You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny

by Suzanne Hansen

New and completely updated edition

Hilarious and addictive, this chronicle of a small-town girl’s stint as a celebrity nanny reveals what really happens in the diaper trenches of Hollywood.

When Oregon native Suzanne Hansen becomes a live-in nanny to the children of Hollywood über-agent Michael Ovitz, she thinks she’s found the job of her dreams. But Hansen’s behind-the-scenes access soon gets her much more than she bargained working twenty-four hours a day, juggling the shifting demands of the Hollywood elite, and struggling to comprehend wealth unimaginable to most Americans, not to mention dealing with the expected tantrums and the unexpected tense–and intense–atmosphere in the house where she lives with her employers.

When the thankless drudgery takes its toll and Hansen finally quits, her boss threatens to blackball her from ever nannying in Hollywood again. Discouraged but determined, Hansen manages to land gigs with Debra Winger and then Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. Attentive, welcoming parents with a relaxed attitude toward celebrity–looks like Hansen’s fallen into a real-life happy ending. But the round-the-clock workdays continue, rubbing some of the glitter off L.A. living, and Hansen’s not sure how much longer she can pretend to be Mary Poppins. Even bosses who treat her like family can’t help as she struggles to find meaning in her work while living in a town that seems to lack respect for nannies and everyone else who comes in the employee’s entrance–but without whom many showbiz households would grind to a halt.

Peppering her own journey with true stories and high drama experienced by other nannies to the stars, Hansen offers an intriguing, entertaining mix of tales from the cribs of the rich and famous. You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again is a treat for everyone who is fascinated by the skewed priorities of Tinseltown, for anyone who has wondered how high-wattage supermoms do it all, and for readers who love peeking behind the curtains of celebrity, all of whom will devour this unparalleled–and unabashedly true–account of one girl’s tour of duty as Hollywood’s hired help.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Chick Lit, Humor, Biography, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wasn't really into this. it's a memoir by a woman who went to hollywood & worked as a nanny for a high-powered well-connected entertainment business couple. it wasn't a great situation, not because her employers were evil, horrible people, but because of the inherent power dynamics at play in such a situation & the fact that when the author got the job, she was like 18 & fresh out of nanny school & totally failed to agree to a contract or even any verbal arrangement about what exactly the job would entail. she she started to feel exploited & taken for granted, but she was so starstruck by the couple & their famous friends, & so emotionally attached to the children, & so in la-la land because of her small-town friends back home were so impressed with her, that she waited until she was pushed beyond her limit before tendering her resignation. at which point she was fired & forbidden from seeing the kids again.

she went to to work briefly for a couple of well-known actors, but eventually decided that she wanted to do more than nanny, & so, with her new employers' blessing & encouragement, she returned to the pacific northwest to pursue a nursing degree.

this book was written like twenty years after the events it addresses took place. & it's weird, because it's a book about hollywood, & so all the famous people that get mentioned are people that were a big deal in, like, 1987. like sally field. there's a story about being present on the set of "twins". i mean, it's just unsettling. & it kind of feels like name-dropping sometimes, but it's like listening to your not-very-with-it grandma try to name drop about how once she did the two-step with some guy from "falcon crest". it's both boring & uncomfortable.

also boring & uncomfortable is how all these nanny memoirs seem to go the same way: some rich people decide to hire a nanny, the nanny sees that they need help because they can't be fussed to take care of their kids best interests themselves, the nanny completely falls in love with the charges in her care & possibly bros down with the other household staff as well (generally transcending racial barriers in the process because the nanny is so awesome that way even though she's pretty much always a young white woman--at least in the memoirs), the nanny begins to feel exploited, the employers do some nice things that could be seen as buying the nanny off, eventually the nanny's well-honed sense of justice can no longer be ignored & she gives notice, she is then fired & forbidden from the children she loves so much, she soldiers on & has an epiphany about how money can't buy you a soul or something.

i mean, nothing against nannies. some of my best friends are nannies! but there's a difference between being a real-life nanny & being a nanny in a nanny memoir, & i don't doubt that the nanny memoir model is possibly shaped to some degree by publishing companies.

basically, this book was a fucking slog that made me relieved that i am not a nanny, nor am i rich. the end.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suzanne Hansen spent a year working to care for the three children of Hollywood power player Michael Ovitz and his wife, Judy. Nearly 20 years later, she wrote her first book about the experience. In it, she writes of how the Ovitzes routinely neglected their children and mistreated their staff, as did their friends and neighbors in show biz.

Many people found a lot to criticize about this book, and I can say that I found a lot of Hansen's issues to come about on account of her own lack of experience. For instance, she'd never bothered to get a contract from the Ovitzes stating her working hours, overtime pay, or expected duties. She failed to stand up for herself and let the situation spiral out of control until it was intolerable. She then quit, and found a job working for Debra Winger, whom she found to be quite down-to-earth and friendly, but who didn't really need a nanny. Her third gig was as a nanny to Rhea Perlman and Danny Devito's kids, another great position. Although she enjoyed it, she realized she didn't want to be a nanny and left that job to become a nurse.

I have to be honest. I enjoyed the hell out of this book. Seeing inside a Hollywood home, albeit not that of a major star, but of a broker, was fascinating as hell. I don't know why she wrote this book, but I'm glad she did. I also enjoyed hearing about the down-to-earth stars like Sally Field and Bill Murray, who were kind and funny and nice to be around. It was like the best of both worlds. I wouldn't say run out and grab this, but if you're looking for a fun read and love celebrity, this may just be the book for you.

[Holly Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently a Nanny and I can tell you first hand, that I have never experienced anything like what the Hollywood nannies have to put up with. Thank god for that!

If you thought the Nanny Diaries were scathing, well check out this true story. Author Suzanne Hansen holds nothing back while telling her story of a short lived career as a nanny to the stars.

The majority of the book features her working for notorious Michael Ovitz. Turns out that the guy is as much of a jerk as rumor has it. On one occasion he calls to check in while on vacation the first thing he asks Suzy is, "How is my art?" much to her shock and disappointment. When Suzanne finds herself unable to continue in the given environment, she gives a months notice. After being pressured to stay, she sticks to her guns and says she will stay for 4 weeks until they find help and then she is gone.

The following day Judy Ovitz tells her to pack up and leave before Michael gets home. She does as she is told, and Michael informs her that she "Will never nanny in this town again". Suzy soon finds out that he does indeed plan to take time out of his busy schedule to sabotage her career for leaving them high and dry.

What follows are her struggles to regain her footing in the city of lights. She winds up working for two other famous families throughout the course of the novel, and learns some valuable life lessons in the process.

Personally I send Suzanne a high five for standing up to her boss and telling him no. He deserves his outrageous behavior to be detailed at length in this tell all novel.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book extremely frustrating. It reads as if the author is trying to settle the score by airing the dirty laundry of her old employer. While I do not condone all of the actions of her employers, the author sets her self up for failure by not dealing with basic employment matters (outlining job responsibilities, signing a contract, etc.) at the beginning. As her employment continues, she does nothing to remedy the situation and only complains about it. In contrast to The Nanny Diaries which focused on a nameless NY class, this book wants to "out" one particular family for revenge.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memoir from a former Hollywood nanny. This was fine; defintiely a quick read (I read it during the commercials of the Chargers/Raiders game). The writing was pretty lackluster. I didn't find it "funny" as the description called it. And the author was a real dipsh*t at times. Interestingly I thought the best parts of the book were at the end when she a couple of nice employers. And I expected the "mean" ones to be more jaw-droppingly terrible. They were certianly annoying and no one I'd want to work for, but I've seen much more demanding/unreasonable people in a plain ol' non-famous office.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the dated gossipiness about Hollywood 30-35 years ago somewhat entertaining because I am old but that’s about it for the positives. Written before NDAs were common, this book is about a rural working class teenager working as a nanny for three different celebs - Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger and Danny Devito/Rhea Perlman. To the surprise of no one alive, Ovitz and his wife were demanding and unpleasant. That is about two-thirds of the book, the nanny kvetching about them. The final third is about how in comparison the other celebs were normal.

It didn’t help that the nanny was a boring idiot. She is about my age, a bit younger, so I was astounded at how clueless she was about life. Ok sure, Ovitz and his wife were demanding, but they weren’t monsters. It was the usual crap about how rich people treat servants. The nanny didn’t help matters by being a clueless doormat who didn’t get a contract and was afraid to assert herself. She had no car and no friends and no interest in exploring the city. She just sat there in her room like a bump on a log during her time off.

The only reason to read this is for the dated celeb gossip. Sally Fields is really nice, a great boss. Sly Stallone is full of himself and doesn’t allow staff to look him in the face. Stallone’s wife is like a mean girl archtype, befriending the staff before turning on a dime for something minor and then firing them. Barbi Benton kept a lock on her fridge so she couldn’t eat. She also won’t hire anyone attractive. Dustin Hoffman is a jerk. Bob Redford was a jerk to Ovitz so that actually is a positive in my books. Bill Murray is very funny and nice. Debra Winger is a little kooky but nice. Goldie Hawn is a friendly drunk. Tom Cruise is a secretive weirdo. Ted Danson’s first wife, not Mary Steenbergen, was a jerk to staff. Michael Eisner is a cheapskate when it comes to gifts. There, now you don’t have to read this book.

[Mediaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book--I've read it three times in the past decade and it always holds up. Filled with specific examples of stars and how they parent. Most are pretty bad, including Hollywood big wigs like tyrant Michael Ovitz and his wife, but a few are wonderful (Danny Devito/Rhea Perlman, Bill Murray, Debra Winger). Even though the author was only 19 when she was a nanny she has an incredible amount of detail and the book is filled with specific stories, the saddest being that terrible Ovitz called around town to make sure no one would hire her after she couldn't stand working for him anymore.

The only issue is that the author is a wimp who avoids conflict at all costs. She won't stand up for herself to her employers, and she fails to ever get a written employment contract from any despite it being the number one rule of her nanny education.

The book does get repetitive when it comes to the demeaning Ovitz home, where the parents ignore the children and penny pinch while having multi-million dollar art on the walls. But once she moves out it picks up the pace and builds to a fun ending, including details of her sitting and watching Cheers being produced every day for a few months.

The writer never really self-analyzes to see that her passiveness was usually the cause of her problems and that her dying desires to nanny grew every time she went home for vacation or had folks from home visit her.

This is a must read for anyone that loves dirt on how stars and millionaires live. It's great advice for anyone wanting to nanny (or hire a nanny) as well. It's at times shocking and more entertaining than anything those Hollywood people put on the screen.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars says it: it was ok. It did bother me that the author exposed the faults of her first Hollywood employers - the Michael Ovitz family. Why bother? It seemed nasty, especially since the family has kept other servants for many many years. Otherwise a light hearted look at being a nanny, a profession that did not satisfy the author who went on to become a nurse. After the Ovitzs she worked more happily for Debra Winger and the Danny Divito/Rhea Perlman family. But she was so stupid and unprofessional that she watched and ate eight pages worth of rental movies and honor bar candy at a hotel in Hawaii with the Divitos thinking they were free.

[Alexandria Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in less then a day, as a woman who works as a nanny professionally, I couldn't put this book down. I don't work for celebrities but I work for people who are CEO's of huge well known companies, and some of the things in this book resonated with certain aspects of my job. I'd highly recommend this to someone!

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to give this one a solid 3.5 stars. There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on that rubs me the wrong way about the way the general tone of the book, I mean it is all written from the lens of a 19 year old’s journal entries. I hated the boyfriend stuff, like describe this man if you’re going to bring him up so much in journal entires. I found so many of her stories relatable. It really is a crazy concept to spend your early adulthood raising someone else’s kids.
I expected this would be more of a fun & salacious memoir of crazy Hollywood stories but it definitely reads like blind items how she won’t name people at times, which isn’t bad necessarily, just not what I expected.

She was so crazy about being a nanny. How worthy the profession is, how much she adored kids, etc in the beginning just to turn around and say “I can’t be just a nanny forever” like a year later. I just felt that was so judgmental. Way to belittle your own craft, Ms Northwest Nannies Institute.

“He paid me to take care of his kids but not to fall in love with them. I did that on my own.”
Classic.

You can tell this book came out in 2005; she fat shames the women who does her nails, refers to things as “ghetto,”
It’s nice to look back basically 20 years in the future & think about how we really have grown as a society & gotten at least a little more respectful with how we describe each other.

“It kinda seems like the deal with the Ovitzes was as much my fault as it was theirs. I never set any boundaries with Judy. By never requesting what I needed, I made it easier for her to ignore the possibility that I had any needs at all. I settled for what they gave me, rather than asking for what I needed in order to be a good caregiver.”
So many anecdotes from her time remind me of my experience as a nanny. It’s so easy to be mistreated/taken advantage of in a field where you’re literally working in someone’s home for them.

The only spoiler-y thing:
The ending of when she sees the kids again read like a fan fiction to me. I’ve worked with kids, as I’ve mentioned a million times already, specifically toddlers & if you don’t see them after 6 months - a year, they don’t remember you. I know she kind of addressed that but it was such a BS happy ending to me.

[Mary K · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of this book annoyed the heck out of me. The author couldn’t describe anything specific about her employers but seemed to read something nasty into their every look, word and behavior. She was pissed that they didn’t want her in the family pictures and that they didn’t share meals with her. She thought she should be in their family pictures?? Really?? How weird is THAT?! She told us how horrible her wealthy employers were, but all I noticed was the author’s own haughtiness. The worst thing her employers did was fail to discipline their children and I even wondered if the author was exaggerating these stories.

The author claimed her employers didn’t have a lot of ethics but does Hansen? She even reveals private conversations she overheard and reports insignificant things they said about their friends - running of the mouth of which we’re all guilty. TACKY!!!!!

Of course then came the day when she quit and her employers really did turn hateful - or was she still being snarky? Other people liked them perfectly well and simply accepted their eccentricities and type A personalities. I just didn’t trust the author by this time. I get that this family didn’t have lives or personalities that I’d want to emulate, but they didn’t deserve this kind of invasion into their privacy.

Thankfully Hansen spends a little time talking about the “good” stars in Hollywood. I just wish she hadn’t been so tactless and detailed with her first employers , and left a lot more space to tell us about all the good folks. It would have made a more interesting authentic book.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been fascinated by the world of nanny’s. I absolutely loved reading The Nanny Diaries last year which gave me a little peek into the semi-fictional world of a NYC Nanny. This book, You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again gave me a in depth look into the life of Suzy, a nanny for a wealthy Hollywood power family.

Suzy comes from a small Oregon town and upon graduating from high school isn’t sure of her next steps. She’s always loved children, so she decides to attend a few month program to prepare her to become a nanny. Upon completion of the program, she travels to Tinsel Town to find a suitable family to nanny for.

Suzy is thrilled when she meets the Ovitzes. Michael Ovitz is in charge of a huge Hollywood agency and the kids are adorable. Suzy especially clicks with the infant Brandon. She quickly moves into their massive mansion and begins her job. After a few days, Suzy realizes that being a Nanny isn’t all baby giggles and bonding with the children’s mother Judy. Suzy never gets time off; she is forbidden from leaving the house on weeknights and works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She isn’t making a ton of money and finds herself homesick stuck.

When she finally gathers the courage to quit, Mr. Ovitz asks her, “Will you try to find another nanny position in this town?” When Suzy says yes, Mr. Ovitz just laughs. With a bad reference from the most powerful man in town, Suzy wonders if she’ll ever find another job.

I adored this book. I started it on Saturday night and quickly finished it on Sunday afternoon by the pool. It’s just one of those books that you don’t want to put down.

I fell in love with Suzy. She was a totally normal girl from a small town with big dreams. She genuinely cared for the children she took care of and came across as extremely relatable. My only problem with Suzy was her inability to stand up for herself to her employers.

The supporting characters play a huge role in Suzy’s story. I enjoyed hearing about other nanny’s experiences through Suzy’s friendships and frequent conversations with other Hollywood Nanny’s. The other household help who became Suzy’s fast friends lent the story a bit of dimension as we got to see how Hollywood housekeepers, cooks and secretaries are treated.

I especially enjoyed the references to big Hollywood names. After her stint with the Ovitzes, Suzy finds herself nannying for two different celebrity families. I love some good gossip, so a glimpse into this world fascinated me.

This is a perfect light summer read. Enjoy!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll start by outing myself: I work as a nanny. I'm a career nanny with over a decade of experience under my belt and lots (and lots and lots) of continuous education in the field of child development. But even so, I made a lot of the same rookie mistakes that this nanny, who never got past three years in the career, did in her job. Rookie mistakes that most junior nannies (this term applies to nannies who have fewer than five years experience) still do. Rookie mistakes such as not getting a contract. Rookie mistakes such as taking a live-in position without having a buffer time for notice where you do not automatically become homeless. Rookie mistakes such as confusing high profile for high net worth and then being surprised that the high glamor employers are concerned about the cost of admission to a children's museum and insist that nanny only take the children to free outings. Rookie mistakes such as not securing a nanny car and having to drive the children in my personal vehicle, without mileage reimbursement. Rookie mistakes like not having those important but uncomfortable conversations with her employers. And these rookie mistakes are allowable-- Nannies TO THIS DAY make them, and we have social media and Google and a wealth of resources that weren't available in the 1980s.

But also relatable were employers who made rookie mistakes: hiring without really checking references, putting themselves in legally precarious situations due to ignorance of laws that concern domestic workers pay and benefits (these have been in place since the 1970s), thinking that nap reduction will make children better sleepers (it does the opposite, unless you consider falling unconscious due to extreme exhaustion to be good sleep), not learning about a child's schedule/routine in advance of attending a pediatrician appointment and so relaying false information to the doctor, not explaining nanny's expected dress code before adding a nanny+children social appearance to the schedule (such as those dinner parties where nanny wasn't sure what she or the children were supposed to wear).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a senior nanny (those with five or more years of experience) who would love a cathartic reliving of their early oopses in the nannying profession, or to those who are considering hiring a nanny, or even to those who may be considering being a nanny but would like to be scared away from the profession if possible (because you will certainly make at least one of these rookie mistakes even if you won't make all of them).

[Connie Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how she survived in Tinseltown, but Suzanne found a way to get more than one job in one of the most shallow-personality places on earth. She tells her stories with humor and more than a little bit of patience, but I'm amazed at how naive she was. To her credit, she did her best under horrific circumstances. Her first employers treated her like a piece of furniture, there only to take their children off their hands and keep them out of the way. Their love of money, fame, and power is nauseating, truly. These people do not raise their children. It's no wonder we see so many of the next generation with no morals or values at all, being raised by nannies who have no permission to discipline the little darlings who then grow into monsters and expect to be waited on hand and foot.

A few of her employers did care about raising their own kids, but I don't see why they had to hire a nanny.

On a side note, the book must have been self-published. I've never read a book with so many grammatical and punctuation errors as this one. Unbelievable.

I recommend this book only to expose the disgusting world of people who can't be bothered with raising the children they insist on having. It will definitely wake up any young lady with dreams of living the high life in this profession.

[Melissa Golus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and found it easy to read. I was glad that the author realized that being a live in nanny was not what she wanted to do with her life and found happiness in becoming a labor and delivery nurse. Hollywood people are like other people, except with more money. Some are really nice and some are really awful.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voyeuristic fun that kept me wanting to return to the book almost like I was one of the author's girly pals she shared gossip with. With reality TV these days, I wasn't really shocked by the entitled attitudes of the players the nanny worked for. The author's first employers, the Ovitz's were portrayed as people who you would never want to be or know.

There were times when the author's age at the time she nannied was immature and sometimes irritatingly stupid. There were also times when I definitely felt she had a birdie to flip at the Ovitz's - not that they didn't deserve it. Clearly, Michael and Judy Ovitz made a huge impression on her at a vulnerable age. But like the author admits, she wasn't sure, if she could do it all over again, if she would. Not a complimentary summation to the once-powerful, obviously narcissistic Michael Ovitz and his wife.

Still, I rooted for and was glad the author had her say - even if it was a birdie flip by way of a bestselling book, to these people. More power to Suzanne Hansen for having the guts to spill it like the rest of us ( the real people ) know it really is with the few, the proud, the entitled.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't review this book after I finished because I was thinking it was just an easy read that didn't read leave a lot of thinking. But I was wrong. I have been thinking about this book more than I would like. It has changed the way I look at celebrities and their "success". I would love to have lots of money and be skinny and have someone to do everything for me, but it would kill me to do it at the expense of my children. I have found myself to be much more cynical in the last few days of any celebrity news that involves children. I know that there are many celebrities that are hands on parents, but at the same time, you can't have it all. You often have to make sacrifices and, as parents, that often means sacrificing what you want for the needs of someone else. Especially as mothers.

It all makes me a little sad.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never wanted to be a nanny, and after reading this I think that you'd have to be crazy to want to be one. You'd have to really love kids in order to put up with their parents. The author shows how different celebrity parents can be. One seems horrible, another loves their kids and it shows. I could never do it. Even if the parents weren't famous. For the most part of the book, when the author is getting belittled by her employers, I just wanted to yell at her to stand up for herself. I'd say, that unless you've been a nanny and have lived through some of this stuff, this book might be a little boring.

http://lindsayslibraryblog.blogspot.c...

[Melissa T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always liked reading about stars and Hollywood life, probably because I know my own life will never be like that. This was a nicely written account about nannying to the stars. It's nice to read that at least some of the stars are down to earth and reasonable, although most seem to be high maintenance at least according to the anecdotes in this story.
I don't know how this author did her job, it seems like one of the most nerve-wracking jobs one could have. I identified with the moving away from home, working and living in a new town, since I have done that myself. I enjoyed that the author finally realized her own unhappiness and stood up for herself and what she really wanted to do.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly juicy read about what goes on in the homes of the rich and famous from the perspective of the nanny. The nanny describes her year working as a live in nanny for Michael Ovitz's ( CEO of CAA and superagent to the stars) children. The author was just 19 when she took this job and fortunately for her this was an era in Hollywood (late 80's) prior to the requisite non-disclosure contracts that the famous now require any potential employees to sign. The author also works for Debra Winger and Danny DeVito before realizing that she wasn't going to be able to do this work for the rest of her life. This book was better than a Jackie Collins novel.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm halfway through this book and can't seem to want to finish it (I hate not finishing books). It's just not very captivating and doesn't provide any hollywood secrets or insights that you wouldn't just assume from TV or gossip mags. I just don't find myself rooting for the nanny because it seems like she cares too much about little things that don't matter. So the parents spend tons of money on trips and parties but are stingy with the little things like an iron or a collect call, but who really cares? You're there to raise the kids, not figure out their finances. I was expecting an easy, fun little book to get me through until my next books are in, but it's boring me. Sorry.

[Denise Parchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like jumping back in time when i was a nanny for a powerful family that i will choose not to name, i lived in Brynmore PA and it was truly a glimpse into the lives of the 1%. I also wanted to write about my experiences and I could feel my hair standing up on my neck when i was reading her experiences with her first family. So very very similar to my own it was a weird feeling to know so many others also experienced the same issues. I was so isolated while i worked for them and had only my sister Diane close by which i was seldom allowed to visit. My apartment was on the property and not in the mansion with the family it was truly an eyeopening experience.

[Dev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was FUNNIER than The Nanny Diaries! I was laughing out loud, hysterically, twice during the reading of this book! Holy cow! Could Hollywood types be any more lame? I feel sorry for some children born into an elite society that we, peons, can only fathom. I can't believe there are some people with so much money that they can wipe butts with it and then are stingy with the people who RAISE their children! I feel that some Hollywood types greatly over-estimate their importance in this world. This book proves it!

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Making myself finish this book was torturous! This woman has a chip on her shoulder the size of Plymouth Rock.
Her experiences in this book took place 20 years ago. The fact that a now, 40-something woman would feel the same way about things as she felt when she was 20ish, is sad. I'd think she'd have a more mature perspective on life. Not to mention that SHE DID ILLEGAL THINGS while at these individual's homes!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was alittle apprehensive when I found out that it's a true story, but it read as a chick lit book instead of biography! I loved this book! My first copy had an unfortunate accident, and I immediately bought another copy so I could finish! I could relate to many parts of this book. You really fall in love with the kids and get angry at the parents! I even cried when she left. Definite read for babysitters or nannies, or really any gossip/chick lit book lover!

[Gena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whiney. Eye rolling. Finger pointed to temple of head. Often times understood exactly why the prima donnas, though still being prima donnas, were shitty to her as an employee. Listen sister, hollywood nannies are expected to be receptacles for all the pathological garbage dished out by special people. It is practically in the job description, if there were one. It was interesting to read her take on these people though. Where no man dares to tread...

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, in fact I loved it. A very enlightening look at the super rich and the lives they lead behind closed doors. Well written and easy to read.Hilarious in parts it also had me royally pissed off at how the children were ignored and pushed off on the nanny. A very tough job!

[Tanya Giannini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from start to finish because myself as a nanny, related to all this on so many levels. It really gives you an insight into the world of the "help" and what they go through...and it might make you think twice about how you treat those who work for you because they are providing a skill that you do not have or do not want to have...

yeah.

[Amelia C · Rating 2 out of 5]

o.k. o.k. I found it in the trash in Brooklyn and I admit, I devoured it. Totally salacious and interesting in an Us Magazine kinda way. Of course it is fascinating to read how the uber wealthy treat their help and raise their kids. Hilarious? No. Amusing at times, definitely. A great piece of trash picked up from the trash.

[Debbie Slaughter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably one of the best books I've read in a while. I have always enjoyed stories of Hollywood and I found this one to be very enlightening and entertaining. The bonus was reading the heartfelt emotions between the author and the children she cared for and ultimately left behind. Well worth the time!