Lots of people who work as celebrity assistants are doing their jobs because they’re trying to break into the entertainment industry. That makes sense, since working for a celebrity is a great way to make contacts and learn about how the industry works from the inside. However, one celebrity assistant is hoping to make the jump into a slightly less related career – he participated in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ annual “Fantasy Camp.” While most of the guys who participate in the program are trying to meet famous baseball players, there was one camp participant who had a little star power of his own:
“I was doing some scouting last night for today’s draft and I was looking over everybody’s occupation,” the former D-backs All-Star outfielder said. “I saw that one guy is list as an assistant to an actor or actress and I was wondering if he would be willing to share just who that is.”
Gregg Simon slowly stood up and said, “I’m the personal assistant to Carmen Electra.”
Not surprisingly, everybody asked if Electra might make an appearance during the week to support her PA, but it didn’t happen. MLB.com blogger Steve Gilbert, who was chronicling his experiences at Fantasy Camp, asked Simon if meeting his baseball idols was as exciting as meeting Electra’s famous friends.
“Are you kidding?” he said. “No way. This is much cooler. Meeting these guys is a much bigger deal. The only thing from ‘Hollywood’ that compares to this for me was meeting Bruce Springsteen and Howard Stern. No one else is close.”
I’ve always wondered what athletes do during their off-seasons. Do they play sports every day just to stay in shape? Do they hang out with their families? Take trips? Buy expensive things? Well, one athlete does something very unusual during his time away from the sport – Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf spends his down time working as an intern for the US Department of Agriculture. And he doesn’t even get paid. Man, I feel like a total slacker right now compared to this guy, it’s not even funny.
Ohlendorf will be spending 20 hours a week this winter studying cattle diseases and their migration patterns. He works in a small room that he shares with another intern. “This one’s been, I’d say, the most exciting off-season I’ve had,” he said in an ABC News interview.
Some hockey players, like vanity internship poster boy Sean Avery, decide to switch careers and go from sports to fashion. Hockey player Mark Messier, on the other hand, decided to make a move within his industry. The multiple Stanley Cup winner has just been hired as the assistant general manager for his former team, the New York Rangers. He has been retired from playing since 2005, and his #11 jersey was retired by the Rangers and now hangs in Madison Square Garden.
There are some rumors that the move is merely a placeholder until the current GM retires and Messier can step into the position, but I for one find it really cool that this dude with so many accomplishments and so much name recognition is willing to put in some hard work and try out a new role in the industry he loves. Team Messier could kick Team Avery’s butt any day.
Rebecca Loos worked briefly as David Beckham’s assistant, allegedly had an affair with him, and has been milking the publicity ever since. She gave tons of interviews and got in touch with her inner Alli Sims when she released a single called “Your Boyfriend” that she claimed wasn’t about the Beckhams. Now, the surprise isn’t that she’s writing a tell-all book, it’s that it took her so long to do it. After all, she was David’s PA almost six years ago. Since then, she’s become a British reality show fixture, appearing on such esteemed programs as Celebrity Love Island and Extreme Celebrity Detox, and poses topless for lad magazines.
Loos, who is 31 now, is expecting a child. Allegedly, she decided to finally write the book because she wants the money to guarantee financial security for her kid:
“Rebecca has been talking about releasing this book for four years,” the Daily Star quoted a friend as saying.
“She has been teasing the world that she will tell all about her life with David behind Victoria’s back.
“And now that she knows she’s got a little one on the way, Rebecca wants to make sure she and the baby are set for life.
Yeah, good luck with that, Rebecca.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, who along with David Beckham is probably the most recognized (and, um, most hot) soccer player in the world, recently suffered an injury that will have him hobbling around on crutches for awhile. To pass the time during his recovery, he’s been hanging out in L.A. Entertainment Lawyer reports that Paris Hilton tried to pick Ronaldo up at a party, but he declined. And who was he at the party with? A woman he referred to as his “assistant,” who was with him to “aid his recovery.” Entertainment Lawyer wasn’t buying it either, but hey… would you turn down a chance to be Ronaldo’s personal nursemaid? At the very least, you know his disinterest in hooking up with Paris Hilton indicates he has common sense and good taste.
This has got to be one of the weirdest assistant-related stories I’ve come across lately: a sumo wrestler in Japan, whose name is Toyozakura, is being punished for beating his 18-year-old assistant with a bamboo sword. What’s kind of cool about this story (not the assistant getting smacked part, of course) is that the Japanese government takes sumo so seriously that they’re penalizing Toyozakura by docking his pay 30 percent for the next three months.
Unfortunately, other sumo assistants (junior wrestlers who are in training) have not had it so easy in the past. Witness:
Violent hazing, or beating during training, has long been seen as customary, contributing to the sport’s struggle to attract new recruits. But there was a public outcry over the death last year of a teenage apprentice who was beaten with a beer bottle and a baseball bat.
Seriously? While docking pay is a nice start and public embarrassment is an even better one, there has to be a way to let people know that such behavior is completely inappropriate, even for aspiring wrestlers.
If you want a career in fashion, few places are better launching pads than style bible Vogue magazine. However, college design students, I regret to inform you there’s one less intern slot available this summer. That slot has been filled by a gentleman by the name of Sean Avery, who already has a day job–playing hockey for the New York Rangers.
Something tells me Avery won’t be spending his internship sealing envelopes or picking up everyone’s Starbucks order. The unpaid employee was a presenter at the FiFi Awards, which honor the best of the perfume industry. And there are rumors he may appear on the cover of Men’s Vogue. Does Sean Avery being an intern mean Venus Williams is going to become Anna Wintour’s assistant? Maybe college kids will start fighting for jobs as celebrity athletes.
Many assistants fall victim to Stockholm Syndrome, which is when they start blaming themselves for their boss’ mistreatment and internalize their office issues. For many people, SS begins as part of some bigger issue. In my case, for example, I had a deep need to please. I was a great student in college and was really eager for my boss to like me as much as my professors had. When he didn’t, I convinced myself it was because of my own personal failings and didn’t take into account the fact that he treated everyone like dirt, not just me.
Many who have workplace Stockholm Syndrome grew up actively involved in sports and have retained their athletic spirit and competitive drive. This sad post on Jezebel discusses a recent post about young girls involved in Olympic-level gymnastics. Although a coach is not a boss, this passage made us think otherwise:
Ryan talks about Julissa Gomez, a girl who looked “ten years old even at fifteen. She stood 4 feet 10 inches and weighed 72 pounds.” Gomez is a gymnastics cautionary tale: at a competition in Japan in 1988, she did a dangerous vault called the Yurchenko. According to one of Julissa’s teammates, Chelle Stack, said, “You could tell it was not a safe vault for her to be doing. Someone along the way should have stopped her.” But no one did, because the Yurchenko meant higher scores. Gomez hit her head on the vaulting horse during warmups at such a speed that she became paralyzed. She died of an infection three years later.
Scary stuff, and proof that Stockholm Syndrome isn’t always a result of working in an office.
Dan Wheldon is a successful racecar driver. He was also known as a bit of a partier and a womanizer. I don’t really know what measures success in his profession, so let me steal from Sports Illustrated:
He was named IndyCar rookie of the year that season and won three races to finish second in points in 2004. He won a record six times — including the Indianapolis 500 — and a championship in 2005 before tying atop the point standings in 2006. (Sam Hornish Jr. was awarded the title with two more wins.) Finishing fourth is a goal for some, but Wheldon’s 2007 season was his worst since his rookie season, despite two wins.
So after a bad season, as problems plagued his personal and professional life, what was a racecar driver to do?
Marry his assistant, of course.
Wheldon credits his wife, Susie, for helping turn his life around. She even made him take his first trip to the dentist in seven years.
Assistants. Is there anything they can’t do?
We’ve spent enough time on the other side of the pond to know how seriously the Brits take their football–and their footballers. However, one sports fan went too far when he tried to attack Newcastle United player Joey Barton (below, yum) by hiding out in Barton’s hotel room–only to accidentally attack Barton’s assistant with a knife.
The assistant, who was only identified as a 22-year-old, is fortunately OK. Adrian Hudson, the attacker, has been confined to a mental institution indefinitely.
As assistants, we’re often in the line of fire. But in this case, it was way too literal. Joey Barton’s nameless assistant, we hope you’re all right, and our thoughts are with you.
