Jennifer Lopez‘s producing partner is getting ready to reveal some of Hollywood’s darkest secrets in a new book.
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas has drawn from her years in show business to write her debut novel, Climbing in Heels.
The book written by the former secretary-turned-executive follows three young women working at one of Tinseltown’s biggest talent agencies and some of its biggest stars including Julia Roberts, Madonna and Nicolas Cage.
Goldsmith-Thomas, who began her own career at the William Morris Agency in the early 1980s, told Page Six it was like working in the ‘Wild Wild West.’
‘You know, people like Harvey Weinstein were not the anomaly, they were the norm,’ she told the outlet.
Details in the book include a male assistant who is allowed to listen in on his boss while he is having sex with actresses auditioning for a role.
Jennifer Lopez’s producing partner, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, is getting ready to reveal some of her Hollywood insider knowledge in a new novel; Pictured in Toronto in September 2019
‘That was a story I had heard from a trainee who was allowed to listen in as his boss, that was his bonus … his little treat. His boss let him listen in as he f–ked actresses.’
Goldsmith-Thomas recalled her own close call when she met Bill Cosby.
The Cosby Show star threw a luncheon for all the William Morris secretaries to show his thanks for the success of the sitcom.
During a brief encounter, the Emmy winner asked her about her future plans. She had recently graduated from college and Goldsmith-Thomas told the comic she would love to represent him one day.
‘Later, I got a call from the executive secretary on the first floor saying, “Mr. Cosby was very impressed by you. And we’re going to give you contracts to sign, bring them over to his hotel, The Beverly Wilshire,” she explained.
‘And I went into the bathroom, I was really excited getting ready — oh my God, I felt seen, I felt really seen. And my friend who worked for the president of the agency happened to be there. I told her and she said, “Don’t do it.” I said, Why? She said, “Don’t do it.”
‘Now she didn’t say anything bad would happen … there was just something about the way she said it that frightened me enough that I didn’t go.’
Cosby has been accused by some 60 women of drugging and raping them.
He was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018. The conviction was later overturned, and Cosby, who has denied all the allegations, was released in 2021.
The secretary-turned-agent has included some of her Hollywood experiences in her debut novel, Climbing in Heels, which will be on store shelves April 29
While Goldsmith-Thomas made no mentioned of Lopez’s disgraced ex Diddy — who has been charged with sex trafficking and other serious crimes — she did discuss her run-in with Bill Cosby; Lopez and Diddy seen in 2000
Goldsmith-Thomas began her career as a secretary at the William Morris Agency in the early 1980s and later became an agent for Julia Roberts, Madonna and Nicholas Cage; pictured in New York City in March
Writing the book ‘made me look back,’ she recalled, revealing that when she was still fresh in the business when agents in Los Angeles would have their secretaries send cocaine cross-country in something called the ‘New York pouch that went back and forth to New York overnight.’
Sexual harassment was common in the workplace when the Second Act producer was still new in the business.
‘I mean the guys in the mail room, they’d go, “Hey, could I have a little keppy?” — meaning, “Can I have a little [oral sex]?” I’d go, “How can you ask me that? We’re friends” … “Well, you don’t ask, you don’t get,” they’d say.’
Lopez and her future producing partner met when they were both attending a performance of Cabaret starring the late Natasha Richardson in 1998 and the two connected ‘on a very visceral level.’
Together they have worked on more than a dozen projects together including Hustlers, Kiss of the Spider Woman, which will be released in October, and Office Romance, in which Lopez is starring with Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein.
Goldsmith-Thomas and Lopez, 55, met in 1998. They have produced several projects together, including Hustlers and Kiss of the Spider Woman; Pictured in New York City in September 2019 with Jessica Elbaum, Lorene Scafaria and Benny Medina
Lopez and Goldsmith-Thomas are now working on Office Romance, which is currently in production, starring Lopez and Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein; pictured in Hoboken, NJ on April 7
‘Jennifer is extraordinary because here’s a dancer who became an actor, who became a singer, who became a global brand, who is probably one of the biggest stars on earth and she’s incredibly kind,’ Goldsmith-Thomas said of her friend; Pictured in Hoboken, NY April 7
It was the Hustlers star who insisted Goldsmith-Thomas write the book.
‘Jennifer is extraordinary because here’s a dancer who became an actor, who became a singer, who became a global brand, who is probably one of the biggest stars on earth and she’s incredibly kind,’ she said of her friend.
‘I felt when I worked with Jennifer that I had a partner — that she put her shoulder next to mine and we’d push. It sounds funny, but the sky wasn’t the limit; it was a resting place.’
Climbing In Heels is scheduled to be release April 29.
