Xaviera Hollander, a Dutch former call girl, madam, and author, was born Xaviera "Vera" de Vries on June 15, 1943, in Surabaya, Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies, which is now part of present-day Indonesia.
Born to a Dutch Jewish physician father and a mother of French and German descent, Hollander spent the early years of her life in a Japanese-run internment camp.
In her early twenties, she left Amsterdam for Johannesburg, where her stepsister lived, and met an American economist named John Weber, whom she became engaged to. However, the engagement was broken off, and she left South Africa for New York City.
Hollander worked as a secretary in the Dutch consulate in New York City before resigning in 1968 to become a call girl, earning a significant amount of money per night.
In 1969, she opened her own brothel, the Vertical Whorehouse, and soon became New York City's leading madam. However, in 1971, she was arrested for prostitution by the New York Police and forced to leave the United States.
Undeterred, Hollander published her memoir, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story, in 1971, which became a bestseller. She also wrote several other books and produced plays in Amsterdam.
For 35 years, she wrote an advice column for Penthouse magazine, entitled "Call Me Madam." She also recorded a spoken-word album titled Xaviera! and released an erotic board game, Xaviera's Game.
In the 1970s, Hollander starred in the semi-autobiographical film My Pleasure is My Business and operated a bed-and-breakfast, Xaviera's Happy House, in her Amsterdam home.
