Working as a celebrity assistant would be awesome. You'd get incredible access to great perks and famous stars. It's definitely a dream job, right? Wrong. Especially when you hear these stories of celebrities who are awful to their assistants.
Celebrity assistants are not living the glamorous lives we all think they do. Sure, they get to hang around celebs all the time, but that job comes at an extreme expense. Take Lady Gaga's assistant, for example. She was forced to sleep in the same bed as the pop icon just in case Gaga needed anything in the middle of the night. Still, that's not as bad as Taryn Manning's assistant, who got beat up by the Orange is the New Black star. Then there's Naomi Campbell's assistant, who infamously had a phone thrown at her by the supermodel. Yikes!
All of the celebrity assistant stories on this list just prove that being around a star 24/7 is not what it's cracked up to be. In fact, it might just be the thing that cracks a person. Literally. Christian Bale's ex-assistant was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after splitting from the star.
So before you consider submitting your resume for that job, take a look at these stories of celebrities who are awful to their assistants. You might just reconsider.
Stories of Celebrities Who Are Awful to Their Assistants,
Lance Armstrong
Shortly after becoming Lance Armstrong's personal assistant, Mike Anderson stumbled upon a box in Armstrong's bathroom labeled "Androstenedione" (that's a banned substance). The box soon disappeared. As time went on, Anderson started to feel more uncomfortable about things with Armstrong. That's when, as Anderson describes in his story for Outside, Armstrong fired him and he was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement "that would have made me liable for a large sum of money if I even mentioned ever having worked for Armstrong."
Anderson refused and was subject not only to lawsuits and lawyers, but also to public scrutiny. This was before the truth came out about Armstrong's doping. He was painted by Armstrong's lawyers as a "disgruntled schemer" and essentially had to move to New Zealand in order to pursue his dreams of opening his own bike shop.
Christian Bale
According to Harrison Cheung, who was Christian Bale's personal assistant for over a decade and also wrote the biography Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman, “If Christian was away filming on location, I would take care of his five pets, along with stray possums in the backyard as a special request. I would do anything from sniffing Christian’s armpits for B.O. right before he hit the red carpet to making emergency sock-runs if Christian was all out of clean ones. Sometimes duties were as exciting as traveling to film festivals and as dull as watching Christian surf in case something needed to be done onshore.” As Daily Mail reported, Cheung claimed working with Bale was a traumatic experience and made him have to undergo therapy. He wrote: "My therapist would describe my condition as post-traumatic stress disorder."
Courtney Love
Jessica Labrie, Courtney Love's personal assistant, sued Love with claims that the singer "acted with an improper and evil motive amounting to malice or despicable conduct," according to Rolling Stone. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be paid $30 an hour, Labrie "worked over 60-hour weeks without overtime pay, was forced to send false legal correspondence," and "was asked to hire a computer hacker." Additionally, Love promised to cover Labrie's Yale tuition, but never paid up.
Jennifer Lopez
Everyone knows J. Lo is the ultimate diva - but apparently it goes even farther than we thought. According to Huffington Post UK, "the singer has reportedly banned staff working on her new home from talking to or making eye contact with her."
And according to Gawker, when she was looking for a new assistant, these were the requirements: "The person has to be graceful under pressure, have thick skin, and be resourceful in foreign countries. You'll be on call 24/7... You have to change diapers, work on little sleep, and cook if the butler is away. You have to know when J.Lo has her snack time. She won't say she's hungry, and you're expected to have food waiting."
Katherine Heigl
As reported by Fox News, according to a source that was on the 27 Dresses film shoot, "Heigl reportedly refused to film any scenes until her pregnant assistant ran around and got her a Coke Zero. She refused to eat lunch next to anyone or have anyone speak to her once the cameras stopped rolling."
Lindsay Lohan
As documented on Perez Hilton, Lindsay Lohan kicked her personal assistant Gavin Doyle out of a car right after he had just bailed her out of jail! And according to Gawker, earlier that day, she had tried to pin a car accident involving her Porsche on Doyle - she told cops he had been driving it when it crashed.
Naomi Campbell
By now everyone knows the horror that comes with working with supermodel Naomi Campbell. According to People, Campbell allegedly threw a phone at her assistant in 2001. The assistant also claimed that the model had "grabbed her by the arms and threw her down on a couch." And in February 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty to another assault charge for beating an assistant.
UPDATE: In September 2016, Campbell faced more legal trouble after allegedly assaulting a "former public schoolboy" (a posh young lad) with a phone, leaving a bruise on his face. The unnamed young man, who works for a PR firm and was hired to help rehabilitate Campbell's public image, was visiting her in a hotel in Manhattan when a scuffle broke out.
Everyone has a different version of what happened so it's impossible to really know what went down. Campbell was apparently recovering from surgery at the time of the incident, casing a pall of doubt over whether she was capable of assaulting anyone. It's worth noting Lord Bell, founder of the PR firm working with Campbell, who worked with notorious tyrant Margaret Thatcher, called Campbell "the most unpleasant fashion model in the world."
Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone is becoming known for the terrible way she treats her staff. According to court documents obtained by Radar, one of Stone's former employees, Angelica Castillo, was ordered by doctors to “undertake a brief period of bed rest,” but “Stone denied Castillo’s request for a brief period of bed rest, and told her that she would have to come in to work that day.” When Castillo mentioned four months later that she was still in pain, the actress allegedly called her “crazy and stupid.”
Taryn Manning
As reported by NY Daily News, actress Taryn Manning was charged with misdemeanor assault after punching and choking her personal assistant, Holliann Hartman. According to Manning's lawyer, “They had a late-night argument that turned into a bit of a physical altercation." Apparently, "the two had been working long hours together" when the actress attacked her. Hartman later decided to not pursue the case.
Lady Gaga
In 2013 Lady Gaga's assistant, Jennifer O'Neill, brought a lawsuit against the "Poker Face" singer for unpaid overtime wages. In court documents, O'Neill explained how she was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the two even "frequently slept in the same bed because O'Neill never had her own hotel room while on tour and was required to address Lady Gaga's needs throughout the night." Daily Mail also revealed that during a video-taped deposition, Gaga was quoted as saying: '[Jennifer is a] f***ing hood rat who is suing me for money that she didn't earn."