A-List Secrets: Why Stars Need Reality Shows
What’s with celebs needing to do all these reality shows? Are these people so obsessed with themselves, or do they just need the money? D.D.
The answer is as varied as the colors of the diamonds that Jennifer Lopez sees dancing in her dreams. Jamie Foxx has a new MTV reality show debuting July 15, but he won’t be appearing at all, leaving money as the most likely motivation.
In producing a reality show, big celebs typically get “a 5 or 10 percent takeback from everything made through the show,” explains marketer Richard Laermer, who steered über-producer Peter Guber into a reality-show career. “And if the show goes overseas, you can make a fortune on that thing.”
So where does that leave, like, Tori Spelling? Well…
With a drama-turned-reality star like Tori, a flagging career is the likely motivation. She was on Beverly Hills, 90210 in the early 1990s. Then people forgot about her for a while. The Earth rested and everyone was at peace.
Except for Tori, of course. Back she came. She hyped herself and her life through a couple of seasons of Tori and Dean: Something Something Something, and behold, the comeback. She landed an endorsement deal with NutriSystem. She has enough of a fan base for people to care about the birth of her second baby. She’s front and center in a Sketchers ad campaign. Even the death of her dog is news.
“Just like the stock market, celebrities have to aggressively maintain and refreshen those brands, or they will go stale and grow old,” says James Lee, president of the Lee Strategy Group, a marketing consultancy that has pitched celebrities for reality shows.
Speaking of stale and old, gotta go. I think my editor needs something.
Oh, and be my fan on Facebook, ’kay?
A-List Secrets: Catch a Star in Their Own Store
Was thinking about celeb-owned businesses, like the Kardashians’ boutique in Calabasas, Calif. How much of a chance is there that a celeb owner is on hand when you drop by?Erica, Palmdale, Calif.
During the two weeks a month or so that they’re in town, the Kardashian girls are “in and out of the store all day long,” according to Kris Jenner. Kind of like the female Flying Zucchini Brothers of fashion, I guess. Good luck with that.
Your odds increase greatly in the case of Belle Gray, a boutique run by both Lisa Rinna and her fabulously pneumatic lips.
Here’s why:
“She just left,” store buyer Heather Martin told me this morning. “Whenever she’s in town, she’s here every day. She’ll come in here, run to her cardio ballroom class down the street, come back in, rearrange a mannequin, leave, come back and do some business and leave again.”
Last year, the actress wasn’t in town much, being on Broadway and the Dancing With the Stars tour and whatnot. This year, she’s around more. Even her husband, Harry Hamlin, blows in about once a month, albeit it’s usually before store hours.
His missionand I swear I am not making this upis orchid arrangement.
“He wakes up in the morning, heads to the flower mart downtown, rides in his car with his 24 orchids and brings them back to the store,” Martin tells me. “He arranges them all. He puts the moss in there, everything.
“He also fixes the lights and does touch-ups on the paint,” Martin says, but his biggest pet peeve remains a wilty orchid.
Funny. My pet peeve is a Belle Gray cashmere wrap that sets me back $204. Now you’ll excuse me. I’m off to buy four. And say hi to Lisa Rinna.
Oh, and be my fan on Facebook, ’kay?
A-List Secrets: Gettin’ Hitched to Sell Albums?
Mariah got married just as her new album came out, and both Ashlee Simpson and Scarlett Johansson announced engagements close to their CD releases. This can't be a coincidence, right? Do celebrities time their "big announcements" with a new project?Charlotte, Tampa Bay, Fla.
You mean, did Mariah Carey deliberately schedule her "secret" wedding to Nick Cannona romance so private you have to have to go all the way to the People site to learn the details? Did Ashlee possibly give herself pregnantitis by that terrifying, greasy eyeliner man just to stay alive in the charts?
Well, yes. And no. My precise meaning after the jump.
I tracked down insight, and answers, from Howard Bragman, a veteran publicist who has worked with pretty much every A-list star on two legs. His revelation: No, stars don't marry or get knocked up for fame. But the timing of the subsequent announcement? Rarely an accident.
"I have known plenty of people who have timed announcements that were going to happen anyway," says Bragman, who has worked with, among many others, Paula Abdul and Isaiah Washington.
In other words, if a star is pregnant, she might choose to leak the news, say, earlier than usual, to promote, say, an album having something to do with a semisweet heavenly body. Not that I'm heavily implying anything.
And just how many such conveniently timed announcements has Bragman himself helped to engineer?
"More than I care to admit," he tells me. "If the announcement is going to happen anyway, why not tie it to this cool thing going on? Why shouldn't it help your album?"
I wish I could answer that, but John Mayer and I have a very important announcement to make…
How I Met Your Mother Sneak Previews: Britney's Big Return
Updated Friday at 3:30 p.m. with an E! News Now exclusive clip! (Brit-Brit, welcome back. NPH, you haven't gone anyway, but stay legendary, 'kay?)
1. Britney Spears, y'all.
2. I love this show.
3. MarshallandLilySellTheirStuff.com is real and actually supports a children's hospital charity, because this show is awesome. However, GuyForcesHisWifetoDressinaGarbageBagfortheNextThreeYears.com appears not to be real, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time…
Check out the actual How I Met Your Mother episode—Britney, stunt websites and all—this Monday on CBS at 8:30 p.m.