Georgia- Lisa Ann Taylor, dressed in spangly black satin and lace, begins her day wiping off counters, illuminating candles and fetching ice under the bar lights at an adult establishment in Atlanta.
The spotlight has dimmed a bit more than a year after the so-called “Mansion Madam” captured national headlines with sordid allegations of running a brothel in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in metro Atlanta.
Taylor, who pleaded guilty in October 2007 to prostitution and drug charges, was given seven years’ probation and ordered to pay a $150,000 fine within a year.
These days, the 44-year-old tends to the bar and occasionally gyrates in the buff at Doll House on Cheshire Bridge Road, where she goes by her stage name, Melissa Wolf.
“If you tip really well … you get to see the twins,” the former Penthouse model quips to a regular customer.
Such is the reality of her life back in adult entertainment. It’s a world, she said, she was destined to be part of since posing in a photo as a 5-year-old dressed in her mother’s lingerie and a pair of high-heeled shoes.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Taylor started her dancing career in the early 1980s. Since then, she said, she has posed in more than 350 men’s magazines, been filmed in more than two dozen adult movies, and even played roles in a dozen garden-variety flicks. “You can get them at Blockbuster.”
Although a year has passed since the high-profile frenzy, Taylor still attracts attention, particularly from what she calls “Mansion Madam groupies.”
“It’s funny. I get hit on all the time by couples,” Taylor said. “I’ve never had so many people want to have sex with me in all my life.”
Beyond working at Doll House four days a week, Taylor pursues fitness certification, cares for four cats and even does charity work.
“I’ve been doing a lot of charity work for the community in hopes that … if I cannot pay the fine, maybe they’ll allow me to work it off in community service,” she said. “After all, they let [rapper] T.I. do it.”
She said she received an extension on the six-figure fine. She has until March to pay it.
Taylor said she has no contact with former associate Nicole Probert, who was also accused in the high-profile criminal case. Authorities ultimately dropped charges against Probert in exchange for her cooperation with prosecutors.
Taylor still lives at her house in the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, an exclusive community that is home to some professional athletes and entertainers. She recently put it back on the market.
For now, Taylor is looking ahead, hoping to get off probation as early as 2010 if she continues to be a “model probationer.” She thanks her employer for giving her a chance “to get financially back on my feet again.”
“It’s been a very difficult road, and it’s nice to know that in the adult business, we’re one big family,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what you do. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody’s deserving of a second chance.”