LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Rachel Lee, the ringleader of the infamous Bling Ring, a group of LA teenagers who burgled the homes of Hollywood celebrities like Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and others, is at the center of Erin Lee Carr's latest HBO documentary 'The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring'.
The documentary, scheduled to premiere on October 1, will reportedly tell the story through the eyes of the alleged Bling Ring "mastermind," who was behind the late 2000s thefts that rocked Hollywood, Yahoo Entertainment reported.
The project will be the first time Lee gave an in-depth interview about her time in the Bling Ring, which made her and her partners household names in Hollywood after they stole an estimated $3 million worth of high-end goods, the outlet noted.
Rachel Lee served 16 months in prison
Lee was reportedly 19 years old when she was arrested in January 2010. She reportedly pleaded no contest to stealing $25,000 worth of items from Audrina Patridge's home and served 16 months in prison, a fraction of her four-year prison sentence, as per the publication.
The Bling Ring leader, who is currently in her 30s, reportedly attended the premiere of the new HBO documentary in New York City on Wednesday, September 27.
According to the Daily Mail, Lee mostly stayed out of the spotlight and worked as a hairdresser while several members of the infamous Bling Ring appeared in documentaries or collaborated with Sofia Coppola for the 2013 film 'Bling Ring', starring Emma Watson.
Lee recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times and shared that she suffered from years of insecurity and self-hatred as a Korean-American and desired to be white.
"It wasn't necessarily to emulate celebrity. I just didn't like me," she said when asked why she robbed homes of A-list celebrities.
"I was born here, so I didn't actually visit Korea until last year. But I knew some idea about my culture because of my grandparents and my parents. I was just such a minority at my schools that I felt too different," Lee shared.
"And then at my high school, the word 'chink' would just roll off people's tongues," she recalled. "I didn't realize how delusional I was about myself until prison," Lee said.
"I didn't realize how much I hated myself, how much I hated being Asian and how much I wanted to be white," she admitted.
"I just would ask God all the time, 'Why did you do this to me? Why did you put me in this position where I look so weird compared to everyone?'" Lee mentioned.
Lee also told the outlet that she got the space to think about her life and who she had become during her time in prison. "I felt really empty inside," she said.
"I consider [prison] my birth. I started over because I had no foundation; I didn't have any moral compass," Lee added.
"In there, I got grounded with who I wanted to be. I want to be a good person. I want to be a kind person. I want to be a strong person — I'm working on that. I want to be an honest person," she mentioned.
Lee, also shared that she is not in contact with the other four members of her former gang, including Nick Prugo, Alexis Neiers, Courtney Ames and Diana Tamayo.
What did the Bling Ring do?
A group of teens from Calabases, California, including Lee, Prugo, Neiers, Ames and Tamayo, known as the "Bling Ring" broke into the homes of Hollywood stars between 2008 and 2009.
They reportedly stole clothes, jewelry, art, cash, drugs and a gun worth more than $3 million after tracking the movement of their victims.
The group often used online sources, including social media and celebrity websites, to track targets based on their attendance at high-profile events before breaking into their homes when they were away.
According to Yahoo, Hilton contact the police about the Bling Ring in December 2008 when nearly $2 million worth of her jewelry was taken alongside clothes, purses and her private photos, which were later recovered from Lee's home.
The gang also ransacked Patridge's home in 2009 while she was at an Oscars party, stealing approximately $43,000 worth of clothing and heirloom jewelry as well as her laptop and passport.
They went on to steal around $500,000 in Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton luggage as well as clothes and art from actor Orlando Bloom and his then-girlfriend Miranda Kerr's home.
The gang also targeted the homes of Lindsay Lohan, Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox and Rachel Bilson and 'attempted' to burglarize the home of Ashley Tisdale.
The group was dubbed the "Bling Ring" by the Los Angeles Times. They were eventually caught after they bragged about the items they stole and posted photos of themselves wearing the stolen items.
