Irene Banerjee Was Chippendales Founder Somen Steve Banerjee's Wife

Irene Banerjee gave up her career to help her husband build the legendary empire of the male strip club Chippendales. The pair met in the late 1970s and had their love story televised in a Hulu mini-series.

Irene Banerjee drew her first breath in Buffalo, New York, on November 10, 1956. She was born Irene Kathryn Tychowskyj to Ukrainian natives Anna Szypka and Walter Tychowskyj and was one of five siblings.

Little else is known about Irene's background, but she became a well-known figure due to her marriage with the notorious late Chippendales founder Steve Banerjee. The couple had two children, though Steve had another child from a previous relationship.

Irene Banerjee and Steve Banerjee's Love Story

Irene first met Steve in 1978, and the pair soon began a romantic relationship. They moved in together in 1980 and married four years later, on September 29, 1984. By then, Irene had already been working closely with her husband to develop the Chippendales empire.

After they wed, she shared, "I gave up my career to continue to work with him in the business known as Chippendales." On August 27, 1985, they welcomed their first child, a daughter they named Lindsay Banerjee.

Five years later, on August 4, 1990, they had a son, Christian Banerjee. Steve had already been a father before starting a family with Irene. The businessman had a son, Jesse Banerjee, from whom he hid his wife and kids.

Jesse published a memoir in 2021, detailing his discovery that he had a stepmother and siblings and offering his perspective on his late father's rise and fall and the subsequent events that transpired.

"The fact that he had kept his marriage and two other children a secret was puzzling. As far as I knew, I was his only son, heir to his throne. Now Irene was telling me I had a sister and brother, Lindsay and Christian," he wrote.

Irene Banerjee Received Her Husband's Estate and Later Sold It

From the early 1990s, Irene's husband was under investigation by the FBI. He was arrested in September 1993 and faced several charges, including conspiracy to murder and attempted arson. He pleaded guilty in July 1994 and was to be sentenced to 26 years.

That October, just hours before his sentencing, Steve committed suicide and was found dead in his cell. At the beginning of 1994, he and Irene had entered a post-marital agreement allowing the division of their marital assets and liabilities.

When the couple married, they had signed a pre-nuptial agreement but had it nullified to make room for new terms in their post-marital agreement. They dissolved their marriage in August 1994, which allowed Irene to take ownership of Steve's estate; she later sold his Chippendales empire.

Her story with Steve was televised in a Hulu mini-series titled "Welcome to Chippendales." Actress Annaleigh Ashford portrayed Irene, while Kumail Nanjiani played Steve. Other stars included Juliette Lewis and Murray Bartlett.

Irene Banerjee Succumbed to Cancer

Irene died on February 8, 2001. She was survived by her mother, Anna (who passed in 2011), her siblings, and her kids Lindsay and Christian. Christian now works as a male stripper but was previously a personal trainer and ran a nutrition store.

He shared that his mother died of breast cancer in a 2021 interview. "I saw her lose her hair… I saw her get chemo until she died," he recalled. Christian's older sister is a Senior Sales Account Executive for UGG in St Louis, Missouri.

Lindsay worked on a movie short called "Chippendales" in 2001. She married a gentleman named Jake in 2021. Lindsay has a Facebook account, though her current last post is from 2020, and an Instagram page, though as of this writing, it is private.