Steve Banerjee was the founder and owner of Chippendales, the famous male strip club that became a global sensation in the 1980s. He was also a convicted murderer who plotted to kill his former partners and rivals in the business. He committed suicide in 1994, hours before he was due to be sentenced. But what happened to his children, Lindsay and Christian Banerjee? Here is their story.
Early Life and Family
Lindsay Banerjee was born on August 27, 1985, in Los Angeles County, California. She is the eldest and only daughter of Steve Banerjee and his wife Irene Katherine Tychowskyj Banerjee. Her brother Christian Banerjee was born a few years later.
Lindsay and Christian grew up in a luxurious Playa del Rey residence, surrounded by their parents’ love and support. Irene was Steve’s dedicated and supportive partner, who married him in the 1980s. According to Bruce Nahin, Steve’s former partner and lawyer, Steve was obsessed with money and wanted his daughter’s first word to be “money”. He would wave dollar bills in front of her and repeat the word constantly.
Tragedy and Loss
Lindsay and Christian’s lives changed dramatically in the early 1990s, when Steve was arrested for several federal crimes related to his Chippendales business. He had hired a hitman to kill Nick De Noia, his former producer and choreographer, who was shot dead in his Manhattan office in 1987. He had also plotted to kill Michael Fullington, another former Chippendales dancer and choreographer, and two other ex-Chippendales dancers, Read Scot and Steve White, who were part of a rival troupe named Adonis.
Steve pleaded guilty to attempted arson, racketeering, and murder for hire in 1994. He accepted a plea bargain that would have seen him serve 26 years in prison and lose his share in Chippendales. However, he took his own life on October 23, 1994, hours before he was due to be sentenced. He was 46 years old.
Lindsay and Christian were left without their father, but they still had their mother Irene by their side. Unfortunately, Irene was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away in February 2001. She was 41 years old.
Lindsay and Christian were then orphaned at the tender ages of 15 and 12 respectively. They were sent to live with their maternal aunt and uncle in Buffalo, New York.
Current Whereabouts
Lindsay returned to California in 2003 to attend the University of California- Santa Barbara. She graduated in 2007 with a double major in Business and Economics-Global Studies. She then worked for Deckers Outdoor Corporation as a Sales Operations Coordinator and later as a Merchandising Coordinator. She also served as a co-producer for a 2001 short video on the merchandising calendar aspect of her father’s business, titled ‘Chippendales’.
Lindsay currently lives in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she works as a Senior Sales Account Executive for the fashion company UGG. She is a basketball and travel enthusiast, but she prefers to keep her personal life away from the public eye.
Christian Banerjee has spoken publicly about his father on several occasions. He has shared how his father’s legacy has influenced him and how he has coped with the trauma of losing both his parents at a young age. He has also expressed his interest in making a documentary about his father’s life and business.
Christian currently lives in Los Angeles, where he works as an actor and producer. He has appeared in several films and TV shows, such as ‘The Last Ship’, ‘The Rookie’, ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’, ‘The Fosters’, ‘The Young Pope’, ‘The Catch’, ‘The Mentalist’, ‘Castle’, ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘CSI: NY’, ‘NCIS’, ’24’, ‘ER’, ‘Without a Trace’, ‘Alias’, ‘The Shield’, ‘NYPD Blue’, ‘JAG’, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’, among others.
He has also produced several projects, such as ‘The Last Ship: Inside the Episodes’, ‘The Last Ship: Behind the Curtain’, ‘The Last Ship: Commitment’, ‘The Last Ship: The Complete Series Retrospective’, among others.
Conclusion
Lindsay and Christian Banerjee are the children of Steve Banerjee, the founder and owner of Chippendales, who was also a convicted murderer and a suicide. They have faced unimaginable tragedy and loss in their lives, but they have also shown resilience and strength. They have pursued their own careers and passions, while keeping their privacy and dignity intact. They are the survivors of a dark and twisted story that has fascinated and shocked the world.
