Who

The founder of Grubman PR and daughter of Allen Grubman, it was Lizzie's turn at the wheel of an SUV that made her a household name.

Backstory

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 (Horace Mann, Lenox, and Dwight)—she eventually managed to graduate from the Tutoring School before moving to Boston to attend Northeastern. Two years later, she dropped out and returned to the city to intern for publicist Nadine Johnson. A couple of other short-lived PR gigs followed (including a stint as PR manager for the Big Apple Circus) 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 become notorious for her ubiquity on the social scene, culminating in 1998 when she graced the cover of New York under the headline "Power Girls." (Memorably, Lizzie told the mag that she'd "made" Ja Rule and Jay-Z—and was partly responsible for inventing rap.) By 2001, she was repping hotspots like Moomba, celebs like Diddy, and media companies like Sony Music. And she'd aligned herself with the doyenne of the entertainment PR industry—and the woman she described as her idol—Peggy Siegal.

Scandal

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.

Currently

While the crash impacted Lizzie's business—several clients reportedly bolted, and her partnership with Peggy 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." Despite high hopes—and a big promo campaign—the show only lasted one season.

Personal

The bottle blonde publicist's personal life hasn't lacked drama over the years. In 1995, at the age of 24, she married Eric Gatoff, an associate at her dad's law firm. (Gatoff now works for Howard Lorber.) The marriage soon fizzled, and Grubman later dated club owner Andrew Sasson. (After Sasson shifted his PR account from Lara Shriftman to Grubman, the two publicists didn't speak for a year.) 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. (Sevilla found out her boss was carrying on with her husband after reading about it in the Post.) Stern and Grubman tied the knot in March 2006 and had their first child in 2007, Harrison "Harry" Irving Stern. They live on East 61st Street, in an apartment owned by Lizzie's dad.

Family ties

Lizzie's mother, Yvette Grubman, passed away from ovarian cancer in August 2001, three weeks after Lizzie's crash. (She'd undergone surgery just three days before incident.) Yvette was no longer married to Allen at the time of her passing, though—the two split in the late 1980s. Lizzie's stepmother is real estate broker Deborah Grubman, her father's second wife. Lizzie also has a sister, Jenny, who's an attorney.

No joke

Lizzie's 1995 wedding announcement in the New York Times—which you can find online—erroneously says she graduated from Northeastern. In fact, she didn't even complete her sophomore year.