Charlotte Laws

Education

After completing high school at The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, Laws attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and completed bachelor's degrees in Theatre (1985) and Philosophy (1996) at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She earned two master's degrees from the University of Southern California (USC) in Professional Writing (1986) and in Social Ethics (1997), as well as a Ph.D. in Social Ethics (2000) from the University of Southern California. In 2003, she completed post-doctoral coursework at Oxford University, England.

Acting and writing career

Laws studied acting at the Academy Theatre of Atlanta, Joe Bernard's Acting Studio in Las Vegas and the Estelle Harman Actors Workshop in Los Angeles. She worked as a model and actress in movies and television until her late 20's. She has performed as a stand up comic at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

In 1988, Laws authored a popular book called Meet the Stars, which details how the average person can succeed in the entertainment industry. She promoted the book on Larry King Live, Oprah Winfrey, The Late Show and over a hundred radio and television shows throughout America and Canada.

From 1997-2000, Laws wrote for the British magazine Mad Dogs and Englishmen and since then has become a syndicated columnist. Her articles on current events, politics, philosophy and social issues have been published in the "Los Angeles Daily News," "E the Environmental Magazine," "The Huffington Post," "Opinion Editorials," "LA Times," Jezebel (website), "Gawker," "Newsweek," "Salon (website)" and "The Washington Post."

In 2015, Laws' memoir titled Rebel in High Heels came on the market. The book details her fight against revenge porn and the first 22 years of her life.

Laws made Buzzfeed's list of the 30 fiercest women of 2013. and Brainwreck's list of 20 women who changed the world in 2013.

Activism against revenge porn

In January 2012, after an unreleased topless photo of Laws' daughter, Kayla, was posted on the revenge porn website, Is Anyone up?, Laws began an investigation of Hunter Moore, who ran the site. She also contacted the FBI, who launched their own investigation of Moore and his website. Laws determined a large number of the photos on the site had been hacked. She contacted dozens of victims and became known as the "Erin Brockovich of revenge porn." Laws appeared on Nightline, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, TMZ on TV, Fox News and the Dr. Drew (TV series) to discuss the issue. Laws detailed her revenge porn battle in the online publication, Jezebel, and the article received over 1.2 million page views. Her experiences were further detailed in her book, Rebel in High Heels, which was released in April 2015.

Moore removed his website in the midst of the FBI investigation, but announced on November 28, 2012, that he would start a new site that would include address information. This prompted Laws to make Moore's home address public on Twitter, and Moore threatened to ruin her life. She soon received death threats, and she claimed a stalker appeared at her home. Internet hackers professing to be affiliated with Anonymous (group) came to her aid, hacking into his servers and posting his personal information on the Internet.

The FBI arrested Hunter Moore and his hacker, Charles Evens of Studio City, California, who went under the alias of "Gary Jones", on January 23, 2014. On February 18, 2015, it was announced that Moore would plead guilty to federal computer hacking and identity theft charges. He faced up to 7 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. However, in the end, he got two and a half years in federal prison.

With no plea deal in place and facing 42 years in prison, Moore's hacker, Charlie Evens, confessed his crimes to CNN on tape at Laws' house (when CNN was interviewing Laws for a segment). The taped confession aired on April 27, 2015. In the end, Evens got 26 months in federal prison.

On June 4, 2013, Laws gave testimony before the California State Senate in favor of SB 255, a law designed to protect victims from revenge porn or "cyber rape," a term Laws coined. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Anthony Cannella of Modesto, CA and it was signed into law on October 1, 2013, making California the second state (after New Jersey) to pass a law designed to help victims of nonconsensual pornography. Laws is also a board member of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), an organization dedicated to helping victims of online harassment. Since 2012, Laws has been meeting with state and federal legislators, urging them to pass laws to protect victims. Today, 34 states have anti-revenge porn laws, and Rep Jackie Speier (CA) introduced a federal bill in July 2016 called the Intimate Privacy Protection Act.

Political Analyst and Commentator

Charlotte Laws is a political analyst and works as a BBC News contributor, a post which began during the 2015-2016 election season. She has also made appearances on the Al Jazeera network, and she participated in a Reddit AMA in September 2015 with Rick Wilson (political consultant).

Laws is an expert on Donald Trump. She was the first person to publicly detect "hidden Trump supporters" and to call Trump a feminist and a pacifist.

Some of Laws' controversial articles about Trump have appeared in The Huffington Post, CityWatch and The Daily Caller.

Bill Cosby scandal

On November 30, 2014, Laws spoke out about her "34-year-old Bill Cosby secret." In a Salon article, she detailed her experiences with Mr. Cosby and a friend she calls "Sandy." Laws claims that Mr. Cosby drugged "Sandy" in 1981 and had sex with her. Laws was interviewed on the Dr. Drew Show on December 1, 2014 about this issue. In a Fox News interview, Laws ponders whether Cosby has somnophilia.

Gay rights activism

In March 2015, Laws came to defend the LGBTQ communities when a Southern California attorney proposed a statewide ballot initiative that permitted the execution of gays by "bullets to the head or any other convenient method." He called it the Sodomite Suppression Act. In response to what is widely seen as a vicious and repugnant attack on LGBTQ people, a traditionally oppressed minority, Laws registered a rebuttal initiative with the Attorney General’s office, "The Intolerant Jackass Act". Laws’ proposal called for sensitivity training and a steep fine for anyone submitting a state initiative related to the killing of gays. In June 2015, the initiative was cleared to move forward, but Laws said that she did not plan to gather signatures, adding "I'm glad my proposal made an impact. My intent was to send a message and support gay rights. [The proposal] has served its purpose."

Party crashing expert

Laws is listed as the fourth most notorious party crasher in the world. She claims the hobby began in her teens and then blossomed into the perfect way to meet up with elected officials, A-list celebrities and business leaders. She crashed VIP events to push for legislation, to get support for nonprofit causes, to snag high-profile interviews and to obtain clients for business-related endeavors. Laws crashed The Secret Service four times, which included a 40k per person fundraiser for President Obama at George Clooney’s estate. Plus, she interviewed President Reagan after crashing Walter Annenberg exclusive New Year’s party in the early 1980s. She lists some of her outlandish techniques as the "Fake Out to Get In" ploy, the "Glitz Blitz" and the "Celebrity Snuggle Up."

Personal life

Laws, a former Atlanta debutante, was adopted at birth and tracked down her birthparents in her late twenties. She is known for saying, "You can never have too many parents." Laws has never consumed any alcoholic beverage, tried illegal drugs, including marijuana, or smoked a cigarette. Prior to acting and writing, Laws experimented with a number of jobs. She was a cab driver, private investigator, bodyguard, backup singer for an Elvis imitator, nurse, fashion designer, aerobics instructor and antiques shop owner. Laws was a lecturer for the FBI in Quantico, Virginia in 2006 and has also been a licensed Realtor since 1987.

In April 2015, Laws went public about her three-year romance with singer Tom Jones in her memoir, Rebel in High Heels. She says he was her first boyfriend and that she dated him from age 18 until age 21.

She married English barrister and California attorney Charles Parselle in the 1990s and has a daughter named Kayla Laws, who is an actress. She also has three rescue dogs and eight rescue chickens and is a practising Jain.

In 2012, Laws' chicken, Mae Poulet, was a write-in vice presidential candidate. She was selected by a dog from Tennessee to be his running mate on the Bully ticket. Mae Poulet was also involved in a 2011 fundraiser with actress Natalie Portman and actor Jason Alexander to raise money for poultry in need. In March 2013, Mae Poulet was inducted into the National Museum of Animals and Society.

Works