The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency recently stripped Lance Armstrong of seven Tour de France titles and wiped his record going back 14 years.
The last thing that Armstrong needed, in his free fall from grace, was a personal assistant to bust out of the woodwork and portray him to the world as a truly despicable guy.
See the ex-assistants' stories >
In a brutal expose for Outside magazine, Mike Anderson explains how he became Armstrong's assistant in late 2002. He paints an unflattering picture of his former boss as: leaving his wife in an "abrupt and cruel" fashion; returning from Europe with "money stuffed into his pants" from post-Tour races that Armstrong did for under-the-table cash; avoiding a surprise visit from World Anti-Doping Agency testers; muttering under his breath at a Livestrong event, "I hate these f***ing things"; and releasing a world of hate on any person who dared challenge him.
Anderson follows a great tradition of boss-skewering by assistants. For a powerful person, nothing is more scorching than a tell-all by an ex-PA, except perhaps one by an ex-lover (see: Mia Farrow on Woody Allen, Bobby Brown on Whitney Houston). Assistants bear witness to all their boss's daily quirks after all—updating their schedules and hearing their secrets.
And if they feel spurned, they can easily leverage their overlord's fame into their own with a juicy tell-all. Here are nine of the most famous cases of celebrities who were exposed by those once trusted with their most intimate assistance.
Anna Wintour's assistant wrote 'The Devil Wears Prada' after slaving away for the Vogue EIC.
Shortly after college, Lauren Weisberger landed a job as the assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour. She worked for approximately 11 months, and then wrote a novel about a girl who after college lands a job as the assistant to a similarly British, infamously cutthroat editor-in-chief of a major fashion magazine, who also has a passion for tennis, two children, and marital issues that end in divorce.
"The Devil Wears Prada" created a monsoon-size stir. After all, a young upstart was giving one of the most formidable figures in one of the most formidable industries a vicious dressing down. But Wintour took the roman a clef fairly well (other than allegedly redecorating her office, which bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Miranda Priestly's), and even attended a pre-screening of the movie in New York.
"Anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry," she told Barbara Walters. "So, I was 100 percent behind it."
The book and movie may have even helped Wintour, upping her name recognition and mystique. And it certainly helped Weisberger, launching the 26-year-old's career as a novelist. According to EW.com, Weisberger is currently working on a sequel to her book. "Revenge Wears Prada" is due out next year.
John Edwards' former aide Andrew Young wrote a tell-all about the politician's affair after things between them turned sour.
Andrew Young was so devoted to his boss, presidential wannabe John Edwards, that he claimed paternity of Edwards' love child during the 2008 campaign.
The former aide admitted in Edwards' recent trial that he fell in love with the man, and Politico reported staffers as claiming that that the bromance burned so deep that Young was "intensely 'jealous" of others who got close to the former senator.
But things turned sour when Edwards tried to keep the paternity lie going for years longer than he'd promised. In early 2010, Young published a tell-all book—an ugly, uncensored portrait of the man who could have been the Democratic nominee for president. Edwards slept with videographer Reille Hunter in his wife's bed, Young claims, made a sex tape with Hunter, called her a "crazy slut," and pressured her to abort their child. A month before it hit bookshelves, Edwards admitted that he fathered Hunter's child.
"He was the man who promised me a bright future," Young told Oprah, "and then abandoned me to national disgrace."
Many of Scott Rudin's ex-assistants have gone to the press with their horror stories—and he doesn't deny any of them.
He holds the "unofficial crown of Hollywood's most feared boss," according to The Wall Street Journal. Gawker featured him in their series "New York's Worst Bosses."The book "Monster" referred to him as "a jovial Mephistopheles."
Scott Rudin, legendary producer of "The Truman Show," "The Hours," "Zoolander," "Closer" and many others, is also famed for the abuse that he heaps on his revolving entourage of assistants. WSJ reported that he had as many as 250 lackeys between 2000 and 2005. One was allegedly fired for bringing Rudin a bad breakfast muffin.
Many ex-assistants of the power producer have shared their experience with the press, and Rudin doesn't deny his unforgiving management style, describing it as "a cross between Attila the Hun and Miss Jean Brodie." If anything, the stories have helped whip up a mythology around the man, and turned the $75,000 to $150,000 year gig as his 24/7 peon into a coveted entry point for the aspiring moviemaker.
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