Sharon Feinstein

How many people would love to make millions? Become multi-millionaires after all those years of trying to get their talent recognised. Those bleak times when doors were being slammed in their faces, and hope dashed with one breezy line or other like, Sorry, no thanks, good luck. Then, suddenly, that shining mesmerising moment when the break-through happens, gathering momentum, with all the accompanying fanfare and the cash pouring in. Now they can live the dream.
It happened to children’s writer, Jeff Kinney, whose crafty, funny, witty books, The Diary of A Wimpy Kid series, have even beaten Obama’s autobiography in the charts and knocked Dan Brown off the Number One slot.
The unusual, extraordinary difference is that Jeff wants none of the glamour, glitz, and luxury his sudden fortune could bring. The private planes, diamonds, Armani wardrobes, house in Malibu, penthouse overlooking Central Park, chauffeurs to drive his young sons to school. In fact he can think of nothing worse. He wants to live in Plainville, wear Dads’ jeans, drive an old car and keep his boys’ lives as simple and ordinary as possible. He wants to help out with the school baseball team, eat the same food and keep his head down. Next year, when Fox releases the movie of the sensational, fast-selling books, he’s going to have to try even harder to remain anonymous. But in this day of celebrity madness, consumerism and lack of spirituality, Jeff’s a cool guy who stands apart.

Here another clip of my interview with Jeff where he discusses how the fame of his book series has impacted his life:

Listen to the previous two audio clips from my interview with Jeff Kinney.

There’s an underground army of kids , a kind of ground swell, who have voted with their pocket money for author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney, of the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
So sure of their choice are these kids that 2 weeks after the first book came out in April 2007 it went to the top of the best seller list and has been there ever since.
The kids have bought twice as many books as Barak Obama has managed to sell, so what does that tell you about the President’s supporters.
Jeff Kinney should be head of State after selling 25 million books, and reaching out to 100,000 kids, future voters, a day, who log onto the Wimpy Kid online.
The money has taken him into the super rich league but he doesn’t want cars or jet planes and his wife, Julie, isn’t interested in diamonds and designer clothes.
They are giving to Charity, they want to help sick children, they have their morals and values intact.
Fox has made the Hollywood movie and it’s to be released in the New year, so it’s most probably goodbye J K Rowling and Harry Potter and hello Wimpy Kid.
I interviewed Jeff and found him funny, charming and very likeable.
Here’s a sample for those of you who can’t meet him yourselves, but hang on his every word via his alter ego, Greg.

Update: I’ve recently posted another audio clip from my interview with Jeff Kinney.

It was really surreal being in the north of Thailand on my mobile first thing in the morning, talking to animal rights campaigner, Heather Mills, from America, nine at night her time, about my Campaign to stop the Slaughter of Leatherback turtles in Tobago. There I was in the middle of the rice paddies and mountains of the East talking about a tragedy taking place in the West indies, to millions of Americans.
Get your head around that one. Heather Mills, who is tireless in the battle to protect animals, extended an invitation to interview me on a show she was hosting on Air America, about my efforts to stop the atrocities against one of the world’s oldest, most vulnerable and magnificent creatures, the leatherback turtle.
I was after Richard Branson, whose Virgin planes fly to Tobago, and let’s hope that was fortuitous as he could certainly lean on the government there to better enforce the international laws protecting endangered species. You can listen to my rather muffled interview with Heather, and hopefully it will inspire you to visit my turtles webpage and do something, anything, to help save the leatherback turtles.

I interviewed Patrick Swayze many years ago, over lunch at London’s Savoy. He was promoting Dirty Dancing with Jennifer Grey, and came to lunch looking so gorgeous I wanted us to elope. The film really showed off his muscular physique and great dance moves, but sitting opposite him across a white tablecloth at the luxury hotel was a whole lot more powerful. I remember being struck by how unassuming and gracious he was, there to talk about his low-budget movie which was expected to have just a short run. Little did he know it was to become a surprise million dollar hit and worldwide cult favourite. And little did he know that at just 57 he would be dead from pancreatic cancer. Jennifer Grey must be feeling very sombre today as she remembers being swept about in his arms as dance instructor Johnny Castle, the two of them in the bloom of youth looking so fresh and exhilarated. Famous for the line ‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner,’ the movie became a phenomenon that Patrick says took his life ‘into insanity’. Women across the globe joined the ’100-plus’ club marking the number of times they’d seen it. It sent my world into hyperspace, said Patrick. Now he’s gone, into that other hyperspace where no one can reach him, while in that very bizarre way,his image remains, on the big screen, as large as life