Hollywood Reporter Did Drugs With Lindsay Lohan and Naomi Campbell
A former gossip columnist has spoken out about his harrowing experiences working as a Hollywood reporter. He said that his job included befriending A-list celebrities, which created a dangerous drug habit to get juicy stories.
Chris Gardner, who used to work for People magazine, claims that he once did cocaine with a string of celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Naomi Campbell, according to ABC's "20/20."
"My job was not only to socialize with the people that I was covering, but to get exclusive news before anyone else. And it's a really competitive game. My first week on the job, my editor said, 'I want you to become friends with Paris and Nikki, and Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears,'" Gardner said on "20/20."
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Gardner claims that he was going out 6 nights a week "doing a ton of drugs" as well as supplying to his elite circles, which automatically granted him access and helped form a level of trust among the celebrities.
Whenever his boss wanted breaking news, he was able to simply text someone like Lohan, 25, for juicy information that he would then use for a story.
"Chris would be the guy who would leave the nightclub. He'd go downstairs and wait a half an hour while the dealer pulls up. He deals with them, he gets the coke. And then he goes back in, 'cause the celebrities, God forbid, you know, they go out and get their own stuff," Christine Pelisek, an L.A. crime reporter for The Daily Beast said.
Gardner, who is originally from Iowa, first came to Los Angeles as a child, where he quickly became attracted to the lifestyle.
"I first came to Los Angeles on a family vacation. And I knew then that this is where I wanted to be. I think I knew, even then, that what LA represented is that you could really make something out of yourself," Gardner said.
He managed to secure an entry-level job with The Hollywood Reporter, and began hanging
out around Hollywood's legendary Sunset Boulevard.
"It was so big and it was so flashy, and it was so sexy," Gardner said about Hollywood adding that "even when just driving down it, you're bombarded with just how sexy it is. From the billboards to the people walking down the street ... I mean, it's just everywhere."
Eventually Gradner, who once mingled with Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor, saw his addiction take over his life and decided to return home to Iowa to get his life back in order.
"This town chewed me up and spit me out!" Gardner said.
