HOT DIGGITY DOG!
Who’s that hunky guy squiring J. Law — and her pup— around town? Meet bodyguard Greg Lenz, an architecture graduate who used to cook for a sorority
AS Jennifer Lawrence made herway through Tribeca in slingback heels and a pair of denim short- shorts while house- hunting on Wednesday afternoon, eyes weren’t on the “Hunger Games” starlet. Instead, theywere on the clean- cut gentleman walking a few paces behindher, holding Lawrence’s miniature mutt, Pippi.
The mystery man is Lawrence’s bodyguard, 33- year- old Greg Lenz, who has taken the Internet by storm in the days since, with fans demanding to know more about the pup-toting protector with model- like looks.
As it turns out, Lenz iswell- versed in dog care, as he has a pooch of his own, named Tula. And this isn’t the first time his chiseled jawline and broad brows have spent time in front of the camera.
“Greg was actually a really good guy,” photographer Mark Stout reveals to The Post.
Stout shot Lenz in a number of shirtless poses during the bodyguard’s brief foray into modeling around 2008. In the pictures, Lenz’s well- defined abs are on display as he stands casually in a grassy field in one shot, and tosses around a football in another.
“Theworld of modeling can get a little odd. You can have people with big egos, but Greg wasn’t like that. Hewas a real person,” continues Stout. “Hewas responsible, he showed up for the shoot when hewas supposed to, and he did goodwork.
“He’s the type of guy you’d want to be friends with.”
Lenz grewup as the youngest child in a family of five, with two older sisters, in Littleton, Colo. His likes on Facebook include CrossFit, the USA television series “Suits,” the Beach Boys, the Denver Nuggets basketball team and professional CrossFit athletes Lindsey Valenzuela and Kristan Clever.
Hewas studying architecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder when hewas likely discovered by an Access World Talent scout at a Denver- area mall. The company has since disbanded.
“I don’t think Greg really got that seriously into modeling. He did a couple of shoots with me, and I don’t know of anything else that he did. [ He probably] just wanted to try it out and see if itwould be fun,” says Stout.
He also spent time working at an Italian restaurant, Bagali’s, in Broomfield, Colo., from 2008 to 2010.
“We always gave him a hard time about his ridiculous good looks and modeling career, but he took it all in stride,” says former colleague Jess Chapman. “He’s funny and down- to- earth and just an all- around good guy. ”
By then, Lenz was in the midst of a fledgling
romance with his now- wife, Allana. The two met in2006 at CU, where Allana was a sister at Gamma Phi Beta and Lenz cleaned dishes and cooked meals on the weekends for the sorority sisters. “One evening Greg was just working away and Allana came to get dinner. And Greg, being the ever-so-talkative one, felt the need to explain what was in Allana’s soon- to- be meal,” the couple wrote on their wedding Web site. “So very smoothly, Greg said, ‘ There’s chicken in that one.’ And the makings of a relationship were born.”
“Hewas at sorority formals and things. Hewas really nice,” recalls Cydney Ricker, whowas a freshman at Gamma Phi Beta during Lenz’s short- lived chef days.
Allana and Greg took it slow, first friending each other on Facebook, followed by the occasional Facebook “poke,” before going to see the 2006 James Bond flick “Casino Royale” (“The perfect first date movie if you know anything about Greg,” according to the couple’s wedding Web site).
Two years later, Lenz and Allan a were still togetherwhen they graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in architecture and physiology, respectively.
It wasn’t until 2010 that Lenz upended his life to move to LA and start a career in “executive protection”— the fancy term for “becoming a bodyguard.”
“[ Most bodyguards] are former military or law enforcement,” says David Stone, 49, founder of Stone Security Services, an NYC- based security company that has provided celebrities including Katie Holmes and Paris Hilton with bodyguards for the past 13 years.
“There are also people that go out and take bodyguard courses. There are schools that teach you how to become a bodyguard.”
Gavin de Becker& Associates, the security firm for which Lenz has worked since 2010, offers a number of training courses, from a 10- day introductory boot camp to the advanced protection skills academy, which lasts through the first 18weeks of employment. ( The company and Lenz both declined to comment for this article.)
Meanwhile, Allana moved to Atlanta to attend Emory University’s physician assistant program. When a position with Gavin de Becker opened up in Atlanta, Lenz jumped at the chance to be reunited with his girlfriend. “Sincemy future wife was going to school there, I figured the relocation would be worth packing up allmy stuff again and making the two- day drive across the country,” wrote Lenz on his wedding site. “Right now, I work far too many hours but get to come home to an amazing woman every single day, and I couldn’t be happier.”
One year later, Lenz began “Operation Bling.” He spent months working alongside jewelry designer Judy Gilger to create the perfect custom diamond ring before popping the question on a Colorado mountaintop in 2012. The couple wed on July 12, 2013— nearly seven years after they first met.
Allana now works as a physician assistant at Children’s Hospital Colorado. When the hospital was called for comment, a colleague of Allana’s told The Post, “She can’t come to the phone— she’s in surgery.”
Allana likely knows just as little about the 24- year- old Oscar- winning actress her husband’s been tasked with protecting as the rest of the world, as there are strict nondisclosure agreements in place.
“You cannot disclose anything about their personal behavior or personal likings, or the deals they make with sponsors,” reveals Stone. “I can’t share any information withmy family. It’s unprofessional.”
Lenz has been guarding Lawrence on- and- off since 2013, and likely shares a rotation with twoor three other guys to avoid burnout. “There are long days, and plus, it’s boring,” says Stone, who estimates Lenz earns between $ 75,000 and $ 100,000 a year protecting the “Silver Linings Playbook” star.
His biggest assignment is steering Lawrence clear of the paparazzi, says Stone— though he likely isn’t packing heat while guarding the actress.
“I really don’t want my guys to be armed,” says Stone about his own company’s practice. “It’s not a good thing. For example, if a bodyguard has an issue with a paparazzo and they see a firearm, then [ the headlines] say, ‘ Jennifer Lawrence’s bodyguard menaces the paparazzi by showing firearm.’”
Stone says it’s a bit unorthodox to pair someone with no military or lawenforcement experience with such anA- list client.
“The guys that go through a bodyguard school ... They’re just doing it to be around celebrities,” he explains. “Those are the guys that I really don’t want working forme. Iwant people who aren’t star- struck.”
He also prefers his men to bewell- versed in martial arts, so it’s possible that Lenz’s affinity for the hardcore fitness regime of CrossFit earned him the seal of approval fromhis employer.
And while Lawrence once admitted in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK that her former bodyguard, another hunk named Gilbert, was tasked with providing the actress a steady supply of Cheez- Its, Stone hopes that Lenz steers clear of such tasks.
“You don’t want tobe their butler. You don’t want tobe their chauffeur,” he explains.
As for being a full- time dog holder, he says, “That’s above and beyond.”
I WORK FAR TOO MANY HOURS BUT GET TO COME HOME TO AN AMAZING WOMAN.” — BODYGUARD GREG LENZ ON JUGGLING WORK AND FAMILY