Emily With Animals

The Ugly Side of Hollywood

Clothing, Lifestyle ·

Update 2/3/22:

I’m so grateful for the recent attention that this post has received! I don’t use this blog much anymore but would love to keep in touch with you on Instagram and TikTok.

Updated 8/6/21:

I can’t believe it has been over 5 years since I wrote this post. I never thought that it would get the sort of attention that it did, but I’m grateful to have played a roll in helping karma catch up with Kier/Keir/Claire. Since this post was originally published in 2015, not much has changed, but there has been a handful of interesting developments. Keir began to slowly but surely publicly unravel, proudly taking a pro-Trump and anti-mask stance. After a video of her accosting a black police officer received some attention online, she changed her online name to Claire Banks (Claire Banx) in an effort to escape her tarnished reputation. In hopes of clearing her other name where she could, she reached out to me a week ago to offer to pay the court ruling with the contingency that I remove this post and sign a contract saying that I never write about her again. Maybe one day she’ll realize that sometimes people have a driving force other than money.

Original post:

Finally I can share something with you that I have been keeping secret for the past 10 months.  I have been dealing with a horrific lawsuit.  Let me start back at the beginning.

In September 2014, I was hired by fashion blogger Keir McGill (aka Kier Mellour) from E!’s House of DVF to be her blog co-editor, photographer, and personal assistant.  If you watched the first season of House of DVF, then you will be familiar with the bitchy blond who came in 3rd place.  If you happen to read her blog, you might remember her whining about how the show was edited to make her seem like a villain.  Let me set the record straight: Keir is the cruelest and most manipulative person I have ever encountered.

At the time that I was employed by Keir, she had not yet been paid in full from the TV show, so our contract stated that my pay would be deferred until she received her final check.  I worked my ass off, and provided Keir with 33 photo shoots and wrote 11 blog posts for her.  I drove her all around Los Angeles to various blogger events, and did all manner of bitch work for her and her disgusting (now ex-) boyfriend Roger Crandall–everything from getting them groceries, to taking care of their dry cleaning, to carrying stuff around for Roger if it was too heavy (he is a 6’3″ beefcake, mind you).  On December 21st 2014 I went with them to the House of DVF finale event to take photos.  I was excited because I knew that Keir would be receiving her final check that night and I was thrilled to finally be reimbursed for the 124 hours of labor that I had provided.  However, that night was the last time I ever saw her.  At first I was confused about why she would not speak to me, but then it became painfully clear to me that she was cutting me off so that did not have to pay me.  After I sent her a couple of invoice reminders, she had a fake lawyer (he failed the Bar and it is illegal for him to practice law) threaten me with a restraining order.  At that point I realized that I needed to get serious and take her to court.  Since I did not have any written proof of a wage that we agreed upon, I knew that my court case would be the strongest if I sued her for only minimum wage for the hours I worked.

Our court date was May 19th, 2015.  I brought Brian with me.  I had a binder with me full of approximately 300 pages of evidence–all of the photos I took and posts that I had written.  When we exchanged evidence before our case, she handed me a few pages of random emails that she had printed out and I handed her my huge binder.  Roger flipped through it with noticeably shaking hands, telling me that I had “nothing”.  When we stood before the judge, I chose to read a preprepared testimony.  My testimony was cut and dry: I had proof I was employed.  I had proof of the work I had done and the hours I had worked.  California state law requires that all employees are required to be paid at least minimum wage.  Therefore, I was owed minimum wage.

Keir had nothing prepared, but rambled about how, as payment, she had given me exposure and how events she had brought me to as her photographer had given me goodie bags.  She whined that the show had not paid her enough or brought her enough deals afterwards to allow her to pay me anything.  She said that my job was actually commission-based, and I simply failed to make any commission due to my own negligence.  Please note that even if this were true (I presented plenty of evidence to the judge that it was not), it would still be illegal since California law states that if commission is not greater than or equal to minimum wage, the employer must provide minimum wage instead.  You’d think her “lawyer” would have informed her of this before she said so in the courtroom.

A few days later I received the judge’s decision in the mail.  He awarded me more than I sued for…Clearly he realized how disgusting of a person she is.  I wish I could say that my tale ends there, but unfortunately it doesn’t.  After a month of still not receiving payment from her, I got a notification that she appealed our case.  I would have to go back to court and do it all over again.

On July 13th, I went back to court again with Brian.  This time she came with her phony lawyer and her mother.  Before our case was heard, her “lawyer” asked to speak to Brian alone.  According to Brian, Neil offered him $300 to forget the case and walk away.  Brian said no.  Neil asked what we did want then, and Brian said minimum wage.  At that point Neil raised his voice and said “You will never win, and even if you do, she will NEVER pay”.  When it was our turn to stand before the judge again, I began to read the same testimony as the time before.  Keir was unprepared again and for some reason did not bring any evidence with her.  This time her testimony was completely different than the time before.  She stated that I had volunteered for my position, and also that House of DVF had not paid her at all other than to reimburse her expenses during filming.  When the judge asked to know how much the show had actually reimbursed her for those expenses, she would not answer right away.  Finally, she reluctantly stated that it was $11,000.  At that point the judge had heard enough and our case was over.

When I received his judgment in the mail, of course I won again.  Sadly, this is the end of the road and I will never be able to actually collect the settlement.  I have spoken to several lawyers and Keir has done what many masterful scam artists do in these situation: she moved out of state and closed all her bank accounts.  While she flaunts tens of thousands of dollars worth of new designer purchases on her blog, she still refuses to pay her former employee minimum wage.  My husband and I make a very good living, so this money is not significant to me.  What truly disappoints me though is that she thinks she triumphed and I’m sure is feeling beyond pleased about it.  She is the embodiment of every bully I have ever encountered, every abusive boss, every company trying to take advantage of an artist.

Even though Keir thinks she won, what she doesn’t know is that this is not just a moral victory for me.  I emailed Diane Von Furstenberg at her personal email address and recounted all of these details to her.  I was surprised and delighted when she replied, saying that kindness will always prosper.  So in the end, Keir did pay.  She lost her one major connection to the industry she is trying to claw her way into.

Thanks for reading,

Emily

 

Unrelated photos of me visiting The Gentle Barn:

· In: Clothing, Lifestyle

Comments

  1. I came on your blog to see your post on pink hair care but could NOT stop reading about what happened to you. All I have to say is, WHAT THE ACTUAL F*$%???? I am seriously mortified at how shitty people can be sometimes. If she sold one of her designer bags, she probably could have had some money to pay you instead of blaming you entirely and making you do her bitch work because she’s too lazy. What a waste of time. I am so sorry you had to put up with this. People like her will get what she deserves in the end.

    • I want to say that I personally knew keir. I think that what she did to you was totally in her character. She’s a cheap disgusting girl who thinks she can pretend she’s something she’s not. I actually went to Jr. High with her and high school. She’s a dirty slut. Her mom used to have sex with old men for money so I don’t know why she would be trying to judge anyone else. And it’s funny that her boyfriend is considered a “beef cake” when the fist person she had sex with was a black guy named Curtis Moore…..she’s also from a no named town in the middle of Washington. She’s a nobody she’s broke and she’s a bum. Her whole family is. Again I’m not suprised she did this to you. A bum will always be a bum. I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m ranting I just felt really bad for you and I couldn’t Believe that this is the Same girl I know. It’s so funny! She’s probabably back in Washington. I’ll keep my eye out for her dirty ass.

      • I can’t speak to her Mother sleeping with old men, but she has been in spanking porn videos. AKA Miss Vivian Sweet on Shadowlane.com

    • I wish I had seen this sooner. That fake lawyer named Neil, is now married to her mother. His name is Neil Gerard Kitchens. He is set to go on trial soon for voter fraud in Monterey County, for running for office in a district he doesn’t live in. His Mother is also suing him over missing assets from the business they own together! There are other pending cases but those are less serious. All this is available on the Monterey County Court websIte for free. I used to be friends with her Mother and met Kier once, and that was enough for me. The family is full of scammers and conspiracy nuts.

      • Thank you for this comment. Every once in a while I get contacted by someone who finds this blog post and who then tells me an awful story about their experience with Kier or her family. Hopefully karma is finally catching up with the whole lot of them.

  2. Something about her never say well with me after I met her. Then I saw her on the full on Qanon train and now this. She changed her name on Instagram and YouTube after she a video of her went viral called “Covid Karen harasses police officer”. You can’t treat people this way and it not all catch up to you. Kier, what I’m sorry, Claire Banks, you can’t fake it forever.

  3. What a horrible person. Glad the judges sided with you but wow, cannot believe the audacity of that blogger.

  5. She just got engaged! Wonder if her man knows what kind of person he is dealing with. What a sucker! She keeps getting away with stuff. Will karma ever catch up to her? I’m glad you didn’t take this post down. Maybe one day it will help other people not get hurt.

    • I think her man knows…From what I can tell, it seems like he is one of her former ***clients*** if you catch my drift. There are certain interesting details about her that I wish I could add to this post. But I would definitely say that karma has already caught up with Miss Chanel Bianca…Oops I mean Kier 🙂

    • He seems to be as interested in fame as Kier does. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were applying to be on the show, “Marrying Millions”

  6. What is her real name exactly? I’m so confused how she can get away with changing her name and no one questions it… does her fiance even know her real name!?

      • I’m sure he does. She has said in her videos that she rebranded her fashion blogger image with a new name. Kier Mellour was not her legal name either.

  7. woooww I just recently followed her on tiktok and instagram and decided to look her up to be snoopy. Let’s just say I will now be unfollowing!

  8. Wow, I watched a few of her videos. Well she found a dude to fund her things. So sorry that you had to deal with that mess!

  9. How very interesting. She is sooo sanctimonious and seems psychotic in her ig stories and tiktoks. She gave me escort vibes in the past but i decided to give her the benefit of doubt because she cane across as somewhat genuine in her explanations of things (probably just a sign that she is a master manipulator). Her fiance is 62 or 63, so exactly 30 years older than her. He seems so shady. She says in a now deleted Couples Q&A video on her Youtube that they met when she was lying poolside at a hotel, and he spotted her and sent a drink over her way. As if that doesn’t sound mega shady. Lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just an escort and he was one of her clients. She tries SO hard to act like she’s living her best life but she just comes across as a deranged lunatic most of the time. She’s always doing the most, replying to EVERY SINGLE hate comment she gets on tik tok and instagram in this long winded, psychotic manner. She must be extremely insecure if she gets so triggered by every comment she receives. Also she makes the biggest deal of the fact that she ‘came from nothing’ and even said she sold her eggs to make thousands to fund her first vintage Chanel bag. And that she apparently worked as a waitress for five years before she was able to ‘afford all these things’. Can’t wait for her past to be exposed on her on TT and IG!

    • I wish I could say more on this topic, but the way she met her fiancé was certainly far from innocent, and he’s just about as foul as she is. It will be interesting to see whether or not they actually make it down the aisle.

  10. Lol I knew something was wrong. I made a comment on her TikTok asking “respectfully, can you please let me know what you do for a living ?” I didn’t know her and I was curious because I was so happy to see someone with the things I want too and I wanted to see if there were other ways of getting there. Well she responded “nothing” and she didn’t like my comment. She posted a video saying that asking people what they do for a living is disrespectful. I’m like what? If you’re in business like that then you would want people to know your name and what you do right? Yeah, now it makes sense why she answered the way she did. Nasty. I blocked her on everything.

      • What’s funny about her claiming to be a former stylist is that she has a YT video about needing to hire stylists LOL. If that isn’t a tell that she’s shady.

        I also assume her fiance is shady and/or has no real intention of actually marrying her. I looked him up and he lives in NY, but when she goes to NYC, they stay in a hotel… if that doesn’t scream still married/living with someone else. It’s suspicious! Why didn’t she show her man on her birthday? Was he with someone else or somewhere more important?

        I don’t know the full story, but my intuition tells me it’s messy.

        • Lmao they aren’t together anymore! She wiped all traces of him off her social media hahaha. She’s going to have quite a bit of trouble continuing her facade of a glamorous perfect life now.

  11. how did yall find out her fiance’s name to google him? What was his name? I know his first name was Michael.

        • He emailed me saying he “represented” her and was asking me to remove this blog post in exchange for having the settlement paid. Obviously I said no lol

      • Was he the one that offered to pay her settlement, for her?

        She wouldn’t use her own money. Lol

  12. To add to this, I found it strange that she was engaged and continued to “decorate” her tacky
    apartment. If she was really looking to move to the homes she toured with him why would she waste investing time and money on her current place? She deleted every piece of evidence of him from social media, but is still wearing the ring. I remember her saying she was going have it upgraded to a toi et moi, and then before the split she recently had a replica ring made of it as the solitaire for “travel”. Then she said she got a decoy ring while she upgrades her ring…? She also recently posted a picture of male and female Hermès sandals on her most recent trip which I have seen Micheal wear before, this makes me suspect they are back together. Regardless, I’m embarrassed for her. Good for you for not taking that money! She needs to be called out on the facade.

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