Charlotte Laws at Los Angeles Fashion Week 2026

 Charlotte Laws on the Red Carpet at LA Fashion Week 2026. Los Angeles.

 

Charlotte Laws Backstage with William Shatner at the Saturn Awards 2026

 

Publisher's Weekly Review of Elevator People by Charlotte Laws

 

Charlotte Laws and her book Elevator People

Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10

Originality: 10 out of 10

Prose: 8 out of 10

Character/Execution: 10 out of 10

Overall: 9.25 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Elevator People is Laws's hilariously weird sci-fi novel about the Earthling Extermination Project and the hapless humans who need to put a stop it, lest they lose everything.

Prose: Laws's prose is crisp and her descriptions dynamic, and she wastes no time showing readers what they're in for.

Originality: Elevator People is a true original with wondrous world-building, featuring odd aliens, Cruelty Quotient scores, cameos by Hitler and Charles Manson, and the Charity Eight doing the absolute best they can.

Character/Execution: Laws has stuffed her book with an array of delightfully original characters. Between the elevator people, the Council of the Universe, the Charity Eight, and everyone and everything in between, this is a hilariously offbeat book genre lovers will enjoy.

Publisher's Weekly Book Life Prize

Link to the website - https://booklife.com/project/elevator-people-102398

Kirkus Reviews: Omniocracy by Charlotte Laws (starred review)

Charlotte Laws proposes a revolutionary plan for a truly just existence. 

The author opens her rabble-rousing new book at full throttle, describing the current world as “a hell-hole, slaughterhouse, and never-ending Auschwitz from the perspective of nonhumans” filled with “millions of little Hitlers, wantonly splattering blood, asserting unfettered dominance, desperately clinging to the theory that ‘might makes right,’ and deluding themselves into believing humans are the anointed ones.” This is strong stuff—necessarily so, since Laws is here proposing an entirely new set of governing principles deeply rooted in the ethos of the animal rights movement and dedicated to addressing the practical issues of free will, agency, and collective good. She points out that the world’s natural resources are dwindling due to human activities such as deforestation, grazing, and urban sprawl, with the obvious observation that this is a concern to all living beings on the planet, whether they are aware of it or not. The author describes the role of animal “advocates” who act as decision-makers in the “omniocracy” she proposes, humans who “become collectors of interest, seekers, investigators, and scouts, always open to further inquiry and passionate about evidence.” Laws is tremendously passionate and convincing about all of this; she lays out a program that certainly seems workable—in the likely impossible event that the international community would ever adopt it. “All oppression is woven together like a patchwork quilt,” she writes, making an argument that will fall on deaf ears, even though she’s entirely right; the system Laws envisions would benefit humans every bit as much as it would all of humanity’s countless victims. She movingly asks her readers to take down the artificial barriers they’ve erected to this kind of thinking and allow all other living things to “join the human on the elite side of the divide”; one can only pray she changes some minds. 

A heartfelt and richly detailed thought experiment positing a better, fairer world.

_____________________________________________

Link to Kirkus - https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/charlotte-laws/omniocracy/

New Book - OMNIOCRACY

 Charlotte Laws's new animal liberation book hits the market on October 4, 2025, which is World Animal Day. It is titled Omniocracy and details how to move from a democracy to this new form of government which provides representation for all living beings. 

Kirkus Review of Elevator People by Charlotte Laws

 

"Charlotte Laws fulfills the book's promise of intrigue and deadpan comedy. The main characters are a terrifically mixed bag of personality traits, which makes for richly entertaining reading. Elevator People is a high-spirited time-travel adventure… with sharp dialogue and a winning cast of contrasting characters." – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

See the full review on the Kirkus website. 

Kirkus review of Charlotte's Book, Devil in the Basement

Devil in the Basement

White Supremacy, Satanic Ritual, and My Family

 

“A wild gripping ride through West Virginia’s past. This is a riveting true story with a shocking ending.” KIRKUS REVIEWS

Link to the full review on Kirkus website.

Charlotte Laws's New Novel: Elevator People

Charlotte Laws announces her new novel, titled Elevator People. It will come on the market in July 2025. 

It is a combination of thriller, humor, and horror. It includes cameo appearances by a number of dead scoundrels, including Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler. This dystopian time travel novel makes a captivating turn at the seventy percent mark where it offers a profound, philosophical message. Thematically, the book analyzes the values and behavior of Americans today and offers a better path forward. It is meant to be inspirational.  

It will be available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold.  

New Article by Charlotte Laws; The Short-Sighted War on Real Estate

Published on November 23, 2023. In this article, Charlotte discusses the lawsuit(s) against the real estate industry and how it/they could ultimately hurt buyers, sellers and agents. She also goes into the huge amount of work handled by a buyer agent. Click to read.

Charlotte Laws, Ph.D.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties
DRE # 01005771

Charlotte Laws Appears on Television in Australia

 Charlotte Laws's full interview on the Australian TV show Insight is now online. SBS network. The topic is revenge. This is the link.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87YW4DgxDnQ

Charlotte Laws Speaking at the Wilson Center - Washington D.C. - March 20, 2023

Dr. Charlotte Laws will be speaking at the Forum on Cyber-Harassment on March 20, 2023 in Washington DC. The event is hosted by the Wilson Center.  Click to get tickets or attend. 

Charlotte Laws - TV and Podcast Appearances

Charlotte Laws on Inside True Crime - Nov 20, 2022

Charlotte Laws on the Mornin' Show in Sept 2022

Charlotte Laws on the Adam Carolla Show in October 2022

Charlotte Laws interviewed in October 2022

Charlotte Laws on the Mornin' Show in November 2022

Another photo of Charlotte Laws on the Adam Carolla Show

Charlotte Laws on the Dr. Phil Show in November 2022

Another shot from Dr. Phil

On the "red carpet" at the Dr. Phil Show

Charlotte Laws, Kayla Laws and Dr. Phil

Charlotte Laws in New York Sept 2022 - Taping the Tamron Hall Show

 Charlotte Laws with Tamron Hall & Danielle Green just after taping the show

Another shot of Charlotte Laws with the others

Shots of Charlotte Laws on the show

Charlotte Laws with reporter Camille Dodero

Charlotte Laws - TV Appearances

Charlotte Laws on Access Hollywood

Charlotte Laws on Banfield

Charlotte Laws on The Dr. Drew Show

Charlotte Laws on GBN

Charlotte Laws on Good Day L.A.

Charlotte Laws on Inside Edition

Charlotte Laws on the Tamron Hall Show

Charlotte Laws on The News Desk UK

New Netflix Series: Charlotte Laws' Battle Against "The Most Hated Man on the Internet"

 

This new three-part limited series is about Charlotte Laws' crusade to take down a revenge porn empire.

Revenge porn kingpin, Hunter Moore, started a website, IsAnyoneUp.com, in which he posted nude pictures of mostly females without their consent. He linked the photos to the victims’ names, social media accounts, and other personal information in an effort to ruin their lives. IsAnyoneUp had a cult following of thousands: misogynists, bullies, and trolls. Moore regularly encouraged victims to commit suicide and bragged about being the “most hated man on the Internet.” People were afraid of him. No one thought he could be touched.

But when Moore posted a topless picture of Charlotte Laws’ daughter, she vowed to take him down. She had the necessary tools: perseverance, investigative skills (as a former private eye), an activist ethos (as a leader on various causes: civil rights, animal advocacy, and LGBTQ rights), and passion as a mother protecting her daughter.

Executive producer Alex Marengo told Raw TV, “I immediately saw that this story could make an utterly compelling series: a crusade for justice against all odds wrapped up in a world of real-life and online depravity.”

It streams on Netflix July 27, 2022 and is titled "The Most Hated Man on the Internet."

*The above "after" photo was taken the night Charlotte Laws went undercover to help a victim serve legal papers on "The Most Hated Man" at a Long Beach "scene kid" event.

Charlotte Laws Stars on the Netflix Series 100 Humans

Charlotte Laws on the red carpet at the premiere of the new Netflix show "100 Humans." March 15, 2020 in Pasadena, CA.

Genetics, Judaism, and Finding My Birth Family

My birth mother is Jewish. Actually, she had been raised Christian, then attended a Unitarian church for a year, and finally converted to Reform Judaism.

I am also Jewish. I had been raised Christian, too, then attended a Unitarian church for a month, and finally converted to Reform Judaism.

Charlotte Laws (center) with her birth mom and daughter

The interesting part is that we did not know each other — or even know anything about each other — yet we had followed the same religious path. We had lived in different states with different families; we had led completely separate lives. 

My birth mom was in her mid-20s and living on the East Coast when she studied with a rabbi and converted to Reform Judaism. I was 24 and on the West Coast when I completed a one year “Introduction to Judaism” course. Afterwards, I stood before a Reform congregation, recited Hebrew passages, and was officially welcomed into the religion. 

Let me back up to 1960 in Atlanta: I was born in the backseat of an Oldsmobile. My birth mom was in labor for 15 minutes, not enough time for my birth dad to drive her to the hospital. A nurse lifted me from the vehicle in the hospital parking lot and immediately whisked me out of sight because my birth parents had already signed the official adoption papers. They had relinquished me to “The Agency.” 

Two months later, I was adopted by a well-to-do couple that was determined to raise a respectable number of children — two — in order to fit in with preppy, debutante society. This couple, whom I called “Mom” and “Dad,” lived in a big, Atlanta house with a servant — a servant whose ancestors had purportedly been slaves to Dad’s family. This was a bragging point for Mom, although I found it disturbing and embarrassing, plus I’ve never found data to support her claim.   

Mom and Dad were racist and homophobic. They claimed to be Christian, although they never attended church or discussed religion. They owned guns, raised cattle as a sideline investment, and had no interest in current events, charities, or philosophy. They were, however, very interested in money. They were the embodiment of the saying, “Whoever dies with the most stuff wins.”

They branded me as a bad seed because I did not share their values, taste, or religion. I liked sequined dresses, something they considered “low class.” I complained about going to Sunday school and attending communion services at my private school, confessing that I was not a Christian. From an early age, I was fascinated with Judaism, and I seemed to have an innate love for the Jewish people. I also supported the civil rights movement, gay rights, and had empathy for animals, including those on the dinner plate. (I became a vegetarian in my early twenties, and a vegan later in life.)

My differences were not tolerated in silence — not by my parents, my brother (who was adopted two years after me), nor certain members of the community. I was called “kooky” and “defective;” I was told I would go to hell for not believing in Christ. I always felt out of place, a pair of spiked heels among a sea of Top-siders. 

Mom and Dad were disciples of the “blank slate” theory. In other words, they did not think genetic material could affect a child’s personality, interests, or beliefs — a view that was common in those days. They assumed that, with the right upbringing, an adopted child could be programmed into a replica of her parents — in this case, an obedient Christian socialite who would marry a proper, old-money gentleman.    

Charlotte Laws (center) with her birth mom and natural grandma

Today, there is astounding new research on the “nature versus nurture” debate. Experts believe that biology plays a significant role in determining what a person thinks, what skills she possesses, what interests she has, and even what career she may enjoy. It is called having a “biological predisposition” for something. Of course, external factors also help shape a person, but they are deemed less powerful than previously thought. Popular books, such as The Nature Assumption, argue that parents have almost no impact whatsoever on a child’s development.      

Steven Pinker, cognitive psychologist and author of The Blank Slate, agrees that biology affects personality. He writes, “Though no one has identified genes for morality, there is circumstantial evidence that they exist.”

What’s more, research from the University of Delaware indicates that intelligence is up to 90 percent genetically determined, and many other factors or traits also have significant levels of heritability, such as religiosity, social attitude, hobbies, interests, self-esteem, criminal proclivities, worldview, musical skills, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic trajectory. The Delaware researchers state, “Longitudinal studies of adoptive families show that as adoptive children grow up they become less like their adoptive parents (the correlation drops to zero) and more like the biological parents and siblings they may never have seen.”

This was my experience as well. In my mid-20s, I tracked down my natural parents — not an easy feat because records in Georgia were closed. I also made contact with my grandmother, aunts, cousins, and eventually half-siblings. To my astonishment, I found closets full of spiked heels and not a single pair of Top-siders.

There were numerous links between me and my birth mom. She was an environmentalist who left Atlanta for ideological reasons; she could not tolerate the prejudice of the South in the 1960s.

As for our religious similarities, both of us had been initially drawn to Reform Judaism because it was malleable, nonjudgmental, and welcoming. It was nothing like the blindly-accept-the-word-of-Jesus form of Christianity that we had been force fed as children. Although my birth mom cannot remember her first Shabbat service, I remember mine. A congregant raised his hand in the middle of the sermon and offered his opinion, which deviated from that of the rabbi. He was permitted to explain. The rabbi later told me, “Reform Judaism is not rigid. We welcome disagreement.” At that moment, I knew I wanted to convert.     

Although my natural grandmother, who died a few years ago, was not Jewish, she was the essence of glitz. She and I enjoyed the same bizarre hobby: purchasing brand new, department store clothes and adorning them with sequins and beads. Our garage-sized, color-coordinated closets looked virtually identical, and we owned much of the same furnishings, including a rare, carved, antique desk that I have never seen elsewhere.

My birth father is open-minded and was thrilled when I told him that I had converted to Judaism. He is an author; has a doctorate; and loves philosophy and religion. My Ph.D. is in religion and social ethics. In fact, our entire family is well-degreed; there are 16 college and graduate school degrees among the five of us (my birth mom, birth dad, two half-siblings, and myself). My birth dad is also sympathetic to animal rights arguments and only a few crab cakes away from being a vegetarian. Like me, he does volunteer work in his spare time and believes people should formulate their own opinions rather than mindlessly adhere to societal norms.   

No one in my natural family is focused on money. No one is a patron of preppiness. No one calls me “kooky” or “defective.” And no one claims that I will go to hell for rejecting Christ.

I am glad that I found my biological family. I feel connected. I am no longer an outsider in search of a flock. Although I cannot prove it, I believe our commonalities stem from tiny hereditary units called genes—including our love of all things Jewish.

___

Article was fist published in Kveller on October 3, 2019. 

Hiding from Michael Jackson

You can run into anyone, anywhere, anytime, even an international pop star… so try to look presentable and have self-confidence

Charlotte Laws, Michael Jackson, Brooke Shields

Have you ever looked so scruffy that you want to crawl under a rug? Has your hair ever been so frizzy that strangers ask if you’ve been electrocuted by a toaster oven? Has your face ever been so puffy that it seems like you’ve ingested a tub of grease, a ten-foot-tall Tater Tot, or a salt mine?  

This was me on a particularly embarrassing day in the 1980s when I was in my 20s. I had errands to complete and little time. I was wearing frayed gym shorts and a blouse that looked like it had been through World Wars I and II as well as Custer’s Last Stand. Frankly, I looked like a bag lady minus the lady. I resembled a bag.

I needed to pick up photos from a local camera shop. My plan was to dash in, grab my pictures, and scamper back to my car before anyone could shout, “What’s the Loch Ness Monster doing in LA?”     

I was alone at the camera shop counter; the clerk had gone into the back to retrieve my merchandise. All of the sudden, pop star Michael Jackson entered, wearing a flashy satin shirt and black pants. He was accompanied by two other fellows who seemed like bodyguards. I was in shock and unsure what to do.

I tried to ignore Jackson and his cohorts because of my appearance. I was unsure whether they’d had breakfast and didn’t want them to regurgitate their Cap’n Crunch. But Jackson was not having any of my evasive nonsense and tried to strike up a conversation. Perhaps he was baffled as to why anyone would so willfully ignore him since he was an icon at the height of his fame. Perhaps he hoped to ease my discomfort. Perhaps he just needed a friend.

He stood on my right. I quickly turn my head to the left. Then he moved to my left. I whipped my head back to the right. He leaned around several times hoping to be acknowledged and finally spoke. “Hi,” he said in a meek voice.

With my face still turned, I mumbled, “Hi.”

He seemed to be searching for something to say. “You look like this girl.” He pointed at one of the many photographs displayed under a glass countertop.

I shifted my eyes ever so slightly so I could see the picture. No disrespect, but this woman was over forty and looked like Pee Wee Herman in a wig.   

“Are you her?” he asked softly.

“No,” I exclaimed, still hiding my face. “And I don’t really look like this. I look terrible today.”

The clerk appeared with my package of snapshots, which I tore open at breakneck speed. I whisked out a picture of myself in which I was dressed to the nines. “This is what I really look like.” I offered it to Jackson, while still concealing my face. He studied the photo.

“This doesn’t look like you,” he replied in an innocent voice and again pointed at the girl under the glass countertop. “You look like her.” He clearly meant no harm and probably didn’t think she looked like Phil Spector during his mugshot.      

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jackson.” I finally revealed my face, smiled, and bolted to my car.

This embarrassing incident taught me one thing: you can run into anyone, anywhere, anytime. And these chance meetings can be beneficial, a stepping stone to achieving your dreams. The person you bump into might be an old friend with whom you hope to reconnect, a cute guy that you want to date, or a famous person that you’d like to befriend. It might be a politician who holds the key to important legislation, an executive who might give you a job, or a fat cat who could donate to your favorite cause.

I have learned another thing. Looking like a tattered Boo Berry can hinder your goals, especially when it kills self-confidence.   
_______________________________________________

Originally published in the MJ World Network - Oct. 9, 2019

Kirkus Reviews: Undercover Debutante by Charlotte Laws

Following is a book review by Kirkus...

Laws’ memoir focuses on the wild and varied situations she finds herself in while seeking her biological parents.

Undercover Debutante by Charlotte Laws

As the adopted child of an upper-class family in Atlanta, Laws (Devil in the Basement, 2018, etc.) had always felt like a “B-flat while [her] peers…had been C-sharps.” Laws’ demanding father dismissed everything that wasn’t money, and her distant mother’s suicide attempt left her in a vegetative state. The author’s quirky worldview and dark sense of humor were always at odds with her rigid, depressing childhood environment. Fleeing west as soon as she could, she moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. She worked as a bodyguard, a backup singer for an Elvis imitator, a maid, and a live-in caretaker in a mobile home. She encountered some of the strangest characters the West Coast had to offer along the way and found herself in a few genuinely harrowing situations that she recounts in riveting detail. In leveraging her greatest skill as a party crasher, Laws got a handle on the sprawling metropolis of LA and found pieces to the puzzle of her past. When she eventually met her biological father and heard the story of her birth, she mused to herself that, “Even as a zygote, I was on track to be a TV movie.” Questions of family and heritage come into play with each new profession and zany escapade as Laws writes of single motherhood and struggling to make it in the city of Angels. Like David Sedaris’ wry personal essays, Laws’ chapters feel like self-contained short stories that mine any given situation for personal confessions and comical observations. She does tend to veer off course, and some editing of the more tangential episodes would have made for a tighter exploration of the pitch-black comedy that is Laws’ family history. But even when the memoir strays from the primary storyline into tales of sex dungeons, glitzy celebrity parties, or dating service mishaps, Laws punctuates every moment with an extraordinary sense of comedic timing and a sharp eye for twisted details.

Turns bleak family secrets and struggles into one hilarious, witty joy ride after another.

See review on Kirkus website.

US Review of Books Recommends Undercover Debutante by Charlotte Laws

Following is a review by the US Review of Books...

In her third book, Laws chronicles her early life and search for her biological parents. Her memoir is filled with the kind of stories that are too outrageous to be fiction. Though she was adopted by a wealthy Southern family and grew up in Atlanta society, she made her way to Las Vegas as a young adult with only $500 and the determination to prove herself. Taking on a variety of jobs—including maid, actress, and private investigator, to name a few—she eventually continued her education in Southern California where she later became involved in politics and animal rights advocacy. Always at the core of her being was the question: Who are my parents?

Charlotte Laws

Laws is one of those writers who makes readers feel as if they are sitting across from her as she relates fascinating story after fascinating story. She has undoubtedly led an unusual life complete with encounters with the famous and infamous. Yet, she tells each story as if she is looking at her life from afar, not letting whatever emotional baggage she may be hauling interfere with its telling. Perhaps the ability comes from growing up as an adoptee in a life which is yours by chance rather than biology. Perhaps it comes from the many scenarios adopted children create around questions of their birth parents. Perhaps Laws is just a great storyteller who needs look no further than her own life for substance. Whatever it is, she has it. Her memoir is an entertaining and enlightening romp through her struggle to succeed. Readers will love the ride.

This book is RECOMMENDED. 

Link to the review on US Review of Books website.