepting homosexuality in their family”, said Harris, who at the age of 19 gave birth to a daughter before she and her husband divorced when she was 21.
“I’m more a shaman, an elder in a community who has visions and gives direction to people in their village”, she said.
Miss Cleo, aka Youree Dell Harris, aka Rae Dell Harris or Cleomili Perris Youree or Ree Perris, was a cult icon.
“You can’t fool Miss Cleo!” the commercials reassured, as she flipped over tarot cards and touted her otherworldly powers.
Harris later voiced a character in the “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” video game.
Regardless, she became the company’s spokesperson with a series of ads that started airing in 1997.
Media reports from the time said a birth certificate unearthed during the lawsuit indicated Harris was born in Los Angeles.
The federal lawsuit ordered the companies to forgive $500 million in customers fees and later in court, PRN’s owners Steven Feder and Peter Stoltz settled the suit to a $5 million fine.
If you have a love of ’90s pop culture – ’90s hairstyles, ’90s makeup, ’90s music, oh my! – you’ll surely remember Miss Cleo. I have some family members who are very close to me, and they do know.
Though the commercials eventually faded, Miss Cleo remained an object of cultural curiosity. She also provided advice to her callers, especially regarding love troubles.
“Miss Cleo does have quite the folk hero cast to her, and it was an interesting choice by General Mills to bring her back to promote cereal”.
In 2006, she came out as a lesbian. “I had a bad contract”. She told the publication that her clients were her “village”. “That was really intense”, she said.
“I live in a little town, and everybody there knows who I am”. They found that not only were callers charged, but also that some of the “psychics” were really actors.
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In an interview with Vice in 2014, Harris revealed that she really was psychic, that she’d never been in jail, and that while others on the hotline may have been making “14 cents a minute”, she’d barely made more, telling the interviewer that her cut was “24 cents”. “I’m not the one”, she told The Advocate in a 2007 interview.
