They’re caring for the kids — and signing NDAs, carrying Louis Vuitton bags, vacationing to luxe islands like Ibiza and making six figures.
A new reality show, “Million Dollar Nannies,” reveals what it’s really like to be a Mary Poppins to the 1%, from being beholden to strict privacy agreements and undergoing extensive background checks to being on-call all the time and providing near-constant updates to wealthy, neurotic parents.
“So much goes into being a high-profile nanny,” Leah Barrs, 31, who co-stars on the series, told The Post. “I was doing doctors appointments, school events — keeping track of calendars. Not only the parents’ schedules but the kid’s schedules, closet organization. Travel.”
The show, which premieres today on Hulu and Freeform as an unscripted series, features Barrs and seven other nannies who temporarily move to Ibiza to launch a luxury boutique childcare agency from scratch.
Barrs, a Connecticut native, dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s without a plan. Then, her pastor at The Way LA, an interdenominational Christian church in Los Angeles, connected her with Kourtney Kardashian, who needed a nanny.
“It was fate,” she recalled. “He said, ‘I think you would be perfect for the position. Would you want to work for the Kardashians? I was like, ‘Holy s—t. This is crazy! YES!’”
Soon, she was caring for Kardashian’s three children whom she shares with Scott Disick — Mason, 15, Penelope, 12, and Reign Disick, 10. The job involved getting them to and from school, prepping snacks — and shielding her charges from the prying eye of paparazzi.
“It was beyond nannying,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself — [Kourtney] really taught me to be a better worker. Networking, being the best version of myself. Representing that family. Everyone always said, ‘You should start your own agency.’”
Barrs leveraged the #NannyTok network, which has more than 32,000 posts on TikTok, to find other nannies and mannies for her agency.
The cast also includes Jack McCann, 23; Olivia McMahon, 22; Mitchell Bienvenue, 24; Taylor Hayward, 25; Hannah Joy Davis, 26; Tamaya Denae, 23, and Sydney Siegel, 28.
McCann, a New York-city based manny and influencer, had some high-highs and uncomfortable lows.
He got to fly via private jet to Paris so he could babysit while his bosses enjoyed a Valentino fashion show. The next day, he tagged along to the family’s caviar tasting.
“It was their normal,” said McCann, but for him it was an “out of body experience.”
But there were also strange requests. While interviewing to work for another family while on Ibiza, he had to spray-tan a dad, alongside another manny, to get the gig.
“I was being put up against the other manny, to see who was going to be the best fit for their son,” he recalled. “It was definitely out of my comfort zone … I never had to spray tan even my closest girlfriends — it was jarring to do with men in Speedos standing right in front of me.”
Fellow cast member McMahon said her most over-the-top task was having to charter a jet from Miami to Mykonos, Greece — assembling a crew and gas for the plane in just 24-hours, plus figuring out hotels and staffing abroad — so the family she worked for could jet-set at a moment’s notice.
“I think I blacked out during the process but at the end of the day it got done,” she told The Post.
Such tasks aren’t uncommon.
“You’re booking travel, you have to do household maintenance, there’s a lot more that goes into it than just caring for children,” McMahon said, adding, “The perk is everything is free —private jet flight, accommodations, my meals.”
Plus, she makes six figures, something she didn’t think was possible after leaving university.
“I dropped out of college and was told I wouldn’t be able to make a lot of money … [I] was instantly greeted with this fear to not make enough money to sustain myself or live the lifestyle I wanted to live,” she said. “Now, I’ve made a nurses salary plus perks.”
She is now based in Los Angeles, working with a family featured on the show and still enjoying the job.
“My day starts around 2 p.m. when I pick up the kids from school — we get home. I make them a snack. We’ll go in the pool. The kids have playdates or we go to their favorite store in the mall. I do some household chores — folding the kid’s laundry, unloading the dishwasher. I make dinner, get them ready for bed — that’s really the spiel of the day,” said McMahon who dreams of one day being a stay-at-home mom. “I’m literally playing house.”
Another plot twist in nannying for the rich? Caring for niche pets — like a bearded dragon.
“I love all animals but I will never go and touch reptiles. My nanny family have a bearded dragon. I had to become pretty well-versed in carrying for this bearded dragon, taking it on walks. I never thought I would have to give a bearded dragon a bath,” McMahon said.
But, she said, it’s worth it.
“For my birthday, they gave me a Louis [Vuitton] bag — the duffle bag with the pink. I saw it when we were in New York shopping. I said ‘Oh my god’ I love that bag. I didn’t think they would get it for me. I was also able to get a Cartier bracelet for Christmas.”
Barrs agrees that the once-in-a-lifetime perks outweigh the challenges.
She said, “I’ve always loved the finer things in life.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
