You’ll Never Nanny In This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny

Title: You’ll Never Nanny In This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny

Author: Suzanne Hansen

Genre: Memoir

Time: 7 hours

Rating: 7 out of 10

If you want a book description, you can check out on goodreads.

The only time we hear about Hollywood Nannies is when they sleep with (or even marry) the boss.  From Robin Williams to Ethan Hawke to Jude Law and now Ban Affleck and who knows how many more that went unreported.  I thought this book would be an interesting read as I was hoping for bizarre and juicy gossip on movie stars.  But it didn’t dish much dirt, only the odd spending habits of rich people counting pennies on $4 dollar manicures for the “help” but would not bat an eyelash on a $6,000 purse.

This was supposed to be a “hilarious and addictive” book but I didn’t find any funny anecdotes to for it to claim "hilarious".  It’s a retrospective look on what it’s like being a nanny.  It talks about how it’s hard to be 100% professional because there is a big chance of getting attached to the kids you care for and even to your bosses.  And sometimes the kid reciprocates, and they end up preferring the nanny over the mom.  Throw mommy’s insecurities of being a mother, equals very awkward living situation.

And then there’s a tendency of getting taken advantage of.  How do you know when you are on the clock and off the clock as caring for kids is a 24/7 job?  It’s hazy for live in nannies of infants who share the same room as the baby.  Even if they’re just sitting there, reading a book while the baby is asleep, they’re technically “at work.”  It’s like they’re on duty all day and all night.  If this was done in an office setting, labor unions would be up in arms.  This is probably why I read about nannies suing their bosses for unpaid overtime wage.  But to be fair, and the author acknowledges this, this would have been avoided if they had a clear cut contract when she started work.

Halfway through the book I got curious about the people she wrote about.  The author said she only changed the names of the kids, but I didn’t really believe her until I googled her boss’ names.  Michael Ovitz is actually a real person.  He kinda reminds me of Ari Gold in Entourage.  At first I thought, won’t she get sued by Ovitz (seeing as he’s some sort of powerful Hollywood mogul) by writing this book?  Then I realized this was set in the 90s, so confidentiality contracts weren’t a big thing then.  It’s even mentioned in the book that some nannies took pictures of their bosses and movie star friends.  I doubt that’s allowed in this day and age.  I also googled the kids she nannied, they’re like in their late 20s to 30s now.