Estella Marie Thompson

Estella Marie Thompson (born August 9, 1969), also known as Divine Brown, is an American former sex worker. She gained media attention in 1995 when the English actor Hugh Grant was caught receiving oral sex from her in his car on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. Thompson has remained in the public eye through work in pornography, television appearances, and newspaper interviews.

Early life Thompson grew up in poverty in East Oakland, California. She was one of six children of a single mother. Having herself become a mother of two daughters, she turned to sex work when she could not pay a $133 electricity bill.

Charged with lewd conduct, she pleaded no contest on September 6, 1995. She was ordered to attend an AIDS class and perform five days of community service, and sentenced to two years' summary probation. She was also sentenced to 180 days in jail for unconnected parole violations relating to two prostitution convictions. She had to pay a fine and costs of $1,350 in total in relation to the offences.

Other legal troubles In September 1996, Thompson was arrested at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in Paradise after flirting and making suggestive comments to undercover police officers. A police officer involved in the operation was quoted as saying, "She didn't actually solicit, but the police officers knew what she was up to."

Media appearances Thompson only learned who her client had been when reporters besieged her house the day after her arrest. In the publicity that ensued in the days after her encounter with Grant, Thompson appeared on television shows, including The Howard Stern Show and Danny Bonaduce's short-lived Danny!. She appeared in a television commercial promoting a Los Angeles radio station, a commercial for a Brazilian lingerie company, In September 1996, she made an appearance at the professional wrestling show Fight the Power.

Thompson continued to stay in the public eye, appearing in Joey Buttafuoco's public-access television show in 1998, on Judge Judy in 1996, and on the Danish documentary series Negermagasinet in 2005. She was the subject of the biopic Million Dollar Hooker in 2006 and appeared on Hollywood Lives, an ITV television series, in 2007.

Judge Judy Appearance

Thompson appeared as a defendant on Season 1, Episode 26 of courtroom show Judge Judy, credited as Divine Brown. The episode was advertised as a special edition. She was being sued by musician Rick Lomas, who was her former manager, for non-payment after her rise to fame following the scandal with Hugh Grant. Thompson claimed she did not personally know Lomas. After frequent verbal altercation and noncompliance after being ordered by Judge Judy Scheindlin and Petri Hawkins-Byrd to cease their disruptive behavior, Scheindlin called a recess and sent all parties out of the courtroom, where Byrd de-escalated Lomas, Lomas’ witness and Hollywood movie producer Al Bowman, Thompson, and her witness and manager Van Banks. After resuming the hearing, Scheindlin ultimately dismissed the case, stating Thompson did not owe Lomas money.

Personal life Thompson has been reported to have earned a total of $1.6 million from publicity related to her arrest with Grant. As a result, she and her manager and partner and the father of her children, Alvin C. Brown, bought a four-bedroom home in Beverly Hills. Thompson has said the money she earned from interviews and endorsements after the 1995 interrupted dalliance has allowed her to put her daughters through private school. "Everything worked out for the better," she said in 2007: "It helped me turn it into something positive … I was blessed that it could get me out of that lifestyle."