![]() He said he grew up underprivileged on the gritty streets of a Latino neighborhood in La Mirada, tucked away in the southeast corner of Los Angeles County. MARK HUGHES’ VERSION OF HIS LIFE STORY WAS A REMARKABLE TALE OF tragedy, resolve and triumph. It’s also the story of how Mark Hughes, the super-salesman, may have become a prisoner of his public image. Hundreds of mourners grieved the loss of a man struck down in his prime who had helped so many get so rich.īut the real story is even sadder, the tale of a troubled man who grew up amid discord and drug abuse and, as an adult, turned a mythical video version of his past-the Herbalife story-into his reality. The death was ruled an accident, an eerie echo of the ruling on the drug-related death of Hughes’ mother 25 years earlier. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.21, more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit for driving. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office concludes he died of a toxic combination of alcohol and Doxepin, an antidepressant he was taking to help him sleep. They carry him to the floor and lay him on his back to perform CPR. Darcy calls the guards, who realize something is very wrong. He is wearing only a black T-shirt and black bikini briefs. Out of the public limelight, Hughes drank white wine, smoked a cigar and played his drum set, protected by security gates, round-the-clock guards and surveillance cameras.įrom an adjoining part of the suite, Darcy LaPier Hughes-his fourth wife and, like her three predecessors, a former beauty queen-enters the master bedroom. The 87th birthday party for Hughes’ beloved maternal grandmother, Hazel, known affectionately as Mimi, had been a private affair, just a few family members joining him at home for the evening. It is late in the morning after another celebration. Three months later, on May 21, Mark Hughes is lying on the four-poster bed in the master bedroom suite of his beach retreat, a Mediterranean-style mansion on 71/2 acres with 300 feet of Pacific Ocean shoreline that he recently bought for a Malibu-record $25 million. “I will never forget that moment,” recalls Perez. On the Forum stage, moved by the nostalgia, Hughes again allows a tear or two to roll onto his cheeks. He sobs-hobnobbing with the likes of Milton Berle and Merv Griffin, handing out $1-million bonus checks to distributors, globe-trotting in the company’s private jet, promising to “take Herbalife around the entire world.” There, on screen, is Hughes crying at Herbalife’s fourth anniversary rally-”I can’t believe what’s happened with all of this,” The faithful focus their attention as the Forum Diamondvision displays a video montage of highlights from Hughes’ past, from the early days of selling a protein powder out of his car trunk to his current status as chairman and chief executive of a multinational corporation headquartered in a Century City high-rise. “The dream he had has helped so many people like me,” says Paco Perez, a distributor who was a hotel bellboy when he first met Hughes. Like his followers, he sports one of the ubiquitous “Lose Weight Now, Ask Me How” badges-the slogan that also adorns telephone poles and car bumpers everywhere. To them, he is the manifestation of how a flair for salesmanship, hard work and a belief in your product can make just about anyone a millionaire. He owns homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Maui, and is planning to build a veritable San Simeon on a mountaintop above Benedict Canyon.įrom the Forum stage, Hughes looks out on an audience of acolytes, about 4,000 Herbalife distributors who have followed his prescription for health and wealth with almost messianic fervor. In 1998, he collected a tidy $43 million in a leveraged buyout of one manufacturer. In the preceding fiscal year, he earned more than $2 million in salary and bonuses he controls 60% of Herbalife stock, worth about $250 million, and has interests in suppliers of the company’s products. Hughes has racked up 20-and become extremely rich in the process. So-called multilevel or network marketers are lucky to stay in business for several years. At 44, Hughes is the ruler of a $956-million business empire that sells weight-management and personal-care products through a network of more than 1 million distributors in 50 countries. It’s part of a five-day celebration of the 20th anniversary of Herbalife International, the company he started in a former Beverly Hills wig factory. 19, 2000, is something special for Mark Reynolds Hughes. ![]() In seminar after seminar, convention after convention, he has captivated thousands of people around the world with his charisma, sincerity and enthusiasm.īut this appearance, on Feb. Immaculately dressed as always, 6-foot-1, tanned, not a hair out of place, he is a veteran of such very public appearances. There’s a star on the stage of the Great Western Forum. ![]()
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