All language subtitles for Last.Looks.S01E11_English

♪ Work your body... ♪

[dance music playing]

♪

SARA AZARI: Vicki
went from poverty

to living the life
of a princess.

NARRATOR: As the mistress
of Alfred Bloomingdale,

Vicki Morgan was promised
an income for life.

AZARI: Alfred was really
taking care of her more than

she could ever imagine.

GORDON BASICHIS:
Alfred would

give Vicki something
like $250,000 a year.

He paid for the car.

He paid for the house,
which was a rental.

And he gave her a
stipend every month.

MARA WILES: We're
talking Cartier.

We're talking
Tiffany's, fur coats.

She was living the
highest standard of life.

NARRATOR: All she
had to do in exchange

was whatever he wanted.

- ♪ Babe, you make
it look easy. ♪

- No matter what part

of Alfred's life
you're involved in,

it's about control.

LEAH CARROLL: Alfred
was giving her this money

in exchange for
her companionship.

And in exchange for her
participation in the BDSM scene.

NARRATOR: BDSM is a sexual
kink, where power dynamics are
at play.

Often using bondage,
pain becomes pleasure

between the submissive
and dominant...

and in the '70s, it
was extremely taboo.

CARROLL: This is...

a fetish for Alfred,
it's something that

he doesn't do
with his wife.

- ♪ Wantin', cravin' you... ♪

AZARI: On their
third date,

Alfred takes Vicki

to a home in Hollywood
Hills, which is

a BDSM party.

♪

CARROLL: Alfred got
off on degradation.

He would engage in
BDSM with the escorts,

then he would have
sex with Vicki.

NARRATOR: Alfred Bloomingdale
was a family man.

He was married to
Betsy Bloomingdale.

And together they
had three kids.

AZARI: On the other hand,

he kept a little dungeon

and engaged in S
and M encounters

with some pretty

powerful people.

- President-elect
Ronald Reagan met today

in Los Angeles with
his kitchen cabinet.

This unofficial cabinet
of close advisers

presented Reagan with
their suggestions

for members of the
official cabinet.

- We have between five
and eight on every job,

I think, so far
we've discussed...

REPORTER: You're looking
just at the cabinet right now?

- No, we're looking
at some of the agencies, too.

NARRATOR: Alfred Bloomingdale
was heavily involved with
politics,

specifically Ronald
Reagan's career.

He brought Vicki
along for Reagan's

campaign for president.

She often procured
women for sex parties

for the most powerful
men in America.

BASICHIS: Alfred used
Vicki to gather different

information that
could be useful

in both his business
and politically.

He had Vicki listen
in on different things

or just sleep
with somebody,

and through pillow talk,

she would acquire different
information that Alfred needed.

He used that for
leverage and influence.

NARRATOR: Throughout the
next 12 years, Vicki became

increasingly involved in
Alfred's business affairs.

But she also wanted
a life of her own.

CARROLL: There are times
when Vicki wants to leave

and start dating somebody new
and have a more

kind of normal courtship.

Alfred buys off some
of her boyfriends.

BASICHIS:
He would exert his power

to make sure that she
stayed in the fold.

And then, of course, afterwards
they would settle on a new deal,

and she would get more money.

- And her life remains totally

entangled with his.

♪

In 1981, Alfred is
diagnosed with cancer.

And it's at
this point that

Betsy is really able to

step in and keep Vicki
away from Alfred.

She...

is able to stop
Vicki's allowance.

And she's able to take
away Vicki's apartment.

- Alfred and Vicki
enter into a written

contract to pay Vicki

$10,000 a month

for a period
of two years.

But Betsy cut her off.

- In 1982, Vicki hires a lawyer

and she files
an $11 million palimony suit.

- She talks about--
in great detail--

the sex parties,

and what she
had to give up

in part of her life in
order to support Alfred.

PAT BUCHANAN: Is this
not a shakedown of sorts?

- No, it's not a
shakedown at all.

They've been together
for 12 years.

That's a long time
out of her life.

Doesn't she have
some rights, too?

- The details were
pretty damning.

And it coincided

with claims by Vicki

that she had information

about high-powered Reagan
administration officials.

NARRATOR:
But before the lawsuit

was settled,
Alfred was gone.

Multi-millionaire
Alfred Bloomingdale

has died of cancer
at the age of 66.

He was a member of
President Reagan's informal
group

of friends and advisers
called "the kitchen cabinet."

BASICHIS: Vicki was
horrified by Alfred's death.

It made her crazy from
watching him just fade away.

- She could no longer afford the
house that Alfred put her up in.

She moves to the
San Fernando Valley

and lives in a condo.

She even asked a
friend, Marvin Pancoast,

to become
her roommate

to help her with the rent.

- Marvin is...

really taken with Vicki.

AZARI: But she has no
money, she's desperate,

so she embarks on
writing a book.

It's a tell-all memoir
called Alfred's Mistress.

- She wanted to
capture the essence

of a certain relationship.

She didn't want to
blackmail anybody

to try to
pressure anybody,

but she was desperate.

CARROLL: She's always
had this currency

in her back pocket,
these secrets

that she knows
about powerful men.

She decides she's
gonna cash in on it.

NARRATOR:
Vicki made a risky play.

And it was one she would
immediately regret.

BASICHIS:
She called me and said,

"I really fucked up."

♪