Celebrity Whore

by Brittany Geragotelis

Last night I ran into a celebrity. It wasn't one of those sightings where you spy that star from your fave show on the street while he's walking by in his unassuming outfit, all scruffy, with his eyes hidden behind a darkened pair of sunglasses and drinking an iced green tea from the Bux. Where you Tweet about them as soon as they've gotten far enough away from you that you can pull out your phone descreetly. Hell, maybe you don't care about decorum at all and you whip your phone out right in front of him and snap a quick pic before he can get away. No, this was different.

It was different because I know this person.

Now, we're not besties or anything, but this starlet, let's call her Penelope (and no this isn't even remotely a clue to her real name, so don't even start guessing. You won't get it, I promise), runs in the same circle of friends as me. We don't hang out, but I see her every once in a while, which is way cool--

--at least it would be if I didn't turn into a blithering idiot every time I talked to her.

For most people, this reaction would be understandable. Most people don't regularly find themselves standing face to face with celebrities. But me....this type of reaction is unacceptable. Because the truth is, for 10 years it was my job to do just this.

As an editor at American Cheerleader, I interviewed celebs like Miley Cyrus, Dakota Fanning, Kendall Jenner, Ashley Tisdale, Ashley Greene, Ashley Benson (there were lots of Ashley's), Debby Ryan and even Jamie Foxx. And being the celebrity-obsessed person I am, I was nervous to talk to each and every one of them. But I always pulled it together long enough to make a good impression and get a great interview, before going and freaking out in private.

So, why is it that every time I get around Penelope, I feel like such a loser? Suddenly, I start saying the stupidest things, ask the dumbest questions, get all tongue-tied and revert back to the uncomfortable nerd I was in high school.

It could have something to do with the fact that I'm not actually interviewing Penelope. See, when I was interviewing the other celebs, both of us were there to do a job. It was my job to ask a slew of questions that would allow our readers to feel like they got a chance to have a peek into that person's real life. And of course, it was the star's job to put forth the image they wanted their brand to reflect as well as highlight whatever project they were working on at the time. Neither of us was being ourselves...not really. We were both playing our roles, being on our best behavior. And that's what trips me up about my encounters with Penelope. My role becomes...just me. And just me is someone who geeks out when she meets celebrities. Just me is someone who cares what creative people that I admire think about me. Just me is self-conscious and not always polished and still that nerd in a lot of ways. Just me isn't always calm, cool and collected.

And if I'm really honest with myself, if Penelope wasn't famous, I have to wonder whether I'd really even care what she thought about me. The answer is: probably not.

So, what I realized about last night is that I need to start embracing my real self. And if someone doesn't like who that is, that's fine. Because the truth is....she's pretty cool, too.

5x5,
B.

Cheer camp with the Kardashians....

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, a week ago, I headed off to Ontario, CA, to go to The Spirit Consultants cheer camp with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Corinne Foxx. The week was long and full of screaming girls, but totally worth it, because I was able to get a really sweet segment on Access Hollywood about Kendall being on our cover in May and Corinne being our December cover girl. Yay me!

But what was SUPER exciting was that on the last day of camp, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" was filming at the camp! And get this: the whole Kardashian clan was there. Well, except for Kim. She must have been off figuring out last-minute details for her fabulous wedding, which is less than a week away! But the rest of them were there....here's the run-down:
Kris, Bruce, Mason, Kourtney, Khloe and Lamar!

The girls looked beautiful as always and I even scored some one-on-one time with Kourtney, talking to her about how she was the perfect size to be a cheerleader. She explained that there wasn't a cheer squad when Kim and her were in school, but that they took dance classes for a few weeks during that time. It turns out, Kourtney was actually a big soccer player. But she was super psyched to see Kendall and Kylie in their element.

She wasn't the only one though...Khloe was taking pictures the entire time and then later posted them on her blog. And when the girls first came out onto the floor to compete in the camp cheer contest, Lamar attempted to do a high kick. Granted with limbs as long as his (I went up to his hip), he nearly fell down in the process.

Everyone was SO nice and they were all so proud of Kendall and Kylie! You could tell that they're really a family that cheers on each other. Anyway.....here are some pics I took from the VIP section of the camp. Yep, that's right...I was in the same section as the Kardashians! They don't have a cheer magazine reality show yet...don't you think they should?

5x5,
B.

Kendall and Kylie at cheer camp!

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey all!

As you might know, I'm at cheer camp this week...with Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Corinne Foxx (Jamie Foxx's daughter)! I'm having so much fun, but don't worry--I'm doing a lot work while I'm here too! Case in point, check out the segment on Access Hollywood that I set up on Monday! Pretty amazing, huh?


5x5,
B.

I've been a bad, bad blogger....

by Brittany Geragotelis

First off, I know I have some serious apologizing to do. My life has gotten crazy insane lately: I've been hot in the middle of writing Life's a Witch, which is coming along nicely, but since I'm publishing it as I go, there's a lot of pressure for me to get things right the first time. I've been having to edit it as I go along, which is new for me, because I usually wait until the end to do this. So, it's taking a lot more of my attention away than usual.

I've also been away the past few weeks on business trips. First, to beautiful Hell-A to do a photo shoot with the beautiful and sassy Francia Raisa from "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." I'd never seen the show before, but when I found out we'd be shooting her for the cover, I gave myself a crash-course in the very popular ABC Family show. At first, I thought it was silly....basically "7th Heaven" only preggers. But the more I watched, the more obsessed I got. So now, I am officially a fan, and meeting Francia (who plays Adrian on the show) was a real treat. She was very sweet, a little sassy (in a good way), and totally up to play dress up. And whereas I've run into some trouble in the past when asking actresses about their personal/love lives (some have basically shut down the interview!), Francia wasn't afraid to dish on this side of herself. You'll have to wait for the feature to read exactly what she said, but it was a great time.

Next, we headed over to Universal Studios for a shoot for our back-to-school fashion with the cast of Blue Crush 2. I'll let you in on a little secret....usually when you go to celebrity shoots, the stars are perfectly nice and professional. We have a great time, but in the end we all know that they're doing a job and we never really connect in a real, meaningful way. Don't get me wrong, with some of the people we've shot, I really would have loved to become friends with them outside the realm of the entertainment world...but it doesn't happen often. This shoot was totally different.

So, the star of the movie is Sasha Jackson, a beautiful blond from the UK. I met her for the first time when she came into the office with my contact at NBC/Universal for the Bring It On movies. Right away, I knew she was different than most actresses. Sasha was HILARIOUS (in an amazingly inappropriate way), she has THE best accent, but can switch to an American accent seamlessly. She's gorgeous, has this teeny-tiny little figure, while not looking like skelatore. In short: the girl is freaking awesome!

But again, I didn't know if this was just her doing her job promoting the film or really just her coming through in the meeting. When we eventually got to the shoot at Universal, I realized that this is just Sasha. She's friendly. She's outgoing. She's real. Sasha will be a total professional when the situation calls for it, but when she gets to know you, she's got a dirty kind of humor and won't censor herself around you. This kind of honesty had us in stitches and to be honest—we all sort of had girl crushes on her. While on set, we goofed around, hung out, talked about dating, our personal lives, dancing around our rooms to loud music and bonded over our mutual love of McDonald's. This time, when we left the shoot (and our new fave starlet) behind, I think we actually had a friend. We're now friends on FB and I have the luxury of getting bits and pieces of her wit and talent on a daily basis. How lucky am I!?!?!

But the awesomeness didn't stop there. Because after we wrapped that shoot, we headed over to Kendall Jenner's house—yes, her ACTUAL house. The one she lives and tapes in! We followed her cheer coach over to their gorgeous house (if only I had the money to get a place like theirs....sigh.), and waited (nervously) in the dining room for Kris, Kylie and Kendall to join us. Our staff were all nervous (I mean, how often do you get to hang out at the Jenner house?) and I was just hoping Kendall and her momager, Kris, would like the cover and her feature. As we waited, we checked out a wall full of black and white family portraits over the years. This was truly amazing; to see how the whole fam changed year after year was really cool. We even saw the infamous half-naked pic of Kourtney when she was preggers! Getting a glimpse into their personal lives off-camera was unbelievable.

We'd set things up so E! would come by to cover the unveiling and waited for everyone to arrive. When all the introductions had been made, we got straight to the interview with E! and then dropped the cloth that was hiding Kendall's first magazine cover EVER! Her reaction was perfect; you could tell that she genuinely loved it and was so excited to be honored for something she loves to do. And Kris was gushing over it (this was a far cry from the nightmares I'd been having for weeks that included Kris finding something she hated about it and threatening to sue me. In actuality, Kris was SO nice and complimentary of the magazine and cheerleading.). You could tell that Kris LOVES her kids and is their number one fan. On another note, you have to respect her for being such a great business-woman. She really took charge during the shoot (but not in a control freak sort of way) and knew what she was doing the whole time. It was very impressive just being around her. Oh, and Kylie was there too....a little bundle of energy and was so excited to talk about how she wanted to join the cheer squad next year. Of course, I offered to shoot her for the magazine when she finally does become a cheerleader. Now if we can only get them to let us shoot at their house.....

To round up this little celebrity update, one of my co-workers went to comic-con last weekend and, knowing that I'm a big Buffy fan, got me autographs of the actresses who play Harmony and Glory. He also got pics of them holding up signs for me! How sweet is that?!?! (And expensive...apparently it costs $35 apiece for the signatures and pics!).

So, again, sorry for being MIA....I'm going to try and be better about this from here on out. I hope all these pics made up for it!

5x5,
B.

My day with Heather Morris and Kendall Jenner...

by Brittany Geragotelis

This past weekend, I was in LA for a photo shoot we were doing for the magazine. Our cover girls? Heather Morris (plays Brittany on "Glee") and Kendall Jenner (younger sister of the famed Kardashians).

To say the weekend was exciting is an understatement. And I have the pictures to prove it. I can't give away too much scoop, because I have to save it all for the mag, but I can tell you that I got to meet Bruce Jenner (he's very tall); Kendall is super nice, ridiculously gorgeous (the girl can't take a bad picture!), towered over me and is seriously in LOVE with cheerleading; And Heather is just as funny and loveable in person as she is on the show, is a sick dancer and knew nothing about the rumors of her being the next Buffy (When I told her about the gossip, she looked genuinely shocked).

But without further ado, please enjoy some of these pics from the shoot!

On my way to a celebrity photo shoot...

by Brittany Geragotelis

I’m currently writing this blog from thousands of feet up in the air. At 6 am. On my cute, little HP laptop. And the guy next to me is leaning over into my seat in his sleep...um, hello? It's called personal space for a reason! Anyway, I’m on my way to LA for what is sure to be a very exciting photo shoot. This weekend, my co-workers (shout-outs to Morgan, Jess & Kathy who are currently sitting across the aisle from me...and none of which have a stranger leaning his head on their shoulders, I might add....) and I will be shooting Heather Morris (Brittany on “Glee”) and Kendall Jenner (one of the sisters of the Kardashians) for our cover, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to for months.

I have to admit, I’ve had a total girl-crush on Heather Morris ever since she said her first funny line on the show, with that deadpan stare and monotone voice of hers. Thank God Ryan Murphy saw the gold they had with her as a castmember and began to give her more of a storyline, because I can’t seem to get enough of the ditzy Cheerio. And I’ve only heard great things about her in the media, so I can’t help but feel like we’re going to get along really well.

And Kendall Jenner? Well, although I’m not a fan of most reality TV, I am obsessed with “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and have watched the second-to-youngest Jenner grow from a teeny-bopper into a self-assured, poised young woman. The thing I find most interesting about her is that she’s currently a cheerleader at her high school, all while filming the show and jump-starting her modeling career. But also, there’s not much information out there about her. We see a ton of Khloe, Kourtney and Kim, but how much do we really know about Kendall? Well, hopefully I’m about to find out.

Now, to be honest, I’m pretty nervous about the day. Not because we’re not prepared (we’ve got everything covered on that end), but because even though they’re people just like you and me (as my old friend, Barry used to say, “They all put their pants on one leg at a time.”), they lead extraordinary lives. And I’m looking forward to catching a glimpse of what it’s like to be in their world. Now, if only I can manage to play it cool while I’m around them (I know I’ll be jumping up and down inside), and not let out my inner super-fan, things will turn out just fine. We’ll be updating our Facebook page and tweeting about the shoot all day tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

5x5,

B.