Veteran PR and Gossip Columnist Rob Shuter Releases Self-help Book
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He may have made a successful second career as a gossip columnist, but Rob Shuter didn’t want to spill the salacious secrets of his time working as a publicist for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Diddy, Alicia Keys and Jon Bon Jovi, turning down offers to pen a tell-all book on his former clients four times. Then came a pitch from Simon & Schuster imprint Post Hill Press to write a self-help book based on his experiences working with celebrities.
“I just didn’t want to tell all of their gossip. I was paid for years to be their publicist and it felt a little bit of a betrayal, so I didn’t do it. But this publisher didn’t care about the gossip,” Shuter told WWD ahead of the launch of his book “The 4 Word Answer” on Tuesday. “The book is about making you star in your own life.”
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Based on social media posts, emails and conversations, Shuter described the book as a self-help guide for readers to learn to become “totally comfortable in their own skin and find the success and happiness they desire.”
Among some of the life-coping skills he learned from celebrities is being kind to yourself. “They had this way of talking to themselves and treating themselves that we just never learned,” he continued. “Jennifer Lopez doesn’t beat herself up, she doesn’t call herself names, she doesn’t have that nasty little voice in her ear telling her she couldn’t, she shouldn’t. She’s managed to turn down the volume on all those doubts.”
While this isn’t a tell-all book, some memories from his time as a publicist are included and although Shuter insists that they’re all loving stories, he’s received a few nervous emails nevertheless.
“I’ve had a few emails already that they’re wildly cautious, but also I’m not really a mean guy and it’s not in my DNA so I think they’ll be really flattered by this book because it shows what they have and what skills they have that make them extraordinary,” added Shuter, who hosts the “Naughty but Nice” podcast on iHeartRadio. “Might they be upset that I’m pulling the curtain back on celebrity a little bit? Maybe. But I think this is a love letter explanation of why they are superstars.”
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