Nanny Requests from Celebrity Clients

Nanny Requests from Celebrity Clients – Part 1

February 16th, 2019 at 6:23 pm

Don’t you often wonder what life is like for those who work with celebrities? Being around all the glamour without the liability? It sounds nice but little do we know how strange life can be for those employed under celebrities. Often times these domestic workers find themselves fielding some unusual requests.

Kimberly Love over at Moms.com wrote a detailed list of some rather bizarre requests celebrity nannies have had to fulfill on the job.

25. MADONNA KEPT HER ON CALL ALL DAY LONG

Madonna totally seems like the kind of powerhouse female that would be a bit intimidating to work for. Angela Jacobsen went public in 2009 to talk about her nanny job for Madonna’s adopted son, David. It made news because the nanny left the job quite upset. She posted this on her social media page, “I’m not putting up with this crap (sic) anymore.” The nanny was furious because she claimed that she was expected to be “on call 24 hours a day,” and not only that but everyone in the home including the nanny was expected to adhere to a strict macrobiotic eating plan.

24. NANNY PHILLIPPA CHRISTIAN WORE UNACCEPTABLE JEWELRY

Nanny to the stars Philippa Christian has been working as a nanny for almost her whole life. Now she teaches women how to be a nanny. She has some crazy stories about being a celebrity nanny. She’s not naming names as she is under contract not to tell but she did write a book about her experiences as a nanny called Nanny Confidential. “All of the staff had to wear [that symbolic] eye jewelry – which is gold necklaces and gold bracelets with a little eye on them – to deflect any negative energy and negative spirits from the house and from the children,” Christian said of one celebrity family.

23. THIS NANNY HAD TO BE BEYONCÉ’S CHOREOGRAPHER

When you are a celebrity of Beyoncé’s caliber you can probably ask for just about anything. One of her previous employers had to actually learn choreography from that hit “Ladies” song so that she could perform for Blue Ivy. She had to perform every time that Blue Ivy asked her for it. We hope Beyoncé pays really well because that’s an over-the-top request. That was the only thing that would calm down little Ivy when she was upset. We’re a little surprised that someone would agree to that but if the price is right.

22. JULIA ROBERTS HAS THEM WEARING RED WIGS

It can be hard juggling a Hollywood job and having a normal family life. Julia Roberts has gotten to the point in her life that she can now stay home with her kids. She only takes projects that she is really passionate about. When it comes time for her to go to work, she makes sure that there are nannies available for her children. When the children were still little, she would ask the nannies to wear red wigs so that they would think that it was her putting them to bed. “It was a bit weird, but I get it,” the nanny said. “She hoped they would think it was her putting them to sleep instead of the sitter.”

21. KATE GOSSELIN GIVES NO DAYS OFF

Kate Gosselin is known to be a bit of a nightmare for employees who work for her. She has eight children which would be a handful for even multiple nannies. She has a lot of turnaround when it comes to hiring nannies and she’s had at least 12 over the years leave her. Ariel Cantara quit her job and had no problem talking about it after. She said that Kate could be “controlling and a neat freak.” Ariel stated, “Shifts can last up to 24 hours, and you have to go on trips with the family. Sleepovers are often required, and there is no set schedule with days off. You work when Kate says she needs you to work.”

20. PHILIPPA WAS TAKING CHILDREN TO THEIR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

One thing that celebrity nanny Philippa Christian experienced when she was a nanny was the idea that parents expected them to be the ones to take children to their first day of school. She tells a story about a time that she took a little boy to his very first day of school. “I got there and all these rich mothers are high-fiving each other saying ‘yes they’re in school’ and going off for their champagne breakfast to celebrate the fact that they don’t have their kids at home anymore,” she said. “I was the only one there that wasn’t a parent and I was the only one crying my eyes out.”

19. ANGELINA JOLIE PRETENDS THEY ARE JUST FRIENDS AND NOT NANNIES

We don’t always see celebrities photographed with their nannies and sometimes they even appear more like friends than nannies. There’s a reason for that. Beth Torre, spokeswoman for Celebrities Staffing Services, which supplies a steady stream of nannies to the rich and famous says, “Celebrities want to be seen as regular people,” theorizes Torre. “They don’t want to be seen as living in a castle.” Celebrities like Angelina prefer their nannies to appear as if they are friends instead of employees. “Nobody can do the amount of work they do, and all of the traveling they do, and all of the social activity they do, without nannies,” says Torre.

18. VICTORIA BECKHAM SAYS DON’T TALK TO ANYONE

When you work for Victoria Beckham, she wants you to know your place and not venture off where you don’t belong. She wants you to do exactly as she says and not talk to anyone unless she tells you that it’s okay. Her nanny, Abigail Gibson, learned this the hard way. She was nanny to the three children and was caught talking to Victoria’s former stylist, who Victoria doesn’t like anymore. The former stylist had claimed she had a past with her husband, so when she found out that her nanny had talked to this stylist, she was not impressed.

17. CHARLIZE THERON SAYS DON’T MAKE EYE CONTACT

Charlize Theron seems like the nicest person in the world, but she has some odd practices when it comes to her nannies. Theron does not like it when her staff bothers her in any way. “I wasn’t allowed to speak or even look at her,” says a former nanny. “It was odd.” We wonder how her staff is able to communicate the needs of her children with her if she is so strict in the way that they approach her. Actress Tia Mowry had a similar experience with her that makes this one a little more believable. She saw the actress at a soul cycle class and when she approached her to talk to her, Charlize rolled her eyes and walked away.

16. ANGELINA LETS THE KIDS STAY UP ALL NIGHT

Angelina Jolie has an army of children, and with that comes multiple nannies. But the nannies have stated that the house is in chaos because the children don’t have any rules and are allowed to run rambunctiously through the house. Angelina doesn’t believe in saying no to the kids and the kids never go to bed. They can set their own bedtimes and that means the nannies are expected to stay up with them. If the kids want to stay up all night and watch TV then the nannies are on night duty.

15. KIM AND KANYE DON’T WANT THEIR SLUMBER TO BE DISTURBED

Kim and Kayne don’t mess around when it comes to their sleeping schedule. The couple has a rule that if they are woken up in the middle of the night by one of their kids then they will cut the nanny’s pay. They currently pay the nannies $2,000 each for the night if the kids don’t bother them. It gets lower significantly if little children interrupt Kim and Kanye while they sleep. Is that legal? We’re not sure but we are betting that the nannies are doing anything in their power to keep the children in their own beds at night.

14. PHILIPPA CHRISTIAN WOULD NEVER SELL FAMILY PHOTOS

Philippa Christian has actually been asked by multiple news agencies and paparazzi for photos of the inside of her client’s homes and they are willing to pay big bucks for them. She used to work for cricketer Shane Warne when he was married to Simone Callahan, and the paparazzi offered to pay her $280,000 for one photo of the couple in their home. Considering she makes half a million a year for her job she wouldn’t want to do anything to mess that up. “Every week this price would get higher and higher because the paparazzi couldn’t get their hands on the two of them,” she said.

13. KRIS JENNER WANTED BROCCOLI

One of Kris Jenner’s nannies claimed that the matriarch of the family was not quite right. She is known to be a demanding person when it comes to her staff and considering the empire that she’s built, we’re not going to argue the fact. One nanny talked about a time that she was doing grocery shopping for the family and forgot to buy broccoli. Kris lost her temper on the nanny and she remembered never to forget broccoli again. The nanny learned that things had to be done Kris’ way all the time.

These are just half of the extra requests Kimberly detailed in her piece. Check our blog next week for part two!

Bio
Latest Posts

Glenn Greenhouse

President at Greenhouse Agcy, Ltd.

Glenn began in the “family business” more than 30 years ago, by coming to work for his Father, Martin Greenhouse. He often recounts how nervous he was, when at 19 years old his Father forced him to pick up the phone and speak with David Suskind. This was to be the first of dozens of phone calls and meetings to come for Glenn……with Celebrity Clientele. Glenn considers himself very fortunate to have spent his life working at a job he truly loves and as he puts it: “earn a comfortable living at the same time.”