How could someone steal fine jewelry from a celebrity photo shoot like LiLo's? Aren't there guards for that? Could Lindsay get away with that just because she's famous?
—Hale, Brookhaven, Pa.
For the record, the Scotland Yard cops investigating the reported theft of roughly $410,000 worth of jewels from a Lindsay Lohan photo shoot say the actress isn't a suspect. She'll likely be questioned, though, along with everyone else who was on set earlier this month.
It's odd for pricey items to go missing from a shoot. "There are usually guards for high-end pieces or, at the least, the designer or store's publicist is there to make sure the jewelry gets back to their client," stylist Maria Lekkakos tells me.
But people do tend to walk away with anything else that isn't nailed down. In fact, those items often leave in the clacking pincers of the celebrities themselves. Read on to see why this isn't the first time LiLo has faced this kind of scrutiny—as well as another hot young celebrity who does not have a sticky-finger problem...
In 2007, Lohan reportedly walked away from a photo shoot for Elle magazine with bunches of Louis Vuitton items that did not belong to her.
"Louis Vuitton had sent over some samples for her to wear in the shoot," a source told the New York Post's Page Six. "Lindsay kept shoving the clothes into her bag and a stylist's assistant kept getting them out of the bag, only to have Lindsay keep trying to take them. She ended up walking off with a very expensive shirt and some other items...They were furious and kept trying to get their clothes back, but...Lindsay walked out with them and never returned calls." Elle later confirmed the story to Extra.
Of course Lindsay isn't the only one to reportedly sport a pair of grabby hands.
"When I was assisting photo shoots, I would often see stylists pocket a dress, jewels," wardrobe stylist Michael Holdaway tells me. "One stylist in particular who worked with a lot of celebrities would just not return dresses...and I have worked with ego-driven celebrities who feel very entitled to take whatever they want from a shoot."
According to some reports, Jennifer Lopez left a 2003 Louis Vuitton photo shoot with thousands of dollars worth of stuff that wasn't hers. Per Page Six, she not only took tens of thousands of dollars worth of merch but also sent an assistant back later when she forgot to grab a pair of socks. At the time, J.Lo's rep issued this semidenial: "She only took a few items so as not to be greedy," adding, "There was a ton of stuff left over. There was no hoarding."
And even if celebs aren't stealing, they aren't exactly known to be careful with the stuff they wear.
"Sometimes, after a shoot, celebrities are so anxious to go home they toss a haute couture dress on the floor, over a table that is clearly crowded with sprays, glue, an open bottle, water and food," stylist Okera Banks tells me. "All you receive is an, 'I am so sorry.' Now you either have to find a fantastic cleaners that can save this $4,000 garment or a relationship with the loaner is ruined."
All that said, such behavior generally is not the norm, I am told.
"We just sent over a bunch of things for a Leighton Meester shoot, and everything came back," Spin Shoppe PR's Eileen Colavita tells me. "After they came back, we sent her a new set of clothes for her to keep."
Really? I didn't know they made jeans in a size -3.