PALM BEACH, FL—Before she decided to run on a conservative, family-first platform in House District 94, Gabrielle Fox—formerly Gabrielle Williams—worked as a massage girl and champagne hostess at two Palm Beach strip clubs, court documents show.
Two employees from the adult establishments Monroe's of Palm Beach and Rachel's Steakhouse claim she was also an exotic dancer.
Fox denies this.
According to a court complaint obtained by The Floridian, Fox—who changed her name from “Williams” in September 2020—had a 2014, county-required, adult entertainment license inscribed with her birthday, legal name, phone number, and stage name: “Mina.”
In 2015 and 2016, she joined two separate class action-style suits against upscale Monroe’s and the neighboring Rachel’s, her employers, alleging that she and the other entertainers worked overtime, were not paid accordingly, and were only compensated in tips.
“The Plaintiffs and the Class Members held the same job title: Dancers/Entertainers,” reads the 2015 complaint (filed by Fox's attorneys) against Monroe’s and its owner, Scott Lizza. They "required and/or permitted Plaintiffs Giovanna Monteverde, Jessica Candace Reid, Stephanie Krauel, and Gabrielle Williams...to work as exotic dancers and massage girls (collectively entertainers) at their adult entertainment club for up to and in excess of forty hours per week."
The 2016 case against Rachel’s specifies that Fox was a “masseuse”—which they classify as an “entertainer” because: “Ms. Williams did entertain customers as massages were part of the entertainment experience at the nightclub."
Both suits were closed and likely settled, though the document trail ends with a 2016 omnibus order on various motions.
"I was never an entertainer"
Fox, 41, maintained to The Floridian that she was never an entertainer, writing via email that she worked as a VIP hostess and cocktail waitress.
“While in college almost 10 years ago, I was a staff member- namely a cocktail waitress and VIP hostess at a club,” she wrote, explaining that because she worked as an independent contractor, not a W2 employee, she had to apply for a license. “It did not matter at that time what position you worked.”
“I have 25-50 witnesses willing to come forward to attest to the fact I was never an entertainer or a 'stripper', as you so callously reported,” she added.
In a text message, she said she didn’t know why the complaints classified her as an “entertainer”, speculating that it’s because the club loops hostesses and massage girls “into one group”. Fox acknowledged that she had very little contact with her attorneys, and thus didn’t know them well.
“It was a pants and shirt type of job, so not sure why they would say entertainer?” She wrote. She said the suits never specifically referred to her as a dancer, “because I was not one.” She claims that’s the reason she was asked to join the case, “because I was not an actual dancer and it lent credence to the suit.”
Monroe’s owner, Lizza, disagreed.
"Adult entertainment licenses are only for people who want to get nude"
Lizza told The Floridian that Fox worked in between Monroe's and Rachel’s from around 2014 to 2016, starting at Monroe’s.
“She started working for us at Monroe’s as a dancer, and then she hurt her ankle and she couldn’t dance, so she became a massage girl,” he claimed, alleging that “massage girls are the same as dancers, they just don’t have to get on stage.”
When Monroe’s required their massage girls to get massage licenses, he says Fox was "upset". So she left and went twelve minutes north to Rachel’s, where she allegedly resumed dancing. After that, he says, she came back to Monroe’s where she worked as a champagne host.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “A champagne host—it’s a play on words. You’re a dancer without having to get on stage.”
Lizza explained that at his establishment, only a dancer or a former dancer—"not a server or waitress"—would have a stage name and an adult entertainment license, as Fox did at the time. Palm Beach County, which is the only South Florida local government to license strippers, specifically requires all information, including the stage name, to be printed on the ID.
According to Jennifer Titheradge, an investigator at Palm Beach County’s Division of Consumer Affairs, the only people required to have an adult entertainment license are those who “expose his or her specified anatomical areas” within an adult entertainment establishment.
In other words, workers who go nude in a strip club.
“At Monroe’s she was a massage girl and at Rachel’s she was a dancer,” said one former Monroe’s employee familiar with Fox, who was granted anonymity by The Floridian. “Adult entertainment licenses are only for people who want to get nude or can get nude.”
Fox was baptized in 2019 and is now a hardline conservative and a Palm Beach Republican Executive Committee member. On August 20th, she will face down businessman Anthony Aguirre, nuclear engineer Christian Acosta, and animal advocate Meg Weinberger for the party nomination. They hope to take over from the termed-out Rep. Rick Roth, another Republican.
The winner will take on the sole Democratic candidate, former Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Rachelle Litt, on November 5th for the seat in the heavily red district.
Update: Fox wholeheartedly denies all claims made by Lizza, and maintains that she only ever worked a "shirts and pants" type job. While she doesn't know what the licensing rules may be now, she claims even the floor hostesses were required to have an adult entertainment license at the time. Lastly, she says she never engaged in "dancer or entertainer" activities.
