Whatever Happened To Rachel Lee From The Bling Ring?

On September 21, Netflix released its own documentary about the Bling Ring called, "The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist," which retold the story of the infamous Los Angeles robberies. In 2008, a group of California high school students — consisting of Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, Courtney Ames, and Diana Tamayo — began breaking into the mansions of several Hollywood celebrities, per Elle Australia. The residences of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Audrina Patridge, Megan Fox, and Miranda Kerr were all targeted by the juvenile burglars. So basically any Y2K icon that the Bling Ring thought would have a great closet. According to E! News, that's exactly what they were hoping to jack from the starlets — designer clothes, purses, jewelry, private photos, cash, etc.

The new Netflix doc features interviews from Prugo and reality TV personality Alexis Neiers, who briefly joined the Bling Ring with her "Pretty Wild" co-star Tess Taylor. But many were surprised to see Lee was nowhere to be found. After all, Lee was one of the founding members of the burgling group and was present for most of the robberies.

The public hasn't seen much of Lee since the masterminds behind the Bling Ring were arrested in January 2010, per CBS News. So, what became of Lee, and why haven't we heard from her in so long?

After the police recovered loads of stolen items in Rachel Lee's possession, Lee decided to plead no contest to her burglary chargers in court. In 2011, she was sentenced to four years in prison, but the then-21-year-old only ended up serving 16 months, per Esquire. Before her punishment, Lee was notorious for her delinquent behavior and was even expelled from Calabasas High School prior to the Bling Ring robberies. Although being locked up may have been rough, it seems Lee actually appreciated her experiences behind bars.

"As a teen, I was chasing love in all the wrong places and by the time I realized it was too late and I was in prison," Lee admitted in her first interview post-Bling Ring with Us Weekly in 2018. "I truly feel prison was a blessing in disguise — the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me realize you can only trust yourself at the end of the day."

Over the years, Lee has lived a relatively quiet life and hasn't commented much on her Bling Ring years. She told Us that she "graduated cosmetology school," completely regrets her past criminal actions, and plans to move on with her life.

Even though the story of the Bling Ring has been told and retold several times, it seems none of them have represented the full truth. The most famous retelling of the tale is the 2013 film directed by Sofia Coppola, "The Bling Ring," which starred actors Emma Watson and Tassia Farmiga as entirely fictionalized versions of the young robbers. The movie was ultimately criticized for being an inaccurate depiction of the group's dynamics and true events.

Apparently, the 2022 Netflix documentary requested Lee to appear in the series, but she reportedly declined. In a September 21 interview with The Sun, Wendy Feldman — Lee's former crisis manager from the Bling Ring era — reported that both she and Lee denied their interview requests. "All these years later [Lee] has moved on with her life and there was no reason to come out and say anything," Feldman told The Sun. "Is there a reason now to come out 12 years later and say 'I have changed my life?' No. Because the only people who care about that would be her friends and family."

According to Us Weekly, Lee has been working on her own script for a TV show that would depict her perspective on the robberies. So, could we soon be seeing a more accurate representation of events, courtesy of Lee?