Alexis Christine Haines (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Neiers; born June 20, 1991) is a member of the "
Bling Ring
The Bling Ring (also known as Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch, The Burglar Bunch, and the Hollywood Hills Burglars) were a group of seven teenagers and young adults based in and around Calabasas, California, convicted of multiple thefts.
They bro ...
" and a former
television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
. At the age of 18, she was arrested for her involvement in a string of burglaries that targeted the homes of multiple celebrities. Haines served one month of a six-month sentence after her conviction for one count of first degree residential burglary.
Haines starred in the reality television show ''
Pretty Wild'', but her struggles with addiction and the aftermath of being a part of the "Bling Ring" ended her Hollywood career goals. She got sober when she was 19, and started utilizing her platform to help others with drug problems, including becoming a columnist for
''Vice''. Haines began hosting the podcast ''Recovering From Reality'' in 2019''.''
Involvement in the "Bling Ring"
On November 16, 2009, Haines pleaded
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...
to burglary charges stemming from her involvement with the Hollywood "
Bling Ring
The Bling Ring (also known as Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch, The Burglar Bunch, and the Hollywood Hills Burglars) were a group of seven teenagers and young adults based in and around Calabasas, California, convicted of multiple thefts.
They bro ...
" burglaries. The burglars had robbed the homes of celebrities including
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001), ''The Two Towers'' (2002), a ...
,
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...
,
Rachel Bilson
Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981) is an American actress. Born to a Californian show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series ''The O.C.'' Bils ...
, and
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conra ...
. Haines claimed to have been drunk during the burglary of Bloom's house, and "not sure what was going on". Co-defendant Nick Prugo recalled a different version of events, saying that Haines was fully aware a burglary was taking place, and is seen walking into the Bloom residence on security surveillance footage.
A search of the Haines' household turned up a
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...
handbag belonging to Bilson and a
Chanel
Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...
necklace belonging to Lohan. Haines initially denied the items were stolen.
It appeared Haines was arrested on the set of reality show ''
Pretty Wild'', during the taping of the pilot episode, but she and her mother revealed in the 2022
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
three-part
docuseries
Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries.
Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film.
*Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...
''The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist'' that the arrest had occurred off-camera. Instead, the scene that aired on the show was a fabrication carried out by
E!'s production crew.
Haines also admitted that she was one of the tipsters who implicated Prugo in the security footage that aired on ''
TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
''.
On May 10, 2010, Haines pleaded no contest to a felony charge of first degree residential burglary of Orlando Bloom's home and was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, with three years' probation and a fine of $600,000.
Haines began her sentence on June 24, 2010, and was released after serving one month of a six-month sentence. During the last five days of her sentence, she was in a cell next to
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...
.
She reported that she did not have any contact with Lohan during her brief time in jail and that Lohan did not cause any trouble.
In popular culture
Haines has been featured in two films chronicling events surrounding the "Bling Ring", both titled ''The Bling Ring''.
In the first, a
made for TV film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
that originally aired on
Lifetime
Lifetime may refer to:
* Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey
* ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band
* ...
in 2011, the character based on her is named Maddie Bishop and is played by
Spencer Locke
Spencer Locke (born September 20, 1991) is an American actress known for her roles as Kylie in ''Cougar Town,'' Jenny Bennett in '' Monster House,'' Ione in '' Detention'', and K-Mart in the ''Resident Evil'' film series.
Life and career
Prior ...
.
British actress
Emma Watson
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and activist. Known for her roles in both blockbusters and independent films, as well as for her women's rights work, she has received a selection of accolades, includi ...
played Haines in the
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...
-directed
2013 film, wherein she is renamed as Nicolette "Nicki" Moore. The film premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, and was released nationwide on June 21, 2013.
Haines has criticized her depiction in the film as inaccurate, alleging her role in the burglaries is exaggerated.
Haines further called out Watson for negative comments Watson made about Haines' character in the film, saying she expected more empathy given the public knowledge that Haines had been sexually abused and was struggling with heroin addiction.
Media, career and personal life
Haines was born to Mikel Neiers, a Hollywood
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
known for his roles as the director of photography on ''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'' and ''
Spin City
''Spin City'' is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 to April 30, 2002, on ABC. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show is set in a semi-fictionalized version of the New York City mayor's ...
'',
and
Andrea Arlington
Andrea Arlington, formerly Neiers and Dunn, is an American life coach, writer, minister, former television personality, and former model. She began her career as a pin-up model in the 1980s, appearing in ''Playboy'' and eventually moving to Los An ...
, an actress and model who was in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' in the 1980s. They divorced, and Arlington remarried Jerry Dunn, a production designer for television,
whom she later divorced.
Haines has said that she struggled with her father "falling off the face of this earth and not being a father."
Haines dropped out of
Indian Hills High School to pursue a career in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, while studying for a
GED
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
under the supervision of her mother.
She worked for some time as a hip-hop and pole dancing instructor.
Haines obtained her GED at age 16. Haines alleges that when she was 16, Arlington took her and Taylor to get fake identification cards and pushed the teens into
pin-up modeling, though Arlington denies this.
Haines ultimately worked as a lingerie model, appeared in the straight-to-dvd film ''Frat Party'', and appeared nude behind a sheet in the
Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...
music video for "
Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon
"Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released as the second single from their seventh studio album ''The High End of Low''. It has been remixed by the Teddybears. The song was released for dow ...
" when she was 17.
At the time of the burglaries, Haines had been kicked out of her mother's and step-father's home, and was staying with "Bling Ring" co-defendant Nick Prugo and his family.
After the airing of ''Pretty Wild'', many unapproved images were released of Haines and her costar Tess Taylor on the website ''
TheDirty.com
Nik Lamas-Richie (born Hooman Abedi Karamian, February 12, 1979), is an American blogger, author, and Internet personality. Richie is best known as the founder of controversial gossip website TheDirty.com.
Early life
Richie was born in Hackensack ...
''. Although lawyers requested that the images, which portrayed the girls smoking bongs and what appeared to be heroin, be taken down, blogger
Nik Richie
Nik Lamas-Richie (born Hooman Abedi Karamian, February 12, 1979), is an American blogger, author, and Internet personality. Richie is best known as the founder of controversial gossip website TheDirty.com.
Early life
Richie was born in Hackensack ...
, the owner of the site, declined. In December 2010, Haines checked into the SOBA Recovery center in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...
, after she was sentenced to one year of rehab following an arrest for possession of
black tar heroin
Black tar heroin is a form of heroin that is sticky like tar or hard like coal. Its dark color is the result of crude processing methods that leave behind impurities. Despite its name, black tar heroin can also be dark orange or dark brown in ap ...
and a fake
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
identification card. Both were discovered when Haines failed to check in with her probation officer, while on probation for her involvement in the "Bling Ring", and officers paid her a visit and searched her residence. She was joined in rehab by Taylor, albeit briefly, under unrelated circumstances.
On December 8, 2011, Haines participated in an episode of Nik Richie radio on the website ''TheDirty.com''. She admitted to being addicted to
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
,
Xanax
Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of medium duration in the triazolobenzodiazepine (TBZD) class, which are benzodiazepines (BZDs) fused with a triazole ring. It is most commonly ...
,
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
, and
OxyContin
Oxycodone, sold under various brand names such as Roxicodone and OxyContin (which is the extended release form), is a strong, semi-synthetic opioid used medically for treatment of moderate to severe pain. It is highly addictive and a commonly ...
during the filming of ''Pretty Wild'', stating that when not filming the show she was "living in a
Best Western
Best Western International, Inc. owns the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, which it licenses to over 4,700 hotels worldwide. The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. ...
hotel", getting high and
panhandling for money on the streets. She was sexually molested as a young child, which she says contributed to her drug problems, along with her troubles with her father, an incident of rape, and a boyfriend who also used.
In 2011, she said she no longer speaks to Taylor, though in 2019, Taylor joined Haines on her podcast ''Recovering from Reality'' to discuss her recovery from her own heroin addiction.
As of 2022, Haines said she had been sober for eleven years.
Haines got sober at nineteen years old, after facing up to six years in the California State prison system due to her addiction to heroin. Haines started school while in treatment in order to obtain her CASAC (Credentialed Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor) certification to become a licensed drug and alcohol counselor. Starting in 2013, Haines was a columnist for ''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'', covering youth, addiction, and recovery.
She appeared in a documentary for ''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'', focusing on the
heroin epidemic amongst youth in the Los Angeles area, and specifically, to show the human face of those in active addiction and hear their personal stories.
Haines is now a counselor at
Alo House Recovery Centers and hosts a podcast called ''Recovering from Reality''.
Haines has also worked as a
Doula
A doula () is a trained professional who provides expert guidance for the service of others and who supports another person (the doula's client) through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion o ...
.
In April 2012, she married Evan Haines, a Canadian businessman, in Mexico. There were 20 guests, including Haines' mother, Gabby, and Tess. On April 24, 2013, Haines gave birth to their first child, a girl. She later gave birth to their second child, another girl. In 2021, Haines and her husband separated, and as of September 2022, the relationship had ended, and Haines reported she had moved on with a "supportive" boyfriend.
Haines identifies as
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
.
''Pretty Wild''
On March 14, 2010, ''
Pretty Wild'' premiered on E! network, a reality TV show based on the lives of Haines, her unofficially adopted "sister" Tess Taylor, her younger biological sister Gabby Neiers, and their mother,
Andrea Arlington
Andrea Arlington, formerly Neiers and Dunn, is an American life coach, writer, minister, former television personality, and former model. She began her career as a pin-up model in the 1980s, appearing in ''Playboy'' and eventually moving to Los An ...
, a former ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' model. The show focused on the modeling careers of Haines and Taylor, as well as their LA "party lifestyle". The show was criticized for the girls' sexual antics and the seemingly bizarre behavior of the sisters and their mother. Shortly after filming the pilot episode, Haines was arrested for her involvement in the "Bling Ring" robberies and the show ended up chronicling her arrest and eventual plea bargain and jail time.
The show was not renewed for a second season.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haines, Alexis
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
1991 births
American people convicted of burglary
People from Malibu, California
American substance abuse counselors
People from Westlake Village, California
Female models from California
American Internet celebrities
American podcasters
Actresses from Los Angeles
American women podcasters
21st-century American women