A celebrity assistant meets many celebrities, hangs around on sets or backstage at concerts, and enjoys high-end dining and accommodations, though from the sidelines. On top of taking care of menial tasks like lugging suitcases and fetching coffee, they are on call 24/7, lack a personal life, and suffer emotional and physical abuse. We rarely get a real glimpse behind the showbiz curtain and find out what celebrities are like in their day-to-day lives, but some assistants share their stories of their lives with celebs.
Scott Rudin
Scott Rudin is the film producer of Captain Phillips, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Moneyball and reputed to be tough to work for with a fondness for throwing objects, including phones, and firing people for buying the wrong muffins. His assistant casualty count ranges from 119 to 250 people, over a 36-year career. That’s a lot of hiring and firing.
Courtney Love
Read Jessica Labrie’s account as Courtney Love’s assistant with a heavy dose of cynicism. After all, did she forget having taken a job with an abrasive person? In a 2012 lawsuit filed, Labrie sought wages, expenses due, punitive damage for wrongful firing, overtime wage violations, false promise, breach of contract, negligent intentional misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Christian Bale
Harrison Cheung is a folk hero to fanboys, turning his fan letters to Christian Bale into a marketing job after working uncompensated for Bale for 10 years. Cheung later wrote a book, called “Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman,” so he had a delayed payday. The book is not as bitter as it sounds.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is a huge musical talent, but is constantly reinventing her image. Working for her is beyond the normal experience and former assistant Jennifer O’Neill, sued the “Poker Face” singer in 2011 for $393,000 for 7,168 hours of overtime, plus damages. O’Neill was required to be available 24/7, and even sleep in bed with Gaga, a claim backed up by another former assistant, Angela Ciemny.
Naomi Campbell
Supermodel Naomi Campbell is known to be a diva with a nasty phone-throwing habit and her anger has gotten her into legal trouble. Rebecca White, Campbell’s former assistant made no attempts to ease that perception about her temperamental boss in newspaper interviews. White and Campbell are two peas in a pod who recognized the worst parts of themselves in each other.
Lindsay Lohan
Gavin Doyle once served as Lindsay Lohan’s personal assistant during her more turbulent period. Doyle and Lohan had been friends for years when the actress slammed her car into the rear of an eighteen-wheel vehicle, she allegedly panicked and proceeded to tell the police that Doyle was the one driving. He told police the truth, and Lohan was convicted of reckless driving, serving seven years’ probation, but Doyle moved on to work for Purple magazine as a photographer.
Katt Williams
Comedian Katt Williams has a disturbing off-stage life, constantly getting into fights, physical altercations with women, does shady stuff with dogs, and is dragged into court for various reasons. Angelina Triplett-Hill, Katt’s former assistant, claimed in a million dollar lawsuit that she witnessed the comic violently hit other women while she was present, and also knocked her unconscious by hitting her in the face and slamming her to the ground.