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Michael Jackson
It was summer of 2000. I was driving Michael’s four guests from Zurich, Switzerland, all teenagers, two boys and two girls. I took them to Long Beach, Venice Beach, Chinese Theater, Rodeo Drive and other places. They had a wonderful time and really enjoyed their journey. After the pleasure trip was over I took them to Michael’s rancho in Santa Barbara. Once the guests were off the car I was to leave the territory. But I was really fascinated by the building and all the views one could see there. I was driving toward the exit, but could not help myself looking around. I saw beautiful animals walking there – deer, ducks, swans, etc. The place looked like paradise. Suddenly I got a feeling that I was driving around for too long – I should had left the territory. I looked to the left and saw a train – it was the train Michael had put there along with a short railway for children. I realized I got lost. I stopped to look around and see where I should go. Security guards from all around were approaching my car. Once they were close enough I realized they were quite aggressive. The first question they asked was whether I had a camera and if I was taking pictures. It was obvious that they didn’t believe I wasn’t. Luckily, Michael himself arrived driving a small golf car. “What happened, Simon” – he asked. “I got lost, Michael”, I said. He looked at his security and told them: “This is not the first time drivers get lost here and the reason is that there is no Exit sign. Escort Simon to the exit and make sure a sign is put to show people where the exit is”.
Angelina Jolie
 I got an assignment to pick up a passenger from LAX. When I pulled over to the curb, the first thing I noticed was a crowd of photographers taking somebody’ pictures. I didn’t who eas about to be my passenger, the person who had ordered the limo had not given his name. A photographer came to me and asked where I was taking her. “Who?”, I asked. I saw that it was a woman, although I was expecting the passenger to be a male. Frankly, at that time I didn’t even know who Angelina Jolie was. I mean, of course I had seen movies with her but never cared to memorize her name. She finally got into the car with a little boy, around four years old. “Hi, my name is Simon”, were my first words, and, “Where are we going, Ma’am?”. She said: “L’Ermitage, Beverly Hills”, and we moved on. I offered them cold drinks. After a few words were exchanged, she realized I didn’t know who she was. “Don’t you know me?”, she asked and it seemed that she looked really surprised. I said “Nope”. “I am Angelina Jolie!”. “Nice to meet you Ms. Angelina, my daughter’s name is Angelina too”, I replied. I noticed the boy had an obvious oriental look while she obviously looked Caucasian, so I asked if her son looks like her husband. “I don’t have a husband”, was her firm answer. My glance at her must have been really full of surprise, so she went on with explanation: “Matt is from the Cambodian Royal family… his parents have died and I adopted him.” The boy was peacefully drinking water from a plastic bottle. While we were still talking he threw the bottle at me and it hit my head. Well, I really love kids, especially kids full of energy. So I reacted with a sincere laughter. I asked Angelina: “Does Matt have a middle name?”. “No”, was her answer. “Well”, I said, “I hereby give him middle name - Samurai”. She laughed, obviously showing that she favored the name, not to mention a very generous tip when we reached the destination.
Snoop Dogg
 I had a passenger pickup from the city of Diamond Bar. Well, this time I did know who the passenger was and how famous he was. It was Snoop Dogg. He needed to go to Universal Studio for a video shooting for a show. He sat in my limo alone. His body guards were following my car in two cars. I put a CD with some romantic music and he slowly fell asleep. We were in about half way when I saw the freeway was jammed with traffic, so I took the ramp to another freeway, which wasn’t jammed. Believe it or not the two cars with body guards lost us. When we reached the destination, Snoop realized his body guards weren’t there, so he asked me: “Where are my body guards?”. “Sorry, I don’t know?”, was my response. In about 15 minutes the body guards arrived. Snoop looked at them and said: “Shall I fire you all and hire Simon as both a driver and a body guard?”. The guys were really sweating… While waiting for him, I was listening to a dance music playing in my car. When Snoop returned to my car, he heard it and shouted “turn it up, Simon”. I turned it up and he started dancing and all the people who had come out to say good by to him joined him. When we were about to take off one of the body guards came to me and said: “Please, when you change the way, try to let us know two minutes before you do it”.
George ForEman and Jay Leno Show
 I picked up George and his wife from Universal Hilton and took them to NBC studios in Burbank. George was invited by Jay Leno as a guest on his show. I thought it would be nice to see how the show is shot, so I asked George if I could sit among the audience and watch it. He said, sure, come on in. I parked the car and entered the hall. It appears that before the actual show they practice with the audience the things the audience is expected to do. This time the audience was supposed to sing a song – all together. Everybody started singing. Everybody except me – I wasn’t feeling like I was part of that audience. Jay Leno turned towards the audience, pointed his finger at me and said” “Why aren’t you singing?”. The audience stopped singing and everybody looked at me. I got a little lost, didn’t expect him to address me. “Because I am just a driver, I brought George Forman here”, was all I could say. “I don’t know. If you are here then you have to sing! Now, everybody keep silent and you sing alone” was his remark. He waived his hand to the orchestra, the music started and I had to start singing. Luckily, I had to sing one verse only. Everybody applauded once I was finished, including Jay Leno, and twice exclaimed- “Bravo Mr. driver!”. On the way back George asked me if I have kids and how many if I do. “Two”, I replied, “how about you, George?”. “Four sons”, he said. “What are their names?” – I asked. His answer really surprised me: “They all have the same name – George”. My next question was quite natural: “If you want to call one of them when all four are around, how do you do it?”. He said: “When I say George, the right one knows that I address him, my tone gives the hint”.
Please check for more stories about other celebrities coming soon.
Eric Gagne
Kania West
Fifty Cent
Jenifer Lopez
Jacky Chun
Chris Tucker
Jessie Jackson
Kobie Brian
And many others…
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