Tuesday

Celeb Nannies

opinion 1
How do people score gigs with celebs?? Seriously. Do you need to work for an agency? I'm sure you can't flip open the Sunday paper and BAM! There's Brad and Ang looking for a new sitter for their brood. I have serious job envy (although I'm quite sure that some celebs are complete nutters to work for...!) Does anyone work for an elite family? If so, how did you score your gig?

20 comments:

Bethany said...

What about it appeals to you? Sure the pay is probably great but I'm sure you earn every penny of it be it they are nutters as you say or you are always on duty 24/7. Not for me.

bluebell said...

I worked for a musician and his wife, and it was the worst job I ever had! Rude children, porn magazines left all over the house, job creep from my second day there... and I lasted three weeks before packing my stuff and moving out while they were away for the weekend. When I rang the agency who placed me there - a reputable agency, I might add - I was informed that I'd been the fifth nanny this family had gone through in four months! (gee, thanks for warning me about THAT before I accepted the job...not) Trust me, working for celebs might sound glamorous, but it isn't - and if you want to keep your sanity, don't even consider it!!

NannyK said...

I worked for Nadya Suleman (the octomom) and although she is not really a celebrity she is pretty well known. I got the job through an agency, and lasted almost a year with her.

NannyK said...

I should probably add that by "lasted" I meant that I quit after almost a year, because the night shifts of twelve hours five days a week took a serious toll on me, and because all of the negative media attention was just too much. I couldn't even get out of my car to go into the house without a camera being shoved in my face and people demanding that I answer their questions.

Nanny who loves her career!! said...

I have been with the "wealthy" I will never do it again. Let alone- go through an agency. It only leads to trouble. I have found gigs by word of mouth and scored my dream job and enjoying every minute of it!!!

Mrs. Edith said...

I would LOVE LOVE to work as a celebrity Nanny. Imagine the perks. Fame, fortune, etc.

Manhattan Nanny said...

Edith,
No fame for the nanny. Since The Nanny Diaries came out, celebs. require nannies to sigh confidentiality agreements.
One big drawback in working for celebs. or extremely wealthy families is the security issue. It can make normal everyday activities difficult in a city like NYC where most people walk/stroller rather than going everywhere by car. There is a nanny who is late for pickup almost every day for my charge's classmate and she blames it on the "driver" never being around when she is ready to leave. He trails them everywhere. He makes the secret service men you see on the news look positively warm and fuzzy by comparison.

beentheredonethat said...

There are advantages and disadvantages to working for the wealthy.

Pros: 1)I've been given tons of free swag from gifting suites and items company will send the family that they do not want.
2)Traveling to interesting places
3) Just the fact you know lots of insider information about your family and all of their friends...

cons: 1) Crazy hours and expected to be available on a moments notice. People with money are used to everyone waiting on them hand and foot, so they expect a lot out of you.
2) Sometimes they have you running errands all over town, walking their dogs, organizing their house, laundry/dishes, etc.
3) The pay isn't always that great.
4) many kids lack discipline and act out quite a bit. They also have mommy and daddy issues frequently because their parents are so inconstant in their lives.
5)Parents are around a lot while you nanny which makes the job harder.

Not as glamorous and it seems.

ELam said...

Ick, I would never want to work for a celebrity.

I've worked for a very wealthy non-celebrity family before, best nanny job ever. But that's because they were good, honest, caring people, not just because of the pay.

Mrs. Edith -- how many celebrity nannies do you know that have become "famous"...?

StrawberryShortKakes said...

NannyK.. I can't believe you worked for Nadya Suleman! I have seen her on a lot of shows (a while back when she was more in the media) and I couldn't help but think she really has some issues. What's your take on her and the amount of children she has? I'm just curious...

Cate said...

The only celeb nannies I can think of to have made headlines did so by sleeping with the boss.

MissMannah said...

Oh lord, I wouldn't never in a million years work as a celebrity nanny! I like my simple life in Okie, where it is a huge deal if you happen to see Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood at the local Wal-Mart. That's enough excitement for us!

NannyK said...

Strawberry-My negative opinion about her changed after working for her. Although I do not agree with her decision to have that many children, I know from being on the inside that she is an excellent mother. While I was there, her whole entire world revolved around those kids, and she was often only getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night because she was spending all of her time trying to divide herself amongst all of her children. What most people don't know, is that the doctor placed the same amount of embryos as he had with all of her other pregnancies, and that had iny resulted in a multiple pregnancy (twins) once before. The rest of them were singletons. No one could have ever guessed that 8 babies would have developed, however, in my opinion she shouldn't have even tried for one more.

Fibbers said...

I have a feeling some who claimed to work for celebs are fibbing. I can just tell in the way there typing. Heheheh!!

I'd love to work for a celeb just to try it out. My pick would be Angelina and brad pits children. Just because some of the children they've adopted came from rough home lives and i'd love to see how there personalies are and how they've come to like there celeb parents etc.

Lauren said...

I have NO desire to work for a celebrity again, ever. I worked for a professional basketball player and his "SAHM" wife. Longest month of my life. Ba-Bye... I think I was a little star-struck by the FT housekeeper and FT cook... my own apartment on the property, good salary and benefits. BUT, NO.. just NO.

talesfromthe(nanny)hood said...

I believe I am remembering the info I am about to offer correctly. I may be slightly off on salary.

I saw info recently on exactly what Brangelina want from their nannies. To get to be their celeb nanny, one must speak 2 languages, and one of those must be the language of the child's birth country.

You are assigned to one child, and you have to be able to disappear effectively when cameras are around, so that it looks as if your employers are managing solo.

You are expected to work 24/7 on call, and you must travel with the family wherever they go.

And you get paid...100K - 150K a year.

I'm guessing any "time off" is very limited.

So, sure, you get to live the "glamorous life" and be paid $17+ per hour, every hour of the day, every day of the week, every week of the year.

Personally, no money is worth the sort of insanity that comes with being around celebrities. Even if the celebs themselves aren't nuts, the paparazzi that follow them are.

CelebNanny said...

I have interviewed for several jobs with celebs and have worked for a couple of them. The hours are really long more often than not, but the salary can also be very good. In my experience most celeb jobs are found through agencies. I've also found that there are a few agencies that celebs tend to gravitate towards when they need a nanny.

Celeb jobs are just like all others. Some are incredibly difficult to work with (ex. Christina Aguilera, Heidi Klum), while others are nice and more normal (ex. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner). I have a friend that's been around the Hollywood scene a long time, so I always get her input when I get calls about celeb jobs.

GypsyChic said...

@Lauren: Your name sounds familiar. Did you perchance do your gig in the Midwest towards the end of 2008?

I'm curious, as I ended up taking what sounds like "your" job right around that time. I spent 3 years watching the children & just left in Dec when they moved out of state.

Prior to that, I had been living & working p/t in NYC for an older famous singer.

Amy said...

I wouldn't call my last long-term live-in family celebs...however the mom did work in television (the Today Show). I enjoyed working for them. They were good to me and paid me well and I never had any real issues until I got sick of living with people and wanted my own space, less restrictions on my off-time.

I got to take the baby to my bosses work a few times and while there meet the "celebrities". It was fun.

Rachel said...

For those of you who say you work for celebs which agencies did you go through?