Ron on the job
What would it be like to work as a celebrity bodyguard? Scary? Exciting? Filled with hate mail and weirdos and death threats? Ron Eastman has been guarding celebrities for more than a decade and today he’s sharing his fascinating story.
Tell us a bit about yourself!
My name is Ronald D. Eastman II (but you can call me Ron); I am 47 years old and was born in Los Angeles, Calif. and raised in Pasadena, Calif. I am the owner and CEO of Eastman Protective Agency and the author of Return To Your Senses: Save Yourself Before Technology Kills You.
Though my job requires that I travel approximately nine months out of the year, I live in Atlanta with my wife, Sonhara and my two dogs.I enjoy reading books of all sorts, and when time permits, nothing is more enjoyable then sitting around a campfire with friends.
How did you get into working as a bodyguard?
After serving in the United States Army for 12 years, I joined an executive protection firm in Los Angeles. After that, I became president of Tyler Perry Inc., where I managed the non-production affairs of the entertainment mogul.
What sort of training or education did you go through?
Much of my training was in the Army. I cross-trained with soldiers all over the world and received specialized training in hostage rescue, reconnaissance, treatment of trauma patients, logistics, and military combative techniques. I trained foreign military units from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, and the Middle East.
Did you specifically intend to work with celebrities or did that aspect of your work just sort of…happen?
I’d planned to use the skills I’d developed in the military to become a police officer. I also wanted to work at a military school to help troubled and defiant boys. Not able to land a job at either, I was hired as a bodyguard for a preeminent executive protection firm. For the next nine years, I traveled on assignments protecting celebrities and learned how often criminals and unstable people attempt to attack public figures and their families.
How is guarding a celebrity different than other security jobs?
Protecting celebrities requires intensive logistical planning because they are universally recognizable.
Most security jobs require you to look after merchandise, buildings, control access, etc. Protecting an individual on a daily basis, anywhere in the world, requires stamina, discipline, focus and the ability to remain free from distractions – an assault can occur at any moment.
Some celebrity clients may have a false sense of security because of their fame and the amount of love received from fans. Guarding celebrities require you to understand inappropriate human behavior and how to manage a client’s fear, something you will never have to do in other security jobs.
When you start working with a new client, what are the things you consider when thinking about how to keep them safe?
First, I consider what type of character they play on screen. If they often play the villain, I formulate my plan knowing the client has the potential to draw a hostile following.
Then, I consider their wealth. The greater the fortune, the higher the risk for kidnapping, extortion, etc.
Then study their fan base. Young or old? Rich or poor? Female or male? Logistically, I study each location that the client will spend time in. Where are security exits? Will there be a crowd in proximity?
Whether we’re in a restaurant, hospital or hotel, I consider the timeframe needed and speak to management in advance about our “special needs” for privacy and professional protocol.
Movie sets require huge amounts of preparation because the client changes location so many times – car, makeup trailer, catering, live set, restaurant, hotel, nightclub, clothing stores, meetings, or a movie theatre.
For places with large, elevated crowds, I have someone above observing it all and reporting anything out of the ordinary to the team on the ground.
Which celebrities have you worked with, and how did you get those jobs?
I have protected numerous A-list actors and other entertainers, CEOs, and government officials. The majority of my business is earned through clientele referrals and word of mouth. I have a strict policy not to divulge my clientele and I always ensure a confidentiality agreement is in place prior to beginning any assignment for their protection.
I’m sure you have tons of crazy stories! Could you share one of your favorites?
For an awards ceremony honoring a client, I brought four agents with me, sensing there could be trouble. Sure enough, a few audience members with opposing views attempted to jump the stage in unison and come straight for my client.
Though my client was arguably three times my size, I picked him up and made my way past the offenders. During the extraction, I felt the sharp point of a pencil stabbing me in my side and hot coffee hitting my skin. The scene was mayhem, but my client had been extracted safely.
As a result of that evening, my client was naturally on edge. He’d received death threats and scores of hate mail. Hackers had even scrambled his website. Pursuers can be relentless, and this client seemed to be a magnet for the cream of the crop.
One day, I received a call in California from this panic-stricken client in a McDonald’s drive-thru in Texas. He was convinced that he was being followed. I could hear the fear in his voice though I had to remain calm. All high-profile artists that create art with a political slant have fans and they have enemies.
I told him drive to the police station and if the driver in question continued to follow, to walk into the station and alert them. I talked him through the process and even used humor to relax him a little. The situation was much ado about nothing, but I always take my client’s fears seriously..
What are some things any of us can do to be safer in our daily lives?
We must return to our senses! This means unplugging the headphones and listening to our environment. Look at your surroundings instead of burying your face into your handheld device or computers.
Take a moment to observe human behavior in person instead of on television and movies. We need to stop flaunting our riches—particularly in foreign countries where we’re not as familiar with the culture, language or laws.
Finally, we trust and follow our intuition more when it comes to decisions related to not only safety, but also our health, career and relationships.
Thanks so much for sharing your story and insights, Ron! Do you guys have any questions for him?
P.S. Two more adrenaline-filled interviews: True Story: I was robbed at gunpoint + True Story: I witnessed a shooting
What an interesting story! Thank you for sharing!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
This is a really interesting interview. Do celebrities ever express their disdain to have this built into their lives and rarely being able to be “alone” or spontaneous, or are they just grateful to know there is someone who has their back even if that comes at the cost of their privacy?
Hello Laura. Yes, most of my clientele would prefer they didn’t need personal security looking after them daily. For this reason, we do our best to allow them personal space as often as possible. We do this by being as close to any personal threat in the area. When no threat, we give them the required personal space we all need and desire. As for being grateful, yes, when personal security is done correctly they are always grateful. kind of like a seatbelt, nobody really wants to wear it, but the day they are involved in a accident, they are certainly happy they had it on.
I have a question for Ron: How can we know the difference between our irrational fear and a gut reaction we should trust? How do we make sure we’re aware and cautious without being paranoid and assuming the worst in people?
Thanks!
Hello K,
I actually just wrote a post on my website tilted “Intuition Power” where I discussed this exact topic. my book also discuses this in detail. the short answer is that Irrational fear is never instinctual. Our true instincts do not create the story that out intellectual brain loves to create. Irrational fear always comes with a story attached or is force fed to us without facts. For example, consider the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The media force-fed us nonstop opinions on who to vote for and who not to vote for. Whether you watched Fox or CNN, the network was telling the same story, just in a different tone based on what they want you to believe and how they want you to interpret the story. Clearly, this is for the purpose of higher ratings and to make us feel that we can only make an educated decision based on the information they provide us. This can become detrimental because we might actually stop trusting our senses on who the candidates actually are. Prior to the election, I recall watching CNN, which featured six panelists with their own opinions. The panel was geared toward influencing me on who I should’ve voted for during the Presidential Election based on what they thought I feared most. What they each had in common is they provided information that is not necessarily factual. Our reptilian brain bases its instructions to us on facts, so watching this did not allow me to make an intuitive decision, which is really dangerous.
Finding the facts and discovering the information is an active process of understanding and the only way to make a decision that is not based on force-fed fear. Intellectually, we should have interviewed each candidate by taking the time to go to a rally held by both candidates and observing everything to make the best decision. During the Presidential debates, we should have watched the entire hour and a half of each debate so we could make decisions based on what we saw and heard instead of spending ten minutes the next day skimming the commentary that’s been sliced and diced overnight. I encourage everyone to stop disregarding the information that we need time to process yourself. If we don’t, I assure everyone that you’ll be left making crucial decisions from what others believe or what networks deliver as a nicely packaged spin.
To learn more, I encourage you to read my book. It explains in detail how our senses work and where they come from.
Ron
I love your “true stories”, lady. I think we have a lot in common and I just happened to find you through a mutual friends Instagram post. I am so glad I did!!! I am writing this down as my big gift of the day. It’s hard to come out and tell those truths but I think it’s only through sharing them (or at least a great part ) we are able to break truly free on the other side. ***feel free to bust out some “Doors”***
So glad you’re joining us, Melissa!
This was very interesting! I work in security from a different (non-client) standpoint and it must be fascinating to consider all the different nuances of the job. He seems like he’s very good at what he does.
Thank you Anonymous! As with everyone, I am ever evolving and seek self improvement daily and learn something new on every assignment.
Stay safe out there.
Ron
Great post! This reminded me of Justin Bieber hitting the fan who reached into his limo window and grabbed his face and chest. Bieber took a lot of flack for that, but the guy grabbed his face! I think it was a justified, and probably reflexive, reaction.
Have you ever had a client take matters into his or her own hands that way? How did you manage the situation?
Hello J.H. Moncrieff,
As a protector, my goal is to ensure a situation like this will never happen. In the executive protection industry, our job is to ensure our clients are never placed in a situation where they would need to take matters in their own hand. If by chance something like this was to occur, we would immediately intervene and manage the situation and our client’s day would continue as scheduled. So to answer your question, no, a situation where one of my clients had to personally respond when we are providing protective coverage has never happened.
Ron
How can I get a job like this