Sandra Clark - Banished from Scientology

Full transcript: Sandra Clark on London Real

0:15 Hello and welcome to London Real. My name is Brian Rose, with me is my extraordinary co-host, Mr Nick Gabriel, and joining us today is Ms Sandra Clark, who’s an entertainment reporter at HollywoodLife.com, straight from LA. Welcome. Thank you, it’s nice to be here. Are you feeling London town?

0:32 I am. I’m feeling London town. Well, I don’t know, it’s not raining right now, so it just rained and then it just went sunny and it rained again, and that’s just how we do over here. Yeah. It’s a small, small sacrifice to live in such a wonderful cosmopolitan city.

0:45 Is it a small sacrifice? It is, that, and tiny refrigerators. Past couple of weeks have been impressive, man. Yeah, they’ve been. It’s been a rainy summer.

0:52 Oh, it’s been raining the entire time I’ve been here. Yeah, it’s been a bit like that. But anyways, everyone, I’m glad to be here. Everyone at London Real has been asking questions. They want to know a lot about you, so I’m just going to get right into it, and I want to know what is the difference between a paparazzi and what you do?

1:08 Okay. Yeah, a lot of people say, you know, they call me a paparazzi or paparazzo. Paparazzo, that’s another name for paparazzi. Was that the plural of paparazzo? Is the singular?

1:22 Oh, I get of paparazzi, and it’s very different, but I’ll give you some similarities. So I’m an entertainment reporter. What I do is, when, let’s say, I remember when I was working on the Britney Spears story when she cut off all her hair. Yeah, remember that? I do, and I had to drive to the hospital at like 2:00 in the morning, because she was taken to UCLA.

1:50 So drive to the hospital and my job is, I need to find out what’s going on. Is she in the psych ward? Is her dad there? Where are her kids? And I’ll gather all this information, but I work hand in hand with the paparazzi.

2:09 You know, they always say, it’s funny, because they don’t have a great rap, the paparazzi. Okay. But I’m friends with all the paparazzi because they know what’s going on. They have these radars, and whenever a story breaks I just call my friend Belly, and Belly Alexander. He’s an amazing paparazzo, and they know what’s going on, and you know they’re not all bad, and they’re not all creepy.

2:36 So they take the pictures, and you write the story. Yeah, they take the pictures. We need them, because our stories, especially in the magazines, it starts with the picture. We have to have a picture, because it tells the story, and then once they take the pictures, we decide which pictures we want and then from there, we find out all the details of the story, what’s going on. But you, again, you want to be pals with them, you know, and help them out and get them a coffee when they’re waiting there for you know, Britney Spears to come out of the hospital.

3:13 And when you show up to the hospital at like 2:00 in the morning, are there 20 of your competition all trying to get the story? Sometimes that can be really annoying. Do the doctors know that not to talk to reporters? Oh, okay. So I’ll tell you this great story.

3:27 I mean, it’s awful, because most of these stories are so negative, and we’ll be like, great, you know, because it’s a story When Michael Jackson died, I went to UCLA and they just blocked off the entire hospital from letting any reporters get in there, and so what I did, a lot of what I do is undercover. And so, an undercover entertainment reporter. I think you just have to be undercover if you’re an entertainment reporter, and so what I did is I saw one woman outside taking her lunch break, and she had her guest badge on her sticker, and I said, can I buy that off of you for 50 bucks?

4:08 And I gave her cash, and then I went in, and I could get in. That’s devious. I was walking around, and all of a sudden I saw where they were going to have the conference where Jermaine Jackson was going to come in, and he was going to make a public statement about what happened to his brother. All top secret. And I’m, of course, wandering around, and I don’t want to look like a deer in headlights, so I’m asking people, where’s the bathroom?

4:32 And always walking around in the bathroom, and looking to see, you know where I mean? I think I got some information, but a lot of it is a lot of sneaking around. And that’s why it’s similar to what a paparazzi does. Obviously, a paparazzo, paparazzi, it’s hard for them to sneak around with a big camera. What are you trying to get?

4:56 A little detail that you use later to write in a story? Yeah. When you’re a reporter, you want to have, you want to be the first to publish it. Okay. So any little thing that I can get before anybody else gets, you want to go with it, and you put it online.

5:12 So you do it very fast. Yeah. So you’re almost like a paparazzi, and that you turn around very, very fast. Yeah, really, really fast. But the thing, the question I wanted to answer to, is, like, how do you verify the source of your information?

5:22 So, if you’re in that building where Jermaine Jackson was going to give that speech, right? And someone you overhear something, are you able to send that through to your editors? Yes, that’s fine, that’s all you need. Yes, when it’s a breaking story like that. Yes.

5:39 When you can’t say it’s a fact, you can say our sources heard. No, I would have been the source in this case. Okay, because if I had heard something, instead of saying, you know, Sandra Clark saw this, it would just say, our source, our eyewitness. Mhm. Heard this, saw this.

6:00 When I worked at Star Magazine was a little different, because we were always working on ongoing stories. It was always something about Jennifer Aniston and the new guy that she was dating, and for instance, I had to go to Telluride, Colorado, to follow Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, and it was the best job, because I got to ski for, you know, two weeks and go to the best restaurant. Basically just looking for Jennifer Aniston. That’s cool. And you know, you start talking to people, and what I do when I have to travel is I make friends with everybody.

6:40 I make friends, for instance, with the skiers that are helping you get on the chairlift, the valet people, the hostesses at the restaurant, and I just say to them all, if you hear anything, will you call me? If you hear anything, call me. Why does this industry exist? Because the first thing we got from a bunch of London Reers was, you know, why, why do you have to do this? How do you know, how do you sleep at night doing this?

7:05 But obviously there’s a demand for this, you know? And I even talk to friends of mine, and they’ll be like, did you hear that Brad Pitt this? And I’ll be like, what are you talking about? Why is that on my radar? But people talk about it is it women that consume what you write mostly, or is it men and women?

7:20 I think it’s men and women and why? I think it’s mostly women, though. It’s entertainment, it’s fun. We want to know what other people are doing what people are really interested in, what other people are wearing, what other people are eating, what people’s relationships are like and I think that when you can get an actor and humanize them, there’s something comforting about that. Now, for instance, I mean, in Star Magazine we had a section that said, there, they’re just like regular people.

8:00 Star without the makeup, kind of thing. Yeah, no, I mean, this was more like they go grocery shopping, you know. I think the thing is that, you know, tabloid journalism and entertainment journalism, like what you see on TV, it’s all the same thing. You know, the top TV shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood and Extra. These are popular syndicated entertainment shows that air every night.

8:30 Really, really popular. They get their news from me, they get their news from the paparazzi. We do all the work, you know, and then they can say, oh, according to Star Magazine, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are definitely engaged. Is this ultimately LA consuming LA stuff? Because I don’t see the equivalent in London or even New York.

8:53 Maybe in New York there is, there’s a lot of this in New York, but definitely in LA, and it’s the same thing. I mean, we’re all spewing out, you know. I mean that shouldn’t really be the word, spewing out, but it is all the news, you know, that everyone is just kind of jumping on the bandwagon, and people just are interested. They’re interested. It’s like in Washington, people are interested in politics.

9:19 In LA people want to know. I mean, it’s amazing how many people are interested in Kim Kardashian. Is it amazing or is it sad? It’s sad. It’s sad.

9:31 I mean, like, but it’s peculiar. It’s peculiar. It’s peculiar, and it’s sad, because you know, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, so I’ve really seen the industry change. When I first started as a reporter, I was interviewing Anthony Hopkins, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, really fine actors, whether you like their personality or not. And now, I mean, that’s what I used to report on, that’s what I used to interview.

10:08 Now it’s shifted to such reality stars where I sometimes can’t keep up with it. I’m like, who’s this? Who, where’s that person come from? And that is what I kind of miss. I like the actors, the reality stars.

10:23 It’s so, it’s easier because it’s easier to get their pictures. It’s easier to get interviews with them, but I think it’s more interesting. I like, I prefer the performers and the writers and the directors and the actors versus all these reality stars, because there’s so many reality stars. Gosh, I mean, Kardashian’s a good example. I mean, you can take one stance, as to hate on her, and say why does this woman exist?

10:49 I mean, I think she really got famous with a sex tape five or six years ago. She was no one until then. And even Joe Rogan talks about her. He’s like, I can’t knock her, she’s built a whole business around this personality, and I don’t remember what she did, but she got there, and then she built a reality based on what publicity from six taper from her sisters, and now she’s built this whole business. So I think we’re, you know, what it is too.

11:11 I think we’re a society that’s always looking to idolize someone. So in that sense, I think something’s missing, obviously, in our lives that we put such, we idolize these people so much. I mean, it’s also funny, because I’m an entertainment reporter. I don’t read a lot of the magazines. Sometimes I do, but I just, I love what I do.

11:40 I love reporting. I love interviewing people. So much of what I do is, it’s the background story. You know, I’ll be doing a story let’s say on an actor, and it’s always like the other person that I meet on the way. Again, the undercover stories, and I meet so many people.

12:04 So when people say, oh, all these people, you know, they can’t sleep at night. You know, it’s not. Yes, it can be cutthroat, but most of the reporters I know are just everyday people They’re not mean-spirited. They just love to have that adventure in their life. Do you ever feel that maybe your skills as a reporter would be better suited, or provide more value to the world, if you were covering the scene in Haiti after the earthquake, as opposed to trying to find out what Kim Kardashian had for breakfast?

12:38 Or do you know what I mean? You know what? Yeah, I see your point, and that’s an area that I, you know, I would love to do that as well. You know, whenever there’s breaking news, I want to be there, and I would love to be in Haiti. I, that would, that’s amazing.

12:57 I would love to do that. For some reason, I just, my very first job, when, after I graduated from University, is I got to host my own entertainment show that aired in Japan, and that kind of just fell in my lap, and I’ve always, you know, and I’ve covered hard news stories before. Okay. And they’re really fulfilling. They’re also really hard.

13:23 Yeah, it must be tough when you, as well, tough to, like, I I covered something called Columbine High School, the Columbine massacre, that’s, and that was, you know, I really, what I like about my job is that I really do bring a human aspect to it. I feel like when I started working at Star Magazine, I had a problem with it at the beginning, because I felt like it was so negative, and I thought why am I going to, you know, work on these stories that seem so negative? And again, they’re not all negative, but when I was doing my entertainment show for the Japanese TV station, I always had a fun show, but I always made sure that in at least one story there was something really informative, and it would help the people watching, whether it was about eating disorders or alcoholism or cutting.

14:10 So with my stories now, or, and then when I went to work at Star, I always felt like I was bringing light to a place that there was a lot of darkness, and what I found was that there were stories that I got to do that would never be in Star Magazine had I not been there. I got to write a story about Buddhism. I got to write a story about chanting. I got to write about these other issues, and really fun stories, you know, silly stories as well. So I think, you know, in this big world of entertainment, where there can be a lot of darkness, it’s those reporters like myself that we want to bring some light and happiness and joy, and also I’ve covered, even in the entertainment, you know, world, stories like Michael Jackson, like a lot of Whitney Houston.

15:04 I mean, these are heavy stories, but, you know, these are people that they have, they shape our lives, and for a lot of people, like Justin Bieber, you know, he helps so many people. Like, little girl, there’s a little girl that has cancer, and the only thing she wants is to meet Justin Bieber. So there’s a lot of good that can come from it. And if you focus on the good, then fair enough. Yeah, I guess it’s easy for our perspective to just say, Justin Bieber, if he got nuked tomorrow, it wouldn’t affect us, and it would make the world a better place.

15:37 But I guess, I mean, I guess it does inspire people, and girls, and I mean, ultimately you’re employed because there’s a demand for what you do, right? And ultimately everyone has to make a living, whether it’s you or me, whether you’re hustling stocks or hustling entertainment reporter, there’s obviously not a demand for 50 people in Haiti, because no one gives a s*** really. There’s probably a need for three people in Haiti, but not, yeah, because for a lot of these stories, I mean, there’s so many reporters covering.

16:04 Is it tough to make a living doing this? No, I don’t think so. Okay. What good? It’s not tough, but you know what’s interesting is that I see a whole different world, though.

16:16 It’s a machine. What, what do you see? I mean, you’re looking, you’re talking about Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. I mean, you see Hollywood stars melt down on a regular basis, and you see some successful, and you live in Hollywood. What have you learned from all this, or what could you tell us?

16:31 Because I mean, it’s interesting because I grew up in the acting business. I started acting when I was like 5 years old. That’s crazy, too, and loved it, and when I ended up going to college, I didn’t want to major in acting, because that didn’t make sense to me. So I thought I wanted to do everything. So I thought, oh, well, I really liked Oprah Winfrey, and she was kind of first starting out, and when you’re a reporter, you get to do everything, you get to learn about everything.

17:04 But it’s what I’ve learned in this profession, that it’s not what it seems. It’s not. That’s why I can see, like, I was reading a magazine the other day, and it was Jennifer Aniston, and she looked really beautiful, and I started kind of like, kind of like, oh, I want, you know, my skin to look like that. I just started like this comp, comparing, comparing thing, and I was like, I don’t like that, you know, and I think a lot of people, when they read these magazines, because then I was like, oh my God, this is like, you know, this isn’t reality.

17:39 It’s like Photoshop, and what, there’s that, you know, that song “Sunscreen” by Baz Luhrmann. Yeah. Well, it’s a song with, it’s a four-minute song where he’s just dispensing advice to the class of ’97, and one of the lyrics is, do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Yeah, and yeah, that just came. That’s why I don’t really, I don’t, it’s just, it’s not real, and that’s what I want people to know is to have fun with it.

18:07 I mean, and not take it so seriously. Do you find that the celebrities take themselves really seriously? Not all of them. Not all of them. One celebrity that, not all of them, know.

18:20 I mean, and it’s not, most of the celebrities I’ve met have been incredible. And do any of them ever get in your face and say leave me alone? No, no. You know what’s funny is that what I do is when I’m interviewing, because I’ve interviewed a lot of celebrities. So when I interview these celebrities, I really want to talk to them.

18:41 I want to find out something about them that nobody else knows, and you can do that if you really stay in the moment with someone rather than asking Russell Crowe, for instance, how he prepared for his role. I noticed, if I stayed in the moment, and I looked at him, and, like, looked at his watch, or I noticed that his shoes were really muddy, and he was wearing, like, cowboy boots, so I asked him about that. I said, you know, why are your shoes so muddy?

19:07 And he actually got into this big long story about, he loves to hang out with his cows on the farm, and then we started talking about how do you know the difference between, like, one cow and the other cow? And so you got to see this whole different part of this person, like a real human side to him. And I think what it is, is that we all think that our lives would be so much better if we were famous, if we had tons of money. And yeah, of course, but I think that if we were beautiful, and that’s what Hollywood represents.

19:39 But the truth of it is, no matter, you know, how much money you have and how famous you are, how beautiful you are, that doesn’t buy happiness. It just doesn’t. You see that? I see that all the time, every day. I see that every day.

19:52 And I see people who, you know, don’t have a lot of money, and they’re really happy. you know, and they’re really, I just find it really fascinating, and I always, you can’t take yourself seriously in this, because so many people do, and it’s, and again, I don’t even think a lot of it’s, a lot of the actors. It’s the people around them. What advice would you give to, like, a Robert Pattinson right now, who’s like 25, 26, up and coming. You’ve probably seen this cycle hundreds of times, where the up and coming actor, I mean, if you could sit him down and he would listen to you for like three things, what would you tell them?

20:28 Because you know the way, you know, the way this can end up good and bad, or what would you say? I would say, to practical things. Practical things. I would say, study what Johnny Depp did, because Johnny Depp was this heartthrob from 21 Jump Street, and he’s been really smart about his choice in characters in films. I would say, you know, how, how Johnny Depp started on 21 Jump Street because he was like the heartthrob, and they wanted to make him into the next Hollywood heart throb.

21:00 He put the brakes on, and he’s like, I’m not going to be that guy. He started doing Edward Scissorhands and stuff, so he did these, like, these characters. You want to, you know, because I, I interview a lot of you know, experts for what I do as well, casting directors and life coaches. And so for Robert Pattinson, it’s so important to you know, be really choosy about your parts, you know, and follow your heart and do those independent movies that you love and he’s been doing that, which is really smart, because once he’s done that, then he can do the blockbuster stuff, right?

21:38 I would say keep your sense of humor with, with reporters, because we’re your friend. I mean, selfish, I know. It’s so funny, but it’s true, though. It’s like Sharon Stone, for instance, has a great sense of humor, and she loves the press, and the press really love her for that, because they respect her, you know, but she still will give, give them what they want. Okay.

22:04 And so they need a relationship with the press. Well, it’s a, it’s a relationship. I mean, none of these celebrities would really be where they are without the press, and we wouldn’t be where we are without their meltdowns. So Robert Pattinson wouldn’t be who he is if he wasn’t splattered all over these magazines. And so it’s a love-hate relationship, and it’s, and it’s, we need each other.

22:31 Have you, um, ever wait one, three, third Robert Pattinson, um I would, oh, I, I would, sense of humor, um, yeah, and, and I would have him study like films like that. Sean Penn has, you know, I really, I love Sean Penn. I think he’s an amazing actor, um, and just to, for him to take his time and not to, um, not to do anym. What about the people around him? I mean, who should you keep around you?

23:04 Should it be like Entourage, where you boys from Boston, but I mean, those are the people you grew up with, or he hire yes men? And Mark Wahlberg turned out okay. He did turn out okay, I guess, maybe he had some bumpy patches. No, he did. He’s amazing.

23:18 I love Mark Wahlberg. I would, yeah, he’s a cool guy, yeah, very cool guy, yeah, and they’re all different in real life. They’re just, they’re small, they’re big, because you think these people are bigger than life, and then you see them. Like, I remember I interviewed the Olsen twins, you know. Oh yeah, Mary-Kate.

23:37 They were so tiny. I was like, where are you? I mean, they’re little. Didn’t you see Angelina Jolie, and you said she was small? She was small, she was small, she was small.

23:48 Yeah, all of these people, they’re just so different, you know. So Sandra, um, you said you’ve been doing this for, been in this industry for almost 20 years, so you’ve obviously seen, um, well, have you ever, any of the celebrities that you’ve dealt with, have you watched how they’ve metamorphosed? That’s, have you seen them from the beginning of their career, change to like after 20 years of being in industry, have they become jaded and cynical? And I’ve seen so much, and it’s funny, because we are all on first-name basis.

24:20 Not like Brad Pitt’s calling me Sandra, but we, we, you cover them so much, and so when you talk, like, with your fellow reporters or paparazzi, it’s always on a first-name basis. Britney, and you, and I see them all the time. You know, it’s, we all grow up together, so it’s interesting to see where people went. Um, I’ll give you a great example. When I first started out, it was about the time Gwyneth Paltrow first started acting, and so I remember interviewing her when she did this movie called Flesh and Bone, and she was really good in it.

24:56 It was the first film that she had done, and I’ve seen how her life has, you know, taken shape, and she’s done really well for herself with the roles that she’s taken, and, you know, moving to London and marrying Chris Martin. Now I also was there. You know, Whitney Houston’s older than me, was older than me, but I got to see her just skyrocket in her career, and she was just a diva in a good way. And I remember interviewing her, and she was just lit up the room.

25:31 You, I, I get like goosebumps, because one thing that these actors have, or celebrities, reality stars, not all of them. I don’t think I’m not a fan of the Kardashians. I’m just not. I just, they annoy me because I don’t find anything of substance. I just don’t.

25:50 So it’s annoying. It’s, it’s such a big narcissistic family that is repelling to me, repulsive to me. Okay. So what I was talking about, um, what was I talking about? So you were saying some of the celebrities, there’s certain things about them, Whitney Houston.

26:06 Oh, that they have this amazing charisma, they have this spirit that’s really alive, and that’s what people like. It’s not there. Is there something about some of these people like Whitney Houston? When I interviewed her, she’s just electric, you know, and it was really sad to watch her do that reality show with Bobby Brown, and to see her life just crumble, and to see, like, where was the help? Where, like, when I think of Michael Jackson, I was like, this guy is so freaking loaded, why didn’t he have, like, a great life coach?

26:44 Is that because they’re not accountable to anybody? Is that because, at the end of the day, yes, that it’s because they don’t have that one person who is saying, what are you doing? Right? Because they don’t, what are you doing, you know? Why?

26:57 Because what happens, and Rihanna is a perfect, perfect example in my opinion. I don’t, not crazy about the direction her life has taken. I saw her when she first started out, and she was a machine. I mean, they made, re, it’s Rihanna the machine, it’s not Rihanna the person, you know? Because when you hear a Rihanna song you think it’s Rihanna.

27:17 It’s a machine. We made, it’s a marketing machine, and it’s, unless you’re grounded and you have done some soul work, which I think you get that with, first of all, you want to be interested in that spiritual side of your life, but it’s through experiences and having a really good support system. Um, but I’ve noticed that when I first saw Rihanna at the American Music Awards, she was singing “Umbrella,” and she was really good, and she could dance, and then I saw, wow, she’s gotten bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and now it’s just, I don’t know where the person is.

27:57 I don’t know where the person is. A friend of mine, who works with a lot of celebrities, he says, there’s a saying in the business, which is, a celebrity’s mental age stays stuck at the age in which they became famous, because from that point they never have to do anything else in themselves. Do you agree with that? Not with all, but yeah, because it is such an egocentric business. You better have some good support around you, otherwise you will think you are the king, are the king, and you can, you will think you can do whatever you want, you will think that you can treat people like s***, and that’s a, just a turn-off, you know.

28:41 And I’ve been around certain celebrities who are just gems. Meryl Streep will look me in the eye, doesn’t matter what publication I’m working for, and we’ll have a great intelligent conversation. She’s old school. Yeah, she’s old school. Tom Hanks, okay, old school, amazing.

28:59 Tom Cruise, really nice guy. I’m not crazy about Scientology at all. Is Scientology everywhere in Hollywood? No, yeah, it’s, they own a lot. Scientologists.

29:08 I kicked out of the Scientology building. Do you want to hear that story? Yeah, I’d love to hear that story. Okay. So I had to report on Katie Holmes.

29:17 She had a baby shower at the Scientology building, which is where I used to live, very close. See, Nick, look at me, we’re interested in this story. Yeah, see, we’re interested, right? Aren’t we? Now, right?

29:28 And so, but this is the really fun, this is the fun story. So I go there, and I have to pretend, obviously I can’t go in there and say, hi, I’m a reporter with Star Magazine. Where’s Katie Holmes? They’ll kick me out. And so I went in, and I pretend, you know, that I just moved from Canada, didn’t have a lot of friends, and played dumb.

29:47 This is where my acting skills come in, just kind of looking around, like, oh, this is really neat, and it’s kind of like Buddhism, and asking lots of questions, questions, and one of the guys there thought I should work there doing their PR. They could have gotten me a job, and Star actually wanted me to work there part-time. I was like, are you undercover? I’m like, are you crazy? So this is how the story goes.

30:11 Um, I’m going to a couple of their meetings, and it’s very weird, and it’s just weird Um, go to the book, acting as a Scientologist. Are you acting as a potential member? No, yeah, I’m, I’m acting like I’m really interested, but it’s just, it’s just very bizarre. And so the next day I went back for breakfast, and when the waiter came over, I said to him, and I knew I was going to get in trouble, but I had to do it. I went to all girls Catholic school, and so I, I think I’m still like trying to get into trouble and trying to get away with things.

30:41 So I said to the waiter, do you have any leftover cupcakes from Katie Holmes’ baby shower? And he just looked at me and was like, what? And after that I felt like people were watching me and staring at me. Followed me to the back bathroom. Then one person said, you’re going to have to come downstairs, and we need to talk to you.

31:02 And I was like, s***. I’m like, oh my God, I’m like what’s going to happen? And so I went downstairs. Interrog, yeah, and they were like, you’re not who you say you are and we want to know. And I said, I am, and I told them my name, and they were like, well, you’re you’re a reporter or something, and I was like, no, I’m not.

31:22 And meanwhile my boss is calling me on my cell phone, and I’m starting to sweat, and the phone is ringing, and I just kind of played really dumb. I was like, well, I bought all these Scientology books, you know, can I get my money back? And she said, well, if you give us your address, we’ll mail you a check. And I said, I don’t have a checking account. And so, and so I didn’t get any of my money back, but they escorted me out, and then I went back.

31:46 Oh, and then I, I tried to get my parents to go to a party for me. They wouldn’t let my parents in, but I paid this guy $50 who lived near the Scientology building, and his patio overlooked into the building, into the Scientology, so I, they had a big, uh, party outside, so I paid him 50 bucks, and I got to watch the whole party from his balcony. You watch the Scientology party? Yeah, and, and watch like the people coming in and the celebrities. And let me ask you about LA.

32:16 I mean, Nick, you’ve been to LA. I’m from San Diego, so that’s two hours south of LA. I’ve lived there for like three or four months. It’s a funny place. Every time I go there I don’t like it.

32:24 You know, I stay in West Hollywood. I go to the Sky Bar, I cruise around, I go to Earth Cafe and have an omelette, and I just don’t like it. I can’t walk anywhere. I have to drive everywhere. The vibe I get is is just weird, and I just don’t know if I could live there.

32:37 But do you love it, or what do you tell, what do you say to people that come in there and they’re like, it’s all air kisses and we’ll do lunch and la la la la. I mean, you know what? I love where I live. Um, I loved where I lived in Hollywood. You really have to find, um, the energy, the area, what vibes with you.

33:00 I love London and I love love love New York, so I live in Venice. I live on the Venice canals, which is beautiful. I can walk everywhere. I can walk to Abbot Kinney, which has really cute stores. I can, you know, and then if I’m in Hollywood I can kind of walk too, but it’s a love-hate relationship too, but you know, it, it’s got its pluses, but I can see how it can leave like a weird taste in your mouth, but it’s where you do your business and you love what you do and you’re going to be doing this for a long time.

33:34 Yeah, I love what I do. I go to New York a lot. Um, I love what I do. I mean, I’m, you know, I had to like put away my cell phone because I kept looking for stories, and I’m on vacation. I’m like, what am I doing, but I’m looking for a story wherever I go.

33:49 I mean, times in my life when I didn’t have a job, I remember my job at NHK ended, and I had worked there for a long time. That’s Japan’s largest TV station, and I worked there for a long, long time, and so I had a break, and I remember one day I was sitting outside of a grocery store talking to a homeless man about his life and his dog, and I went in and bought him like a toothbrush, and I wanted to steal his dog, but I didn’t, ’cause I thought that wouldn’t be nice, but it was great because I was interviewing, I’m always interviewing people, and I get paid for it, and I get paid to do like, you know, go to parties, and, you know, some events are fun, some aren’t, but, um, there’s always, it’s always fun when there’s a really fascinating story. Um, so yeah, sometimes it gets boring if it’s just always about, you know, what you know, Kim Kardashian dating Kanye West.

34:44 I try, kind of try to find, is there any interest in this at all? Um, but, uh, yeah, I love, I love what I do, and I have so many crazy stories. Always crazy stories. Would you want your son to go into acting? Yeah, yeah, why not?

35:02 I, but I would love him to just be his a rock star, ’cause he’s 18 months old and he’s already playing the guitar. And yeah, you know why? Um, I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all. I loved acting when I was a kid. I probably would have still done it, but the part of the acting that I loved when I got older was researching.

35:24 You know, I did a lot of like plays, and I really liked that part of acting. I just didn’t like the business, you know. I would go on I went on some auditions later, and it was so not about your acting skill. It, I couldn’t, it, it just didn’t work with me. What was it about?

35:44 It was about, you know, how big your boobs are. Like, I, I tried out for Tarzan, and I went in as Jane, right? And that movie with Christopher Lambert, right? No, it was like a TV show, but it was Jane, you know, was very proper before she became, you know, Tarzan’s girlfriend. And so I went in, of course, wearing this very proper-looking outfit.

36:06 This was years ago, and it was perfect for the part, and everyone else in there, like, was wearing, like, a bra, or, like, falling out of a bra, and it was so much about that, that it was just, it’s just, if you love, I tell people, if you really love acting, give it a shot, but go and do Broadway, go and do plays, ’cause that’s really fun. If you really like acting, but you know, if you love acting, also try reporting. It’s really fun, because you have to think of it’s acting, you know?

36:40 It’s, if you want to be a movie star, that’s different. That, that, that’s just different. You got to have certain things already. You have to have a lot of charisma. You have to have a lot of confidence.

36:51 Um, and but anyone can do it, you know. I mean, I saw Cameron Diaz when she first started out, and she’s huge now, and I interviewed Sandra Bullock when she first did that movie with K. Reeves, and she was a nobody, but she had really good timing, but it’s possible. You can do it. Do you see all these kids like getting off the bus in LA when they’re like 18, going to find their dream, and you find something kind of sad about Hollywood Boulevard, or do you find it, find just the business?

37:22 I think it’s just such a business. I want people to know that, you know, that it’s a business, and um, that’s what blew my mind when I was in LA. Is every, everyone, every waiter, every bomb, and like they’re all just, they’re actually an actor or an actress, or, uh, writing a screenplay, yeah, someone involved in the industry, but like they’re just waiting to make, right? My mind, you know? Sorry to cut you off, but you got to, there is something really magical, though, too.

37:49 So there’s so much focus, a lot, on, uh, people going there, and they’re, they break, you know, they, they have these big dreams. And but I think it’s, the whole, it is a big fantasy world. There’s hope there. You’re saying there’s hope there, and I think the thing is that you want to have fun, and you want it, you, you got to have fun with what you do, and that’s what I do. I mean, every day for me, my, and when I cover a story, I first and foremost am going to have fun.

38:21 When I went to Hawaii to go try and find Britney Spears in Hawaii, big Hawaii, we were in Maui. I would go whale watching every morning, or I would go snorkeling, ’cause I knew if I was having fun, and if I was in that zone, I would find the story. I would find the story, and I would meet the right person, and it, for me, it’s all about trusting my instinct, like, I’m going to walk down this street because it feels good, and then I’m going to meet, you know, it’s just, again, I say that, you know, for an example of just really, you, you don’t want to use your head too much.

38:55 You really want to follow your instinct, and I think that, um, and I always found the story, but whenever I would, you know, get stressed out and be like, I got to go here, I got to go there, I would never find the story. I would never get the good interview. What do you think of the London press? ‘Cause when I first got here, there’s the tabloids, and they always seem to be like ripping down the stars here. Do you think they do that more in Britain than they do in the States?

39:21 Well, it’s funny. Okay, I used to work at the National Enquirer. Okay, is that British-owned? Um, no, that was American. Yeah, it’s the biggest American tabloid.

39:30 I used to do freelance work for them, and I was doing stories like, you know, beauty, beauty, and, um, but they brought in a team of English journalists to run the National Enquirer, because they were like, we have to have the best, and they brought them in. So we’ve really copied a lot of what we see in London, and with the tabloids and England with the tabloids. Um, and how is that, how do they do it differently here? Um, they do seem to like ripping someone down here a lot.

40:04 It’s not just like celebrities that get ripped on. They’re always complaining. It’s like, you know, that yourselves, that’s like exaggerated with British press. It is right. It’s not just me.

40:13 No, it’s, I’ve definitely noticed that. Yeah. Okay, well, I think I, it’s not too different, actually. I mean, since I’ve been here reading the papers, it’s, it’s not too different, but, um, there’s just, there’s so much in it. It’s in LA.

40:32 It’s just like one entertainment show after the next, and it’s a repeat of all the same news. What’s your take on the cult of celebrity worship? R, you know, I’m just trying to, you know, be very honest. You are unlike a lot of our guests on this show, because I think a lot of what happens on London Real is we look a lot, a lot of time inwards and not outwards. You know, which I guess is the definition of the, of the entertainment industry.

40:55 So we’re always, like, you know, challenging ourselves. Is it right, what you’re believing about yourself? How can you do this, how can you do that? So I’m just trying to understand it, because, like, we got excited there when, tell us about Katie Holmes and Scientology. So all humans in the monkey clan, they always want to know what everyone else is doing.

41:10 I mean, it’s how we’re built as humans, so I’m just trying to understand stories. It’s like, yeah, well, it’s just how it relates to everyone else. Well, it’s kind of like, it’s, and with Twitter, I mean, it’s just everything is getting shrinking and shrinking, but someone like Lady Gaga, I saw her concert at a Star Magazine party when she was a no one, and I thought she was okay. I never imagined she’d be where she is now, but she’s a smart person and she’s talented, but again, it’s, I think that, you know, it’s fun to talk about it, it’s, and when I say talk about it, it’s not like I want to hang out with my friends and us, like, put down Jennifer Aniston.

41:56 And we’re not doing that. It’s kind of, um, I just think people are interested in, you know, the celebrity royalty. I catch myself when I look at a story like that, and I make myself not watch it. I do, and I’m just like, look, why are you doing that? Or even if I’m on a call with a girlfriend, she’ll be like, did you hear that?

42:17 This, I’m like, why are we talking about this? This is dumb. This is dumb, that we’re doing this, and, like, and I feel dumber for doing it. You know what’s interesting? This is so funny.

42:25 I went out on a date with this guy long time ago, and it was such a turn-off, because I was talking about what I do. I was working on a story, and I think I had to drive to, like, crazy things that I’ve had to do. Um, I think I had to drive to Santa Barbara to go find Robo, and his chef was like his lover. I don’t know, some crazy story, and I was talking about it, and he was so frowning on what I did, and he, he said, this is so petty, and I took it as such an insult, because there are a lot of people who are like, this is just petty, and this is, and you know what, it, it’s for some people, it’s, I don’t know, it seems like so patronizing when I hear someone say that, because it’s telling me that what they think or what they’re doing is better, and this person is really like into spirituality, but I’m really into spirituality.

43:32 You know, here I’m talking to my channeler. Well, I’m, this is a great story. I’m trying to find Jessica Simpson’s house, because she’s having a baby shower, and I’m driving around the hills, and I’m just not happy. I, I’m feeling not good about myself. I’m feeling like I gained weight or something.

43:53 Something was going on, and I had a session with my channeler. Hey, you know what a channeler is, right? Tell me. So I have a channeler, this woman named Natalie Gianelli, she channels a spirit named Dr Peebles. Okay, and Dr Peebles lived in the 1800s, and if you’re familiar with Abraham, Abraham Hicks, Abraham, uh, Esther Hicks is a woman, and she channels a spirit named Abraham, and it’s amazing, and it’s not talking to a psychic.

44:24 You’re talking to a spirit who is, who’s obviously not on this dimension, but who is connected to Source energy, to your spirit guides. It’s really unbelievable, and I recommend it for everybody. Um, so she channels Dr Peebles, she channels Dr, he lived in England, like in the 1800s, or Ireland. I think England, England. So he, I’m, I have a session, and I pull over, and I just, like, where am I going to park?

44:53 I’m lost. You do this on the phone with her. Yeah, I’m lost. But I pull over, and I’m sitting in someone’s driveway to this huge mansion, and I’m like, oh, whatever, they’re not going to come out, and I’m sitting there talking on the phone, and I’m, I start crying because we’re having this conversation about relationships, and I’m not happy, and blah blah blah, and I look, and I see someone looking at me from the driveway, kind of wondering like what I’m doing there, but he’s okay with it.

45:23 Guess who it is? As I’m talking to, it’s Mark Wahlberg. Wow. And I’m like, I’m standing, and I’m here talking to Dr Peebles. I’m like, this is just so bizarre, and I’m like, wondering, does he know that I’m talking to my channeler right now?

45:37 So does she, do you ask her questions to ask the doctor, and she channels answers back to you, or how does no, he just starts talking to me. She goes into her channeling thing. He’s like, hello, it’s Dr Peebles. She does this on a mobile phone, that’s b******t. That’s a great business model, and so one time, here’s another story.

45:54 Okay, one this is the 160 a session, so another time for, like, a phone consultation. Wow. And so, like, I called her. I was in Santa Barbara. My sister-in-law and brother just had a baby, and I just started really wanting to have a baby, and feeling like depressed.

46:10 I didn’t have a baby, so I’m in Santa Barbara by myself, staying at this really nice hotel, and I’m thinking, I should be with someone. Why am I alone? I’m, I should be with someone, and I should have a baby. So I, I’m working on this Rob blow story, and I should be a millionaire. It’s so weird to be inside of a woman’s head there.

46:27 I was like, oh s***, and so I’m working on this Ro low story and I’m having to knock on all these random doors to find out, did the chef really, like, did the baby, oh, did Roblo really sleep with his babysitter? So I’m working on this, like, story, and I’m knocking on doors, and I’m like, uh, excuse me, but did your sister, uh, really, uh, have a fling with Rob blow? And I’m knocking on doors, blah blah blah blah blah. And now I have to have my session with Dr Peebles.

46:55 It just happened to be I was working on this story in Santa Barbara. So talking to Dr Peebles, and he’s like, why do you want to get married, why do you want to have a baby? So I start telling him all the reasons. He’s like, well, I know tons of people who are married and have a baby and they’re miserable, so I want you to concentrate on the feelings you want. So I said, well, I want to feel connected, and I want to be happy, and I want to feel abundant, and I want to feel empowered.

47:20 And he said, then start saying, I am now open, willing, and ready to experience feelings of abundance, fulfillment, a feeling of connection, and those things will start coming in. And it’s interesting, because we’re always wanting these things. I want to be famous. Why? Because I want to feel important.

47:39 It’s the feeling you want, not it’s the feeling that you want, because we’re feeling based. All we want is to feel good, and so that’s going back to the channelers and kind of putting a closure on that. Is that all these channelers are really saying the same thing? It’s the Law of Attraction. You focus on what you want, and you ask for what you want, and it’s all it’s ’cause life here can be really trippy and really magical and amazing, and that’s the kind of life that I want.

48:07 I don’t want to be a robot and be dead, and I meet a lot of people like that in LA. Well, I actually met a lot here. What’s your impression of a typical Brit? Well, and be honest. Well, in, in, LA too.

48:21 I guess in Chelham, I was with my baby. I, I now have a baby, and, um, so Dr Peebles pulled through for you in the end. He did, and, um, and, well, I guess it maybe it’s just me, but I was waving to some people on the bus, because I was showing Alexander the bus, and I was waving to everybody on the bus, and they all looked at me like I was completely crazy. You’re walking in the bus, doing that? Yeah.

48:45 I was just waving, and they were looking at each other. I’m like, doesn’t anyone know how to say hi? They don’t and you know, so, and this other lady was sitting next to me drinking a latte, and I was just sitting there and I said, is the latte good? And she looked at me, and she was just like, what? Like, is the latte good?

49:02 And I just wanted to spark up conversation, cuz I love talking to people, you know, but cuz they’re also terrified, right? Yeah, terrified. Little Boxes. It’s a different culture over here. It’s a different culture.

49:13 Just, you know, oh, but then I just have to say, I told, I asked Dr Peebles. I’m like, I can’t believe I’m paying Dr Peebles $165 an hour, and I’m asking him about Rob low, ’cause I’m like, maybe he can help me with the story, and he just, he didn’t really tell me, but he just, he said it was just interesting, because he was like, he’s like, you’re, you’re working on this story, and it’s just so dark, and you’re in this place, and it’s bringing you down, and it’s like, try to find the higher, the higher story in this, and I was able to do that. Okay, so you’re at the end of the day, you’re making a living, and if, if someone had told you that they work in a shoe store, then we would leave them alone, but since you work in the entertainment industry, everybody goes after you, but the end of day you’re just making a living, right?

49:57 Right, and I’m sure whether it’s Nick or me, we’ve all had to made money in the past, and maybe we’re not always proud of what we did, but feel, but I don’t feel like I’m making a living. I feel like I’m just playing and having fun, and I get PA. That’s cool. That’s a cool way to go through life, dude. I’ve also had the job where I was doing, like, I wasn’t meant to be there, and I got fired from those jobs.

50:17 I could not, you know, answer the phone or type or, you know, do things like that. I saw this recently, you know, this recent thing came out, and I don’t even know why I know this. This tells something about me, but like, John Travolta and the masseuses that come out and say I know a story about that. I bet you do. I do.

50:34 I’m just curious. That whole, is there a whole inside information thing? People like you, and LA, and they all know what’s really going on. Tom Cruise, we all know that. We all know that John Travolta is gay.

50:45 I’m sorry, we all know that. We all know that Tom Cruise has, is probably bisexual. I don’t care. I don’t know why it’s hidden. I think it’s all tied in with this business, right?

50:54 Business thing. It’s like, it’s like, that the reporters that cover the Tour de France, everyone knows they dope. They’re like, we all know that, ’cause they’re right on the front lines that’s why I wanted Sandra, ’cause you’re there, so everyone knows. Yeah, so I mean, I know that John Travolta went to this Korean spa, and he was bald. I guess he doesn’t have any hair, and, but he’s a great guy.

51:14 John Travolta I guess he wears a toupee or something, and so there’s truth to these stories. I mean, but they also milk it I’m like, the masseuse wants what, $20 million, in rep repercussions for what? So there’s every, and that’s all been dismissed, right? they don’t have a case now, supposedly. Yeah, they don’t have.

51:30 I researched this for Sandra. Fair, sure you did, bro. Oh they have good lawyers, believe me. Okay, so some things are already known. They’re known, and but these are like, Tom Cruise is a business, and if he came out of the closet, he can’t make Mission: Impossible with, come out and be like I’m gay.

51:44 A gay actor can’t make action movies. They can’t sell it, right? It’s funny, they, I mean, no, I don’t think so, unfortunately. What about women and the, in the shelf life of a female actor in Hollywood, and is it fair is that not fair? It’s gotten so much better, it has, right?

52:01 ‘Cause there’s all sorts of roles, but what is that I mean, because a male and a female have different shelf lives, got so much better for women, because is that fair or do you look at it from a fairness point of view, or is it just what sells? No, it’s not fair. you know, it’s, I think it’s because it’s still, we’re still living in a very patriarchal society, and I think there are great scripts out there that are just tossed over. I think that, I just think that it’s the mindset too.

52:28 It’s a bigger thing, it’s a bigger, bigger thing, and I think that we could bring a lot more amazing, healing, insightful films and characters and TV shows. I just think Hollywood unfortunately likes to play it safe too much, and so that’s why we have, you know, Harry Potter part S. Yeah, it’s an investment, the, in a bus instead of, you know, you were talking about Robert Pattinson earlier, and he’s the Twilight star, and he just made a movie, Cosmopolis.

53:03 Yeah, and, and I heard an interview with the director, and they said, um, asking about Robert Pattinson, and he said, look, this is an independent film that cost us $8 million. He says we couldn’t have financed it without him as a star. It’s like, because he’s on the pages of all your magazines and your stories, because all the girls go crazy over him. That’s why they finance that film. The movie looks cool as well.

53:22 It’s just real. It looks interesting. Yeah, it looks interesting, and, um, but it’s yeah, it’s just, it’s a fun, it’s really, I would, it’s really fun to, to go to a studio if you’re ever in LA, not Universal Studios, about to say, um, but to go to, like, just to walk around. When I was growing up, I’d go to a lot of, come, I would, I lived in San Francisco, and I would fly to LA to do auditions and, and work, and would work in some of the studios, and it’s all fun and make-believe, and it’s you know, it’s a, there are a lot of fun things, and, and the, and too, you know, with a lot of these actors, I love the Matt Damons of the world, that the, and the Angelina Jolie of the world.

54:02 Not like there is any other one than Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt and George Clooney. They really do make a big difference in the world. You know, with their work, with, when, when you can put a George Clooney on the face of Darfur? Yeah, it makes a huge difference. So you know what, for every, yeah, the, the Kardashians of the world are annoying, but you know what, they’re good.

54:26 Oprah’s interviewing them on Sunday night, and I, I want to watch it. Oprah’s good at that, she’s no joke. You know, um, kids that flew by, but that’s our hour. Um, if people want to get a hold of you or watch your stuff? I mean, obviously they can go to HollywoodLife.com.

54:38 They can go to, what if they see Justin Bieber and they want to let you know? Please let me know. Follow me on Twitter. Sandra, Facebook me a couple days ago when she got to London and said, Brian, do you know where Justin Bieber is? So she’s not joking.

54:52 She takes this very seriously, and I said, what hotel is he staying at? Yeah, and he was like, he’s off my radar, and I was like, oh, I don’t talk to that [expletive] anymore. Don’t call me back. So, but how would they get a hold of you, or do you not want to get out your details? Yeah, of course you can email me at media Kitty, okay, at yahoo.com with any tips you have, any stories you would like to see more of, any type of reporting you’d like to see more of, any questions you have, email me, mediak kitty, yahoo.com, and you can follow me on Twitter at LA Sandra Clark, LA Sandra Clark.

55:30 And do you pay for tips sometimes? Okay, yeah, I mean, oh, I’ve inter believe me. We paid this one person $20,000 when I was at Star, because she slept with Jesse James, like, like for you guys, or just ’cause she didn’t tell you about it? Um, oh no, she did. No, no, no, she no she had an affair with him.

55:51 I can’t believe we, no, it was, I think it was $20,000. It was crazy. The tips aren’t like that. People call, like, this one person called up, and was, when I worked at Star, one thing I don’t miss is people would call, and they were just so [expletive] on the phone. They’d be like, uh, yeah I want to clone my dog, and do you think your magazine could, um, pay me?

56:16 And this is the type of person I am, would pay me like $20,000 so I could clone my dog, because I have no other friends, and I’m blind, and so I, of course, give her my phone number, and then I’m like, she calls me every day. Like this happened all the time, where I would, like, make friends with all these people, and then it’d be like, why did I give them my number? You’re going, you’re going to emails from London Real fans asking about cloning your dog.

56:40 Thank you for coming on and representing your industry. Um, I think it’ll be a nice little change up, you know, from our yoga people and other things. Yeah, it was, it was interesting. Okay, so I have a story for you. I know we end it right?

56:51 Got no? What? Just, I’m going to wrap it up now, and then you can, the story? No, I go ahead. I have to wrap this up.

56:57 Okay, wrap it up. I’ll tell you afterwards. Yeah, tell us afterwards if you guys want to know what I was telling them. Just go to my Facebook page. Anyway, thank you so much for coming in and giving us a little bit of insight into Hollywood lot, etc., and next week we’re going to have the Eden kns here performing live here in, in the studio, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.

57:14 It’s about the journey. It is Man, it is about the journey. Thanks, Sandra. Bye. Thanks, that was fun.

57:26 N