The 1980s had just begun when New York nightlife impresario Mark Fleischman took over the keys to a legendary club that was in decline at the time: Studio 54. Fleischman gave it a second life thanks to performances by rising stars such as Madonna, Duran Duran or Culture Club, and a group of regulars like Boy George, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Lionel Richie, Jean-Michel Basquiat, LaToya Jackson or Cyndi Lauper.
For five years, until its definitive closure in 1986, Studio 54 once again shone with the lights of the disco ball under which personalities such as Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol had danced.
In recent statements to the
New York Post
,
the 82-year-old tycoon of the night has confessed his intention to end his life by assisted suicide on July 13 with the help of the organization Dignitas, in Switzerland: "No I can walk, I can barely express myself and I can't do anything for myself," Fleischman said, "my wife helps me get into bed and I can't get dressed or put on my shoes."
Fleischman began developing mobility problems in 2016, when his left leg began to drag.
Initially, the neurologists diagnosed him with Parkinson's disease, but to this day they still have not found the correct diagnosis: "It was a slow decision," said the businessman, "two years ago, I decided that it was not worth continuing living, I took a dose of Xanax and ended up in the hospital.”
On that occasion, the emergency doctors saved his life: “Then I read a book about ending life.
I read that the easiest way is to suffocate.
But I didn't want the pain.
I was going to buy a gun, but my wife interceded.
We started looking for a place where it would be legal to do it.”
From left to right, actress Raquel Welch, businessman Steve Rubell and Mark Fleischman, at Studio 54 in 1981.REP/IMAGES (Getty Images)
Dignitas is an organization specialized in assisted suicide that was founded in Switzerland in 1998. Under the motto “live with dignity, die with dignity”, the clinic has studied the specific case of Fleischman: “They want to be sure that I am making the decision myself," he said, "after reading my medical material, they asked me a few questions to make sure I was serious.
I had to provide a notarized affidavit confirming that I want to die.
I had to go to a psychiatrist and he confirmed that I am in my right mind.
I provided all of that and they said they wanted me there.”
If Fleischman was able to revitalize the club, it was because he was located in a specific time and period: shortly after the invention of the contraceptive pill and before the health crisis caused by the AIDS virus.
Studio 54 had the elegance and status that its famous patrons gave it, but the dance floor was a democratic place: celebrities rubbed shoulders with anonymous people, gays and straights danced under the same lights, and drugs were rampant. present in every corner of the club.
VIPs seeking privacy flocked to Fleischman's office.
There, the businessman had to hire a young woman whose main task was to prepare the lines of cocaine: "There were so many people around my desk that 30 or 40 lines of cocaine were needed, and they had to be all identical,
If Fleischman was able to revitalize the club, it was because he was located in a specific time and period: shortly after the invention of the contraceptive pill and before the health crisis caused by the AIDS virus.
Studio 54 had the elegance and status that its famous patrons gave it, but on the dance floor it was a democratic place: celebrities rubbed shoulders with anonymous people, gays and straights danced under the same lights, and drugs were rampant. present in every corner of the club.
VIPs seeking privacy flocked to Fleischman's office.
There, the businessman had to hire a young woman whose main task was to prepare the lines of cocaine: "There were so many people around my desk that 30 or 40 lines of cocaine were needed, and they had to be all identical,
After the closure of Studio 54, Fleischman went to the Betty Ford detox center at the request of his wife, but to no avail: "In the end, I detoxed at Rancho La Puerta," he declared in an interview for
Paper Magazine
in 2017, “I was on top of this mountain, which is considered a magical mountain.
Shamans had been going there for thousands of years.
And, one way or another, I got high with that feeling of being completely healthy, fit and able to climb that mountain.”
Fleischman returned to Rancho La Puerta more than 55 times, every time he needed to feel the high of nature again: "Cheaper and better than drugs," he declared, "that has allowed me to live longer."
Fleischman will travel with his wife Mimi Fleischman to Zurich on July 8 in first class.
They will stay in a villa overlooking a lake and, taking advantage of the fact that they have not visited the Swiss city, perhaps do some sightseeing: “Then, on Wednesday, we will go to the apartment that Dignitas has.
I'll have a drink, go to sleep and that's it."
His wife will be by his side.
