New leaf! Alexis Neiers made a name for herself as a part of the infamous California-based Bling Ring in the late 2000s, but the reformed partier, now 23, has since transformed with a family of her own and a meaningful career.
Neiers opened up in a new interview with Ravishly about her evolution since 2009, when she was investigated by police alongside fellow Bling Ring members Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, and Courtney Ames, among others. The group of affluent high school students made national news when they broke into the homes of stars such as Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, and Orlando Bloom, stealing valuable jewelry, clothes, and cash worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Neiers pled no contest to felony burglary charges in 2010, resulting in a six-month jail sentence. The Pretty Wild star left jail in 2010 after serving one month behind bars, and started a new life. She married a businessman named Evan Haines in 2012, welcoming ther first child, daughter Harper, in April 2013. Her baby also inspired her to start a new career and she is now working as a doula.
“I was planning on having a home birth and I ended up having a C-section,” she explained to Ravishly. “It’s not the surgery itself that was so traumatic (although the recovery was difficult): It wasn’t the birth that I wanted. The way I was treated in the hospital was traumatic. I didn’t have a voice. I wasn’t being heard or acknowledged. The whole experience wasn’t great, but of course my daughter was absolutely worth it. Instead of being angry, I wanted to figure out how I could help.”
“The way pregnant women are treated is a huge feminist issue that’s not talked about,” Neiers continued. “Now I work with mommies to help them through the labor, delivery and pregnancy they desire to have. Natural childbirth is not for everybody. I like to call myself ‘the balanced doula.’ I’m not against epidurals. I’m not against hospital births. But I am pro-informed consent and having full knowledge of alternatives.”
Neiers also touched on her most famous pop culture reference in the interview, sounding off on the 2013 movie The Bling Ring. When the flick hit theaters under Sofia Coppola‘s direction, it was met with largely positive reviews from critics, but the real-life inspiration herself was less than impressed. She took issue with her portrayal in the film (as depicted by Emma Watson‘s character Nicki Moore) and stressed that the flick didn’t tell the whole story.
“The majority of the movie was false and bulls–t,” Neiers said simply. “It didn’t touch on something that was a common thread with Nick, Tess and myself, which was severe drug addiction.”
“I’m not saying that it’s an excuse for bad behavior, but I’m saying it plays a part,” Neiers continued of the substance abuse problems she and her friends Nick Prugo and Tess Taylor faced. “The movie didn’t give an honest depiction of what our lives were really like. I wasn’t that glamorous. I was chasing around drug dealers, smoking heroin… At the time I was filming [Pretty Wild], my addiction skyrocketed because of the amount of funds I had to use and party. So, I went from smoking one Oxycontin a day, to smoking 20 a day with my sister.”
“My disease progressed and I was in no way capable of fighting the case,” continued the mother of one, whose fellow ring members were also handed various prison sentences. “When I went to jail, I had to detox, which was horrible. When you are in protective custody and you are in a cell by yourself 23 hours a day, you start to look at your life and where you’ve gone. I thought to myself, ‘How did this happen?'”
