Adele with her bodyguard Peter van der Veen. Photo / Getty Images
Adele with her bodyguard Peter van der Veen. Photo / Getty Images
Want to get ahead? Then get yourself a hunk! Singer Adele is accessorising her current look - global chart domination, killer blow-dry and a wardrobe of bespoke Jenny Packham dresses - with one of the handsomest bodyguards ever seen.
Peter van der Veen is 6ft of immaculate tan, muscle and chiselled jawline. The former policeman, who dabbled in modelling and bodybuilding on the side, was named Mr Europe in 2005.
Most bodyguards are retired servicemen. The Beckhams, for instance, used Merrick McDonald, an ex-Royal Marine and police officer, for years.
But in the mean streets of Hollywood, apart from needing a big palm to hold up against a paparazzi lens, what other qualities do bodyguards need? Bronx-born Thomas Fitzsimmons, who among other celebrities looks after Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, admits he has in the past dealt with stalkers, jilted lovers and jealous spouses.
In 2013, Lady Gaga's team were filmed flooring an autograph-hunter who burst from the revolving door of a Romanian hotel, but was restrained until the singer had left. In 2007, a guard for Lindsay Lohan kicked a photographer in the crotch.
Yet Ed Hinman, head of recruitment at one of the biggest bodyguard agencies, Gavin de Becker, says: "We are not looking for the stereotypical 300lb gorilla. We want someone with endurance and strength . . . who can make quick decisions and act."
In the film The Bodyguard, taciturn hunk Kevin Costner fell for his celebrity employer, played by the late Whitney Houston. Is intimacy inevitable? A personal protection expert, speaking anonymously, acknowledged: "It is a close relationship. You are around [the stars] all day. Celebrities rely on discretion - trusting that you won't sell stories. They need to feel comfortable in your company."
The pay is not as gilt-edged as one might think, ranging from $560 to $2200 a day. The perks come with close proximity to the star - and their luxurious lifestyle.
Herewith we get the lowdown on bodyguards to the famous:
Martin Kirsten - bodyguard for Heidi Klum
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Size matters: 6ft 4in Kirsten worked for German supermodel Heidi Klum and - when they were together - her ex-husband, the British singer Seal.
Background: South African Kirsten protected the couple and their four children for four years before they parted in the spring of 2012.
Dramas: Soon after the split, it emerged that Kirsten and Klum were dating. Their relationship lasted 18 months, and Kirsten gave up work to look after the children. Klum allegedly bought Kirsten's mother a house to ease the pain when they ended the relationship.
Neither Kirsten nor Klum has commented on the rumours.
Ex-husband Seal remarked: "While I didn't expect anything better from [Kirsten], I would have thought Heidi would have shown a little more class and at least waited until we separated before deciding to fornicate with the help, as it were."
Seal later clarified that he did not mean to imply that Heidi had cheated on him before their separation.
They say: "He's meant to be a bodyguard, not a house-husband."
Hunk rating: 7/10
Greg Lenz - bodyguard for Jennifer Lawrence
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Size matters: A strapping 6ft 3in, with model good looks and - heartbreak! - a wedding ring, who guards Jennifer Lawrence. His wife, Allana, works at a children's hospital in Colorado.
Background: Unlike most bodyguards, Lenz, 33, came into close protection from a civilian background. A part-time model, he studied architecture at Colorado University before joining the bodyguard agency Gavin de Becker in Los Angeles in 2010. Since 2013, he has been shadowing the A-list actress Lawrence, star of the Hunger Games film franchise.
Dramas: Few on the "protection" front. But he is very skilled at carrying Lawrence's chihuahua puppy, Pippi, at the same time as her shopping bags.
They say: "Hollywood's hottest bodyguard since Kevin Costner carried Whitney Houston in his arms."
Hunk rating: 9/10
Julius de Boer - bodyguard for Beyonce, Jay-Z and Rihanna
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Size matters: At 6ft 5in, he looms over his main clients - the U.S. rapper Jay-Z and his superstar singer wife, Beyonce. De Boer is known for being always immaculately turned out.
Background: Fluent in five languages, he was recruited by his cousin Norman Oosterbroek, the so-called Dutch Giant who used to protect Jay-Z and the singer Rihanna. De Boer has been on Beyonce's team since 2008. He is divorced, with a ten-year-old daughter.
Dramas: Gossip websites claim there is more than professional courtesy between him and Beyonce. Last year, it was reported that Jay-Z had asked Beyonce to get rid of De Boer because his presence made him uncomfortable - but she refused. Beyonce and Jay-Z have never commented on these allegations.
They say: "You'd have to be brave to come between that power couple. He is."
Hunk rating: 9/10
Justin Riblet - bodyguard for Brooklyn Beckham
Size matters: At 6ft 3in tall, he towers above 5ft 8in teen Brooklyn Beckham, who he's charged with guarding.
Background: Came to the Beckhams through agency Gavin de Becker. A former U.S. special forces sergeant, he graduated in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University, New Jersey.
For three days this spring, Riblet shadowed Brooklyn at the Coachella Music Festival in California. All of the family have security when they go out, with a bodyguard watching the boys during school football matches.
Dramas: A bodyguard colleague, Craig Love, gave evidence on behalf of David Beckham in 2011 after prostitute Irma Nici claimed to have slept with the soccer star. Love testified that Beckham had not been at the hotels on the dates she allegedly met up with him.
They say: Tweets agree he "looks like a model," is "the hottest," and "such a babe".
Hunk rating: 8/10
Peter van der Veen - bodyguard for Adele and Lady Gaga
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Size matters: 6ft tall, blue eyes, shaved head, super-thick Dutch accent. Wears a suit well and is perma-tanned, though to a lesser degree than the Marmite shade he favoured when competing as a body builder.
Background: From 2001-2010 he served in the Amsterdam police force. Before working for Adele, he was on singer Lady Gaga's payroll and became head of security; he even features on her song Government Hooker as a robot voice.
Dramas: As well as flooring an autograph-hunter in a Romanian hotel lobby in 2013, he had to leap into action again in March this year. As Lady Gaga made her way from a Paris hotel to her car, a fan stepped in her path. Van der Veen placed him in a choke-hold and slammed him to the side.
They say: "If you want to see something beautiful, look up Adele's bodyguard on Google."
Hunk rating: 9/10
Pascal Duvier - bodyguard for The Kardashians
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Size matters: Man mountain Duvier is 'only' 6ft 3in tall, but is formidably and enormously muscled. He calls himself a gym rat and cites 35 years of judo with keeping him strong.
Background: Fluent in numerous languages, he has a mathematics degree from the University of Heidelberg. He looked after Justin Timberlake before being taken on first by rapper Kanye West and then the Kardashian family of reality show fame, after Kanye and Kim became an item. He is noted for his lively Instagram account.
Dramas: Naturally he has a front-row seat on all the Kardashian dramas, and can be seen holding back the crowds and looking furious whenever Kim Kardashian is out with her daughter, Nori.
They say: "Terrifying Teuton with a soul-bludgeoning glare."
Thomas Fitzsimmons - bodyguard for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas
Size matters: 6ft of tough NYPD Irish cop, with a history of collaring armed robbers and drug kingpins.
Background: Served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War before joining the NYPD. After ten years in the Bronx, he was signed up by a model agency. Then he became a security consultant, and writes crime novels, too. He works 24/7 for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas on New York visits.
Dramas: "If a stalker appeared on a film set, or a jealous spouse, or jilted lover, or if there was a physical altercation - you'd be surprised what transpires on film sets - I was the one they'd usually ask to handle it. Which I did with as little ruckus as possible."
They say: "Smooth silver fox, who'd be played by Liam Neeson."
Size matters: Big Craig, a 6ft 3in American, was hired to look after X Factor judge Cheryl as her marriage to former footballer Ashley Cole failed.
Background: Balkam was the boss of a bodyguard agency when he was hired by Cole in 2010. After a fan grabbed her by the wrist at X Factor rehearsals in Birmingham, she decided to beef up security. He was with her during her short stint as a judge on The X Factor USA and witnessed her signing her divorce papers in the spring of 2011 at the Sunset Marquis hotel in Hollywood.
Dramas: He fell out with Cole after telling friends that she was insecure about her appearance, was afraid of fellow X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne, and she was heartbroken about Ashley's cheating. "She was more than a client," he says "I've guarded some real divas - but Cheryl was a gem."
They say: "A bodyguard should never betray their client's secrets".
