MICHAEL Jackson’s former bodyguard has revealed the surprisingly gruelling reality of a model’s working day, and the reason he decided to quit on the spot.
Simon Newton, 45, who lives in Eastbourne, bodyguarding followed a career in the army, with stints in Iraq and Afghanistan; then in private security, which included defending oil tankers against Somali pirates.
Simon Newton guarded Kendall Jenner for the first time in 2014 Credit: Getty
Simon worked as the model’s bodyguard once again in 2015 Credit: Getty
Pictured in 2017, he also worked with Bella Hadid for a number of years Credit: Getty
His high-profile clients include Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Kate Moss, Michael Jackson, Rita Ora, Halsey and Dizzee Rascal, who he “really enjoyed” working with, and still speaks to.
Kendall was the first model he looked after, but it was Bella he worked with most frequently.
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“You can do long days – really long days. You can start at five or six in the morning and you won’t go to bed until midnight,” Simon told The Jattvibe.
“If the girls are on the catwalk, you could be dressing first thing in the morning, going to where the show is to do the walkthrough and rehearsal. Then you go back again for the show.
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Simon Newton was in the army before moving into A-list protection Credit: Supplied
He now works as an actor, and runs a private security company Credit: Supplied
His former career made protecting A-list celebs far less daunting (pictured with Bella Hadid in 2018) Credit: Getty
“Then if there’s a dinner or something in the evening with the show, they might go, you might get back to the hotel at 12, one in the morning and you might be back at nine again the next day.
“You just eat when you can… It had to be fairly quick. You can’t be sitting there waiting for a big steak dinner and all of a sudden you’re going.”
Despite the long days, for Simon the job was nothing compared to life in a warzone.
“I’d lived and worked in Afghanistan and Iraq collectively for about seven years. There’s a lot of things that most people should never be subjected to seeing really,” said Simon.
“One minute you’re in Afghanistan, the next day you land in a Gatwick and you’re walking through the terminal with everyone else, like no one’s got a clue where you’ve just been or what you’ve just been doing.”
Simon, left, even protected Michael Jackson in 2006 – his first celebrity booking Credit: Getty
Simon protected international celebs on their trips to London Credit: Getty
Simon’s first ever celeb client was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, himself.
“I was working in Afghanistan and actually on leave back at home for a month. It wasn’t until I got to the airport I found out who it was,” Simon said.
“I didn’t put much thought into it, to be honest, before the job started.”
He soon realised the lengths obsessive fans would go to see their idol.
“We were getting a lot of people following us around,” he said. “I realised there were five or six black taxis, all on a meter, that were just running the whole day, which fans were paying for to follow him.
“People booked the same hotel so they could be in the lobby, because otherwise it was shut off to people outside.
“There were people coming over from China and they were following him wherever he was going after he was finished with us.
“But it was quite an expensive hotel, so the money these fans must have been spending… that’s when it dawned on me how die-hard these people are.”
Though the mobs were ecstatic, they were rarely in genuine danger.
Simon spent a combined 7 years in Iraq and Afghanistan Credit: Instagram
“There were a few people we were told to look out for. They weren’t well people. It wasn’t like they were trying to harm Jackson, but they weren’t well people,” Simon said.
“There was a guy who used to dress as Jesus all the time and follow him around the world. Again, where they got their money from and how they had time to do it, I’ve got no idea.”
That was in 2006. Since then, Jackson passed away, and faced further allegations that he sexually abused young boys, which are denied by his estate and family.
Working as his bodyguard around London, Simon was only beside him for a few weeks.
“I found him very young for his age, the way he would talk and interact,” Simon said. “But then when he was on stage and singing, he was very professional.”
After guarding Michael, Simon spent five years working as a Close Protection Officer in the Middle East before picking up more bodyguarding jobs in London.
Being papped next to so many icons of the fashion industry has its perks, and by the end of the last decade Simon was being interviewed in Vogue himself.
Since then, he’s started his own fashion brand and has moved into acting, appearing in the new Rise of the Footsoldier film out this month.
When he works with artists, they are provided with a rider – a list given to the venue detailing what drinks, food, and other demands are required in the dressing room. But in reality, most of it gets chucked away.
“You could take it all with you, if you wanted. There might be Champagne in there. There might be chocolate and fruit, maybe sandwiches in the fridge,” said Simon.
“But sometimes we’d go in there, bust open a bottle of water, and the rest of it would get chucked.”
Simon is well versed on the downsides of fame – and his thoughts might make you rethink applying to the next series of Love Island.
“It’s not what people think, if you actually realise what it brings. You need money as well, because you can’t do the same things as what everybody else does,” he said.
“You can’t just get a bus or a train, it’s too much of a nightmare.
“You can’t just leave your house anymore. There’s always some sort of restriction to doing what you and I would take for granted.”
As well as celebs, he’s looked after “some of the richest people in the world” – names you’ve never heard of, who have fortunes of up to £30 billion.
“Celebrities by and large haven’t got a lot of money compared to these people. It’s a different way of living when you’ve got billions. It did make me realise it ruins your life.”
“A lot of them don’t have family,” he said. If you’ve got that money when you’re single, how do you ever trust a woman, or vice versa?
“You might cross paths with someone who genuinely is interested in you, but you’re always going to think that that might not be the case.”
After years working as a bodyguard, Simon was ready for a new challenge – acting.
He’d had a taste of it already, playing a US Special Forces soldier in Matt Damon’s film Green Zone. Then in 2016, he acted as Dave Bautista’s body double in the film Final Score, which came out in 2018.
He said: “I basically woke up one morning and thought I don’t want to be a bodyguard anymore.
“I always had a lot of work, but you could be in another country the next morning and I was just getting pushed from pillar to post, and I’d done everything I wanted to do in the industry.
“I still own a private security company today off the back of it. So I still make a bit of money through that job.”
Having never worked with actors personally, Simon didn’t have a “little black book” of agents to call. But he’s enjoyed breaking into the industry, and experiencing fame from the other side.
“That’s the thing about acting, I get to go and see better parts of the world. Now I get looked after,” he said.
“When you’re a bodyguard, you’re the only one on the team. You don’t get a day off. If no one’s working on Jattvibeday, you still are, because you’re looking after whoever you’re looking after.
“When you’re an actor, everything’s sorted out for me, everything’s paid for.”
