Hollywood Madam

There is no unlisted telephone number in Los Angeles that is harder to get than that of Alex Adams - for the last 20 years "madam to the stars".

Sex provided by Alex has been the town's ultimate guilty pleasure, the most whispered secret of the Man Who Has Everything.

That the rich, the famous, the powerful and the celebrated would actually pay for sex may shock the person in the street.

Why they pay for sex, whom they pay and what they pay for constitutes a sub-culture within the Hollywood mystique.

But now the veil of secrecy can be lifted and the secrets can be told.

Alex Adams has retired, and she is ready to talk. The Hollywood elite are nervous - and they have good reason.

Alex Adams grew up in Manila. After working in a parish house in San Francisco and failed marriages, she became interested in the selling of sex after reading a book by an unnamed elegant British lady gardener who was actually "the" madam of her generation.