Hansen, Suzanne

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Hansen, Suzanne

PERSONAL: Married; children: two. Education: Attended Northwest Nannies Institute, Portland, OR; Linfield College, B.S.

ADDRESSES: Home—Portland, OR. Agent—c/o Sarah Chance, Crown Publishing/Random House, Inc., 1745 Broadway, 13th Fl., New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Worked as a nanny, labor and delivery nurse, lactation specialist, and childbirth educator.

WRITINGS:

You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again! The Adventures and Misadventures of a Hollywood Nanny (memoir), Ruby Sky Publishing (Beaver-ton, OR), 2003, reprinted as You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2005

SIDELIGHTS: Suzanne Hansen attended Northwest Nannies Institute in her home state of Oregon before moving to Los Angeles to work as a live-in nanny. She later went on to earn a nursing degree and work in that profession, marry, and have children of her own. In You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again! The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, she recalls that earlier experience, including the years she worked for celebrities that included Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger, and Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito. She depicts the life of the nanny to the stars as one of low pay, overwork, and dealing not only with the children but also with the parents themselves. Hansen provides details of the perks, as well, including parties and trips and the opportunities to meet celebrities and visit production sets. "Hardly backstabbing, this entertaining book possesses a sincerity other nannying tomes lack," concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer. A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote that Hansen offers "sympathetic and nuanced analyses of the wealthy, and insights into parenthood and childrearing."

On her Web site, Hansen provides her views about "children who are raised materially instead of maternally," saying that "all children want (and need) their parents' time and attention. Even though these children have flown around the world, been on exotic vacations, and are waited on by a staff, what they really desire is individual attention from their parents. I have never seen an expensive toy or extravagant birthday party ever replace a child's daily longing for parental involvement."