LOS ANGELES – In Hollywood, when the cameras stop rolling, some stars go home to their husbands, wives and children. Others take a detour to invite-only parties where anything goes, including group sex, S&M, drugs, hookers, and every kind of debauchery.
Welcome to the secret sex societies of the entertainment industry.
E! News explores the underground phenomenon in a new series of two-hour specials, "Secret Societies of Hollywood," premiering on Thursday. "Within these exclusive members-only organizations, the search for excess can be found everywhere,” the network claims. “From notorious Hollywood madams like Heidi Fleiss, who was believed to have supplied prostitutes for many big name stars, to an underground society of people who celebrate their love of bondage and other bizarre sexual tastes at parties that rotate from clubs and mansions to all over the city."
FOX411 talked to one of the Hollywood insiders interviewed on “Secret Societies,” who said the modern proliferation of paparazzi and tabloid journalism has forced more and more stars -- gay and straight, young and old -- to pursue their sordid interests behind closed, very high, very thick, doors.
"Law enforcement stays away as they have no right to do anything regarding a house party, and there is usual careful discretion with these types of parties to make sure that there is nothing that could warrant unwanted attention," said alternative sentencing expert Wendy Feldman.
Sources tell FOX411 that code words are used to gain entrance to the ultra-secret soirees, sometimes called “NH” parties, for “Never Happened.” One well-placed entertainment insider told us that one of the biggest A-list actresses in the entertainment industry today was notorious for frequenting S&M clubs when trying to get bigger and better roles in the not-too-distant past.
"She was famous for her escapades, it was right up her street," the insider said of the star. "High end hookers also frequent these places, using it to try and break into show business."
Today’s secret orgies have their historical precedents. Last year, former WWll Marine Scotty Bowers wrote a tell-all --"Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars” – in which he claimed he set up sexual encounters for Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Vivian Leigh and Katharine Hepburn.
And in the upcoming tell-all "Nicholson," by New York Times bestselling author Marc Eliot, the Oscar-winner Jack is painted as as the poster child for hedonism. Eliot says, even before he was famous, the legendary actor's apartment was the go-to spot of round-the-clock partying, drinks, drugs and sex.
Eliot claims that Nicholson was outdone only by one other: Harry Dean Stanton. "On weekends, Harry Dean liked to throw sex parties that started on Friday night and ended sometime Monday morning," Eliot writes.
Reps for Nicholson and Stanton did not respond to requests for comment.
These days, we’re told that subterranean shindigs are typically attended by a big-name star or two, while the majority of guests are hopefuls willing to do just about anything in an attempt to score that big break.
“It’s sad,” said one source. “But that always was, and still is, show business.”