Lizzie Grubman
The founder of Grubman PR, it was Lizzie's turn at the wheel of an SUV that made her a household name.
Lizzie's father is entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman, which explains why she spent her childhood hobnobbing with various music superstars. Not exactly the most responsible teenager—she was tossed from three private schools—she dropped out of Northeastern after two years and returned to the city to intern for publicist Nadine Johnson. A couple of other short-lived PR gigs followed before she decided to go out on her own, launching a PR company from her living room. With access to her dad's client list Grubman quickly established herself as a flack to be reckoned with; she also became notorious for her ubiquity on the social scene, culminating in 1998 when she graced the cover of New York under the headline "Power Girls." By 2001, she was repping hotspots like Moomba, celebs like Sean Combs, and media companies like Sony Music. And she'd aligned herself with the doyenne of the entertainment PR industry, her idol Peggy Siegal.
In July 2001, in one of the most talked-about incidents of the summer, Grubman plowed her dad's Mercedes SUV into a crowd, injuring 16 people waiting outside a Hamptons club, Conscience Point. (She allegedly said "fuck you, white trash!" to the bouncer who'd asked her to move her car moments before the crash.) Grubman pled guilty to criminally negligent assault and was sentenced to 60 days in the clink. She was released after 38 days for good behavior. A civil suit against father and daughter by the club's bouncer resulted in an out-of-court settlement. While the crash impacted Lizzie's business—her partnership with Siegal crumbled—it was back to business after her release. Today she continues to run her firm, Lizzie Grubman Public Relations. She also moved into TV in 2005 when she produced and starred in a short-lived MTV reality show, PowerGirls, which showcased the "red-carpet-and-velvet-rope lifestyle of the young and glamorous New York publicist." Shockingly, the show only lasted one season.
The bottle blonde publicist's personal life hasn't lacked drama over the years, either. In 1995, at the age of 24, she married Eric Gatoff, an associate at her dad's law firm. The marriage soon fizzled, and Grubman later dated club owner Andrew Sasson. In 2002, the tabloids had a field day when it was revealed she was dating a (married) convicted felon named Jeff Tognetti. And in 2005, gossips once again pounced when she started seeing Sean John exec Chris Stern, who happened to be married to one of Lizzie's employees, Joyce Sevilla, at the time. Stern and Grubman tied the knot in 2006, but they've been separated since 2010. [Image via Getty]