The television psychic who achieved enormous fame for her unforgettable commercial appearances, Miss Cleo, has passed away at the age of 53.
Born Youree Harris, the alleged clairvoyant became a household name as 'Miss Cleo' thanks to her psychic hotline ads which aired frequently in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
The 'psychic network' which employed Harris would eventually run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission, which charged the company with false advertising and other improprieties.
Although Harris never faced any legal repercussions for her work on the hotline, she did receive tremendous ridicule for being the face of the 'psychic' business and not foreseeing its downfall.
Revelations that Miss Cleo was, in fact, not Jamaican and actually hailed from Los Angeles only further dismayed TV viewers who suspected that it had all been an act.
Despite the dubious nature of the Miss Cleo character, Harris insisted in a 2014 interview that she was truly psychic and claimed to still be counseling clients from her old hotline.
In the years after the business folded, she parlayed her unexpected notoriety into appearances in the documentary Hotline as well as the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Although many self-proclaimed 'real psychics' were chagrined by the Miss Cleo character, there is little doubt that she was perhaps the most famous soothsayer in America for a brief period of time and will be fondly remembered by nostalgic TV viewers.
Source: People Magazine