Pahrump’s Heidi Fleiss recalls ups and downs with actor Tom Sizemore
Former “Hollywood Madam” and Pahrump resident Heidi Fleiss conveyed her feelings about the recent death of her former boyfriend and Hollywood actor Tom Sizemore.
Sizemore, died on March 3 after suffering a stroke weeks earlier.
He was 61.
“There was a time in my life when Tom and I were very much in love,” Fleiss told the Pahrump Valley Times. “I know everything about him and we had a very emotional and physical relationship. Our breakup was public and embarrassing and we both regretted the way we handled it but we reconciled long ago.”
Hollywood’s A-list directors
Sizemore, over the years starred in numerous, well-known Hollywood motion pictures with A-list directors including Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers,” Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” and Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” among other projects.
Fleiss noted that Sizemore was preparing to start work on another film project this month, just prior to his death, while noting that she would lightheartedly tease him from time to time by referring to him as “Mr. Bollywood.”
Bollywood refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, India, engaged in the production of motion pictures, largely in the Hindi language.
“He told me that it’s going to be shot in Canada and he’ll get over $250,000,” Fleiss said with a slight chuckle. “But I found out that it was really going to be shot in Bulgaria.”
Drug use
Before his death, Fleiss said Sizemore was dealing with serious drug problems, which dated back to the 1990s and into the mid-2000s.
Over the years he used heroin, crystal methamphetamine and cocaine, while he was in and out of rehab, she said.
At one point in 1995, while shooting the movie “Heat,” actor Robert De Niro unsuccessfully tryed to convince Sizemore to seek treatment.
Criminal conviction
In 2003, Sizemore was convicted of physically abusing Fleiss during their two-year relationship.
As stated in a pre-sentencing letter to the judge, Sizemore said that he would have better controlled his behavior, had he not been under the influence of drugs.
He served eight months in prison.
The following year, Sizemore pleaded guilty to one felony count of possessing methamphetamine, where he was placed on probation.
Too big for the britches
Fleiss said that Sizemore’s probation was ultimately revoked when in 2005, he was busted using a prosthetic device known as the “Whizzinator” in order to fake a drug urine test.
His probation was eventually later reinstated.
“He got caught using a fake penis for his drug test and I’m sure it was because he ordered one that was too big, and it was obviously fake,” according to Fleiss.
Fond memories
On a final thought, Fleiss talked about how substance abuse transformed Sizemore’s appearance over the years.
“When he was with me, he was very handsome and he looked like a movie star,” she recalled. “Later on, he did not look like the same person that I saw in a picture of him back in January. I actually talked to him on the day he died, and the truth is, it’ll all come out later. It’s just dark. It’s really just dark, you know?”
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes
