TV Psychic Miss Cleo Dies at 53
Former TV psychic Miss Cleo, who shot to fame as the star of infomercials for the Psychic Readers Network, has died. She was 53.
TMZ reports that Cleo -- whose real name was Youree Dell Harris -- passed away on Tuesday after battling cancer. A rep for the TV personality told TMZ that Cleo had been diagnosed with colon cancer that spread to her liver and lungs; she was recently hospitalized near her home in Palm Beach County, Florida, but was moved to hospice care shortly afterward, where her rep said she "died surrounded by family and friends."
Miss Cleo shot to fame thanks to those ubiquitous psychic infomercials from the late '90s and early 2000s, featuring her signature catchphrase imploring television viewers to "Call me now!" The character's thick Jamaican accent became instantly recognizable, though Harris was actually born in Los Angeles and did not have an accent in real life.
In 2001, Cleo and her parent company ran into some trouble with the law when Access Resource Services (the owner of Psychic Readers Network) was hit with several lawsuits claiming that the company engaged in false advertising and deceptive billing practices. The Federal Trade Commission also looked into those complaints, filing federal charges against the company; that suit was eventually settled.
Following her TV psychic days, Harris did some voiceover work for "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." She also recently spoofed her Miss Cleo days for an April Fools Day campaign for Benefit Cosmetics in 2015, revealing in an interview with AdWeek that she has a sense of humor about herself and her past.
"Laughter is truly the best healer," she told the site at the time. "It's the best way to celebrate. I love to laugh. I think that if anybody takes themselves too seriously, you run the risk of missing out on a lot of wonderful things."
