In January, some of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s closest supporters gathered at the posh London Hotel in West Hollywood to celebrate his 70th birthday and raise money for a super PAC supporting his independent presidential campaign.
Despite the large number of celebrities in attendance, the emotional peak of the night was the presence of the stars' bodyguards, who were also the nominees' His largest donor and vendor, a personal friend of Kennedy's, and a top security official.
“I don't know if there were any tears in the room after he spoke,” said Holly Baird, a Hollywood crisis communications consultant who now serves as engagement director for the Kennedy campaign. “He made his feelings about Bobby very clear and made all of us aware that he was there to protect Bobby and to support all of us.”
Personal protection is a sensitive issue for Mr. Kennedy. Both his famous father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, were killed by assassin's bullets in the 1960s. Mr. Kennedy himself has faced threats, something Mr. de Becker has publicly acknowledged. But Mr. de Becker's role goes far beyond Mr. Kennedy's physical protection. And his entry into the 2024 race highlights the unusual mix of ideology, personalities and origins that have attracted Mr. Kennedy's unconventional presidential bid.
Like many of Kennedy's aides and broader supporters, de Becker is deeply skeptical of the medical community and vaccines, fears that most medical experts say are unfounded.
During the hours-long public interview reviewed by NBC News, de Becker answered few of NBC News' questions about his life or his role in the campaign but blasted the HPV vaccine, accused the media and drug companies of working together to suppress dissent and criticized former U.S. infectious disease chief Anthony Fauci.
De Becker's unorthodox political donation record in the years before Kennedy's presidential run shows how Kennedy has forged alliances from a mix of left, right and the politically unconstrained. De Becker has donated sporadically to Democrats, including to Barack Obama in 2008 and Andrew Yang in 2020, but he has also donated to former Rep. Ron Paul's unconventional Republican presidential campaign and to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's 2022 reelection campaign.
Like others, Covid-19 appears to have strengthened De Becker's views: he suffered a serious personal tragedy during the pandemic, saying his son missed out on treatment for leukemia, and he blamed the lockdown for his son's death.
Along with Kennedy's running mate Nicole Shanahan and conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon, de Becker is one of the major donors to Kennedy's super PAC. De Becker's company also He is the largest individual recipient of cash disbursed by the Kennedy campaign, blurring the lines of campaign finance that experts say is highly unusual and without clear precedent.
Bodyguards usually try to blend into the background, but De Becker stands out. Recent Campaign VideoHe argued that Kennedy was standing in the way of the powerful pharmaceutical industry “like the students standing in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square.”
Celebrity bodyguards for celebrities
When actress Olivia Newton-John was being stalked, she called Gavin de Becker.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos called Gavin de Becker because he wanted to know how many of the intimate text messages he sent to his mistress were being published in the tabloids.
And when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the United States and needed an alternative to the protections previously afforded by a nuclear-armed sovereign nation, they, too, called Gavin de Becker.
His star-studded client list and the wealth that came with it made de Becker something of a star himself: in the 1990s, he was romantically linked to famous women such as actress Geena Davis and singer Alanis Morissette.
But whereas Kennedy was born into privilege, de Becker started out in poverty.
In a 2022 interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show,” de Becker spoke about her harrowing childhood, saying her mother was a heroin addict who shot her stepfather when de Becker was just 10. By the time she moved out of her childhood home, there were nine bullet holes in the walls and floors.
“You can kind of draw a straight line between the violence of my childhood and what I ended up doing,” he said, “which was becoming a kind of ambassador between two worlds: the world of violence and the world of protection and safety.”
After the death of his mother, de Becker went to live with childhood friends, actress Rosemary Clooney (George's aunt) and the children of Jose Ferrer, a move that would set him on a path that would change his life: a few years later, he worked as Elizabeth Taylor's traveling assistant, getting a crash course in the hectic world of fame and international celebrity.
While still in his 20s, he used his experience to become a nationally known security expert, authored acclaimed papers and received a speaking engagement series, which led to him founding his own eponymous VIP escort company, attracting an A-list clientele ranging from Cher and John Travolta to Dolly Parton and Barbra Streisand, and opening a private terminal in Los Angeles in 2017. It's an international airport where celebrities, or anyone who pays to use its services, can escape the paparazzi and receive VIP treatment while waiting for their flight.
He also worked with law enforcement, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to both the USO Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the National Institute of Justice, and wrote a number of books, including the best-selling The Gift of Fear, which includes tributes from Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Marcia Clark (the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial), and childhood best friend Carrie Fisher. (At Fisher's) Memorial service, De Becker He said he lost his virginity at her house: “Not with Carrie, she arranged it.”
And while working In an industry that prides itself on discretion, de Becker has been praised by some of the world's most famous people. Bezos called him “one of the smartest, most effective leaders I know.” Actress Lena Dunham, during her 2022 appearance on his “Masterclass,” called him “our country's greatest feminist” and said he understands “what makes women insecure, what makes women targeted.”
Super PAC's Private Bank
Now Mr. de Becker serves as a top protector — and a multimillion-dollar financial lifeline — to Mr. Kennedy, a celebrity candidate who shares both his passion for the environment and his skepticism of the medical establishment.
Mr. de Becker's success has allowed him to act as something of a private bank for Mr. Kennedy's super PAC, providing what he described in a text message to NBC News as about $2 million in “pure contributions from me,” plus millions more in “bridge funds.”
In a highly unusual arrangement, Mr. de Becker donated $14 million through April to the super PAC American Values 2024, according to his most recent campaign finance disclosures, but he received refunds totaling nearly $11 million during that same period.
“Mr. de Becker provided significant contributions totaling more than $14 million, some of which was used as bridge funding, and some of which he returned when it was no longer needed for a particular time period,” super PAC co-chair Tony Lyons told NBC News. “He has pledged to continue providing bridge funding 'until RFK Jr. is elected president.'”
Meanwhile, campaign finance reports show that De Becker's company had received nearly $3 million from the Kennedy campaign through April and had bilked the campaign for another $1.2 million that has yet to be paid.
The $4.2 million is significantly more than any other vendor the campaign has paid so far and represents about one-eighth of the total $34 million the campaign has spent, according to campaign finance reports.
De Becker claims he wants to eliminate his job by hiring the Secret Service to provide security for him, but is calling on Kennedy supporters to donate to his campaign to help cover the costs of his company's security services in the meantime.
“I would be happy to pay for it all myself,” de Becker said of Kennedy's security costs in a 2023 fundraising video posted by the Kennedy campaign. “He's a dear friend of mine and I want him to win, but I'm not allowed to do that because it would be considered campaign financing.”
While De Becker's dual role as campaign funder and prominent super PAC donor does not appear to violate campaign finance laws, it has raised doubts among campaign finance watchdog groups.
“Gavin de Becker's arrangement to donate millions of dollars to a pro-RFK Jr. super PAC and then receive most of it as refunds is highly unusual,” Saurabh Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement to NBC News.
“Mr. de Becker has a financial interest in the extension of Mr. RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign.”
Mutual hatred of coronavirus lockdowns
Kennedy has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for not allowing Secret Service protection – a decision made by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in consultation with bipartisan congressional leaders – and has baselessly suggested the president is deliberately putting his rivals at risk.
To back up their claim, they used de Becker, who appeared in a campaign video describing threats against Kennedy. In September, an armed man was arrested outside a Kennedy fundraiser. A month later, another man was arrested for allegedly trying to break into Kennedy's Los Angeles home twice.
In a fundraising video posted by the Kennedy campaign, de Becker said the Secret Service began protecting presidential candidates after “Bobby's father was assassinated on the campaign trail” in 1968. “It's deeply disturbing what has happened over the years when this administration has been unable to provide protection for this candidate,” de Becker said. “You can donate to his campaign to help provide the highest level of ongoing protection we can achieve for my dear friend.”
De Becker shares some of Kennedy's fundamental beliefs, including about vaccines, which experts say are safe.
In the interview, De Becker expressed strong hostility towards the HPV vaccine, mentioned vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases on multiple occasions, and also expressed concerns about the coronavirus vaccine and deep frustration with the pandemic.–The policies of the time. Echoing Kennedy, he describes them as the product of big government and big pharmaceutical companies that prioritize groupthink and profit over truth.
De Becker suffered serious personal losses during the pandemic, which he attributes to lockdown restrictions. Speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan in 2022, de Becker and his family (he has eight adopted children) spent the early months of the pandemic at home in Fiji. He said one of his sons was diagnosed with leukemia, but travel restrictions meant he couldn't get treatment abroad until it was too late. His son died at age 31, and de Becker said he “blamed it on the lockdown.”
Most of the claims made by anti-vaccination advocates have been widely debunked, but they have been a major motivator for some Americans who have supported Kennedy's campaign, including Shanahan, his running mate.
Kennedy has long been one of the nation's most prominent vaccine skeptics, running Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit that has become a hub for the “anti-vaccine” movement. The group, from which Kennedy is currently on leave, has also promoted dubious claims about the dangers of fluoride in drinking water, 5G cell phone service and genetically modified foods.
And like Kennedy, de Becker believes the alleged cover-up about the vaccine's dangers is symptom of a wider conspiracy by powerful interests to divide the public to prevent them coming together to question authority.
“This degree of division and divisiveness in America actually serves the power structure,” de Becker said in an interview with Megyn Kelly in 2022. “It actually serves those in power, because [what] What you don’t want in a population is for everyone to agree.”
