LIVE Magazine #244 Sept 30-Oct 14

SCENE’ BY
LIVE Magazine
exclusive
by Juli Ragsdale
He’s like our own mini British Invasion,
Palm Springs local, Sean Borg, known
for bringing news on the Who’s Who,
now reveals the fascinating details of
HIS personal journey.
Photos by: David Wallace-Crotty
You might know Sean Borg already. Sean is 48 years old and handsome.
He is sharp and stylish —in a kind of fashion magazine way; not
ridiculously overdressed, or full of bling like he’s trying impress you with
his wealth. No, that is not Sean. His sense of style is way more down to
earth. He’s charming and quite manly. He’s cool. He wears chic slim-fit
colorful clothes with a Palm Springs vibe. He wears trendy sunglasses—a
pair of Gucci shades today. His face is friendly. He is British, of course he
is. And oddly enough, he looks British too, if that makes sense.
From the age of sixteen, his career as a journalist, a producer and TV personality
has seen Sean working professionally with some of the biggest
newspapers and TV channels in the U.S, and his own country England.
In the UK, he worked on TV shows such as ‘The Word’ (his boss was Live
Aid supremo, Bob Geldof). He hosted ‘On The Grapevine’ with British Supermodel
Emma B, and wrote for the country’s biggest tabloid - The Sun.
In the U.S, Sean’s television, online and print accolades include shows
such as hit FOX TV show TMZ on TV, and writing for the New York Post’s
prestigious PageSix.
He contributed to shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Extra, E!, and
Access Hollywood as well as being “International Correspondent” for Hollywood
411, hosted by The Bachelor’s Chris Harrison.
As a publicist, he worked with names such as Paris Hilton, director Marcus
Nispel, Dolores Robinson, Oscar nominee - the late Michael Clarke
Duncan, Ridley Scott/RSA productions, Brit-Award winning pop group
Liberty X and Duran Duran to name a few.
He was well-known in the industry for being up on his game when it came
to knowing what was going on behind the scenes in the lives of some of
the biggest celebrities in world. His skills as a “breaking news” journalist
in London and Los Angeles had Sean reporting on huge stories including
insider information on the deaths of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger,
The Beckhams, Madonna’s widely publicized tumultuous life and almost
everything “Brangelina!”
In fact, Sean says his phone rang off the hook just recently after Angelina
Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. Hollywood was calling Sean.
“I grew up never expecting to be anything special. I liked showbiz news,
sure, but I never planned to be in it. It just sort of happened,” Sean tells
me. I’m nodding my head of course, absolutely, because I believe him.
Over the past year, I have personally come to know that Sean has lived in
a stratum surrounded by the who’s who.
Sean says his humor usually peaks when he is nervous about something.
But what could he be nervous of? “You know I’m shy, Juli.” he blurted out.
So, wait... Sean Borg is shy?
We, at LIVE Magazine, have gotten to know him better than most over
the past year. We can tell you this guy, who has rubbed shoulders with
just about every celebrity in Hollywood, IS (believe it or not) shy. He had
to be more than a little encouraged to allow us to feature him on our
cover. We told him it was “good for the team”!
Sean showed up for our in-depth chit-chat at Spencer’s Restaurant in bright
orange Trina Turk shorts, an electric blue T-shirt (he says is from Target)
and with his lovable Japanese Chin dog, Eli in tow (the most well-behaved
dog ever, I might add). Sean’s a real character. “I can’t believe you’ve chosen
me,” he grinned. “Champagne, Champagne for everyone. You’re paying
though!” (He laughs). It turns out he was only joking about the Champagne,
even though I thought it appropriate to have a glass or two. I mean
you can’t interview Sean Borg without a glass of Champagne. Right?!
When our drinks arrived Sean was agape, “I was only joking, Juli.” Apparently,
it’s Sean’s way of channeling his British humor; he was reciting
a line from the famous TV show ‘Little Britain’. He explains his favorite
character is Bubbles DeVere, who shrieks in comedy sketches, “Champagne,
Champagne for everyone!” Who knew? I get it, sort of.
Let’s take a second to refresh you on how we met Sean. One year ago
this month Sean started showing up dressed to the nines at some of
Palm Springs most popular events, which included LIVE Magazine mixers.
He caught the attention of the city’s hierarchy and we wondered just
who he is? And where he came from? We decided to interview him.
Before long we all soon discovered Sean was a well-known entertainment
reporter from London, with a string of impressive credits under his
belt, who was living between the Desert and Los Angeles. He is much
more approachable, and way more modest than you might imagine. He
is tall, very tall in fact. And he continually cracks jokes every other minute
during our interview. This sometimes left me wondering if his jokes
are truly jokes? But they are. His sense of humor is devilishly funny. And
even though he has officially lived the US since 2005, he hasn’t lost any
of that British charisma we American’s just love about folk from ‘across
the pond’. Now it’s Sean’s turn in the spotlight. This is when his nervous
energy rockets into supernova humor.
Fast forward to after our 2015 interview. This is when Sean started
documenting his social life in LIVE Magazine, collaborating with us on
‘Scene by Sean’ - a column now revered by the philanthropic crowd
in the Desert. Or as Sean calls them, “The Pops” – that’s an acronym
Sean coined for ‘The People in Palm Springs’. Sean has also written
many of our featured cover interviews.
Sean exemplifies fashion, style and celebrity, though the British born,
Palm Springs local would be the first to say he would “run a mile” from
anything he isn’t in control of, such as being famous. Which is why, he
says, for a short time he quit showbiz news for a calmer beat.
Nevertheless as ‘Scene by Sean’ reaches its first year in LIVE Magazine, we
felt Sean Borg was an interesting enough candidate to appear on our cover.
So we put him through a barrage of questions and challenges designed to
find out exactly how ‘showbiz’ Sean really is. It turns out he is very showbiz—but
not for all the reasons we thought. Sean’s actually quite bashful…
So LIVE readers, meet the real ‘man on the Scene’ - Sean Borg!
Juli Ragsdale: Tell us how it all started for you, from being a regular
person to becoming a socialite and online news personality.
Sean Borg: I was always a bit showbiz as a young child. I attended a
well-known stage school – The Sylvia Young Theater School in the heart
of London’s Covent Garden. It was surrounded by West End theaters.
Lots of famous people went there. In later years, Amy Winehouse was
a pupil there too. It is still one of the best schools of its kind. I thought
I wanted to be an actor. I was good at it too. But my heart wasn’t in it. I
got job offers, and was even a member of the Actors Union Equity (like
SAG) when I was 14 years old. Equity cards were like gold dust. You
couldn’t work professionally in television, theater or film without one. I
did lead roles on stage in plays written by Nigel Williams - he chose me
personally. I think I was in two of his productions when I was young.
Never once did I get stage fright.
Anyway, cut to me having famous friends at school, and me showing
them how to have a good time. Surprise, surprise.
I remember wanting to meet Duran Duran, Boy George, Wham and
Spandau Ballet – I did too. I met them all. And they all still know me today.
I even gatecrashed Nick Rhodes’ [Duran Duran] wedding reception
held at the Savoy Hotel, in London. Nick [Rhodes] married 80’s Supermodel,
Julie Anne Rhodes, who is still one of my best friends today. She
remembers me at the party very well. I used to always want to go to
nightclubs, and I had appeared on a BBC show called ‘Grange Hill’ – I
wasn’t the star of the show, or anything, but I was in it from time to time.
My friends were the stars of the show and they were very famous and
newsworthy in England. Some of the cast were even flown to the White
House to meet Nancy Reagan. That was big news. Bearing in mind, I
was like 15 years old. I used to go to all the top nightclubs in London
and get the cast of the show on the guest list of every major event in the
city. For example, the opening of the Limelight club, a plethora of A-list
Stringfellows, and Annabel’s events. Actually, Princess Diana and Fergie
the Duchess of York were drinking in the corner one night dressed as
policewomen. At the time, I didn’t even care that it was Diana. But it was
all over the front pages the next day and I was there to witness it.
My famous friends used to go everywhere with me. We would hire
limousines and about ten of us turned up together to George Michael’s
party. We would jump out of this big stretch car looking cool and everyone
wanted to talk to us. We were the ‘It’ kids. Getting drunk with A-list
stars and dancing on tabletops, swigging from champagne bottles.
Hysterical! So, by the time I was 17 years old I was reporting all this
stuff to the national press. My friends who were on TV wanted to be in
the newspapers and so I was the one who arranged for it all to happen.
That’s how I became a journalist, slash PR man. In short!
JR: Wow, that’s an amazing story. Going over your work history, you