Who Was Steve Banerjee And His Wife? Real Story Behind ‘Welcome To Chippendales’

Somen “Steve” Banerjee was an Indian businessman. After running a Mobil gas station and a failed backgammon club, Banerjee bought a failed Los Angeles club called “Destiny II” and turned it into a nightclub that had female mud wrestling and a “Female Exotic Dancing Night.” The first male stripper dance troupe to perform for female audiences in the United States happened in 1979.

Talking about his personal life, Banerjee was happy with his life. He married Irene in the 1980s, and they had two cute kids, Lindsay and Christian, when he ran the most successful male stripping empire, but things changed when his business partner Nick De Noia became more famous after he bought the touring rights.

In the crime drama “Welcome to Chippendales” on Hulu, which started on Novemvber 22, 2022, Kumail Nanjiani plays Somen “Steve” Banerjee, an Indian immigrant who started a male stripping business that made millions of dollars and became popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

In this post, we’ll explore about Steve Banerjee’s personal life and more you need to know about Drama “Welcome To Chippendales”

Who Was Steve Banerjee’s Wife, Irene: How Did She Die

Irene grew up in a pretty normal family with her parents, Anna and Wolodymyr Tychowskyj, and her five siblings. There isn’t much known about her or her early life. We only know that she met Somen Banerjee AKA Steve for the first time in the late 1970s, when he was setting up the Chippendales all-men club in Los Angeles, California, just for women.

But the Hulu original series does show that she was an accountant by trade and that she and the India-born entrepreneur met because they both wanted to make more money.

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Annaleigh Ashford, an actress, singer, and Broadway star who plays Irene in the Hulu production, says that she is the “black sheep” of the Tychowskyj family because she didn’t join the family business. She comes from three generations of proud aluminium siding suppliers, so everyone thought she would follow in their footsteps when she finished college. 

She died on February 8, 2001, from breast cancer. Her son Christian, who became an orphan when he was 10 or 11, said, “I saw her lose her hair… I watched her have chemotherapy until she died.” Even though Irene has died, her family and friends will always remember her.

What Is Story Behind Crime Drama “Welcome To Chippendales”?

The crime drama Welcome To Chippendales is truly based upon Steve Banerjee’s life and career.

Chippendales was the first all-male stripping group to make money by performing for mostly female audiences. The group was formed in 1979. Chippendales also helped stripping become a popular form of entertainment because of how well it was staged and danced.

Welcome to Chippendales, a new true-crime miniseries on Hulu. It’s one of the streamer’s biggest shows of the year, and it might be the most interesting thing it’s done since Pam & Tommy, which was nominated for an Emmy earlier this year. In fact, Robert Siegel, who made Pam & Tommy, is behind the eight-episode Welcome to Chippendales, which is now streaming. The first episode was directed by Matt Shakman of WandaVision.

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Welcome to Chippendales tells the story of Somer (also known as Steve) Banerjee and how he became the founder and mogul of Chippendales, an exciting and booming male exotic dancer business that catered to women’s pleasure in the 1980s. Banerjee (played by Kumail Nunjani) was happy running the most successful male stripping empire, but things changed when his business partner Nick De Noia (played by Murray Bartlett) started getting more attention after he bought the touring rights. Banerjee hired someone to kill de Noia, and in the end, he was caught plotting to kill him. 

In September 1993, he was caught and pleaded guilty to racketeering, which included setting up De Noia’s murder. But Banerjee killed himself in his cell on October 23, 1994, a day before he was sentenced.