There’s a certain comfort in anonymity; an easy grace in operating from behind a curtain. I’ve spent my 25+ years as manager for some pretty well known, amazingly talented folks, representing them from behind that shield. That came to a screeching halt this past week.

One of my really famous clients, who’s also a friend, got in a very highly publicized altercation involving two of his sons and himself. There was a surreal frenzy surrounding the incident, and since I really like this man, I figured the right thing to do was, for the first time in my career, come out of my comfort zone to defend him against the ridiculous allegations being leveled against him, not only by the sometimes-scummy press, but his elder son, who is a real piece of work.

So first, Sunday around noon I issued a statement on his behalf. And we actually thought that might slake the thirst for inside info on celebrities lives, and things would die down and go away. Silly us. Between last Sunday morning and yesterday, when very sadly another (in)famous celebrity died and took the glare off us, I fielded well over a thousand calls and emails, was quoted and misquoted ad nauseum in more media outlets than I can count, and actually went on camera for the first time in my career. And it was freaky.

Did you know about editing? It seems no matter what you tell them, they’ll make you say what they want. Even the good ones do it. First I did an interview for the LA Times, a relatively prestigious publication. I gave my comments on the record, but wound up being reduced to “a source close to the situation”. HEY. I have a name, damn it. And missed Prince’s halftime show to give you that statement, fucker. Then the very famous, and famously tawdry, “Page 6” from the NY Post. But, oddly, they were very nice to my client, used my name, and even spelled it right! The rest of Sunday was spent fielding 292 emails and numerous calls from news outlets ranging from the Associated Press to The Shanghai News to (I swear) The PCH Press to Good Morning America, The Today Show, and countless local LA stations. (I didn’t know there were so many….). Hell, I even got an email from Dr. Phil, who offered to have all involved parties on his show to settle the mess and heal the wounds. Big man, bigger ego. I lost count of how many statements/”interviews” I gave. I headed to my girlfriend’s house to try for some normalcy (hahaha), forgetting momentarily that my cell phone was in my pocket, and I had email access at her house, too. 

Then, literally at daybreak Monday, things really picked up steam. (The phone calls alone Monday passed the 350 mark). The most tenacious among them were TMZ.Com, (a site I’ve grown to love because Harvey Levin, a lawyer and former legal reporter I’ve always admired, runs it, along with a terrific woman, Gillian Sheldon, and they “vet” information better than anyone, and are accurate to the point of gospel), and Good Morning America. I gave statements and confirmed info for TMZ numerous times Monday, and they always got, and printed, it right. Can’t say that for all the other outlets I spoke to, and there were a lot, but with that renewed belief TMZ gave me that the press could get it right, and my beautiful Leah’s urging, I agreed to an on camera interview with GMA. On one condition: they didn’t show up until after we’d watched “24”!! (Gotta have some sanity in my life, even if it is only straining to hear Jack Bauer’s whispered words…..) Sure as shit, they agreed and showed up at her house at 10:30 pm to tape the piece for Tuesday morning. The crew was really nice and unobtrusive, and I know (‘cause my honey told me so) for my very first on-camera interview, I did my client, and myself, proud.

But you’ll never see it, or know how they cut me up, because Tuesday morning I awoke at 5 am to find another ridiculous amount of emails and phone messages, among them one from GMA telling me we’d been bumped by the breaking astronaut-in-a-diaper-love-triangle story!! So much for my first shot at this. But Leah convinced me, since my “cherry” was already popped, to pick a few others and get as much of the truth out there as I could. She’s a good one, and smart as hell, so of course I took her advice.

Next on Tuesday morning, I agreed to do “Entertainment Tonight”, only, as it turns out, ET is really only half of an hour block of “infotainment”, (a word I’ve quickly grown to hate), and I wound up on The Insider, too. These pieces were overseen by an amazing woman named Bonnie Tiegel. How she took 45 minutes of taped Q and A, cut them down to about 3 seconds on each show, and maintained the gist of what I said quite accurately is beyond me, but she did. And I was grateful, and pumped enough to keep talking….that is until a very famous media-whore-attorney held a press conference mid-morning to say absolutely nothing on behalf of the idiot son and his girlfriend. Followed in short order by my client’s attorney, Mark Werksman’s news conference at which he stated a lot, and refuted the insinuations made at the earlier dog-and-pony show. The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday we closed ranks and kept quiet.

Thursday was Jerry Penicoli on Extra. He was very nice and did a really good piece, coordinated by his assignment editor, also a really nice guy, Christopher Liss, who pursued me relentlessly. I’m glad I gave in to him. Then came the absolute nicest among the lot, Jim Moret, the lawyer/entertainment reporter for Inside Edition. Jim dug deep for truth, but did it incredibly warmly, and respectfully. Not at all what I expected. His piece got bumped Thursday night by the celebrity death story, but it’ll run on their “Weekend Edition” show this weekend. I’m a bit anxious, but looking forward to it nonetheless. My client deserves what I hope will be, from me anyway, this last shot at getting the real story out.  

I won’t bore you (or myself) with too many more details, but I will tell you this: I have a newfound respect and admiration for those PR folks who specialize in “damage control”. It’s a thankless, tedious job with huge risks. Most of the rest of the press I did, on camera and off, was edited to suit the particular outlet’s style. Some of the other papers, radio and TV outlets weren’t so nice so I won’t even dignify them by printing their names. But I guess that’s what their audiences demand, and they sure pile it on for them. So be it.

Finally, personally, I reconfirmed something I already knew. For 5 days, my gf, Leah, propped me up, urged me on, fed me, comforted and supported me, and kept me going when I thought I couldn’t. But mostly she put up with what can only be described as MY utterly insane week. And did it selflessly with the kind of wit, grace, and love I don’t think I could have. Lucky for my client….luckier for me.