Tell-all throws book at Wahlberg
A fter years of protecting celebrities, a down-on-his-luck bodyguard says he’s ready to expose them in a tellall book.
Bronx native Leonard Taylor, 43, tells us he feels “used” by a number of his former clients and is almost finished with a memoir about protecting Mark Wahlberg,
Uma Thurman and other big names and egos that will even the score.
“Why should I respect their privacy when they don’t care about me?” he says.
Taylor, who describes himself as a 6-foot-5, 320-pound “gentle giant,” transitioned from club bouncer to bodyguard when R&B artist Ray J hired him in 1995.
He later worked for Bruce Willis and says his ties to the club scene fostered relationships with Paris and Nicky Hilton, “Entourage” actor Kevin Connolly and “Captain America” Chris Evans.
But Taylor says that, with the exception of Willis, his famous former clients and friends abandoned him when he battled drug addiction, depression and homelessness from 2004-05 and, more recently, from 2008-11.
“I did a lot for a lot of people,” says Taylor, who adds that he’s sober and working security for nightclubs again. “I saved people’s lives and then when I was down on my luck, everyone turned their backs on me.”
He’s most bitter about his fallout with Wahlberg, who, he says, “filled my head with dreams and then kicked me to the curb.”
Taylor says he spent threeand-a-half years protecting and partying with the former rapper, despite the fact he “didn’t pay me a dime.”
He claims Wahlberg promised to take care of him as a member of his original “Entourage” just as the actor’s breakout performance in “Boogie Nights” made him a movie star.
Their relationship ended in 2001 when the two got into a headlines-making fight outside a downtown Manhattan club. Taylor, who’s African-american, claims Wahlberg started the scrap when he directed a racially insensitive remark at him.
He eventually sued Wahlberg, who he alleges bit him during the scuffle, but dropped the legal action because, he says, “I genuinely like Mark.”
One of Taylor’s last high-profile clients was Thurman, who he famously rescued from a stalled elevator in 2006.
After the incident, Taylor says the “Kill Bill” star “was the nicest person in the world for 24 hours” but then “went back to being nasty and cold.”
Her attitude “just sucked the life out of me,” he says.
Taylor declined to reveal the name of his co-writer but says they’re “90% done” with the manuscript and will shop it upon completion.
He says the book will also delve into the shady practices and racist undertones of the nightlife scene.
Wahlberg and Thurman could not be reached for comment.