Saturday, July 30, 2011

Want to be a celebrity nanny?


 Angelina does and Brad Pitt
Have you ever wondered how Angelina does it all? Shoot a movie in Venice, vacation in France with her hunky husband Brad Pitt, stopover on the way and adopt a child or two to add to her ever-growing brood of children - all this, without a hair out place (and God forbid, her lipstick be faded or her nails chipped!)

Well, the answer is nannies. So, the next time you see the Pitt-Jolie crew strut along in a paparazzi shot, remember not too far behind lurks an entourage of nannies who were carefully left out of the picture.


And a Brangelina nanny can put even
Mary Poppins to shame. In a recent ad they put out, the couple listed out the qualities their nanny must possess. She must have a degree in education or child development and speak at least two different languages, as well as the native tongues of their children. Some celebs like their nannies to be professional ballerinas while star kids like Suri Cruise can ask daddy Tom Cruise to procure a nanny who looks just like "Mary Poppins". Tom Cruise actually humoured his daughter by putting in a call to acting agencies.

But all the above nannier fare better compared to what
Gwyneth Paltrow expects of her nanny. The lucky woman who will get to take care of Apple and Moses must possess a classical education, including Greek and Latin, be fluent in at least three languages (preferably including Mandarin or Japanese), be musically fluent in two instruments, be passionate about sailing and tennis, and enjoy art history or martial arts.

Did we just call her a lucky woman? Well yes, because these celeb nannies enjoy perks that non celeb nannies couldn't dream of. The "candidate must be prepared to travel the globe with the family," the ad put out by Brangelina states. Add a hefty pay packet to that - $90, 000 and in Gwyneth's case 60,000 pounds - and what you have is hundreds of young women across the globe hankering for the coveted position.

Just type the words, "How to be a celebrity nanny" into any internet search engine and you have millions of nanny agencies turn up that cater to "celebrity clients". There are also numerous suggestions as to how to go about becoming a nanny (move to New York, wait tables at high-profile restaurants that celebs frequent etc)

Nanny-gates

If the ridiculously high salary and the chance to travel around the globe is not enough motivation for an average young woman, well they might also stand a chance to hook up with that-hot-Hollywood-star. Ethan Hawke dumped his gorgeous wife, "Kill Bill" star Uma Therman for Ryan Shawhughes - his nanny. Jude Law also strayed from his marriage to sexy British actress Sienna Miller for a role in the hay with nanny Daisy Wright, though he didn't marry but we can't say the same for Robin Williams, who did marry his son's nanny. Rob Lowe was caught in a bitter scandal where two of his nannies alleged that he had sexually harassed them and exposed himself to them.

Famous nannies

One of the most famous nannies in Hollywood happens to be Marva who has cared for many famous celebrity babies including Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon's son Deacon, Julia Roberts and Danny Moder's twins Phinnaeus and Hazel and David Arquette and Courtney Cox's daughter Coco. In any case, a career as a celebrity nanny is a good investment, since it may make you a reality star or a bestselling author if you choose to dish on the family you served for later. Tori Spelling's nanny Patsy starred in Spellings' reality show and has been eulogized by Tori in several of her blogs. Meanwhile Beckhams' nanny Abbie Gibson accused him constantly cheating on Victoria Beckham and made it to the front pages of most papers in Britain. Madonna's manny (male nanny) almost wrote an entire tell all book on her and ex hubby Guy Ritchie's life.

The N word

Hollywood likes to pretend that the term "nanny" does not exist in its books. Heidi Klum still says in her interviews that she doesn't believe in hiring nannies. Ditto for Kate Hudson and Jennifer Lopez (Both of whom, have been spotted with their nannies several times). Katie Holmes is seen doting over little fashionista Suri, we seldom see the nanny who caters to all her demands (though the fact that the nanny carries around a 2000 dollar Dolce and Gabbana bag is of some consolation). No matter how ridiculous it may seem to see Victoria 'managing' her little boys in six-inch heels and pretending there is no paid help in sight - everybody knows she does.

In fact says Leslie Gornstein, a Los Angeles-based freelance entertainment writer and reporter,"It's not unusual for even minor stars to have at least two to three nannies per child: one for day, one for night, one for weekends and travel."

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