Naomi campbell 25 lily-scented diptyque candles in hotel rooms rebecca white, Lady Gaga's bitter feud with her former personal assistant has lifted the feather-dusted lid on the pampered world of celebrities.
Rebecca White and Jennifer O'Neill, who have worked as aides for the likes of Gaga, Naomi Campbell and Claire Danes, have opened up to the New York Post about the reality of life as a gofer to the stars.
O'Neill is suing Gaga for nearly $400,000 she claims she is owed in unpaid overtime, saying she was nothing more than a slave to the Poker Face singer.
Details of Gaga's tour rider from her Monster Ball concerts reveal that the Big Apple bopper wanted everything in her dressing room in lavender and insisted on a mannequin with "pink puffy pubic hair."
O'Neill said: "There's no such thing as overtime or having your own life. You are married to these people."
For her annual salary of $75,000, the 39-year-old Connecticut native claims she was forced to sleep in Gaga's bed because the entertainer "didn't sleep alone," and she was obliged to be on duty "24/7."
But Gaga has branded O'Neill a "hood rat" who didn't appreciate the perks of the job, which included nights in five-star hotels, travel on private planes and caviar meals.
White, who worked five years at the beck and call of tantrum-prone supermodel Naomi Campbell, is writing a tell-all memoir about her experiences.
She says the demands set out by Campbell included getting her hotel rooms ready with 25 lily-scented candles placed in specific spots.
"God forbid they weren't (the luxury brand) Diptyque," she said. "There always had to be five candles in the bathroom, 10 in the bedroom and 10 in the living room."
Campbell would also have the mini-bar moved to her assistant's room so she could "pretend to the outside world that she wasn't drinking."
The model would then "grab her two phones, grab me and go into my room to start drinking," White said.
White claims that Campbell "would intimidate and yell and gain her power by making people cry."
Working as a personal assistant is not always so intimate, with some PAs merely filling back-office functions. But White says her job was to be a star's best friend.
"It's sad, but true," she said. "On the outside, these celebrities seem to have everything you can imagine - money, fame, friends - but they don't.
"Fame is a very lonely thing. It's actually very depressing. You're sequestered, in a way.
"I've seen a lot of celebrities cling onto their personal assistant, but it's really just (wanting) somebody to love them unconditionally."
White said actress Danes was as needy as a schoolgirl when she worked for the Homeland actress in 1996, just after her appearance with Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
White said she had to drive Danes to college on her first day - and even make her bed. "I hugged her, and she was scared, and I gave her the kiss goodbye."
Some aides take to Twitter to vent their frustration at their employer's outrageous demands.
When Lindsay Lohan was arrested in November outside a New York nightclub, her PA, Gavin Doyle, tweeted: "After bailing you out last night, I hope and pray you get the help you so desperately need.
