February 12, 2025 • 36 mins
Caroline D’Amore has spent her life on the periphery of stardom. She’s done small roles in TV shows and movies. But struggles with drugs, a messy divorce, and even a run-in with notorious sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein have kept her fighting to eke out an existence for herself. Then suddenly, a friendly new neighbor enters the picture offering to help Caroline with EVERYTHING.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
My name is Caroline de More. I grew up in
Los Angeles and I've been trying to find my way
in this crazy town ever since I was a kid.
Maybe you saw me on the Hill's New Beginnings a
couple of years ago. Brodie and I went to high
school together. Audrina and I did a movie together. I
even did a bit of modeling back in the day.
(00:24):
Caroline d Moore, who was in every fashion show in
the world.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Now you're known to have the best walk?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's the walk?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I just go with the music. But after years of
fighting it, I finally surrendered to my destiny being the
pizza girl. This is my new thought. Pizza girl. Who
knew iced tea would be a fan?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I'm not gonna front it's good.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
But the reason I'm doing this podcast is well, I
was recently the victim of one of the most duplicitous
con artists working today.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
That was my salary, my.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Whole salary, going to Texas to have a meeting that
didn't exist. I got scammed by a man who was
like a father to me.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
This is a lie. Why lie to me?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
A man I thought was helping me.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
I want to know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Why, But in reality, he was just robbing me blind
while sending me on a wild goose chase.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Why would you do that to me when I thought
we were friends.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
We were a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
After uncovering his con, I'm not gonna lie. It knocked
me down hard. The shame and embarrassment was just too much.
I didn't want to live anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I almost loved everything, everything.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
But I found the strength that I never knew. I
had to pick myself back up and fight. I'm not
gonna let him get away with what he did to
me and what he did to hundreds of other people,
and what he's doing right now to dozens of unsuspecting
marks in Los Angeles. I'm putting him on notice. Your
(02:11):
days are numbered, David. I'm coming for you, and things
are about to get really ugly.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Stop Julie.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm Caroline de Morey and this is Once Upon a
Con Episode one. He thinks I'm a Mossieuse.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I remember when you called me and you were like,
should I just go fucking public with this? And just
like run with.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Dave, I'm hanging out now with one of my best
friends in the whole wide world, Tom Hamilton, we call
him Hammy.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I was like ab absolutely. If you can't just get
up on your soapbox and shout this story and protect
other people from what you went through, well I'll tell
you for.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
A little bit. I was scared that it was going
to discredit me as a businesswoman, that it was going
to overshadow everything that I worked so hard for, and
that no one else would take me seriously. But at
the end of the day, I will always fight to
the death for what is right and stand up for
other people. Hammy's known me since I was a kid.
(03:37):
We grew up in La together.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I remember when I first saw you, like in middle
school at Holly Shooter's house, but I don't think you
remember me. But so here's the thing about Carolina, and
she was like a celebrity before there were celebrities. She
was like a celebrity in middle school and everybody talked
about her. And I was like the new kid at
school that year, and I just kept hearing her name everywhere,
like Caroline Demore, Caroline More and I was like, who
(04:00):
the hell is this?
Speaker 7 (04:01):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
And then I ended up meeting her at Holly Schluter's house.
It was like a random friend.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Of ours our school.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
A E.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Wright Middle was located in the Kardashian Capital of the World, Calabasas, California,
and it was chock full of rich kids and spoiled
children of celebrities, and I just never really felt like
I belonged. But Hammy was convinced that I did.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Like I remember in theater class, like people saying good
things or bad things, like it was just like that
that chatter about someone who's like kind of like the
it person of like the school, you know. And I
remember one time someone said something bad about you in
theater class. It was the girl who won amazing race,
who like we're friends with now, the blonde girl.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Oh yeah, Laura Pearson.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Laura Pearson said something bad about you in class and
Brittany Hughes slapped her across the face. I remember in
your defense, and you like weren't even around, you know. Yeah,
I remember it was seventh grade. It must have been
like nineteen ninety eight or ninety nine. Britney Spears hit
me baby one More Time came out that year.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
How was?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I said no, And it was like a drama. It
was such a drama. But yeah, I remember, like that
was my first thing on you. And then you like
disappeared and went to New York to model or something.
That was like the rumor.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's really funny. It's funny how other people's perception of
you is so different than what you feel, you know,
in that way.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And I knew that your mom passed away really not
even knowing you. Yeah, I knew that. I heard that,
like through chatter at school, and like the story then
was toxic shock syndrome. Yeah, which wasn't the story at all.
That was like a story that your family came up
with or what.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, it's what my dad kind of hold the kids.
Yeah something. Yeah, my mom actually died of AIDS in
nineteen eighty nine, and back then it was such a
terrifying disease with no real treatment. There was just this
big stigma around it. So stigma, oh, way bigger.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So my dad, well I was really mad at him
when I found out the truth he did. He hid
it from us because you know, he didn't want us
to be the AIDS kids at school. I found out
through other people, not through my dad. I think it
was Sharon Osborne or someone knew the story and told
(06:33):
the Stewarts, and Kimberly Stewart was like really freaked out. Yeah,
she like dragged me to the doctor, the same.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Guy, and she's like, what if you gave me AIDS, Caroline.
It was really fucked up, but.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It was so bad for me to find out that
way was just really really hard. And then I told
my dad and I was like, yeah, I went and
got an AIDS test, and he was like, this is
why I protected you from this, because this is how
people are when it comes to this disease. And it's
actually so sad because my mother, she she did have
(07:11):
toxic shock, you know, from a tampon back then, but
it wasn't life and death. She went to get a
precautionary blood transfusion that was like, let's just do this
as an extra, you know, layer of protection, and they
didn't check the blood back then, and she was given
(07:32):
the AIDS virus through the transfusion and that set off
this whole like anti doctor thing in my family, and
none of us ever went to doctors. My dad still
doesn't believe in doctors. So, yeah, crazy story. My mother's
death from AIDS when I was just five years old
(07:54):
forever impacted me in ways I'm still trying to wrap
my head around. I learned at five years old that
life was short and that I was just going to
live every moment to the fullest because I never knew
you know, my mom, you know, she was only.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I think thirty six.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
When she died.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So I knew right out the gate that I was
going to enjoy this life right. But my dad eventually
pulled me out of a right middle school and it
kind of put the brakes on my crazy social life
in Calabasas. I went to Malibu. I went to Malibu
High and that's how I met some of the kids
from the Hills. Full circle down the road, ended up
(08:33):
on that show. My dad opened a pizza restaurant on
pH a tiny little hole.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
In the wall.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Oh, that's when he opened the Malibu store. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
To be fair, though, my dad busted his ass for
the past thirty five years and managed to open a
bunch of locations, and Demore's Pizza is now an La staple,
and my dad, in his own right, is a huge success.
But back then he was really struggling with his first
Malibu location, and by extension, so was I, and so
(09:06):
he moved us there, you know, and life started in Malibu,
and I dropped out a high school second week of
tenth grade. And then I went to New York. Okay, yeah,
hopped on a plane and yeah, didn't tell my dad.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
It's so brilliant that he moved you out of like
the lost Virginist School eighty right.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Well that's because he thought I was just going down
a bad path, you know with all those kids, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Right, And it's not like you got on a better path.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
No, it was way worse, but it was like it was.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
A bad path, but it was like a better bad path.
You know those kids at eighty right that stayed there, Like,
I know that's terrible, but like I'm just saying, like
no one went anywhere except for me at a back.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Round, Hammy's right for listeners who don't know Tom Hammy.
Hamilton actually went on to become a major talent manager
for stars like Paula Abdul and Paris Jackson and so
many more. All of that hard work is paying off
for him. He recently just bought his first home. By
(10:13):
the way, Hammy, this house is amazing. Congrats, you worked
your ass off and bought your own Hollywood Hills awesome home.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Thank you. Caroly You forgot to tell him that I'm
a great singer and that I've produced TV shows.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you know right, let me just go down the
list of amazing things.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
And then I was a child actor. You're gonna tell
him every day.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, there's just not enough time for that, Hammy. But
for me, life in Malibu as a teenager trying to
fit in was equal parts hard and honestly dangerous. It
was just so much access to you know, drugs and partying.
Malibu is there's just so much access because what do
(10:58):
kids with money? Do they buy drugs? Malibu is there's
just so much access because what do kids with money do?
They buy drugs?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
And they think they're unstoppable and they think that you
just do whatever you want and drive drunk, get it uig,
your parents, get your lawyer, like there's just no rules,
you know.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So true. And the crazy thing is that I was
in the mix with these kids, but I was the
pizza man's daughter, and so I didn't have, you know,
the lawyers or the funds to kind of keep up
that lifestyle. And I think that ultimately it was very
confusing for me because you know, all my friends were loaded, but.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
You're prettier than all of them. And then that really
is like shakes up the cocktail on a whole other
level of like being really beautiful and in a world
of access like that in a privileged scene, but.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Not actually having the same backing that all my friends had.
So it would turn out like, you know, if I
got into trouble or if I crashed a car, it
was like major, major, you know, it was bad. So, yeah,
it was weird.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I travel around with some you know, with like Paris
Hilton and Go you know DJ all of her record
release parties, live on the road in this lavish lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And then realized like I can't do this, Like I
can't literally try to keep up with the Kardashians because
the media and stuff saw me with Paris Hilton and
Kim Kardashian. They always wanted to kind of if they
don't have a story about you, they're going to create one, right.
So I remember seeing these articles and they were trying
to figure out why is this girl here? Right, like
(12:55):
why is she there?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Who is she?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I saw this article and it talked about how I
was the pizza heiress. Yeah, I remember this was the
time of the Arrisons, and.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I was like that was the buzzwordizza.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It was like this is this is crazy. And then
there was all these things that were like I'm like Wedad,
you know, he can barely, you know, keep it all
together with all of us kids in a tiny pizza shop,
and people were, you know, making it out like I
was this like rich party girl, socialite when really I
had to deliver pizzas all night long, you know, save
(13:28):
up enough money to go to the club and all
of that. And then you know, I became kind of
known in that circle. I mean, to this day, people
still write articles calling me a socialite when really my
family and I live paycheck to paycheck money and our
lack of it was always something I was acutely aware of.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Do you remember speaking of Keeping Up with the Kardashians,
because I vividly remember this when Kim was like campaigning
for like a crew of girls to do a reality
show on before Keeping up with the Kardashians, Well.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Her and I were set to do.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
It was you and her, and you guys were like
looking it was like I remember that, and I was thinking,
my I was like, why would she want to do
a show? With Kim, she just wasn't like front and
center like you were on Entourage and you were like
booking great TV shows. I remember when you were like
it like between you and that other girl for Lost,
like you were like you were like a talent. You
(14:27):
were like on camera talent and DJing like so like,
and Kim at that point was like she wasn't front
and center or like even presenting that type of persona.
I think she like she loved the idea of being
like rich and famous like everyone else in this town.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And then I remember she sat me down and she
was like, so I have to do the show with
my family, and it was kind of like letting me
down and I was like, no, you got to do
what you gotta do.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
And it was like the producers were interested in the
whole family.
Speaker 8 (14:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, and then that was keeping.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Up and then they were super Bowl sent her actually
reached out to me and asked me to dj on
the first episode, the very first episode ever of the Kardashians.
I did a whole episode of Courtney and Chloe take Miami.
So they definitely, like you know, reached out from time
to time, which is really sweet.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
The one thing that always like I remember about things
in your career, was like, you did that movie with
Carrie Fisher, and I was just like, that's Carrie fucking Fisher,
Like that's so major.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
We don't think.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I'm afraid of you.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I run a house with fifty crazy bitches.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
What was that movie called again, Sorority row? That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well, by the way, I know you fucked Megan's boyfriend.
Pay back, such a bitch.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
You're a bitch.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
My only college experience.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Totally, you got to experience being a sorority girl.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Oh yeah, yeah. Sometimes I do regret not following through
with my acting career. You know, I was on a
role there for a while with parts and movies and
TV shows, but I kind of gave up on it,
largely because it would drive any guy I was in
a relationship with absolutely crazy if I'd have to go
to set and make out with another actor on camera
(16:21):
for a scene.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Ooh.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I never made the big bucks with acting anyway. That
made hanging with my celebrity friends really challenging. People had
this assumption of me that I was one thing, when
really truly I you know, I was, It's so different.
The funniest story ever, is that I told Paris Hilton
one day, I said, I can't go with you anymore.
(16:45):
I don't have clothes to wear every night, and it
was very important that you didn't wear the same thing
twice back then. She was like, well, where whatever you
want from my closet and I was like, okay, I
picked something out. We ended up in US Weeklies, who
were at best and I'm wearing her outfit. Yeah, And
it was like it was so ridiculous. I was like, well,
(17:05):
thank god I didn't win. I remember. I think that
same article was like I think they called me the
jack of all trades and a master of none because
I had done so many different things. But when you
grow up in LA and someone's like, oh you want
a model, Oh you want to do a part in
my movie, or you know, let's DJ and have fun,
and you know I was. I was making enough money
(17:26):
to pay my own rent at a very young age.
You know, I was so young when I started DJing.
I was being snuck in through the kitchen of a
lot of clubs. Talk about Britney Spears. I was actually
DJing the night that her and Justin had their dance
off at Joseph.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I can't believe you were there for that. I like
the other milestone where were you and Brittany and Justin
had their dance off at Joseph.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I was behind the DJ decks. But the truly crazy
thing is is how I even became a DJ in
the first place. I remember this director from this play
that I was in called me and was like, Hey,
do you know any female DJs for the show I'm
doing at the LA Theater and bake it till you
(18:09):
make it? I lied and said I'm a DJ, and
he was like, okay, great, You're hired. I spent every
dollar I could, you know, gather on new CDJs and
a mixer, pioneer mixer, and I just started DJing. And honestly,
I learned how to be a good DJ by being
a terrible DJ, Like I didn't even know how to
mix when I did my first gig, and I did it,
(18:31):
and I remember Questlove came up to me and he
was like, you know what, You're good, He goes because
you're confident, and he's like, you have this confidence about
you now, like hone your skills, you know. So I
did that and then I got signed to the biggest
DJ agency and was one of the first females to
really you know, to do it on a grand scale,
(18:52):
you know, with my big residency in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
I believe it was me who did that deal and
got you that gig.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yes, yeah, yeah, thank you, handy At.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
That was major, by the way, first female that a
residency in Vegas, way before anyone else was doing it.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, it was fun, pioneer, It was fun. But then
it took me down, you know, took me down. What
comes with being a DJ is sobriety or death, and
that's how I look at it, and I was, Yeah,
I was on the verge of both at different times.
And living in Las Vegas is amazing and horrible for
(19:31):
that kind of thing. Amazing because you feel like you
can do anything in that drugs fueled twenty four to seven,
Go Go Go atmosphere, and horrible for the exact same reason.
I ended up getting married to a drummer and even
had a beautiful baby. I thought I was gonna get pregnant,
have a baby and then go straight back to my life,
(19:53):
just put my baby on my back and head to
the club and DJ. But turns out life changes drastically
and I had a really bad night where I ended up.
I had already had Bella. You know, I was still traveling.
(20:13):
I went out djaying. I came home very early and
I odid I did?
Speaker 8 (20:20):
I owed?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
What were you on again?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
What wasn't on? I don't know. I just did a
bunch of everything in one night. It was very scary,
and I remember I called Bobby. Bobby was the drummer
that I married, and he turned out to be a
real life saver. He called nine one one had to
call yeah, and they came and took me to the
hospital and put me in a room and asked me
(20:44):
why I was trying to kill myself. And I just
realized I have to make a big, huge much.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I just didn't too much. I just was the opposite.
I want to live. I didn't live.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
That's the thing. I wasn't a dark partier.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I was like a fun part of our generation. Yeah,
was never a dark partier like this new crowd of
this new like gen zers, they like party to like
go down and they're like like heroin, I'm depressed in
our day and age. Like we partied to like have
a black and love life, and all our friends did,
(21:20):
like we didn't smoke pot to be sad or like
because we hated ourselves right, no love, We loved ourselves,
and the pot just like amplified those feelings. And like
we partied to get high and now this new people
party to like get low. I'm like, guys, cocaine is
supposed to be fun, Like why do you do it?
And you want to kill yourself? Like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I definitely did not want to kill myself. I remember
like praying to the porcelain God on several occasions, like
if you let me live, I will never do this again, God, Like,
if you let me live, I'll never do this again.
But that was I really needed that.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I needed that.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wake up call. At this point, it started dawning on
me that my life had become a series of close
calls and dangerous misadventures. You see, years before I was
the victim of diabolical con man David Bloom, I was
almost the victim of another despicable predator, a man you
all heard about, a man who's been in the news,
(22:21):
a man known as the worst serial predator of all time.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested. He was taken
into custody overnight at a New Jersey airport.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I unfortunately crossed paths with Jeffrey fucking Epstein, but at
the time I had no idea who he was or
what he was trying to pull on me.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
He's a con man, basically, right, we call him a
con man. He was conning for whatever sexual things desires.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That he had recently kind of been okay with talking
about that because I was alone in New York City.
I was very young. I was probably seventeen years old,
and some girl comes up to me and befriends me
and says, oh, I want to take you you know
this audition, and da da da. He books all these huge,
(23:20):
you know, get campaigns, everything, big campaigns, and I was
like okay, And I got like the email and all
the details, and I was like stoked. I show up
with this giant brown stone on the Upper East Side
and I remember this butler opens the door. I'll never
get out of my head. The look of almost like
sadness that the butler gave me was like he knew
(23:43):
what was about to happen to me and just had
to like go along with it and put me in
this little waiting room and I'm in the waiting room
and I'm looking around and I have my modeling book
and I really think this is a modeling audition. And
I see on the walls like photos of like pre
residence with this man and you know, private jets, and
it's the most crazy thing I've ever seen, so many
(24:06):
famous people on the walls, and I was just like,
where am I? And then the butler comes against me.
He takes me to this room. I walked into this
dark room and I am tripping. I'm like, why am
I in this?
Speaker 4 (24:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
There's a massage table over there. I start panicking. This short,
weird guy comes out of the darkness, and I vaguely
remember a woman, which now I think is that woman
that you know everybody knows of it's in the documentary.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
Today we announced charges against Kallayne Maxwell for helping Jeffrey
Epstein sexually exploit and have use multiple minor girls.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And you know, he's laying on the table and I'm like,
oh my god, he thinks I'm a massuse. So in
my head, I'm like, what do I do? You know?
And I just kind of stood there frozen, and then
I remember he kind of kind of like lean towards
me and went to lift my shirt like or go
under my shirt. And that's the moment where I knew
(25:08):
that I'm a fighter. I don't freeze. I will fuck
you up, motherfucker, you know. And I remember going like,
get the fuck off me. And I just came out
like a like a like a dude, like I was
about to rip his eyeballs out, and he jumped off
of the massage table like panicking, and he's like, oh no, no, no, no,
(25:32):
oh no no, uh uh, you must have had the
wrong We got this mixed up, and he starts throwing
money at me, and I go, how the fuck do
I get out of here? I start running. I see
the butler, that motherfucker, and I go, where's the exit
and he was like it's right over there, and I ran.
And I remember running all the way from the Upper
(25:53):
east Side like down to Tribeca like and I never
looked back, and I was panicked, and I never wanted
to talk about it again. I excommunicated that fucking girl
who recruited me, and I remember you and I would
rack our brains and we'd be try to figure out
who that was because I had this guilt for years
of not knowing who it was and not being able
(26:14):
to speak about it or prevent other girls from ending
up in that situation.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Well those were the days when you didn't talk about
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
But also I had no idea who it was and
I had no way of finding that out come. A
couple years ago, my ex boyfriend goes he'd heard the
story and he goes Carolyn. He goes, if you saw
his face, would you remember it? Because he had just
watched the documentary and everything I said was verbatim. He
was like, you know, the massage table, the pictures on
(26:43):
the wall, who was in the pictures on the wall,
you know all of it, and even the location of
the Brownstone. And when he showed me the documentary, my
I just was like, oh, I went white. I was like,
that's him, sure enough, Yeah, it was Jeffrey Epstein. And
that's also a big reason why I need to speak
(27:04):
up about this David Bloom situation, because I have so
much regret not you know, I was only seventeen, so
like I didn't know to like investigate that motherfucker.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Hard on yourself, Like how are you supposed to be
this like Sherlock Homes and figure out what see doing
this to other girls? Or was it really a mistake?
You just went on to go live your life, you know, Like,
don't be so hard on yourself for that one. But
I see what you mean about how like under this circumstance,
you're not going to be quiet for one second, right
and do whatever you can. Yeah, with the power and
(27:38):
the platform that you have to.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Spread awareness on this motherfucker.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Find David Blooms.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, David bloom did such a number on me that
by the time it was all over, I didn't want
to live. He was such a monster.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I don't even remember the first time I met even Bloom.
I just remembered hearing about him, like he was so
in our inner circle because you would mention him and
talk about him, like when did you actually first meet him?
Like where did that all begin?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
At the Villa Carlotta, I moved into one of the
most beautiful buildings which you were obsessed with in Hollywood,
right below the Hollywood Sign, and it was a place
for me to kind of was right after my divorce.
I really needed a place to live so that I could,
(28:35):
you know, be with my daughter, and it was I
got super lucky because I got in on a COVID
rate like during COVID and it was just like it
was just the most magical place.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The Villa Carlato. Again for the non LA listeners, is
that that's old Hollywood. It's a city landmark. Maryon Davies
used to live in that building.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
That's James, the veteran crime journalist who wrote a big
investigative piece about David Bloom for the La Times. He
spent a lot of time at the Villa Carlotta doing
research for his story.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It was like a little bit of an actor's paradise.
So one of the Oranges new Black cast members there
than the lobby of the day, I was there.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
I'm not going to.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Say which one, because I feel like we shouldn't be
outing people's home addresses. But one of the characters you
saw over the course of seven seasons was there. If
that's vague enough, you know this is a place where
people work in this industry and you know, rely on
their reputations to get jobs, whether it's acting, consulting, video editing,
what have you.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
A two bedroom goes for about ten thousand dollars a
month at the Villa Carlata. Luckily, I was paying a
quarter of that because I moved in after divorcing my
husband of seven years during the COVID lockdown in twenty
twenty when they were having a lot of trouble finding
new tenants. I gotta say, the Villa Carlotta is one
(29:56):
of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen, dripping with
Hollywood glamour and history. Even an insider like Hammy was
totally impressed by my new home.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I remember throughout that whole chapter too, Like, was it
like Julia Roberts was like staying down the hall in
one in one of the big accommodations. Yeah, the whole
place was like laced with wildly successful people. And so
it's the executive at the record company, and this the
other woman was like this thirty year old under thirty
(30:29):
Forbes girl who started that company.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I remember looking terrible, very early in the morning, sweatpants on,
all disheveled and walking my dog, and Sean penn was
just walking right by me and He's.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
Like hi, and I was like hi.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
My neighbors, Julia Roberts and Sean Pennicide. The Villa Carlotta
just seemed like heaven to me. I really found my
groove at that place, and I loved living there, and
we had piano nights and wine night, and the pool
was exquisite, and there was you know, coffee and breakfast
(31:04):
in the lobby in the morning, and it was it
was so magical, and we had so many fun experiences there,
you know, through such a scary time through COVID. You know,
my daughter learned to swim in that pool, like it
was just like a family for a bunch of people
that weren't with their family.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I forget that you were in there through the lockdown.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, I was in there through the lock You ended.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Up becoming really close with everyone down the hall. Oh yeah,
so and that was your that was like your lockdown crew.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, that was my lockdown. So everybody at the Villa Carlotta.
Living there was like a dream come true for me.
Then all of a sudden it became my worst nightmare.
I just remember I was by the pool, which I
often was because I was working always by the pool.
Why wouldn't you was gorgeous. You hear him laughing from
across the pool, like, you know, talking to everybody. Seems
(31:56):
like he knows everybody. He walks over to me and
if I knew then what I know now, I would
have gotten up and left. I would have run the
hell out of the villa, Carlata screaming at the top
of my lungs, stay away from this man. He's dangerous.
I would have called the police. I would have hired
armed guards. I would have done anything to just keep
(32:19):
that man away from me, and away from my daughter,
and away from everyone. I knew. But I didn't know
what he was when I met him. He had a
kind smile and a super friendly demeanor. You know, he
seemed like a really nice guy. And looking back, I
was like little Red riding Hood being courted by the
(32:42):
big bad wolf. And I didn't stand a chance.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Why would you say that shit to me?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Why?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
This season on Once Upon a.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
Con, David Bloom was so good at what he did.
He was strategic about it.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
When he first started working for me, he dropped so
many names. Oh, I'm so connected. I know everybody. My wife,
she's doing all these things politically, she's connected to Gavin Newsom.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Bloom strikes at people largely with money, and he goes
after people with privilege, and you know, it kind of
shows that, you know, wealth doesn't insulation from that.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
David had a bent late in a show. For one
time when I was with him for dinner and he
had to take a phone call and he came back
he said, Oh, it.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Was just soaping BRUNEI I mean, my head was spinning.
He was showing me his phone. Oh look, I go
Adam Schiff's number on speed op.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
David was a genius.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
I was married to David for almost ten years. It
was insane. The stuff he was doing was insane, and
I was trying to make sense of something that doesn't
make any sense, or to understand things that I could
not have thought of in my wildest dreams to do.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
He's pathologically He's a psycho pat.
Speaker 7 (33:59):
Yeah, like a repe cycle pat.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I was barely functioning, and I just had this
realization that he will not stop until he kills me.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
That was the start of the cancer that David bloom
Plant fine nights and Austen five nights in the fucking life.
We're gonna change. Oh, we're fucking Gord.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
We pre arranged that I would record everything on my iPhone.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
David, I want to know the truth.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
You've told me a lot of things that are different
from the stories I'm hearing from these peyopoar.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I chose to tell a story because a different story.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
R Javed Blood blows a stammer out here.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
David, you know where to hide now.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother,
Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing
up for myself. Once Upon a Con is a production
of AYR Media and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me
Caroline de Morey. Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media,
(35:20):
Alex Baskin for thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for
Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton, producer Caroline de Morey,
Senior associate producer Joe Pushesnik Coordinator Molena Kroyesky. Sound designed
by Tim Mulhern, edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern, Supervising
(35:42):
editor Victoria Chang, Mastered by Victoria Chang, Engineering by Justin Longerbein.
Legal counsel for AYR Media Gianni Douglas. Our theme song,
Freshly Served, was written and performed by the incredibly talented
Mattie Noise and is a failla ball on her SoundCloud
My name is Caroline de More. I grew up in
Los Angeles and I've been trying to find my way
in this crazy town ever since I was a kid.
Maybe you saw me on the Hill's New Beginnings a
couple of years ago. Brodie and I went to high
school together. Audrina and I did a movie together. I
even did a bit of modeling back in the day.
(00:24):
Caroline d Moore, who was in every fashion show in
the world.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Now you're known to have the best walk?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's the walk?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I just go with the music. But after years of
fighting it, I finally surrendered to my destiny being the
pizza girl. This is my new thought. Pizza girl. Who
knew iced tea would be a fan?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I'm not gonna front it's good.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
But the reason I'm doing this podcast is well, I
was recently the victim of one of the most duplicitous
con artists working today.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
That was my salary, my.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Whole salary, going to Texas to have a meeting that
didn't exist. I got scammed by a man who was
like a father to me.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
This is a lie. Why lie to me?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
A man I thought was helping me.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
I want to know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Why, But in reality, he was just robbing me blind
while sending me on a wild goose chase.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Why would you do that to me when I thought
we were friends.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
We were a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
After uncovering his con, I'm not gonna lie. It knocked
me down hard. The shame and embarrassment was just too much.
I didn't want to live anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I almost loved everything, everything.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
But I found the strength that I never knew. I
had to pick myself back up and fight. I'm not
gonna let him get away with what he did to
me and what he did to hundreds of other people,
and what he's doing right now to dozens of unsuspecting
marks in Los Angeles. I'm putting him on notice. Your
(02:11):
days are numbered, David. I'm coming for you, and things
are about to get really ugly.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Stop Julie.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm Caroline de Morey and this is Once Upon a
Con Episode one. He thinks I'm a Mossieuse.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I remember when you called me and you were like,
should I just go fucking public with this? And just
like run with.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Dave, I'm hanging out now with one of my best
friends in the whole wide world, Tom Hamilton, we call
him Hammy.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I was like ab absolutely. If you can't just get
up on your soapbox and shout this story and protect
other people from what you went through, well I'll tell
you for.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
A little bit. I was scared that it was going
to discredit me as a businesswoman, that it was going
to overshadow everything that I worked so hard for, and
that no one else would take me seriously. But at
the end of the day, I will always fight to
the death for what is right and stand up for
other people. Hammy's known me since I was a kid.
(03:37):
We grew up in La together.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I remember when I first saw you, like in middle
school at Holly Shooter's house, but I don't think you
remember me. But so here's the thing about Carolina, and
she was like a celebrity before there were celebrities. She
was like a celebrity in middle school and everybody talked
about her. And I was like the new kid at
school that year, and I just kept hearing her name everywhere,
like Caroline Demore, Caroline More and I was like, who
(04:00):
the hell is this?
Speaker 7 (04:01):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
And then I ended up meeting her at Holly Schluter's house.
It was like a random friend.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Of ours our school.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
A E.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Wright Middle was located in the Kardashian Capital of the World, Calabasas, California,
and it was chock full of rich kids and spoiled
children of celebrities, and I just never really felt like
I belonged. But Hammy was convinced that I did.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Like I remember in theater class, like people saying good
things or bad things, like it was just like that
that chatter about someone who's like kind of like the
it person of like the school, you know. And I
remember one time someone said something bad about you in
theater class. It was the girl who won amazing race,
who like we're friends with now, the blonde girl.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Oh yeah, Laura Pearson.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Laura Pearson said something bad about you in class and
Brittany Hughes slapped her across the face. I remember in
your defense, and you like weren't even around, you know. Yeah,
I remember it was seventh grade. It must have been
like nineteen ninety eight or ninety nine. Britney Spears hit
me baby one More Time came out that year.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
How was?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I said no, And it was like a drama. It
was such a drama. But yeah, I remember, like that
was my first thing on you. And then you like
disappeared and went to New York to model or something.
That was like the rumor.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's really funny. It's funny how other people's perception of
you is so different than what you feel, you know,
in that way.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And I knew that your mom passed away really not
even knowing you. Yeah, I knew that. I heard that,
like through chatter at school, and like the story then
was toxic shock syndrome. Yeah, which wasn't the story at all.
That was like a story that your family came up
with or what.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, it's what my dad kind of hold the kids.
Yeah something. Yeah, my mom actually died of AIDS in
nineteen eighty nine, and back then it was such a
terrifying disease with no real treatment. There was just this
big stigma around it. So stigma, oh, way bigger.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So my dad, well I was really mad at him
when I found out the truth he did. He hid
it from us because you know, he didn't want us
to be the AIDS kids at school. I found out
through other people, not through my dad. I think it
was Sharon Osborne or someone knew the story and told
(06:33):
the Stewarts, and Kimberly Stewart was like really freaked out. Yeah,
she like dragged me to the doctor, the same.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Guy, and she's like, what if you gave me AIDS, Caroline.
It was really fucked up, but.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It was so bad for me to find out that
way was just really really hard. And then I told
my dad and I was like, yeah, I went and
got an AIDS test, and he was like, this is
why I protected you from this, because this is how
people are when it comes to this disease. And it's
actually so sad because my mother, she she did have
(07:11):
toxic shock, you know, from a tampon back then, but
it wasn't life and death. She went to get a
precautionary blood transfusion that was like, let's just do this
as an extra, you know, layer of protection, and they
didn't check the blood back then, and she was given
(07:32):
the AIDS virus through the transfusion and that set off
this whole like anti doctor thing in my family, and
none of us ever went to doctors. My dad still
doesn't believe in doctors. So, yeah, crazy story. My mother's
death from AIDS when I was just five years old
(07:54):
forever impacted me in ways I'm still trying to wrap
my head around. I learned at five years old that
life was short and that I was just going to
live every moment to the fullest because I never knew
you know, my mom, you know, she was only.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I think thirty six.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
When she died.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So I knew right out the gate that I was
going to enjoy this life right. But my dad eventually
pulled me out of a right middle school and it
kind of put the brakes on my crazy social life
in Calabasas. I went to Malibu. I went to Malibu
High and that's how I met some of the kids
from the Hills. Full circle down the road, ended up
(08:33):
on that show. My dad opened a pizza restaurant on
pH a tiny little hole.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
In the wall.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Oh, that's when he opened the Malibu store. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
To be fair, though, my dad busted his ass for
the past thirty five years and managed to open a
bunch of locations, and Demore's Pizza is now an La staple,
and my dad, in his own right, is a huge success.
But back then he was really struggling with his first
Malibu location, and by extension, so was I, and so
(09:06):
he moved us there, you know, and life started in Malibu,
and I dropped out a high school second week of
tenth grade. And then I went to New York. Okay, yeah,
hopped on a plane and yeah, didn't tell my dad.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
It's so brilliant that he moved you out of like
the lost Virginist School eighty right.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Well that's because he thought I was just going down
a bad path, you know with all those kids, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Right, And it's not like you got on a better path.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
No, it was way worse, but it was like it was.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
A bad path, but it was like a better bad path.
You know those kids at eighty right that stayed there, Like,
I know that's terrible, but like I'm just saying, like
no one went anywhere except for me at a back.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Round, Hammy's right for listeners who don't know Tom Hammy.
Hamilton actually went on to become a major talent manager
for stars like Paula Abdul and Paris Jackson and so
many more. All of that hard work is paying off
for him. He recently just bought his first home. By
(10:13):
the way, Hammy, this house is amazing. Congrats, you worked
your ass off and bought your own Hollywood Hills awesome home.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Thank you. Caroly You forgot to tell him that I'm
a great singer and that I've produced TV shows.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you know right, let me just go down the
list of amazing things.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
And then I was a child actor. You're gonna tell
him every day.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, there's just not enough time for that, Hammy. But
for me, life in Malibu as a teenager trying to
fit in was equal parts hard and honestly dangerous. It
was just so much access to you know, drugs and partying.
Malibu is there's just so much access because what do
(10:58):
kids with money? Do they buy drugs? Malibu is there's
just so much access because what do kids with money do?
They buy drugs?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
And they think they're unstoppable and they think that you
just do whatever you want and drive drunk, get it uig,
your parents, get your lawyer, like there's just no rules,
you know.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So true. And the crazy thing is that I was
in the mix with these kids, but I was the
pizza man's daughter, and so I didn't have, you know,
the lawyers or the funds to kind of keep up
that lifestyle. And I think that ultimately it was very
confusing for me because you know, all my friends were loaded, but.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
You're prettier than all of them. And then that really
is like shakes up the cocktail on a whole other
level of like being really beautiful and in a world
of access like that in a privileged scene, but.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Not actually having the same backing that all my friends had.
So it would turn out like, you know, if I
got into trouble or if I crashed a car, it
was like major, major, you know, it was bad. So, yeah,
it was weird.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I travel around with some you know, with like Paris
Hilton and Go you know DJ all of her record
release parties, live on the road in this lavish lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And then realized like I can't do this, Like I
can't literally try to keep up with the Kardashians because
the media and stuff saw me with Paris Hilton and
Kim Kardashian. They always wanted to kind of if they
don't have a story about you, they're going to create one, right.
So I remember seeing these articles and they were trying
to figure out why is this girl here? Right, like
(12:55):
why is she there?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Who is she?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I saw this article and it talked about how I
was the pizza heiress. Yeah, I remember this was the
time of the Arrisons, and.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I was like that was the buzzwordizza.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
It was like this is this is crazy. And then
there was all these things that were like I'm like Wedad,
you know, he can barely, you know, keep it all
together with all of us kids in a tiny pizza shop,
and people were, you know, making it out like I
was this like rich party girl, socialite when really I
had to deliver pizzas all night long, you know, save
(13:28):
up enough money to go to the club and all
of that. And then you know, I became kind of
known in that circle. I mean, to this day, people
still write articles calling me a socialite when really my
family and I live paycheck to paycheck money and our
lack of it was always something I was acutely aware of.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Do you remember speaking of Keeping Up with the Kardashians,
because I vividly remember this when Kim was like campaigning
for like a crew of girls to do a reality
show on before Keeping up with the Kardashians, Well.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Her and I were set to do.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
It was you and her, and you guys were like
looking it was like I remember that, and I was thinking,
my I was like, why would she want to do
a show? With Kim, she just wasn't like front and
center like you were on Entourage and you were like
booking great TV shows. I remember when you were like
it like between you and that other girl for Lost,
like you were like you were like a talent. You
(14:27):
were like on camera talent and DJing like so like,
and Kim at that point was like she wasn't front
and center or like even presenting that type of persona.
I think she like she loved the idea of being
like rich and famous like everyone else in this town.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And then I remember she sat me down and she
was like, so I have to do the show with
my family, and it was kind of like letting me
down and I was like, no, you got to do
what you gotta do.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
And it was like the producers were interested in the
whole family.
Speaker 8 (14:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, and then that was keeping.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Up and then they were super Bowl sent her actually
reached out to me and asked me to dj on
the first episode, the very first episode ever of the Kardashians.
I did a whole episode of Courtney and Chloe take Miami.
So they definitely, like you know, reached out from time
to time, which is really sweet.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
The one thing that always like I remember about things
in your career, was like, you did that movie with
Carrie Fisher, and I was just like, that's Carrie fucking Fisher,
Like that's so major.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
We don't think.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I'm afraid of you.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I run a house with fifty crazy bitches.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
What was that movie called again, Sorority row? That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Well, by the way, I know you fucked Megan's boyfriend.
Pay back, such a bitch.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
You're a bitch.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
My only college experience.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Totally, you got to experience being a sorority girl.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Oh yeah, yeah. Sometimes I do regret not following through
with my acting career. You know, I was on a
role there for a while with parts and movies and
TV shows, but I kind of gave up on it,
largely because it would drive any guy I was in
a relationship with absolutely crazy if I'd have to go
to set and make out with another actor on camera
(16:21):
for a scene.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Ooh.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I never made the big bucks with acting anyway. That
made hanging with my celebrity friends really challenging. People had
this assumption of me that I was one thing, when
really truly I you know, I was, It's so different.
The funniest story ever, is that I told Paris Hilton
one day, I said, I can't go with you anymore.
(16:45):
I don't have clothes to wear every night, and it
was very important that you didn't wear the same thing
twice back then. She was like, well, where whatever you
want from my closet and I was like, okay, I
picked something out. We ended up in US Weeklies, who
were at best and I'm wearing her outfit. Yeah, And
it was like it was so ridiculous. I was like, well,
(17:05):
thank god I didn't win. I remember. I think that
same article was like I think they called me the
jack of all trades and a master of none because
I had done so many different things. But when you
grow up in LA and someone's like, oh you want
a model, Oh you want to do a part in
my movie, or you know, let's DJ and have fun,
and you know I was. I was making enough money
(17:26):
to pay my own rent at a very young age.
You know, I was so young when I started DJing.
I was being snuck in through the kitchen of a
lot of clubs. Talk about Britney Spears. I was actually
DJing the night that her and Justin had their dance
off at Joseph.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I can't believe you were there for that. I like
the other milestone where were you and Brittany and Justin
had their dance off at Joseph.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I was behind the DJ decks. But the truly crazy
thing is is how I even became a DJ in
the first place. I remember this director from this play
that I was in called me and was like, Hey,
do you know any female DJs for the show I'm
doing at the LA Theater and bake it till you
(18:09):
make it? I lied and said I'm a DJ, and
he was like, okay, great, You're hired. I spent every
dollar I could, you know, gather on new CDJs and
a mixer, pioneer mixer, and I just started DJing. And honestly,
I learned how to be a good DJ by being
a terrible DJ, Like I didn't even know how to
mix when I did my first gig, and I did it,
(18:31):
and I remember Questlove came up to me and he
was like, you know what, You're good, He goes because
you're confident, and he's like, you have this confidence about
you now, like hone your skills, you know. So I
did that and then I got signed to the biggest
DJ agency and was one of the first females to
really you know, to do it on a grand scale,
(18:52):
you know, with my big residency in Vegas.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
I believe it was me who did that deal and
got you that gig.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yes, yeah, yeah, thank you, handy At.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
That was major, by the way, first female that a
residency in Vegas, way before anyone else was doing it.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, it was fun, pioneer, It was fun. But then
it took me down, you know, took me down. What
comes with being a DJ is sobriety or death, and
that's how I look at it, and I was, Yeah,
I was on the verge of both at different times.
And living in Las Vegas is amazing and horrible for
(19:31):
that kind of thing. Amazing because you feel like you
can do anything in that drugs fueled twenty four to seven,
Go Go Go atmosphere, and horrible for the exact same reason.
I ended up getting married to a drummer and even
had a beautiful baby. I thought I was gonna get pregnant,
have a baby and then go straight back to my life,
(19:53):
just put my baby on my back and head to
the club and DJ. But turns out life changes drastically
and I had a really bad night where I ended up.
I had already had Bella. You know, I was still traveling.
(20:13):
I went out djaying. I came home very early and
I odid I did?
Speaker 8 (20:20):
I owed?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
What were you on again?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
What wasn't on? I don't know. I just did a
bunch of everything in one night. It was very scary,
and I remember I called Bobby. Bobby was the drummer
that I married, and he turned out to be a
real life saver. He called nine one one had to
call yeah, and they came and took me to the
hospital and put me in a room and asked me
(20:44):
why I was trying to kill myself. And I just
realized I have to make a big, huge much.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I just didn't too much. I just was the opposite.
I want to live. I didn't live.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
That's the thing. I wasn't a dark partier.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I was like a fun part of our generation. Yeah,
was never a dark partier like this new crowd of
this new like gen zers, they like party to like
go down and they're like like heroin, I'm depressed in
our day and age. Like we partied to like have
a black and love life, and all our friends did,
(21:20):
like we didn't smoke pot to be sad or like
because we hated ourselves right, no love, We loved ourselves,
and the pot just like amplified those feelings. And like
we partied to get high and now this new people
party to like get low. I'm like, guys, cocaine is
supposed to be fun, Like why do you do it?
And you want to kill yourself? Like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I definitely did not want to kill myself. I remember
like praying to the porcelain God on several occasions, like
if you let me live, I will never do this again, God, Like,
if you let me live, I'll never do this again.
But that was I really needed that.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I needed that.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Wake up call. At this point, it started dawning on
me that my life had become a series of close
calls and dangerous misadventures. You see, years before I was
the victim of diabolical con man David Bloom, I was
almost the victim of another despicable predator, a man you
all heard about, a man who's been in the news,
(22:21):
a man known as the worst serial predator of all time.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested. He was taken
into custody overnight at a New Jersey airport.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I unfortunately crossed paths with Jeffrey fucking Epstein, but at
the time I had no idea who he was or
what he was trying to pull on me.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
He's a con man, basically, right, we call him a
con man. He was conning for whatever sexual things desires.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That he had recently kind of been okay with talking
about that because I was alone in New York City.
I was very young. I was probably seventeen years old,
and some girl comes up to me and befriends me
and says, oh, I want to take you you know
this audition, and da da da. He books all these huge,
(23:20):
you know, get campaigns, everything, big campaigns, and I was
like okay, And I got like the email and all
the details, and I was like stoked. I show up
with this giant brown stone on the Upper East Side
and I remember this butler opens the door. I'll never
get out of my head. The look of almost like
sadness that the butler gave me was like he knew
(23:43):
what was about to happen to me and just had
to like go along with it and put me in
this little waiting room and I'm in the waiting room
and I'm looking around and I have my modeling book
and I really think this is a modeling audition. And
I see on the walls like photos of like pre
residence with this man and you know, private jets, and
it's the most crazy thing I've ever seen, so many
(24:06):
famous people on the walls, and I was just like,
where am I? And then the butler comes against me.
He takes me to this room. I walked into this
dark room and I am tripping. I'm like, why am
I in this?
Speaker 4 (24:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
There's a massage table over there. I start panicking. This short,
weird guy comes out of the darkness, and I vaguely
remember a woman, which now I think is that woman
that you know everybody knows of it's in the documentary.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
Today we announced charges against Kallayne Maxwell for helping Jeffrey
Epstein sexually exploit and have use multiple minor girls.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And you know, he's laying on the table and I'm like,
oh my god, he thinks I'm a massuse. So in
my head, I'm like, what do I do? You know?
And I just kind of stood there frozen, and then
I remember he kind of kind of like lean towards
me and went to lift my shirt like or go
under my shirt. And that's the moment where I knew
(25:08):
that I'm a fighter. I don't freeze. I will fuck
you up, motherfucker, you know. And I remember going like,
get the fuck off me. And I just came out
like a like a like a dude, like I was
about to rip his eyeballs out, and he jumped off
of the massage table like panicking, and he's like, oh no, no, no, no,
(25:32):
oh no no, uh uh, you must have had the
wrong We got this mixed up, and he starts throwing
money at me, and I go, how the fuck do
I get out of here? I start running. I see
the butler, that motherfucker, and I go, where's the exit
and he was like it's right over there, and I ran.
And I remember running all the way from the Upper
(25:53):
east Side like down to Tribeca like and I never
looked back, and I was panicked, and I never wanted
to talk about it again. I excommunicated that fucking girl
who recruited me, and I remember you and I would
rack our brains and we'd be try to figure out
who that was because I had this guilt for years
of not knowing who it was and not being able
(26:14):
to speak about it or prevent other girls from ending
up in that situation.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Well those were the days when you didn't talk about
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
But also I had no idea who it was and
I had no way of finding that out come. A
couple years ago, my ex boyfriend goes he'd heard the
story and he goes Carolyn. He goes, if you saw
his face, would you remember it? Because he had just
watched the documentary and everything I said was verbatim. He
was like, you know, the massage table, the pictures on
(26:43):
the wall, who was in the pictures on the wall,
you know all of it, and even the location of
the Brownstone. And when he showed me the documentary, my
I just was like, oh, I went white. I was like,
that's him, sure enough, Yeah, it was Jeffrey Epstein. And
that's also a big reason why I need to speak
(27:04):
up about this David Bloom situation, because I have so
much regret not you know, I was only seventeen, so
like I didn't know to like investigate that motherfucker.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Hard on yourself, Like how are you supposed to be
this like Sherlock Homes and figure out what see doing
this to other girls? Or was it really a mistake?
You just went on to go live your life, you know, Like,
don't be so hard on yourself for that one. But
I see what you mean about how like under this circumstance,
you're not going to be quiet for one second, right
and do whatever you can. Yeah, with the power and
(27:38):
the platform that you have to.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Spread awareness on this motherfucker.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Find David Blooms.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, David bloom did such a number on me that
by the time it was all over, I didn't want
to live. He was such a monster.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I don't even remember the first time I met even Bloom.
I just remembered hearing about him, like he was so
in our inner circle because you would mention him and
talk about him, like when did you actually first meet him?
Like where did that all begin?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
At the Villa Carlotta, I moved into one of the
most beautiful buildings which you were obsessed with in Hollywood,
right below the Hollywood Sign, and it was a place
for me to kind of was right after my divorce.
I really needed a place to live so that I could,
(28:35):
you know, be with my daughter, and it was I
got super lucky because I got in on a COVID
rate like during COVID and it was just like it
was just the most magical place.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
The Villa Carlato. Again for the non LA listeners, is
that that's old Hollywood. It's a city landmark. Maryon Davies
used to live in that building.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
That's James, the veteran crime journalist who wrote a big
investigative piece about David Bloom for the La Times. He
spent a lot of time at the Villa Carlotta doing
research for his story.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It was like a little bit of an actor's paradise.
So one of the Oranges new Black cast members there
than the lobby of the day, I was there.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
I'm not going to.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Say which one, because I feel like we shouldn't be
outing people's home addresses. But one of the characters you
saw over the course of seven seasons was there. If
that's vague enough, you know this is a place where
people work in this industry and you know, rely on
their reputations to get jobs, whether it's acting, consulting, video editing,
what have you.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
A two bedroom goes for about ten thousand dollars a
month at the Villa Carlata. Luckily, I was paying a
quarter of that because I moved in after divorcing my
husband of seven years during the COVID lockdown in twenty
twenty when they were having a lot of trouble finding
new tenants. I gotta say, the Villa Carlotta is one
(29:56):
of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen, dripping with
Hollywood glamour and history. Even an insider like Hammy was
totally impressed by my new home.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
I remember throughout that whole chapter too, Like, was it
like Julia Roberts was like staying down the hall in
one in one of the big accommodations. Yeah, the whole
place was like laced with wildly successful people. And so
it's the executive at the record company, and this the
other woman was like this thirty year old under thirty
(30:29):
Forbes girl who started that company.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I remember looking terrible, very early in the morning, sweatpants on,
all disheveled and walking my dog, and Sean penn was
just walking right by me and He's.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
Like hi, and I was like hi.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
My neighbors, Julia Roberts and Sean Pennicide. The Villa Carlotta
just seemed like heaven to me. I really found my
groove at that place, and I loved living there, and
we had piano nights and wine night, and the pool
was exquisite, and there was you know, coffee and breakfast
(31:04):
in the lobby in the morning, and it was it
was so magical, and we had so many fun experiences there,
you know, through such a scary time through COVID. You know,
my daughter learned to swim in that pool, like it
was just like a family for a bunch of people
that weren't with their family.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I forget that you were in there through the lockdown.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, I was in there through the lock You ended.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Up becoming really close with everyone down the hall. Oh yeah,
so and that was your that was like your lockdown crew.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, that was my lockdown. So everybody at the Villa Carlotta.
Living there was like a dream come true for me.
Then all of a sudden it became my worst nightmare.
I just remember I was by the pool, which I
often was because I was working always by the pool.
Why wouldn't you was gorgeous. You hear him laughing from
across the pool, like, you know, talking to everybody. Seems
(31:56):
like he knows everybody. He walks over to me and
if I knew then what I know now, I would
have gotten up and left. I would have run the
hell out of the villa, Carlata screaming at the top
of my lungs, stay away from this man. He's dangerous.
I would have called the police. I would have hired
armed guards. I would have done anything to just keep
(32:19):
that man away from me, and away from my daughter,
and away from everyone. I knew. But I didn't know
what he was when I met him. He had a
kind smile and a super friendly demeanor. You know, he
seemed like a really nice guy. And looking back, I
was like little Red riding Hood being courted by the
(32:42):
big bad wolf. And I didn't stand a chance.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Why would you say that shit to me?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Why?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
This season on Once Upon a.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
Con, David Bloom was so good at what he did.
He was strategic about it.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
When he first started working for me, he dropped so
many names. Oh, I'm so connected. I know everybody. My wife,
she's doing all these things politically, she's connected to Gavin Newsom.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Bloom strikes at people largely with money, and he goes
after people with privilege, and you know, it kind of
shows that, you know, wealth doesn't insulation from that.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
David had a bent late in a show. For one
time when I was with him for dinner and he
had to take a phone call and he came back
he said, Oh, it.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Was just soaping BRUNEI I mean, my head was spinning.
He was showing me his phone. Oh look, I go
Adam Schiff's number on speed op.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
David was a genius.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
I was married to David for almost ten years. It
was insane. The stuff he was doing was insane, and
I was trying to make sense of something that doesn't
make any sense, or to understand things that I could
not have thought of in my wildest dreams to do.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
He's pathologically He's a psycho pat.
Speaker 7 (33:59):
Yeah, like a repe cycle pat.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I was barely functioning, and I just had this
realization that he will not stop until he kills me.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
That was the start of the cancer that David bloom
Plant fine nights and Austen five nights in the fucking life.
We're gonna change. Oh, we're fucking Gord.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
We pre arranged that I would record everything on my iPhone.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
David, I want to know the truth.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
You've told me a lot of things that are different
from the stories I'm hearing from these peyopoar.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I chose to tell a story because a different story.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
R Javed Blood blows a stammer out here.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
David, you know where to hide now.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother,
Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing
up for myself. Once Upon a Con is a production
of AYR Media and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me
Caroline de Morey. Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media,
(35:20):
Alex Baskin for thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for
Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton, producer Caroline de Morey,
Senior associate producer Joe Pushesnik Coordinator Molena Kroyesky. Sound designed
by Tim Mulhern, edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern, Supervising
(35:42):
editor Victoria Chang, Mastered by Victoria Chang, Engineering by Justin Longerbein.
Legal counsel for AYR Media Gianni Douglas. Our theme song,
Freshly Served, was written and performed by the incredibly talented
Mattie Noise and is a failla ball on her SoundCloud
Host
Caroline D’Amore
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