Latest news with #Styron
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Orgies, threats at breakfast and Champagne at any cost: Private jet attendant reveals what the super wealthy are really like at 45,000 feet
In 2015, Danielle Styron, then 32, was offered her dream job as a private jet flight attendant. It promised a six-figure salary, trips to luxury resorts and full benefits. It seemed too good to be true — and it was. Over the course of two phone interviews, the pilot continually hinted at the 'alternative lifestyle' of the plane's owner, a religious man who split his time flying with his family half the month and with his girlfriends the other half. As the conversation went on, it became clear the role involved participating in orgies with the girlfriends onboard while the owner watched. 'We only fly them once a month, so it's not like you have to be a lesbian, you would just need to have fun with them,' the pilot assured her. 6 Danielle Styron has written a dishy memoir about her time as a private jet flight attendant. Olga Ginzburg for NY Post Styron writes about the seedy job interview — and the seven years she spent flying with the rich and famous — in her dishy new memoir 'The Mile High Club: Confessions of a Private Jet Flight Attendant' (Post Hill Press; out now), co-written with her brother, James Styron. 'Names have been changed to protect (us from) the malevolent,' the intro reads. 'Behaviors have been presented to humble them. You know who you are.' Styron, now 41, didn't end up taking the job with the orgy-loving jet owner, but she went on to work for for a number of difficult people. Some of her clients, she writes, were 'miserable, vampires of human joy.' One passenger berated her for not having the proper tequila stocked, even though it wasn't requested. Anorexic, food-obsessed wives micro-managed everything that came out of the galley kitchen. An assistant threatened to punch her in the face over a not-hot-enough breakfast sandwich. Then there was the time a woman shoved Styron into a bulkhead mid-turbulence because her beloved puppies got jostled. 'She treated the dogs better than any human on board,' Styron writes. 6 Styron worked on private planes for seven years. Courtesy of Danielle Styron One of her lowest points was being asked to source Champagne on the tropical island of St. Maarten, just after it had been devastated by a hurricane. The client demanded bubbles despite the natural disaster. 'I'm standing there thinking, 'There's no Champagne. There was just a major hurricane. People are standing outside waiting for bread, and you're asking me to spend $20,000 on bubbly,'' Styron told The Post. There was only one supermarket open, which Styron begrudgingly patronized in search of the requested Champs. 'It felt dystopian,' she said. 6 'Names have been changed to protect (us from) the malevolent,' she writes in the intro. 'Behaviors have been presented to humble them. You know who you are.' Courtesy of Jen Senn Then there was the two-timing bigwig who would fly with his pregnant wife one day and his mistress a few days later. 'As a woman, it was hurtful to be a part of that,' she said. 'Even though I had no choice. What was I going to do, blow my life up to be like, 'Yo, your man's cheating on you?' She probably already knew.' Sometimes, as the title of the book suggests, passengers got intimated in flight. She and her crew knew the drill: retreat to the front, let the guests go at it, and deal with the cleanup later. 'It's usually in the bathroom, galley, or right there on the sofa,' she writes. 'It's their house, right? Private jets are like flying living rooms.' 6 Styron's brother, James Styron, encouraged her to write about her experiences on the job. He's a co-writer on the book. Olga Ginzburg for NY Post Despite the uncomfortable situations and challenging passengers, the jobs also entailed plenty of good times and perks. She partied in Las Vegas with pilots and jetted off to Costa Rica, Aspen and St. Barts. One time in LA, the plane broke down on the tarmac, a typical mechanical delay. Danielle was tasked with keeping the charter guests fed and entertained while the pilots tried to fix the plane. The lead passenger was none other than actor and comedian Jamie Foxx. Unlike most high-profile clients, he took the delay in stride. He was 'the most delightful celebrity,' she said. 'He was cracking jokes and telling stories. He was pure light. [After three hours on the ground,] we were out of food, the mimosas were gone, people were losing patience, but not Jamie. He was still smiling. Still gracious. It restored my faith in humanity.' 6 Wealthy passengers treated their private jets like private homes, Styron says, meaning they sometimes got intimate in the living room. Courtesy of Danielle Styron Misery, however, seemed to be more the norm. 'You think these people have it all,' she said. 'But I saw the opposite. They're really insecure. Their friends are all about one-upmanship. One man owned several planes, had a beautiful wife, everything in the world, and he was obsessing about his hair plugs. Like who cares?' Styron ultimately retired from aviation and went back to doing what she'd done before, working as an aesthetician. 6 Now retired from aviation, Styron works as an aesthetician. Olga Ginzburg for NY Post She now owns Fluff NYC, a brow and skincare studio on the Upper East Side, where she tends to people's faces — not their egos. 'It's less glamorous,' she said with a laugh, 'but way more peaceful.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' a valuable contribution to current debates about DEI
The new book 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is an intellectual reflection that serves as a valuable contribution to the current debates about race, equity and identity. Author Mélikah Abdelmoumen is the daughter of a Tunisian immigrant father and Québécois mother who uses the lens of her background to examine the complex relationship between American writers James Baldwin and William Styron. 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is the first book to appear in English by Abdelmoumen, a scholar and editor of a literary journal in Quebec. It was translated by Catherine Khordoc, a professor in the Department of French and Indigenous and Canadian Studies at the Carleton University in Ottawa. Abdelmoumen seems to identify with Baldwin, always feeling like an outsider in her native Quebec, where people who looked like her didn't always feel welcome. She writes that amid the nationalism that surrounded her growing up, she often felt like a stranger, an extraterrestrial. Baldwin, the African American essayist, lived in France for years to escape rampant racism in the United States. After his initial return to the U.S., he read the early drafts of Styron's controversial novel 'The Confessions of Nat Turner,' a fictional first-person account of an 1831 slave rebellion near Styron's own Southern birthplace. Some Black intellectuals criticized the book's portrayal of Turner and slavery in general, accusing Styron of racism and historical inaccuracies. More than six decades after Styron's Pulitzer-winning book was published, Abdelmoumen revisits the questions that he and Baldwin discussed over the course of their unlikely friendship. Long evenings were spent talking about race and identity over several months in 1961, when Baldwin stayed at Styron's guest house. Abdelmoumen says that such dialogues are critical to understanding, and that stories such as theirs should not be seen only as history, but as tools to understand the present. She criticizes radical views, instead encouraging dialogue and empathy among people with differing backgrounds and views. ___ AP book reviews: Anita Snow, The Associated Press
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' a valuable contribution to current debates about DEI
The new book 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is an intellectual reflection that serves as a valuable contribution to the current debates about race, equity and identity. Author Mélikah Abdelmoumen is the daughter of a Tunisian immigrant father and Québécois mother who uses the lens of her background to examine the complex relationship between American writers James Baldwin and William Styron. 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is the first book to appear in English by Abdelmoumen, a scholar and editor of a literary journal in Quebec. It was translated by Catherine Khordoc, a professor in the Department of French and Indigenous and Canadian Studies at the Carleton University in Ottawa. Abdelmoumen seems to identify with Baldwin, always feeling like an outsider in her native Quebec, where people who looked like her didn't always feel welcome. She writes that amid the nationalism that surrounded her growing up, she often felt like a stranger, an extraterrestrial. Baldwin, the African American essayist, lived in France for years to escape rampant racism in the United States. After his initial return to the U.S., he read the early drafts of Styron's controversial novel 'The Confessions of Nat Turner,' a fictional first-person account of an 1831 slave rebellion near Styron's own Southern birthplace. Some Black intellectuals criticized the book's portrayal of Turner and slavery in general, accusing Styron of racism and historical inaccuracies. More than six decades after Styron's Pulitzer-winning book was published, Abdelmoumen revisits the questions that he and Baldwin discussed over the course of their unlikely friendship. Long evenings were spent talking about race and identity over several months in 1961, when Baldwin stayed at Styron's guest house. Abdelmoumen says that such dialogues are critical to understanding, and that stories such as theirs should not be seen only as history, but as tools to understand the present. She criticizes radical views, instead encouraging dialogue and empathy among people with differing backgrounds and views. ___ AP book reviews:
Associated Press
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: ‘Baldwin, Styron and Me' a valuable contribution to current debates about DEI
The new book 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is an intellectual reflection that serves as a valuable contribution to the current debates about race, equity and identity. Author Mélikah Abdelmoumen is the daughter of a Tunisian immigrant father and Québécois mother who uses the lens of her background to examine the complex relationship between American writers James Baldwin and William Styron. 'Baldwin, Styron and Me' is the first book to appear in English by Abdelmoumen, a scholar and editor of a literary journal in Quebec. It was translated by Catherine Khordoc, a professor in the Department of French and Indigenous and Canadian Studies at the Carleton University in Ottawa. Abdelmoumen seems to identify with Baldwin, always feeling like an outsider in her native Quebec, where people who looked like her didn't always feel welcome. She writes that amid the nationalism that surrounded her growing up, she often felt like a stranger, an extraterrestrial. Baldwin, the African American essayist, lived in France for years to escape rampant racism in the United States. After his initial return to the U.S., he read the early drafts of Styron's controversial novel 'The Confessions of Nat Turner,' a fictional first-person account of an 1831 slave rebellion near Styron's own Southern birthplace. Some Black intellectuals criticized the book's portrayal of Turner and slavery in general, accusing Styron of racism and historical inaccuracies. More than six decades after Styron's Pulitzer-winning book was published, Abdelmoumen revisits the questions that he and Baldwin discussed over the course of their unlikely friendship. Long evenings were spent talking about race and identity over several months in 1961, when Baldwin stayed at Styron's guest house. Abdelmoumen says that such dialogues are critical to understanding, and that stories such as theirs should not be seen only as history, but as tools to understand the present. She criticizes radical views, instead encouraging dialogue and empathy among people with differing backgrounds and views. ___
