Celebrities like to pretend that they get everything done by themselves, but we all know that that’s just not true. They have an army of helpers in every part of their lives, from personal trainers helping them get fit, to personal chefs preparing their food, to nannies looking after their kids. In fact, you’re more likely to see the kids out with the nannies then you are to spot a real family outing. Some celebrity parents are so unable to cope that the nannies will even come with them on those outings so they don’t have to lift a finger.

It actually must be pretty hard to be a nanny for a famous person’s child or children. The paparazzi are always around, trying to get pictures of the famous offspring. The parents are probably very busy and stressed out, and will sometimes need to move around to different places in the world for their work. On top of that, there’s all the normal work of looking after the kids, keeping them safe, and making sure they have happy and normal lives despite hardly ever seeing their parents.

Add to this the fact that celebrity kids can probably be a little entitled sometimes, and you have a recipe for an unhappy nanny. That must be why some of them look so miserable all of the time. We’ve found 15 examples of nannies that you will seriously want to feel sorry for – because of their long working days, who their employers are, and simply what you can see.

Harper Beckham’s Nanny

When you are the nanny of one of the most fashionable kids around, life must be hard. Harper Beckham was much-anticipated when she was born, and the reveal of her name was just the first of many things that the public have been fascinated about. Her wardrobe has been a huge source of envy for many. That’s just one of the reasons why we feel sorry for this nanny. Not only does she look just miserable, but she also doesn’t have fashionable clothes of her own to wear. In fact, she looks downright dowdy, with a cheap see-through blouse covered by a cardigan and matched with ill-fitting jeans. She also doesn’t look like she is enjoying the sun too much, with fair skin and a squint that is crying out for sunglasses. It must be tough when you sign up to look after a British kid, only to find you have to spend half your time in the heat of LA.

Leni, Henry, and Johan Samuel’s Nanny

If you don’t recognize their surname, it’s because none of the parents of these kids are known professionally by it. Heidi Klum is the mother of all three. Leni is the daughter of Flavio Briatore, although she has been legally adopted by the father of Henry and Johan, Seal. Since this shot was taken, the family has added a fourth child to their brood, and presumably yet another nanny. It’s not at all clear why four nannies are needed to deal with three children, but every single one of them looks miserable. If you can’t enjoy a stroll by the seaside, then clearly you’re just not happy with your life. This is probably a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth – who wants to work with so many other people who have their own views on how to do things? With the parents’ instructions too, it must be difficult to navigate.

Knox and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt’s Nannies

These famous twins have one nanny each, and it’s clearly much-needed since the two of them have had unrelenting media attention since the time of their mother’s pregnancy. While their surname is still Jolie-Pitt, it has always been quite clear that Angelina’s children are seen as her own – several of her brood were adopted by her alone and then by Brad Pitt later. Though he is the biological father of the twins, there is bound to be a lot of tension following their split, and she has retained custody of them. On this particular outing, it was reported that Angelina sat in the car making phone calls while the nannies took the twins to a park. It’s probably very hard to work for this family, especially given the recent revelations about Pitt’s alcohol abuse and the couple’s struggles. This nanny certainly doesn’t look like she is having a good time.

Levi and Vida McConaughey’s Nanny

Levi and Vida were the first two children of Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey, who now also have a younger son called Livingston. At the time this image was taken, this nanny had the unfortunate task of looking after baby Vida and toddler Levi at the same time. Never mind the fact that this is a reality for most mothers and Camila gets to have time off instead. The nanny definitely looks like she is having a hard time. She just wants to walk across the road cradling the baby carefully, but Levi has latched onto her legs with his half-eaten apple in tow. She can’t get a hand free to pry him off properly, and it doesn’t look like he is listening to reason either. We feel sorry for this nanny, but the feeling is somewhat tempered by the fact that at least she’s getting paid to do this. Most women don’t have that option when they have two young children to take care of.

David and Mercy Ciccone’s Nanny

Seen here leaving a Kabbalah event, this is one of the nannies who looks after Madonna’s adopted children. The older two are Mercy and David, both of whom were adopted in somewhat controversial circumstances. There’s a lot of press attention on the whole family, both because of the controversy and because of Madonna’s star status. This nanny looks harassed and distrustful, and is clearly keen to keep Mercy within safe distance so that nothing untoward can happen to her. It’s probably very hard for nannies, who are just normal people, to cope with the sudden pressure of looking after famous children. Having a camera in your face at any moment of the day must come with a lot of stress. These nannies don’t even get paid the same way that a movie star or musician would – though they will get more money than if they were working for a normal family, it’s nowhere near the compensation that normally comes with fame.

Mercy Ciccone’s Nanny (Number Two)

Poor Mercy’s nanny. When Madonna adopted Mercy, it was so that she could give the little girl a better chance at life. She was not wanted and could not be looked after by her birth family, so the idea was that Madonna would bring her over to the US and look after her properly. In Madonna’s world, of course, that doesn’t mean actually being a mother to her day in and day out – it means hiring a nanny. Mercy’s nanny really doesn’t look happy here. She’s probably not very happy about the press attention that she constantly gets just because she is trying to look after this poor child. She looks worried and tense, and like she is hurrying to try to get back home before too many pictures are taken. She’s clutching the little girl’s things and trying to get back, while Mercy looks like she’s more interested in living life at her own speed.

Violet, Samuel, and Seraphina Affleck’s Nanny

If this nanny looks like she’s shooting daggers at Jennifer Garner, there’s probably a reason. This was the nanny who was hired to look after Violet, Samuel and Seraphina Affleck, who are of course Jennifer’s children with husband Ben. Or ex-husband, rather, since the couple split up in 2015. After the split there were widespread rumours which Jennifer eventually confirmed: that Ben had had an affair with their nanny. This nanny. Yes, this nanny is the one who broke up one of Hollywood’s most loved marriages. Not only that, but Ben has clearly moved on from her as well, and has been linked with other women since. It’s bad enough to get a reputation that means no one else is going to hire you – the fact that she didn’t even get anything out of it has to suck. She probably thought that she was onto a meal ticket and that Ben would choose her over his wife.

Paris and Blanket Jackson’s Nanny

In this shot, Paris and “Blanket” Jackson are seen walking along with their nanny, who places a hand on each of their shoulders to usher them along. They are also followed by a man who is most likely their bodyguard. It would have been very tense and difficult to act as a nanny for these two children. Their father was superstar Michael Jackson, and that would have been enough to guarantee them an awful lot of attention. But that wasn’t enough. His increasingly odd behaviour later in life often extended to his children. There were a number of questionable stunts and moments when his parenting ability was brought into doubt. From that point of view it’s a good thing they had a nanny, but it wouldn’t have been so great for her. You can imagine the amount of stress she would have been under from all sides, and see that in her face here.

North West’s Nanny

North West is a child who never had much chance at normality. Her whole life has been a media circus, even from the moment that her parents first met. She will grow up in a world where it’s normal to have camera crews following you and documenting your every move. She’s also already used to having the finest possible things, dressed in designer gear and taught to value materialistic gains. She already looks like she’s having a bit of a tantrum here, which is not going to be any fun for her nanny. She is often paired up with other kids from the Kardashian brood and their nannies, which results in a lot of toddlers running around together. Add to the fact that this family is very much in demand by the press, and you have a nanny job which would require a lot of compensation. We hope that at least she’s getting paid enough.

Talula, Sullivan, and Darby Dempsey’s Nanny

Patrick Dempsey is married to makeup artist Jillian Fink, and the couple have three children together. The first is their daughter Talula, and she was followed by twin sons, Sullivan and Darby. Pictured is Fink along with her children and their nanny. Everyone in the picture looks reasonably unhappy, which doesn’t bode well for the family environment the nanny has to work in. She’s been saddled with the heavy lifting, taking one of the boys as well as a giant bag full of baby stuff. While Talula is getting to be old enough to walk on her own, the twins are going to need round the clock care for a long while yet. This nanny looks like she knows what she is in for, and she isn’t too happy about it at all. This image also highlights one of the sad truths of the industry: a large proportion of nannies, both for celebrities and for non-famous families, tend to be black or ethnic minorities – lower income groups.

Prince George’s Nanny

We have to feel sorry for this woman anyway, just on the basis that she has to deal with the Royal Family every day. There are so many rules about what you are and are not allowed to say, do, or wear around royalty that it must be exhausting just to keep up with it. On top of that, she not only has to do the same with Prince George but will also be a big part of ensuring that he knows the rules for himself. She is harassed by media everywhere they go together, and must do the hard job of raising a prince under all of that pressure. Then she opens a paper and reads about how Prince William and Kate are such great hands-on parents, and it must feel like a slap in the face. She’s very thin, to the point of looking unhealthy, and she is probably also under pressure to maintain a neat and tidy appearance.

Dolly and Charlie O’Connell’s Nanny

Rebecca Romijn has two children with Jerry O’Connell – twin girls, Dolly and Charlie. Twins means double the trouble, so the family decided to hire two nannies to look after them. Having one nanny each means these girls probably get a lot of attention, but at least one of those nannies isn’t looking very calm. Actually, as the other nanny lifts one of the girls in the air, she instead looks very concerned, as if she is telling her to put the girl down. She doesn’t look to be sharing as close a relationship with the other twin, who walks along alone rather than holding hands. Romijn actually came under fire in 2013 for saying she would never hire a nanny, despite photographic evidence that yes, she obviously would. O’Connell added fuel to that fire in a recent interview, claiming that he banned his wife from hiring a male nanny.

Laird and Quinn Stone’s Nanny

Sharon Stone hired a Filipino nanny to look after one of her children, and help with the others. Though the nanny, Erlinda, may look happy here, she certainly wasn’t behind the scenes. She actually ended up suing Sharon after she was fired, with Sharon’s reason being that she had accepted overtime pay. Sharon also subjected her to racist comments, telling her not to speak in front of her children in case they ended up talking like she did. She even told Erlinda that Filipino women were stupid and forbade her from reading the Bible. She fired Erlinda over email because she didn’t want to pay her anymore, and then even invited her to come back and say farewell to the children if she wanted to. After being fired so abruptly, the live-in nanny was unable to find full-time work and took Sharon to court as a result of her abuse.

Suri Cruise’s Nanny

Imagine having to look after one of the most privileged little girls in the world. Wouldn’t it seem like a real nightmare? Suri Cruise is not only the daughter of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Tom Cruise, but was also born into a Scientology family. All of this means that she probably feels pretty entitled. This nanny is embodying the problems that many nannies face. She is carrying Suri, even though you can see in the photograph that the young girl is clearly big enough to be expected to walk everywhere by herself. She is swathed in coat, hat, and other layers which must add to her weight. On top of that, the nanny is trying to juggle not one but two bags as she gets out of the car. We’ve heard of techniques for making multi-tasking easier, but we wouldn’t want to be in her shoes in front of the camera.

Violet Affleck’s Nannies (Again)

How do you fill the shoes of someone who was fired because she had an affair with the father of the kids? Gingerly, no doubt. These two nannies are responsible for Violet Affleck (and probably her other siblings too, though they aren’t visible on this outing). The two of them look reasonably stressed out. There’s a rule about what nannies to famous children have to wear, and it’s probably enforced even more firmly for the Affleck kids now. They are supposed to dress plainly and cheaply, and avoid flashy or flattering clothes which might make them stand out more than the family themselves. Would these two women choose to wear such plain and boring clothes if they weren’t restricted by this rule? Would they start smiling a bit more if they weren’t under so much pressure at work? From what we’ve seen today, we wouldn’t want to be a celebrity nanny, no matter what the pay was like.