What was Dennis Hof's Net Worth?
Dennis Hof was an American brothel owner, restaurateur, and entrepreneur who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of his death in October 2018. Dennis Hof was known for owning The Moonlite BunnyRanch in Mound House, Nevada, which is about an hour away from Reno. This is the ranch where NBA player Lamar Odom overdosed back in October 2015. He purchased the brothel in 1992. It had been in operation since 1955. Hof eventually bought or built several other brothels, notably The Love Ranch North, The Love Ranch South, and Alien Cathouse. Dennis shot to fame after his Bunny Ranch was featured in the HBO documentary series "Cathouse" which debuted in 2005. HBO eventually produced 17 episodes and ten Cathouse specials over two seasons.
Ever the master self-promoter, Hof was a guest on countless shows such as The Tyra Banks Show, The Opie and Anthony Show, The Howard Stern Show, Loveline, and Dr. Phil. His autobiography "The Art Of The Pimp" was a best-seller. He was engaged to Heidi Fleiss in 2009 and is noted for dating Sunset Thomas, an adult film star. Hof authored the book The Art of the Pimp in 2015. Dennis Hof died on October 16, 2018, at his Love Ranch brothel in Carson City, Nevada. He was 72 years old at the time of his death.
Wealth Estimates
Over the years, Dennis sent CelebirtyNetWorth a handful of emails pushing us to increase our net worth estimate for him. In 2014, he emailed us claiming his net worth was $60 million but did not offer any evidence of his number in follow-up replies. About a year later, he emailed again, insisting his net worth was, in fact, $100 million. Once again, he did not offer any evidence to support that number.
Early Life
Hof was born on October 14, 1946, in Phoenix, Arizona. He was entrepreneurial-minded from a young age. Before entering the brother business, he owned and operated several gas stations in Arizona before moving to Nevada, where he bought several more.
Brothel Ownership
In 1992, Hof purchased The Moonlite BunnyRanch in Nevada, a historic brothel that had been founded in 1955. He also purchased another brothel, calling it The Love Ranch North. He also purchased two other brothels over the next few years – the Love Ranch Vegas and the Alien Cathouse. Though the advertising of brothels was banned in Nevada, Hof was still able to develop and maintain a high media profile, which attracted business to the brothels. He was also the president of the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association and also acted as a lobbyist for the group.
Additionally, Hof maintained a strong online presence and also encouraged the girls working at the various brothers to build their own online followings, both with potential future clients and with past clients. Hof himself appeared on numerous talk shows over the years, including "The View," "The Today Show," "Oprah Winfrey," and "Howard Stern," among others. In 1998, he was also featured in the Hughes Brothers documentary, "American Pimp," which told the story of various men and women involved in the prostitution and brothel business in the United States.
He also elevated the profile of The Moonlite Bunny Ranch by agreeing to a deal with HBO for a television series that featured the brothel. The resulting show, "Cathouse," was on air from 2002 to 2014 and depicted the inner workings of the brother, the girls that worked there, and the various relationships that Hof maintained with the girls. Additionally, the brothel was featured in the 2005 documentary series "Cathouse: The Series" and the 2007 documentary series "Cathouse 2: Back in the Saddle." In 2014, Hof was in the indie film "Alongside Night," in which he appears as himself.
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The Art of the Pimp
In March of 2015, Hof released a book called "The Art of the Pimp." The memoir is interesting in that it does not depict Hof in the best light. It features personal accounts from women who have worked for Hof, some of which describe various forms of sexual abuse they suffered at his hands. It also features a psychological profile of Hof given by psychotherapist Sheenah Hankin, in which she describes Hof as a narcissist who lacks any form of empathy.
Legal Issues
Though brothels are legal in Nevada, Hof still dealt with various other legal issues over the years, especially in the final years of his life. In 2016, a woman who had formally worked for Hof named Jennifer O'Kane accused him of nonconsensual sexual conduct, harassment, and rape, among other accusations. Some of the accusations matched descriptions that Hof himself had published in his own memoir. However, as no other direct witnesses were willing to come forward, the charges were ultimately dropped. The following year, in December of 2017, another former employee named Diana Grandmaison made a similar report to the same detective who had investigated the O'Kane matter. However, no further action was taken, and the Deputy District Attorney declined to prosecute the case in 2018, stating that the statute of limitations had passed.
Politics
Outside of his career in the brothel industry, Hof was also interested in politics. He endorsed Ron Paul in both the 2008 and 2012 elections and joined the Libertarian Party in 2015. He then began supporting Donald Trump in 2016. The same year, he ran for the 36th District seat in the Nevada Assembly. While he lost in 2016 when he ran as a Libertarian, he won the primary seat in 2018 when he ran as a Republican. Because he died very soon before the general election, his name still remained on the ballet, and he posthumously won the election over his Democratic opponent, Lesia Romanov. During Trump's presidency, Hof had become increasingly vocal about his support of Trump, helping him win over conservative Nevada Republicans. He also developed a close friendship with Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
Personal Life and Death
Hof maintained many relationships throughout his life, often dating the women who worked in the various brothels that he owned. He stated once that he only dated "working girls" and also detailed in his memoir that he is incapable of remaining monogamous, explaining that all of his relationships had ended due to his own infidelity. He is known to have dated adult film star Sunset Thomas as well as Heidi Fleiss, a woman who had run an upscale prostitution ring in Los Angeles. He was dating Fleiss until his death in 2018.
On the night of October 18, 2018, Hof died in his sleep at his Love Ranch South in Crystal, Nevada. He died just days after his 72nd birthday. In fact, he had celebrated at a birthday party the night before he died. The party was attended by Joe Arpaio, Grover Norquist, and Ron Jeremey, the last of whom found Hof unresponsive. Hof's political campaign manager later reported that Hof had died while "having the time of his life." The death occurred due to a heart attack.
