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Atomic Moms

Jeanette Maier As the madam of the Canal Street Brothel, in New Orleans, Jeanette Maier was a businesswoman whose business was women. Unfortunately, this also included her daughter, Monica. By age 15, Monica had started stripping with her mother, and by

Jeanette-Maier.jpg
Jeanette Maier

Jeanette Maier

As the madam of the Canal Street Brothel, in New Orleans, Jeanette Maier was a businesswoman whose business was women. Unfortunately, this also included her daughter, Monica. By age 15, Monica had started stripping with her mother, and by 23, she was turning tricks and paying mom and grandma's steep 50 percent commission.

Defending the prostitute lifestyle, Jeanette compared time spent at the brothel to college life. "It was like family. It was like a sorority of girls," she told 48 Hours. "We'd hang out, watch movies, eat popcorn at night." And to make matters even more bizarre, Jeanette's own mother also worked at the brothel. Apparently, the tastes of the clientele were only so broad, however, and, at age 62, grandma had been relegated to administrative duties. She regularly booked jobs for her granddaughter, who was said to be one of the most popular ladies of the house.

The brothel was eventually shut down by the FBI. But that didn't stop Maier from spinning her cross-generational tale of whoring into a spate of interviews and a TV movie, The Madam's Family: The Truth about the Canal Street Brothel, starring Dominique Swain as the plucky young Monica. We can only hope the real Monica got a better deal on film rights than she did working for mom.



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Dakeysha Lee

Dakeysha Lee

One positive thing can be said about Dakeysha Lee: she somehow spawned an incredibly industrious child. For the 19 days Lee was in prison for aggravated assault, her 2-year-old toddler Breanna lived a horrifying, real-life Home Alone. Brianna was left to her devices, with only a TV to keep her company and whatever food she could manage to pull from the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets. Thankfully, in a toddler version of Man vs. Wild, she was able to find sustenance, subsisting on dry pasta and condiment packets for nearly three weeks. Her father says the girl was found watching cartoons, covered in ketchup residue.

Lee initially denied the charges, but ultimately pleaded no contest, receiving 18 months of probation. Investigators say that over the course of her incarceration she never asked about her daughter, speculated on who might be taking care of her, or expressed any concern for anyone other than herself. After her release and a brief custody battle (perhaps a final testament to her delusion), Dakeysha's husband, Ogden Lee, was granted custody of Brianna.

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