Earlier this week we asked why Chi Chi LaRue was crowdsourcing his path to sobriety, and a quick scroll through the comments section of that post reveals that most readers were just as puzzled.
But that hasn’t stopped the fundraising efforts from quietly gaining traction. The current tally shows $10,300 of the $40k goal in the bank.
Related: Sister Roma Says Chi Chi LaRue’s Drug Addiction “Desperate and Critical”
This morning, Chi Chi posted a video update from the Hazelden Betty Ford Center in Minnesota after completing 30 days in treatment.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“I just wanted to say that I’m really, really thankful and grateful and appreciative of everyone that has helped me emotionally and financially with this journey. Um, the cards and letters have been amazing, and you guys sending me coffee and green straws made it better. Thank you for donating to my Gofundme page. It’s humbling, and, uh, weird but it’s something I’ve had to do because I’ve screwed up a lot, and I really appreciate your help…Here’s to another 30 days of getting better so I can be better for you guys.”
Watch below:
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
Posted by Chi Chi LaRue on Friday, July 31, 2015
Stay strong, girl! We may find your fundraising efforts a bit unorthodox but don’t think for a second we aren’t rooting for your recovery.
SeeingAll
“Stay strong, girl !” ?? Time to change the name of Queerty to Clowney.
ingyaom
Isn’t this guy a pornographer? is there no money in pornography? Why beg for money on the internet?
LarsEighner
If you do not want or cannot afford to donate, just don’t. You’re negativity is good for nothing. Everyone should support recovery, even if it can’t be monetary support.
MarionPaige
Meanwhile, Chi Chi LaRue is also announcing on twitter the move of “his” store to a new location:
“Chi Chi LaRue’s Moving To New Location: After six successful years at 8932 Santa Monica Blvd, the retail store will move across the street to 8861 Santa Monica Blvd.”
Kevin Davis
Did he blow all his porn producing money on drugs? Why does he need money for rehab?
Tony Chaplinski
thought there was more money that that in porn,must have been one hell of a drug habit
John Wadsworth
DAMN how bout someone funding me?
QJ201
Did he forget to enroll in Obamacare? As a small business owner he had no coverage for himself or employees?
At least its a reputable rehab and not some CA rehab spa.
QJ201
@QJ201: Actually most insurances do pay for 28 days…so maybe that’s the drive for $$$
jckfmsincty
Does he think publicly funded treatment is beneath him?
Jesus Malverde
There are plenty of rehabs that don’t cost $40,000. Obviously not serious about being clean and sober!
Finrod
@ingyaom: “is there no money in pornography?”
Who pays for porn when you can get it free? And amateur porn is better than studio porn. Studio porn has gotten so far from real sex, it’s like watching kabuki.
Bob LaBlah
Honey, that was brave of you to release that video. I swear, I didn’t recognize you. I don’t ever remember seeing you that small, not that I have been really following you I admit. I remember a cute, squeezable-loveable-teddy bear who always made me think “that’s our modern day Devine” up there on that stage. Hope you get well hon. Take care.
Irish Ryan
Damn she lost so much weight!
JimboinLA
Those porcelain veneers had to cost at least ten grand. But that’s nothing compared to the dough he spent on Oxycontin. What is that saying about a fool and his money? I do wish him health…but not at my expense. XO
Scott Redner
Guess she needs to stop paying those #GayForPay “straight” queers so much lol
Raúl Hernández
#Suckers
Lvng1Tor
This makes me ill…While I support anyone getting clean, the idea that you have to go to a place you can’t afford is ridiculous. There are plenty of places that offer great rehab services that are not lux. If you are serious about getting clean then you will go anywhere you need to. Asking people to foot your bill when you obviously blew your money is selfish and the people the people giving money are suckers. They could be giving money to local non profs that help tons of lgbt people everyday that really need the money instead of indulging this person. Hell give money to the LGBT center I run… we help hundreds of people each week operate on about 2x the amount of money this person is asking for…for promising this time he’ll get sober. what ever…
mdnamdna
Yes, keep sending $$$ so I don’t have to spend my own $$$ and also, Girlfriends – you wouldn’t want me going through rehab with everyday people off of the street would you???? “Here’s to another 30 days of getting better so I can be better for you guys.” Yes darlings, cheers – ooops I mean thanks so I can be better for you (???)….(I really mean ME but I’m trying as hard as I can to pull your heart string$)
Rick Holtz
She squandered her money on drugs, plastic surgery, a lap band operation, exploited actors and employees and now wants the public to foot the bill for her overpriced rehab? She’s not serious about getting sober and refuses to take personal responsibility. Guaranteed she’ll relapse in a few months. Sleazy, stupid troll.
jason smeds
Chi Chi La Rue was an expert at making glossy porn with great-looking male performers. I think he went on to direct for Vivid, a “straight” porn company. I think there was some controversy with Vivid’s condoms policy if I’m not mistaken.
Chi Chi also specialized in what is known as “bisexual” porn with titles like Read Bi All and Miss Kitty’s Litter. As I said, the male performers were all top notch lookers with great bodies. The range of female performers was relatively restricted because very few women will work with bisexual men in the porn industry.
The “straight” side of the porn industry is very homophobic when it comes to male bisexuality but they embrace female bisexuality, a bisexuality which is largely fake.
jwtraveler
The best way to show his/her appreciation is not to relapse.
SpunkyBunks
I hope he recovers. But it will be difficult if he goes back to working in the same party environment. As an alcoholic myself, I was able to cut my drinking drastically by staying away from bars/clubs and dropping my party hardy “friends”.
Can he remain sober still performing as a dejay and pornography producer? There’s a lot of drugs/alcohol in those industries.
kouros
Free residential drug/alcohol recovery programs are almost non-existent. In most states, entry into completely subsidized residential treatment is only available to felons with substance related convictions. Apparently La Rue was admitted to Ford at MN with an expectation that he raise a portion of his treatment costs. And no, self-employed drug abusers normally do not spend money on health insurance. I have a photo of La Rue at Ripples Long Beach from the mid-1980s. The current La Rue is a ghost.
One website estimates that luxury treatment facility costs average between $20,000 to $80,000 month, and that standard drug treatment facilities cost between $10,000 and $20,000 per month. Ninety-day residential care followed by six-month protected living and ongoing out-patient care are treatment norms. Do the math.
seaguy
@ingyaom: $$$ likely all went up his nose.
SeeingAll
And how come that nun dude isn’t there, all formidable-but-capable, fussing over him like some nun in an old movie ?
Daniel Bujes
These comments, damn. Most of you have never dealt with someone that had a substance abuse or alcohol problem huh?
Trevor S. Robertson
Bitch please. Take a hike, literally.
Chris
What seems to bother people is that she’d ask others to foot the bill for her rehab. I agree with folk who can’t believe that she doesn’t have the resources to pay her own way; and then to take a sizable medical deduction on her income taxes, I might add. But I’ll just not contribute anything and be done with it. If others want to be parted with their money, then so be it. That is none of my concern.
Cam
All of the people attacking posters because we really really are so unsympathetic ball blah blah, here is an idea. Why don’t you people screaming that we should donate, show us one instance where Chi Chi was ever that kind to any if the people who worked for him.
Port producers don’t follow typical entertainment industry practice of paying people every time their scenes are reused, they pocket that money, and aren’t large numbers of those actors dead from overdoses?
Just point out any time “Chi Chi” treated workers financially fair or donated HIS money to get somebody he didn’t well through rehab.
Lastly, Queety, please stop passing off helping out this guy as an article, this is the second time in 2 days you posted a link to the go fund me page. If you want to post an article asking people to donate just do it.
Jaime Enrique Sibauste
Large Marge
Why isn’t she using the profits from her store to pay her own way?
Bob LaBlah
@Large Marge: It might be a situation where she has an “interest” in the store but she is not the “total” owner of it. Again, I said MIGHT.
BigWill
“But that hasn’t stopped the fundraising efforts from quietly gaining traction. The current tally shows $10,300 of the $40k goal in the bank.”
I don’t know, I don’t think after eight days that’s much traction; if the $40k were going to be raised, it would have been by now.
scotshot
@kouros: I’ve done the math. The sum of it is the fact LaRue is playing you for a fool.
scotshot
@Daniel Bujes: I’ve dealt with it all. It doesn’t take $40,000 a month luxury spa.
Richard Burnside
Money can’t buy you sobriety. AA is free and all it takes is a sincere desire to be sober. Get real Chi Chi and stop hustling the public.
adrianjurado310
you should just go to whole foods and get like a plate, i thinks its the same price either way
Bob LaBlah
Here’s a song that will hopefully cheer her up. Keep this in mind when you get sober and back to work. Its really about life when you think about it. And may ol’ Lynn RIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beKFjPEU_Fw
Travis Garrett
Disgusting piece of trash. Just go away…no one cares about your crazy bullshit.
Vegas Tearoom
And why should we care?
salex
My first thought…GO GIRL! and than I recall the many stars she introduced as actors in porn, But most importantly the many of them who died from AIDS and DRUG USE.
I simply believe she brought much death to the gay community. I see no reason to reward her for her contributions. Call it a treatment or call it man’s punishment. In any civil society one does not reward those who introduced death to a young crowd.
SonOfKings
I don’t care how mugs drugs was use. This dude is supposed to have some money. Been in the poem business for 100 years.
Billy Budd
He won’t get a cent of my hard earned money. No No No.
NateOcean
I’m addicted to porn. GoFundMe please.
moldisdelicious
who is he?
honeychile
As sympathetic as I am toward his addiction problems, he’s an absolutely destructive individual who has made his own bed. Time to lie in it.
hughhai
Hey, everyone! I didn’t fuck up my life and instead got a graduate degree so I could work in social justice to make the world a more fair place for marginalized populations. How about crowd sourcing my student loans? I guess, that’s not how it works…
McShane
@SonOfKings:
Uhhhhhhhh… “Been in the poem business for 100 years.”
This might be my favorite stupid comment, ever.
Cam
@hughhai:
Thank you!
jorgecruz
She had enough money for all that plastic surgery when she wanted it. We aren’t against recovery, its just hard to be sympathetic of someone that has used so many people over the years. How many actors in her movies had drug problems and how many of them did she fund rehab stints for?
gemchandc
Hmm, she has a porno store on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, she has her own lube line, jets around the country to gay parties where she is placed on a pedestal and given first class VIP treatment, she proudly posted on her Facebook page that she was known as one of the richest drag queens in the world, and she has lived a life of pure hedonism and self indulgence for over 25 years.
And now she is in one of the most expensive rehabs asking the public to pay for it? Rehab doesn’t work unless you hit rock bottom and feel the cost YOURSELF and the consequences of your own behavior. She obviously could finance the rehab — medical loan, personal loan, business loan, second mortgage, sell some assets, sell her store or marketing rights, etc. Or she could go to any number or FREE rehab facilities or FREE programs in Los Angeles or San Francisco. It’s not as if the Gay Community is lacking free publicly funded rehab facilities. There’s a list a mile long of the different kinds of free treatment she could have of all varieties and flavors, especially in California for god sakes. But oh no, she’s somehow a celebrity who needs sanitized special celebrity rehab separated from everyday folks like you and me. She needs a VIP room and special privileges as if this is a gay nightclub and she needs a velvet rope between herself and us commoners. She can drop out of the luxo-bucks-o rehab after a month now that she can’t afford it and enter one that is free. What’s the big deal? Is she on a life support iron lung or in intensive care hooked up to machines that are somehow sustaining her? Nope. Get real.
A queen who wants first class VIP treatment for luxury rehab and asks the gay community to foot the bill as if there is a guest list with her name on it for admission, will not stay sober. A quarter century of bad habits don’t go away with an Internet funding trick or posh coddling in a celebrity center where the likes of Truman Capote and other celebrities stayed.
All that braggadocio and supposed clout she threw around for so many years, with her lapband gastric bypass weight loss surgery, the face lift, the jetting off to London hobnobbing with Boy George, lording over everyone. Where are her rich and famous friends now? Where’s Boy George and her other rich besties now?
Feels like a spoiled rich kid scamming his folks to pay for expensive rehab when it’s painfully obvious the kid isn’t serious about getting clean. Just a delay tactic and more delusions of entitlement, regardless of the excuses about why she inadvertently somehow ended up in the most luxurious rehab in the nation. When people are ready to change, they sacrifice personally to make it happen.
Im tired of queens defaulting to the cozy idea that behind a drug addict or a drunk is an involuntary illness that has nothing to do with their own personal choices. Yeah, you caught that drug addict bug that was going around and it forced your mind to shovel ten tons of crystal meth up your nose, huh? Yeah, it was genetically programmed into your DNA to spend all your money on cocaine instead of paying your mortgage or saving for a rainy day.
Like another person comments on here, this is gross. And sad, and all kinds of wrong.
SeeingAll
@gemchandc: You said it all.
LibertyGuy
He’s already completed 28 days at Hazeldon – he can now go to The Retreat – also in MN & not shabby for $4,500 a month – part of recovery is accepting responsibility for your actions – don’t see that happening here at all – he is a taker & will keep taking till he is honest with himself and accepts responsibility for his shit. Sad, but true.
JimboinLA
Well Larry, your cash grab stalled out at 11k. I hope you are sufficiently humiliated to realize what a pathetic succubus you are. All the people you recruited into porn have more dignity than you. Since you are about thirty thousand short of your rehab needs you’l no doubt go back on the pipe. Or do you have the wherewithal to clean up on your own? Time will tell. Oh yeah. Fuck you for expecting others to clean your pathetic ass up. But you’ve always just been a parasite on the gay community. Self respecting gay men want nothing to do with the likes of you. Own that.
tommy10009
This pig has made more money than all of us combined! Why give money to this pimp, prostitute and drug addict….give money to the young men he drugged into appearing in his films, give money to all the lives he’s fucked up with his porn lifestyle, give money to people who deserve it. I mean, doesn’t this pig own a huge west hollywood home? Disgusting.