A former bodyguard who was once charged with keeping the rich and famous out of harm’s way has revealed how his role often went far beyond the job description – including having to negotiate highly delicate romantic relationships, being pursued at high-speed by crowbar-carrying thugs…and walking the family dog.   

London-raised Michael Chandler, who now lives in Dubai, took care of some of the world’s biggest stars including Sir Paul McCartney, Uma Thurman and Bradley Cooper – in the late 2000s while working as a close protection officer.

The 40-year-old, who now trains people all over the world in elite security, says he was plunged into an often murky world when he first began working as a bodyguard to the stars while in his early twenties.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said his day job often included requests from wealthy businessmen who asked him to help conceal their affairs from their wives and dealing with serious kidnap threats, often targeting the children of the people he was protecting.

One terrifying encounter saw Chandler pursued by hammer-wielding thugs in a car chase, while fending off crazed fans and photographers became commonplace. 

The richer the billionaire? The more penny-pinching they were, he suggests, saying negotiating diva demands from high-profile stars became the norm in the world he worked in.

A fellow bodyguard once recounted to him how a world-famous pop diva had insisted upon some feline company ahead of a UK TV appearance.

‘She was going on a British talk show and demanded a green room with all white fabric hanging from the ceiling and the walls filled with white cats. There were white fluffy cats just mingling around,’ he laughs.

British security expert Michael Chandler has written a book, The Art of Protection, about his extraordinary career as a celebrity bodyguard – including averting kidnap attempts, being asked to be discreet over extra-marital affairs…and walking the family dog  

The ex close protection officer has had to help wealthy businessmen hide their affairs, fend off crazed fans and, protect celebrity children from kidnappers (Chandler pictured with Uma Thurman in London in 2012)

Chandler (back right) has been a bodyguard to some of the world’s most famous stars, including Sir Paul McCartney (pictured in London in 2010) and Bradley Cooper

Beyond the eccentric whims of celebrities, Chandler also gained fascinating insight into what the lives of the super rich are really like, as he was tasked with protecting family members and their lavish homes.

A brush with the criminal underworld came during a job protecting a trio of business executives – and he thought he was going to be murdered during a high-speed car chase. 

‘We were working for a huge waste management company where there were hostile takeovers that were a massive concern to the client at the time. I’m watching The Sopranos at the moment, and it felt just like something out of that,’ Michael explains.

‘The client, the director and owner of the company had received a threat at their houses, that someone was going to do harm to their family and their children.’

Michael and his team were enlisted to ‘mount observations’ on directors of all competing companies for six months, during which time he says there were ‘some really dodgy moments’. 

He explains: ‘These people typically live in big houses, and we’re in the middle of nowhere doing green observation points, which is proper military style, wearing camouflage, long lenses.’ 

‘One time, it’s hard to explain, but we were switching positions, and we had to be in vehicles, we couldn’t do green operations at this location – it was too dangerous.’

He was stopped alone in a vehicle down a one-way street off a major A-road when a van blocked him in. 

‘My car got blocked in by this van, and they got out with hammers and long metal bars. The adrenaline kicked in. We’d already received intelligence that someone had experienced something like this a couple of days before,’ he recounts. 

One of the scariest instances Chandler says he experienced was when he was working for a huge waste management company, and he thought he was going to be murdered

‘I very quickly had to drive away. Luckily, I got out, but they drove behind me, they were flashing and at one point, they hit the back of my car. 

‘I managed to get away from them but I was driving on pavements, people jumping out of the way, it was like something from a film.’

‘That was probably the most adrenaline-filled moment in my career, where I thought I was going to be murdered.’

He later found out from the police that the assailants worked for a competitor who thought Michael’s team had something to do with a burglary they experienced.

Life-threatening events were thankfully very few and far between for Michael while on the job, but the work comes with a unique set of challenges. 

When working with couples and families, he’s had to navigate awkward situations like affairs and sibling disputes. 

‘A man, a wealthy individual, had an affair, and then the woman he had the affair with had turned threatening. She said she would let his wife know, and the children know, and we had to have protective surveillance outside the property to identify her when she turned up.’

Michael also had many awkward run-ins with hysterical fanatics and paparazzi. He had to help stop a fan running toward Zac Efron at a film premiere after she jumped the barriers (Chandler pictured protecting Bradley Cooper at a London premiere) 

Life-endangering events were thankfully very few and far between for Michael while on the job, but the work comes with a unique set of challenges, he says (pictured with Gossip Girl actor Chase Crawford)

He says he had to turn a blind eye to poor behaviour frequently. ‘We can’t do anything illegal, but having an affair is not illegal. 

‘This man was having an affair. His wife was beautiful – why would you do that? But at the end of the day, it is what it is. You have to keep your own personal views to yourself.’

While protecting celebrities, Michael also had many awkward run-ins with hysterical fanatics and paparazzi.

‘I was on a red carpet event, looking out for Zac Efron. A woman, a fully grown woman, in her probably late thirties, early forties, jumped over the barriers,’ he reveals. 

‘Bear in mind, it’s a proper red carpet, but she jumped over the barriers and ran at him.’

Michael says he was a distance away from the actor but shouted to alert his fellow bodyguard to the woman’s advances. A colleague jumped in to protect the star, with the woman unapologetic in her pursuit of getting close to the A-lister.

‘I’ve seen people look in the face of a celebrity and just scream. I’ve seen young girls chase cars while working with boy bands. Where are they going? What are you hoping for here?’ 

One time, while at Heathrow airport with a famous British singer, Michael ‘fell out of what might be considered professionalism’ when a paparazzi photographer tried to take invasive pictures of her. 

‘She’d come out of the airport, we knew she was going to be papped, we’d seen them. You get to know them after a while. I didn’t know this guy, but I’ll never forget him. 

‘He was taking inappropriate photos of an inappropriate part of her body, but really quite closely…trying to take photographs of her private parts. 

‘Then we had a bit of an argument, and then it started to get to a bit where I sort of…fell out of what might be considered professionalism. We had a bit of a row, and it got a bit testy.’

As his career progressed, Michael ran security operations and managed teams for families, stars and rich clients and was stunned to discover many would favour a bodyguard’s looks over their credentials.

‘Once [a client is] happy with the contract, we send them profiles of the individuals. It includes a photograph of them so they can see the person, and every single time it turns into a modelling competition,’ he says. 

‘Even with the male clients. They want the good-looking blokes. I find that quite strange when people specifically demand the better-looking chaps rather than their qualifications.’

Michael would also sometimes struggle to be heard by clients, and his expertise would be dismissed. 

‘Families in particular wouldn’t take seriously the advice from security professionals. Unfortunately, that’s just something we have to tolerate,’ he adds. 

He recalls a time when he tried to dissuade someone he was protecting from partying at a busy nightclub in London.

‘I suggested that it’s too pushy and shove in that nightclub. Get a table, or we need at least one [more] of our close protection guards. 

‘They said, ‘No, no, you’ll be alright, it’ll be fine, and then lo and behold, there’s a fight, and then we have to get them out. They’ve never seen a fight before and didn’t know what to do.

‘I think there’s a degree of unprofessionalism with the told-you-so approach. If you say it subtly, they’ll respect it.’

Michael ran security operations and managed teams for families, stars and rich clients and was stunned to discover many would favour a bodyguard’s looks over their credentials: ‘It was like a modelling competition’

Chandler, who now advises on security training around the world, says when working with couples and families, he’s often found himself in tricky territory, having to navigate delicate family scenarios

Michael adds that many people would be surprised at how frugal mega-wealthy clients – or ‘principals’ as he calls them – can be. 

‘The richest people in the world will try to cut costs,’ he explains. ‘These people are beyond wealthy, and I’m being challenged because their accountant has come back and said we’ve charged too much, and we haven’t, it’s just that they will try and penny pinch.’

He recalls a strange incident with a client who went to great lengths to save a few pence while out shopping. 

‘I was driving a car that literally used to cost about £170 to fill up with petrol. I’m driving to the house, and the woman in the back, who I’m providing security and a driving service too at the same time, said, “Oh no, let’s go back, I forgot something, I forgot my bag”,’ he says. 

‘I thought I saw her bag in the back, but it was none of my business. We went back. She was talking about the Sainsbury’s or the Waitrose bags that she wanted to reuse, because she didn’t want to spend the 20 pence again. It cost about £15 in fuel to come back!’

Michael says he can relate to her frugal mindset, having grown up in council houses with not much money. 

‘I come from a poor background, and if you come from a poor background, that mentality sticks – it never leaves you,’ he says.

Michael has published a book where he shares interesting insights into the logistics of security and counter-intelligence for the wealthy (left: with Tom Daley at London club Funky Buddha. Right: escorting singer Carly Rae Jepsen, both in 2012)

He knows too that bodyguards are often given tasks outside of their remit. 

‘If there was one occasion where the whole family came down ill, you would find yourself walking a dog or picking up shopping, or whatever, it just happens,’ he laughs.

‘Cleaning cars…I drew the line at cleaning cars, because I was asked to do that a few times. 

‘A lot of security don’t like it because often they’re men with massive egos, so they’re like “I’m not doing this, I ain’t doing that” but at the end of the day, that’s sometimes what it involves.’

Since retiring as a bodyguard, Michael has been working as a security consultant and is the chief operating officer of The Vanquish Group, which provides bodyguard services and training courses. 

Michael Chandler’s latest book and accompanying podcast, The Art of Protection, is out now on Amazon and Spotify. Find out more at bodyguard-Services.com.