By Adrienne Papp

The fight game has long been a fertile territory for Hollywood when it comes to gritty action films about hardscrabble knockabouts who find success and even heroism by overcoming big odds in the ring.  Films like Somebody up There Likes Me, Raging Bull, Million Dollar Baby and now The Fighter have all gone the distance when it comes to providing inspiring portraits of overachievers making good with their fists.

The Fighter is the most recent example of this well-mined genre, in which working class underdogs from rough neighborhoods show us an example by overcoming almost inhumane odds both in body and spirit in a big screen adaptation of a true story, which makes the film even more unexpected and a thriller suspense with lingering thoughts that touch the soul long after one leaves the theater. In this case the neighborhood is Lowell, Massachusetts, where fighters Mickey Ward and half-brother Dick Eklund punched their way into the limelight after long hours spent at the local gym.

Dick was the first to achieve national prominence, and became a local hero for knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978, who was one the most successful fighters of his day.  But Dick Eklund got sidetracked along the way, becoming a drug-addict and doing time in a local prison.  As the result, his career got derailed and he ended up working as a trainer for half-brother Mickey Ward, pinning his dreams for a championship even though Mickey had suffered four straight losses and was a heavy underdog in his fights.

The story was one that actor/producer Mark Wahlberg was familiar with, having attempted to acquire the rights to the story earlier, and engaging in an extensive training regimen that included building his own boxing ring in anticipation of doing the film long before production ever began.

Wahlberg was eighteen when he first met Mickey Ward in Boston, when the actor was still a buffed-up pretty criminal turned rapper named Marky Mark and he became a huge fan of the fighter. Eventually Wahlberg approached his hero about one day playing him in a movie, but received cease-and-desist letters from the production company that was the owner of the rights to Ward’s life. It was only after a legal battle that Wahlberg got a call from Brad Weston, the president of production at Paramount Pictures. “They wanted me to read a script about Mickey Ward and Dickey Eklund,” Wahlberg recalls. “They had the rights.” Struck by the coincidence of being offered the lead role in the film he had wanted to make, Wahlberg went home and walked straight into his gym to prepare for the role.

Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy were hired to write the screenplay for The Fighter, with the intention of accurately portraying the brothers’ life story in a film free of any over-the-top, unrealistic fight scenes.
“I’ve seen every boxing movie ever made. I’m also a huge fight fan,” Wahlberg says. “I even fought a little bit when I was younger. Some of the greatest movies ever made, like Raging Bull and Rocky, which I saw 30 times, are great stories, but the fighting just wasn’t as realistic as what we hoped to achieve and accomplish in this movie.”

Obviously committed to the role, Wahlberg put himself on a rigorous training regimen to represent the fighter he once idolized.  He had begun a strict bodybuilding regimen four years before the movie began shooting, and hired former professional boxer Freddie Roach to train him. Wahlberg helped set the tone of the film with his passion for realism. Not only did he have Mickey and Dickey move in with him during the film’s pre-production to understand their lives better, he also insisted on performing all of his own stunts.  His commitment to the role also included enlisting the top trainer in the fight business, Freddie Roach, who also worked with Mickey Rourke in 1991, and has worked with the top talents in boxing and Mixed Martial Arts, including names like Mike Tyson, Oscar de la Hoya and his current protégé, eight division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.  Roach also has a direct family connection with the film, as his brother fought Mickey Ward’s brother Dickey when they were eight years old in the 50 lb. weight category. Roach’s training brought a whole new level of realism to the production.

“You have to make it real. I was really hitting people and they hit back – hard,” Wahlberg says. “This wasn’t a stylized fight, it was real boxing. The real secret in doing a scene where I was hit in the face was to make sure it was the last shot of the day. I spent more money paying my trainers and having them travel with me than I got paid for the film, by a good half a million dollars.”

The movie was filmed on location in Ward’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.  The casting firmed up with Christian Bale in the role of Dickey Eklund at Wahlberg’s suggestion, a part that had once been offered to Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and even fighter Sugar Ray Leonard were brought in for key supporting roles.  After director Darren Aronofsky bowed out, the film was offered to David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees).

The film’s boxing matches were shot at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, and gym scenes took place at Arthur Ramalho’s West End Gym, one of the real-life facilities where Ward had trained. ^“The boxing-match footage was created in big, choreographed sections that were taken directly from footage Mickey’s actual fights,” said Russell. “We also used the actual commentary from the HBO telecast, and actually hired the director from HBO and the crew who had done those fights to replicate them shot-for-shot.”

With Mark Wahlberg passionately committed to his role, Christian Bale also fully immersed himself in his character Dick “Dickey” Eklund. Given Eklund’s drug addiction, Bale had to lose weight and researched the part by keenly noting Eklund’s mannerisms and recording conversations to get the perfect inflection of the character’s thick Boston accent.  “Dickey has a whole rhythm to him, a music,” Director Russell said. “Christian had to understand how his mind works.” Russell and Eklund were both impressed by Bale’s unwavering dedication to staying in character throughout filming.

“Dickey and me spent a lot of time together,” Bale says. “We went walking around the town and in every single bar there’s some incident that they can talk about that happened with Dickey there. A few of the bars, he’s not allowed in. He’s like the mayor. He walks down the street, everybody shouting out, ‘Dickey! Dickey!’”

While Bale settled into the role of becoming Dickey Eklund, he also admits there were some portrayals that did not entirely meet with family approval: “The whole family is endlessly entertaining, but one of them got upset with how a certain scene was being done, and there was a few suggestions of physical actions that might happen if the actress continued that way. But that was all solved with a few drinks in the bar.”

Although the sports biography remains one of the most popular subjects in the film industry, most of them focus on a main character preparing for an all-important, life-changing game. With its commitment to realism, The Fighter elevated itself above the typical sports bio by focusing on the characters and the interplay of their relationships with each other.  The heart and soul of The Fighter is contained in the extended Ward family, which includes Mickey’s girlfriend Charlene, played by Amy Adams, seven slightly scary sisters, the boys’ mother/manager, Alice, played with gum chewing brass by Melissa Leo, and Mickey’s wonderfully level-headed father, George (Jack McGee). Ward’s real life trainer, policeman Mickey O’Keefe, also plays himself in the film.

The Fighter captured this atmospheric family dynamic so well that it was nominated for 42 international film awards, winning 32 including Academy Awards in best supporting actor roles for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo (who, maybe still a little in character, infamously uttered the F-word during her acceptance speech).  Overall, the film has been a tremendous critical and commercial triumph, grossing close to $95 million domestically on a $25 million budget, proving that, while good boxing films will always have a solid audience base, David O. Russell and his cast were also smart enough to let the realism of the characters and their conflicts play a key role in the film, revealing so much more than just the pounding fists of a boxing movie.

About the Author of This Article:  Lady Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicityand publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazineis owned by Atlantic United, Incwith Adrienne Pappbeing the majority shareholder.

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The Imperial Order of Constantine the Great and of Saint Helen

By Michael Koehn,

Los Angeles has plenty of celebrities, millionaires, billionaires, dignitaries, Academy Award winners, sports legends, political figures, shakers and makers shaping the World, contributing to a new, more powerful future.  Of course it also has more than its share of infamous stories making the headlines for reasons hardly befitting The Ten Commandments.

“Most often however, LA seems to be hitting a higher accord with the World in general by bringing into focus forward looking ideas and inducing change little by little.  As if there was a higher level of consciousness present, even in its less than “noble stories,” which in my opinion addresses very humane realities and in that sense carries a certain degree of evolutionary message even though through its negative connotation.”  Because, after all, LA is the place from where all rockets are fired into the world of art and culture, shaping and forming young minds around the Globe, an influence carrying with it not only a responsibility, but also an obligation.

An obligation to be true, as LA’s forward-looking creativity paves the way for the new generation who seem to be wandering aimlessly in a world of chaos, a condition that not even the most sophisticated politicians in the White House, or in any house, perhaps with the exceptions of some of our finest minds, like Dr. Stephen Hawking could figure out.  What can we then hand down to those looking to us for directions when the world around us is crumbling down with the speed of light?

Many parts of the World, although indifferent to Americans, care more about where one is from rather than what one has to say. More about whether one was born poor or rich, or whether or not one has an advanced degree that gives one credentials to speak, which sometimes gets ignored completely in favor of birthrights.

Living on the West side of LA, however, gives you the privilege to say what you mean and mean what you say. The community cares, Jeff Hall, a recognized name on the West Side cares!  And, it is seen every day in his numerous local publications that have shaped the community for decades! They never concerned themselves with how rich or poor anyone might be, but they cared about what that person had to say! That is not only important, but is also key in a society that struggles for survival!

Adrienne Papp is being Knighted into a Lady / Dame

Yet, what LA doesn’t talk about, despite all the heavy-duty power players, are the people of royalty who, either by birthright, which then they turned into  several remarkable achievements, or a high level of accomplishments, have been selected as members of a royal order, a chivalric organization practicing an ethical code of conduct that goes back to Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, and which Order bestows the title of nobility based upon the service the appointed honorable person performs to others, in accordance with a chivalric code that has existed for centuries!

The phrase “with privilege there comes obligations,” means that being honored is not to be taken lightly.  ” Not much has been handed down to the younger generation about chivalry and courtesy over the past decades! Members of the Chivalric order, today and thousands of years ago, are bound by oath to a lifetime of commitment to the betterment of all, including ethics, and a financial obligation to help those who need it the most. It does not commit to one organization or another, but commits to serious human conditions that seem neglected, and it takes it upon itself to seek a resolution and not just a simple philosophical “understanding,” which is very common in our World today. We talk much about what should be done, but getting it actually done may take forever, or simply remains a philosophy that sounds really good especially from politicians,” says Adrienne Papp who has recently been awarded the unique and special honor of Chivalry. Papp is a local Westside publicist, journalist, economist and marketing and media professional, who has been received the royal honor of being Knighted into the Imperial Order of Constantine the Great and of Saint Helen due to her selfless contribution to her local community, but also Nationwide and in Europe.

This nomination comes with a privileged high rank, that of a Dame, or a Lady, as invested in this Chivalric Knightly Order only to those whose selfless conduct has demonstrated itself for decades.  The official and very formal ceremony took place at the Masonic Temple in Los Angeles, CA on October 23^rd, 2010.  The lifetime honor of Lady / Dame was bestowed on Miss Papp, along with Mr. Shepherd Clark, Ms Szylvia, Ms LeeAnn Quiroz, Ms Patricia Murphy ( only seven candidates,) and was formally conferred by the Duke of Belgium, His Grace, Michael Schmickrath and His Excellency, the Count of Esson, Michael R.S. Teilman, Grand Chancellor of the Chivalry. It is an honor so special that it seems to have come from another time, a knightly era completely out of place in our fast lane, computerized society.

So who are the people who stood up to the footsteps of Constantine and now do for others instead of serving themselves, and what does it mean to be part of this honorable society?

Lady Adrienne Papp

Adrienne Papp, one of the knighted Ladies, was born and raised in Northern Hungary by her father, a Count himself prior to World War II, who became an engineer active in local politics; and by her mother who was involved in the arts and ran art galleries around the country.  In Adrienne’s view, this honor is “really all about the mind and being at service to others and really not about me. Or, as His Grace would say: ‘Nobility is defined by One’s Birth and Actions and not by Titles bestowed upon them.’

Adrienne showed exceptional promise in very early childhood and school years, often challenging the status quo and questioning the prevailing order in a country that was under Communist rules. She was a rebel to the degree that it concerned her parents daily, who pleaded with her to “please just try to be like everyone else.” Upsetting the status quo was not the best idea in a country where only the government had true power.

After gaining scholarship to one of Europe’s best Universities, The University of Economics: Corvinus University of Budapest, her intellect was noticed by German educators from the West, which  allowed Adrienne to spend time in Hamburg, West Germany, where she innovated logistics, traffic and transportation systems that were beyond what had been available to that time, and later became the basis for on-time management systems used by FedEx and DHL, and other “on-time management companies.”  Her diploma work also included analysis of Joint Ventures Worldwide, which at the time was unheard of in terms of Global logistics

On her return to Budapest she graduated from Corvinus University with an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and Master of Science in Economics, and was offered an honorary Ph.D. for her diploma work in International Joint Ventures and Logistics.

Lady Adrienne with other Knights from the Order

Despite getting herself into trouble more than once through her rebellious approach to life and her free spirited nature, Papp’s work included, besides the innovative logistics, the invention of a mathematical formula for computer programming that has become part of the University’s IT Technology department. Her revolutionary diploma work is today on file with the Library of “Congress” of the University.

Even though there were professors working on her subject, nobody came up with the same conclusion that she did.   “I never gave in, it did not matter to me that I became an insomniac, or what it took out of me,” she says. “I just knew that I had to do it: that I had something to say!”

Papp’s intellectual curiosity (“discovery” being her favorite word and mantra,) and subsequent interest in international business led to a desire to travel, and she eventually ended up in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she was offered a job with a computer technology company.  “Even though I was able to branch out, I always had an interest in Western culture and saw myself in America, and specifically in New York.  That was an image I had for myself from the age of three,” Papp says.

True to her vision, Adrienne eventually landed in New York City with sufficient funds for venture capital investments, and she soon successfully obtained a green card as a “National Treasure to the United States,” under category 2 of the Immigration Law strictly based on her individual achievements and advantageous work to the country of the United States. In addition to her talent for publicity, by exporting American-made products to overseas territories, her company helped improve the country’s trade balance, which America badly needed then and does to this day.

His Grace Michael Schmickrath, the Duke of Belgium

“I’ve been an American citizen for more than ten years now, but I can say as an economist that we are still in trouble. We import nearly everything and there are not enough jobs nationally.  This is a very bad strategy that can spiral even further. The less consumers spend the more we outsource in order to cut costs.  And that is a feedback mechanism. The more we outsource the less money we have.”

Always passionate about her work, Papp ran a highly successful consulting business in the heart of New York City on Madison Avenue with a hundred percent dedication, traveling back and forth between New York, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, France, Norway, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.  She also enjoyed exploring life in New York at the highest levels while staying completely independent and a woman of her own.

“It is not that hard to get used to the high life of black tie fundraisers every night in New York City, dressed in designer clothes empowered with a model’s looks and a Wall Street brain, flying around the World on a few hours notice and accounting to no one but yourself! It is a luxurious life, yet very demanding!  I got used to that in Denmark on my first job. My secretary would say, ‘your plane leaves in three hours’ and I would have my suitcase in the office just in case I had to fly to Iceland, barely having the time to get to the airport.  I am used to living in hotels, which after a while can also become exhausting mentally more so than physically. You just do not want to see another airport for a long, long while anymore… Let me sip some red wine overlooking the ocean and do my work from my laptop on my balcony and not see a soul, or talk to anyone…” she laughs, “is a real relief! That is your rescue, if you wish!”

Shepherd Clark Being Knighted

“But, at the same time, life in New York City for me had the same kind of energy that it had for Carrie in Sex and the City. I get asked this question all the time: ‘Is living in New York really like what was shown in the movie’…and I think it is…Depends of course which character you are. I never was anyone except Carrie. But, I have seen the rest in other people. So, yes, all of it exists.”

While doing some modeling for fun after having been “harassed non-stop to become a model,” Papp was also sought out by film makers to handle funds and investments, and was first offered a script that would star Keanu Reeves, a name she was not at all familiar with.  “I think I was the only one in the country who did not have the faintest clue who he was, despite Reeves appearances in such well-known films as Speed.”  When I lived in New York in my early twenties and was surrounded by investment bankers and venture capitalists, I was not into movies at all. Today, there is not one film I have not seen, or one actor I do not know about; well, I exaggerate a little, of course to make the point. Back then my knowledge of movie stars started and ended with Robert Redford and Paul Newman, both of whom I was madly in love with of course as a child. And for music, the Beatles! Other than that, anybody could have been anybody I would not have noticed.”

Nevertheless a small Destiny Films project called Great Jones Street took Papp to Los Angeles, where she made her first contacts in the entertainment industry.  Almost simultaneously, Charlie Rose, the eminent PBS talk show host offered her a business position, putting her into the Chateau Marmont for a long stay.

Sir Robert Simone and Lady Adrienne Papp

“Those years at the Chateau overlooking the pool, giving me the feel of a real home, were the most fun times of my life! Although we flew to Paris on the Concord for a weekend with my ex-fiancé from New York, my time with him never came close to the fun I had at the Chateau Marmont. Andre Balazs, a fellow Hungarian, put out a great book on that legendary hotel. I feel like I grew up there. That is where I became an adult. Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Studios once said, ‘if you MUST get into trouble, do it at the Château Marmont.’ He was right!”

Reeves eventually moved on to the Matrix series, but Adrienne became intrigued with Los Angeles, in addition to her love of New York City, and decided to take her talents to the Golden State.   She returned to New York and bought out her investors, becoming the sole owner of a multi-million dollar marketing, advertising, publicity, educational media, and film production and finance company. “This last leg was kind of imposed on me…it just found me. One of those mysteries,” she says.

Now, determined to learn film making and not pressured to earn a monthly living, she got a production job with HBO and worked on the highly rated war film When Trumpets Fade, which was shot in Hungary, where she was a big factor in facilitating communications with the cast and crew.

“John Irvin thought I would be a good translator taken that the entire American production was moved over to Hungary and not one person spoke any Hungarian except me. So, they were glad to find me, although most everyone thought I was ‘overqualified.’ My language skills were a key reason I got the job as the assistant to John Irvin. I felt like a million dollars, and I made about $1,000 a month. We were freezing up in the mountains during winter in the middle of nowhere, had hardly any edible food or warm clothes, and burned down a forest or two and tons of rubber tires every single day to produce the smoky camera shots for World War II, but I felt so privileged just to be part of the film. Getting up at 5 am and watching trailers till 1 am for six months took a toll on all of us, but I remember Gavin Polone being there every minute of the film. He was an amazing producer. I was sick from exhaustion and he was always smiling, not caring about freezing to death, or not eating for a few days. But the entire cast and crew was just so diligent, and never gave up although we had hit the breaking point more than just a few times. We lived in trailers and hardly saw the light of day.  I learned a lot on that set. Everyone said ‘do not worry, movie making is not this tough, you got the worst of it,’ and I did, but I think it served me well on the long run. These were the most amazing people I had ever met and the entire experience was a real highlight of my life. Not that I understood any of this at the time.”

Investiture and Oath into the Chivalric Order

After a car accident due to the fault of another driver in LA in March of 1998 after postproduction on the film was coming to an end, Papp suffered serious injuries and had a very challenging two years during the recovery period due to complications resulting from whiplash.

In 2000 Adrienne moved back to New York, bringing her business expertise to the aid to some of the newly formed Internet companies launching new technologies, some of which eventually collapsed on the New York Stock Exchange in early 2001.

“Those times were strange. I knew there was no GDP, but their technology was remarkable and still drives the economy to this day. It as just that they were too disorganized and new, and everyone was too stingy to restructure them.”

Later, she was working with an investment banking company headquartered in the Twin Towers when they were struck by terrorists on 9/11. The event not only traumatized her, but the city as well, and changed life in New York, and America forever.

His Excellency, the Count of Esson, Michael R.S. Teilman, Grand Cancellor, and Lady Adrienne Papp

“By the Grace of God I had to survive for some mysterious reason. I should have been in the building when the first tower went down, but I refused to go to work that day (I still do not know why,) and I did not even wake up in my midtown apartment until after the first building was attacked and burning. I saw the whole thing from the roof of my building, which was right by the United Nations. We were then told that the UN is next to be attacked, and I started shaking and running out of my building down the stairs from the 32^nd floor in my PJs. The streets of Manhattan were completely empty. I never saw anything like that before. There were only people walking in the middle of the streets. Lots and lots of people. No cars anywhere. That had not happened ever before. Nobody knew where all the cars were.”

“I did not stop shaking till midnight that day! We did not know what was going to happen next or where. I had 48 messages on my phone. People from around the world called that day. Of course there were no phones or banks for days after the attacks. Our world literally collapsed. I had post-traumatic-stress syndrome after that event. All of a sudden everything was taken from me and I just saw one tragedy after another: losing people all around me.”

“At this time my private life was on the rocks as well. April 2, 2001 was the last time I heard from my fiancé. All I ever had was gone in an instance: My Life, my career, my status, my finances, the love I thought was real and all else I EVER thought was real!   As hard as it was, it started a whole new chapter in my life except I did not understand it then. And …I did not understand it for years, but the foundation to my success today was the fact that ALL was gone, everything was taken from me and all I had left was me.”

“As I saw everyone moving out of New York I went back to my old home: Europe.  Nobody knew much of anything about me there. I could go incognito. In New York I was a celebrity. But then, back in Europe, they invited me to teach at Oxford University for a while as a guest professor. It was a very quiet and calm time for me. I came to a complete stand still. But, I enjoyed the teaching and I was very retrospective. I needed that time to recover, I think.”

With clients on both coasts in the U.S., Papp then moved back first to her apartment in New York City then to her house in Los Angeles in 2004, and continued her most successful media and Publicity Companies. She worked closely with a number of celebrities and power players, developing full features, profiles and coverage for various events, BUT only to her liking and not as a means of living.   She also attended international film festivals and major award shows just the same.

“Doing for others I think is the only satisfaction in life along with self-realization. All else is just hogwash. Temporary satisfaction is an addiction.  Most people think the external is all that matters, and it never is. Not in the end. Not ultimately. But achieving in the material world is a reflection of the mind. And I admire that. It takes smarts and dedication, hard work and great courage. Only a few can really do that and it is more than honorable.  It is just that there is still more to life, AND for a lot of people, self-realization is the point when life really starts.”

Sir Rob Simone and Lady Adrienne Papp

Adrienne also completed post-graduate courses at NYU (New York University) in International Trade and Law and also at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) in Advertising, Marketing and Journalism.

Adrienne Papp is currently the Owner, President and CEO of Atlantic Publicity, with offices in Los Angeles, California; Aspen, Colorado, and New York City, New York.  Atlantic Publicity operates several business divisions, including a news release platform, and Atlantic United Films.

Adrienne is also the former Profile Editor of Flying Adventures Magazine, Celeb Staff, the Editor in Chief of Savoir Magazine and The Beverly Hills Times, a host and Editor of Chic Today, an online fashion and high-tech magazine, La2Day, and It Magazine.  She also Profile Edited six Southern California based publications, including Beverly Hills 90210, Brentwood News, Santa Monica Sun, Bel-Air View, Palisades 90272, and Malibu Beach. She also writes and produces Spotlight Media Productions, a cutting-edge interactive multimedia style and entertainment media production company that distributes news articles around the World.

“What I love the most about my life is when I see the joy and tears in my client’s eyes, as they see their lives changed completely due to my contribution to their dreams and hard work.  I truly believe that in the end, all we have are dreams, and the only difference is whether or not they have come true. I think that is the task.  And, when someone makes them true for you, your life changes to the degree that you want to do more for the World. And, that I think is chivalry. That, I think is nobility in its most selfless sense.”

Lady Szylvia, Sir Shepherd and Lady Adrienne

Some of Adrienne’s cover stories included profiles of Angelina Jolie, Robert Redford, Adrian Pasdar, Lea Thompson, Kathy Ireland, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Clint Eastwood, Gerard Butler, and the late Violet Parkhurst among many, many others. Adrienne also currently serves as the Chairman of Public Relations of the William Fox Film Club and Atlantic Publicity is the PR and Publicity Company of the Hungarian Film Festival in Los Angeles, which is happening right now with films such as the big screen Predators, directed by Nimrod Antal.

As a person with a lifelong concern for the planet and our way of life, Adrienne is also highly active in many organizations that she feels contribute to the well being of our culture and society at large. Her contributions promote pro-social actions that inspire life-altering and world-changing philosophies.

“I study Quantum Physics, Neuroscience, and Consciousness. I believe that the key to the future is really a new way of thinking. There is no failure in life despite what popular culture believes!  I believe in parallel universes and the Double Slit Experiment. Everything is really only happening because of the Observer. And the Observer is you and I. There is no experience without me, or you, the Observer, but more importantly, I can absolutely influence any situation the way I view it. Of course people confuse this with the Newtonian physics where everything has ALREADY been created. You cannot change that! But, you can change everything that has NOT yet been manifested. It is really all up to you. This is the good news! And this is the bad news! Because you cannot blame others from here on! I admire the work of Dr. Joe Dispensa, Dr. Stephen Hawking, Leonard Susskind of Stanford University and many other real great teachers, who are willing to go down the rabbit hole and are inventive enough to talk about their own experience as opposed to what they have learned.”

The Investiture Ceremony

“I love what Debra Pauli has to say, and one of my favorite geniuses is Mike Dooley who lectures with a fantastic sense of humor and a true dedication to his craft: the craft of life from a Universal point of view. Pauli is the same in a female version and very, very beautiful. “

“I am also fortunate to be able to work with extraordinary minds like Dennis Buzek of M55-Bike, Kay Roy of Vayaro, Peter Budahazy of Helia-D Beauty, Yasuko Siegel of MYRA-Kyoto, and music icons who are putting their lives and souls into their craft, just like I have always done with a never ending desire to bring about change! This is what the World will see and remember in the end. The people who MAKE IT HAPPEN! The message is: The old paradigm is out and dead. It is time for a new one, which I think is: ‘Do it and do it no matter what it takes, it will be worth it in the end for as long as you believe in it!’”

“I believe that we are not here to change people, but rather change the way we think!”

Papp has also been active in sponsoring better living conditions for children in Africa where she has her own adopted kids, but is also a contributor to many charitable organizations, including: World Wild Life Fund, Wild Life Rescue, Wildlife Way Station, Stand Up 2 Cancer, Green World, Free Tibet, and even met the Dalai Lama in person in Aspen in 2008. Adrienne is a guest host on WomensRadio targeting ten million women around the World addressing these issues as well as promoting the messages her very extinguished clients convey.

Lady Adrienne Papp

“It is the greatest honor and I take it humbly to be knighted into a Lady by the Imperial Order of Constantine the Great and of Saint Helen. I hope that through this exceptional recognition as the result of my work I can motivate and inspire others to follow their own paths of self-realization, wherever their path may lie!  Making a difference in not just talent, but a choice. ‘Nobility is defined by One’s Actions and not by Titles bestowed upon them.’”

“I believe in a new way of thinking…, and feeling the invisible. Nothing can win over that!”

For a Radio Interview on WomensRadio with Adrienne Please click here

For more information please visit:

http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_la_events/The_Order_of_Saint_Constanstine_-_To_Be_A_Knight.php

www.Adrienne Papp.com

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www.AtlanticPublisher.com

www.AtlanticUnitedFilms.com

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Debra Pauli

By Adrienne Papp

The Debra Pauli Story: The Worst Child Abuse Case in Recorded History

We’ve all heard fantasy stories, or true events that are either too good to be true, rags to riches tales, or so full of suffering and unspeakable human misery that we have a hard time comprehending its reality. No wonder that some of the biggest blockbusters made in Hollywood come out of true stories of ordinary people doing the impossible, exemplifying the good in us and not the all-too-common tragically wasted potential and literal loss of life when it comes to horrific circumstances like those of Debra Pauli’s.

The unbelievable true story of Debra incorporates not only the impossible, but also the exceptional and unprecedented.  It’s a story that begins in the deepest hell and most barbarian of conditions ever seen by the mortal eye, and yet transitions into a tale of triumph over impossible odds, redemption and a shared hope for the human existence.

Debra’s story is not an easy one to tell, some of the details are not only disturbing, but also painfully unnerving. Yet, the chilling perplexities while astonishing, also serve as a sad illustration and soul-penetrating lesson of what an individual “Homo sapien” is capable of by revealing both the darkest and most uncivilized characteristics, as well as the triumphant resourcefulness of the human spirit.

The nightmare began at birth. When Debra Pauli was born she was dubbed “The Devil’s Daughter,” as her paranoid schizophrenic mother bizarrely identified her as a child from the Devil in a family where she desperately wanted only male children.  Sexually abused herself as a child, Debra’s mother began to abuse her daughter at birth, putting her crib in a confining closet at the back of the house.  She was convinced that her newborn daughter was trying to destroy her marriage and would end up having sex with her husband.

Debra Remembers Her Childhood

When she was three weeks old a mosquito from the nearby swamps got through a hole in Debra’s closet and bit her, causing encephalitis, a high fever, convulsions and eventually a coma. Debra had to have her spine drained and spent weeks recovering in a hospital.  All along her Mother insisted that she had been “born crazy.”  At six weeks, Debra had to be rushed to the hospital when she stopped breathing and turned blue from lack of oxygen.  Her Mother claimed that “Debra tried to kill herself” by stuffing her blanket down her throat ( as if a six week old were able to do that,) not admitting to paramedics that she had tried suffocating her daughter until she was near death.

Debra, being the oldest daughter, took the full brunt of her Mother’s abuse, although younger sister Danielle was also badly mistreated when she was born. They were both routinely subjected to vindictive deprivation and homicidal rage, yet Debra was her Mother’s main target. In the young family living near St. Louis, MO, which also included two boys, but only the girls were subject to the terror and dread dealt to them by their mentally disturbed Mother. “My Mother wanted nothing to do with me or my sister Danielle, who was born eleven months after I was born in 1962,” Debra says. “Both of us were kept in separate cramped closets as infants and toddlers, and when we moved to our second home we were kept in a damp, musty, unfinished basement with just a mattress. The meager food we received was placed on the stairs, as if we were sub-humans or pets. Neither of us ever had any potty training and we would go for days without having our diapers changed and we both had terrible rashes and sores from our soggy diapers.”

Those sores caused Debra to scratch herself continuously, and when her mother discovered it, she became convinced that her daughter was touching herself sexually and was “queer.”  Her delusional thinking led her to devise  homemade straightjacketsthat she made Debra wear to control her “evil” habits.  “The straightjackets made sure that I couldn’t move, and I was continually strapped into this restraint with one of my legs placed over the other,” Debra says.  “That was how I learned to walk, in this straightjacket, with one leg over the other, hobbling in a contorted position, trying to move myself forward.”

The straightjacket also had long term physical implications.  “One of my legs grew to be deformed since I had it continually strapped over the other one,” Debra says.  “It took six months of physical therapy in a hospital to reduce the effect of that deformation.”

Debra’s mother also forced Debra to sit with strapped arms and legs to a potty chair for hours, and tried to get her to urinate by forcing a syringe up her vagina.  For years Debra learned to hold her urine and bowel movements, but eventually she would make a mess in her panties, which caused her mother to smear her face with feces and then dry it with an electric fan, a humiliation that she found humorous.  “And later when Danielle and I were together in the damp basement in our second home, she would  stand us over a drain and hose us down with icy water in that cold basement in the dead of winter,” Debra remembers.

Mother just wasn’t cut out for housework either, and didn’t think it necessary to attend to cleaning and housework.  “She never washed dishes.  There were pots of food molding in the kitchen and in the refrigerator,” Debra says.

It was a terrifying existence for a child.  Every day was simply something to endure, a test of survival.  Eventually young Debra thought her father might come to her rescue and become her savior, but he was a slight man and powerless to deal with the destructive behavior his domineering 5-foot 9-inch, 250-pound wife exhibited toward his daughters.

Things worsened when Debra’s Mother would fight with her father, Larry, whose concerns for the girls would cause her to increase their abuse. Shouting and arguments could continue for hours, as she verbally abused the girls’ father.  When police arrived they would arrest the Father, and he would spend a night in jail.

Young Debra Growing Up in Foster Homes

The daily torture continued in many ways.  Physical abuse was commonplace, and included cigarette burns and the use of pharmaceutical drugs (such as Valium) to keep Debra quiet, beginning at an early age.  “I was fed an assortment of adult pills to keep me sedated and immobile beginning when I was about two years old. Mother had convinced a doctor that she needed a prescription for stress and anxiety, and she used whatever drugs she could get to keep me in a stupor,” Debra says.

Within days of being force fed adult sedatives, Debra fell into a coma, losing sensory perceptions.  Her Father found her on the floor of her closet reeking of urine and feces in a comatose state. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where she spent several weeks recovering from her Mother-inflicted drug overdose.

The overdose was reported to social services, which finally stepped in and took serious action against the family, telling them that Debra would be placed in a home in southern Missouri for a year until the family decided whether or not they wanted her or could take care of her.

Debra eventually was returned to her family after her one year stay at a foster home. A number of relatives gathered at the family home to welcome her, and were impressed with how nicely her hair had grown out during her time away.  Angered by the attention her daughter was getting, Debra’s mother took the scissors to her hair the next day, chopping off the offensive object of admiration.

For the first formative years of her young life, Debra Pauli was routinely brutalized, physically and emotionally on a daily basis. She was physically malnourished and beaten, emotionally and cognitively stunted, and completely without any nurturing or schooling.  She was caged both physically in a closet and later in a basement, and mentally with pharmaceutical drugs and strong adult sedatives, but through it all she learned to survive.

“Many days I heard a tiny voice inside me say that things would be all right, the voice telling me that ‘It’s not you,” Debra recalls.  “If it hadn’t been for that I don’t know if I could have survived the daily torment. Something deep inside me told me that there was something better for me and that I would survive my mother’s hatred for me.  I somehow knew that my mother could beat me, could physically and emotionally torment me, but she would NEVER take away my will to survive or destroy me.” Despite the reassuring voice, Debra’s life was always about “hanging on just one more day.”

In 1967, after her parents divorced, Debra’s mother packed up the kids and moved to Arizona to live with a man who owned a ramshackle 10-acre ranch out in the middle of the Palo Verde desert, about fifty miles west of Phoenix. “He was an ex-military man who had a twisted sense of discipline, and was an ideal partner in crime for the demented behavior of my mother,” Debra says.  “He built a form of animal pen for us out there, and we had to surrender our shoes so that we couldn’t run away on the scalding hot desert sand.  Years later I went back to the site of the ranch and found a pair of my shoes there.  I keep them on my desk now as the only keepsake as a little girl, and what I had to survive back then.”

Debra's Shoes, Reminders of Her Days of Horror As a Little Girl

Life at the ranch in Arizona also included other forms of abuse for the young daughters, including forcing them by cattle prod to scrub the bathtub in the trailer, constrain them to eat horse manure and dog food while the boys ate Oreo cookies and making them walk on hot galvanized metal in the 110-degree desert heat without shoes as a daily punishment. The girls, Debra and Danielle, were never allowed to stay in the trailer, and in many cases the boys were forced to torment their sisters as well.  “My Mother thought it would be fitting if we were branded, and encouraged my brother Matthew to use a hot fork to make brand marks on us, Debra says.

Other forms of abuse at the ranch included burning the girls with cigarettes, Mother wrapping her finger around her daughters’ hair and yanking chunks of it out, and pouring hot pepper spice or paprika on the girls’ private parts in her delusional mind’s attempt to destroy her daughter’s female parts.

It’s almost impossible to believe this kind of torture was routinely inflicted on young innocent children, three young girls trying to survive a life that seemingly couldn’t get any worse.  But Mother Jayne and stepfather Harold continued to find new ways to enhance the misery.  It was years later that Harold decided to sexually molest the youngest sister Doreen.

Debra and Danielle became desperate to find ways to escape the compound, and they were finally able to run away. The police became involved, and the girls’ rebelliousness eventually got to be too much for the mother and step-father who got “tired of the runaway girls” and, before Debra’s 6th birthday (an occasion the family never celebrated), she and Danielle were dumped at a social service center to begin new lives in a series of foster homes. Strangely enough, Debra’s Mother was never arrested for her brutality towards her daughters for the simple reason that no one ever pressed charges.

“I had no frame of reference for what a normal family life was,” Debra says, “but I didn’t think things could get any worse.  The odd thing was I really didn’t want to go.  I didn’t want to leave my siblings.”

Their first placement at a foster home happened to be with a family who were nudists.  The second foster family had an 18-year old son who raped Debra at the age of six.  There were a series of other homes for the girls, and eventually Debra went to a family on her own and separated from Danielle, which was yet another pivotal turn in her life.

Debra Published Three Books, Making Her Experience a Mission to Help Others

Each foster home was far from ideal.  When Debra was nine she moved to the home of an older couple in Minnesota who wanted a daughter to replace their daughter who had been killed in a car accident.  “That was a very strange experience for me.  They had sealed off their daughter’s room and kept her things in place like she was still alive.”

Life in Minnesota for Debra offered some stability, but also more torment.  By the 3rd grade Debra had figured out that she could get attention from boys, and by the 6th grade was running with a free spirited and unruly group of kids.  When she was eleven years old, Debra was raped again, and she then became a school drop out in the tenth grade.  “I was very rebellious towards the adult figures in my life, and yet on the flip side sexually very promiscuous with the boys, looking for the love and affection that I never got as a child,” she says.

While living with her adoptive parents in Southern MN, at the tender age of fourteen, Debra became pregnant.  She had a son at fifteen, who she ended up keeping.  She also tried to commit suicide later on, but her inner strength triumphed over death. The world needed Debra.

By the age of sixteen Debra was married, and by the age of twenty-two she had four boys.  She was now a full-fledged mother, and was determined to give her children the love that was denied her as a child.  By this point in her life Debra Pauli was determined to be the best mother she could be, virtually exploding with love towards her family.

Through her twenties, with the years of torture behind her and the healing ahead of her, Debra Pauli was finally on the right track to a balanced life.  She busied herself with her family, getting an education, earning a 3.7 to 4.0 GPA and studying psychology and paranoid schizophrenia in an attempt to understand her mother’s illness. She had acquired a passion for learning as a college student and became committed to pursuing a career that would fulfill her potential.  She had begun to recognize her true talents both as a woman and a teacher.  At that time in her life Debra felt ready and pursued a 3-year search on her biological family. It was when she summoned the courage to contact her mother on the phone as an adult for the first time in many years.  Her Mother’s first words to her were: “Yes, I remember you, you are the Devil’s Daughter.” In 1992 the family was reunited on “The Jenny Jones Show,” but there was no real reconciliation possible for Debra and her Mother.

And there were still many bumps in the road before Debra Pauli was to find her way to a stable, happy, fulfilling life.  In her thirties she attempted suicide twice, and in her forties her third son Bryce lost his life in an ATV accident in 2005. She dedicated her third book, (“Why we Cry for a Soul set Free”) to helping other parents heal from the unbearable tragedy of losing a child. But, almost as if each setback made her stronger, there was a healing process, a pivotal turn of life going on underneath it all.

“I took many different paths,” she says in her book A Survivor’s Closet, “the paths that I thought were the right ones.  Stubborn and full of determination, I believed I knew what was best for my child and my adult.  Long stretches of time were spent in tears, releasing endless pains from the inner part of my soul.  Allowing myself to breathe, to deeply inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth over and over to calm my restless body.  I revealed my deepest emotional and physical courage so I could reshape my future. It was as if a hurricane was living deep inside me and after years of life-threatening waters, I could finally find calmer seas.”

Debra Pauli Today

Today, Debra Pauli, after having survived inhuman conditions and constant torture, is a highly successful businesswoman, the author of three books (A Survivor’s Closet, Why We Cry for a Soul Set Free, …and then There Was Light,with as many as 11 more books in the works, a life coach, and a corporate lecturer (www.debrapauli.com) teaching others, either as individuals, or groups, what it takes to be survivors and become successful at beating the odds when the odds are stacked against you.

Her story is a very vivid example for even the most skeptical of souls that with the right thinking and determination we can not only endure adverse circumstances, but can also reach the highest of human potentials and triumph into the light from the deepest of darkness.  With a strong sense of self, Debra today commands all excuses begone, defines the true meaning of extraordinary, and proves every word of her teachings with her life experience. She earned her power through discovering her personal ability, which allowed the transcendence of intense and horrific situations and circumstances, something that other motivational speakers, although greatly recognized, cannot say about their own lives. Nobody has the personal history of terror and torment that Debra Pauli does.

Debra does not lecture philosophies; she puts thinking and realizations into practice. As Oprah once said: “We need to thrive to achieve the highest good within us and transform others through our own example.” Debra Luptak, a genius in her own right, dedicated her life to the most noble of causes: helping her fellow humans through a complete transformation of the self.  For asEinstein said: “Only a life lived for others is worth living.”

In her very successful hard cover book,  A Survivor’s Closet, Debra says: “Leave your memories buried beneath the dirt, Share your gift with those you inspire, and Dive into life with your gift of strength. “

This courageous, beautiful woman inside and out, turned her life into a raving success, raised four boys with love and caring, has the most supportive and giving marriage and is here to help all of us if we are willing to listen. Debra Pauli is God’s angel, an unparalleled inspiration and blessing to the World! She possesses the biggest treasure there is: the gift of forgiveness. That something inside her that was able to transform terror and daily fear into love and compassion is the very essence of what our 21st century crises-stricken humanity needs to find in each and every individual’s heart. Making a better world starts from within and is not only a must, but a responsibility that the majority of mankind does not understand. Most people in Debra’s shoes would choose drugs and alcohol to numb the pain or remain in denial, and even justify it, instead of realizing that the most joy and the biggest transformation is born out of hardship and not fun and games.

With Debra, a full presence emerges empowered by the encoded iron will granted by God to all humans, asking us to awaken, to become conscious and realize that our choices are the ones determining our destiny and not our outside circumstances, or other people’s actions.

Debra is a Successful Lecturer and Motivational Speaker

By telling her story, Debra conveys to us both the teachings of Jesus Christ and the latest discoveries in science about the workings of the human mind and how we connect to that higher intelligence we know exists. Are we ready to understand our own power? Are we ready to wake up from sleepwalking through life, and instead, become valued individuals helping the world and ourselves evolve? Are we ready for a new way of thinking, a new reality, a new life, a new destiny? Are we ready to hear the words of the universe through Debra’s voice?

Debra Pauli has been ready all along, sensing even as a child that someday she would be called to shine her light throughout the direst circumstances of the human condition. Her destiny has been written from the beginning, unbeknownst to her, but something that humanity cries out to hear from a source that has been through it all. And, that source is her story: the Debra Pauli story!

About the Author of This Article:  Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicity and publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazine is owned by Atlantic United, Inc with Adrienne Papp being the majority shareholder.

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Kristen Stewart MTV Awards

By Adrienne Papp

The MTV Awards are always the biggest highlights of the awards season.  Without all the pomp and glamour that comes with the other major award shows, MTV makes sure things stay lively by offering a show that’s a little low brow but with plenty of high jinks, some surprise stage pranks, outrageous fashion choices, and an unexpected surprise or two. From Sandra Bullock and Scarlett Johansson’s stage kiss, to Tom Cruise’s funny opening dance sketch reprising his ‘Tropic Thunder‘ character Les Grossman, there was plenty of entertainment, a few f-bombs, and of course, a full slate of winners from the year’s most popular movies.

While much of the actual award ceremony is a forgone conclusion, with films like Twilight New Moon winning numerous categories through the huge vote from its online fan base, there was plenty of good television and at least two major stars used the occasion to refurbish their images.

Tom Cruise at the MTV Awards

Cruise opened the show in his sleezy Les Grossman guise from Tropic Thunder and his fly dance moves went a long way to recast his public image from uptight Scientology pretty boy to a life-of-the-party greaseball.  It was a Tom Cruise character who looked like he was having a lot of fun, and it kicked things off in great style.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock was presented the Generation Award,  at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and marking her first televised appearance since the March 7 Oscars and the domestic drama that followed. During her presentation Bullock shed even more baggage than Cruise. Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper and Betty White introduced Bullock, with the very mention of her name receiving a standing ovation, followed by prolonged applause – all as Bullock was sitting in the audience. White said of Bullock, “You are grace defined, and I adore you madly.” Then, in keeping with the irreverent nature of the MTV Awards, White made fun of Bullock’s movies, twisting all their plots shamelessly (At the Jan. 23 Screen Actors Guild Awards it was Bullock who presented the Life Achievement Award to White).  Scarlett Johansson, the wife of her absentee Proposal leading man Ryan Reynolds was there to help hand over Bullock’s award, and hinted she wanted to plant a kiss on Bullock, who awkwardly obliged.  What would the VMAs be without an outrageous kiss or two?

Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the MTV Awards

In the awards categories, The Twilight Saga almost ran the table for the second straight year. New Moon picked up trophies for Best Movie Kiss, Best Female Performance for Kristen Stewart and Best Male Performance and Global Superstar for Robert Pattinson.

Other winners selected by online votes included Obsessed co-stars Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter for best fight, Jennifer’s Body star Amanda Seyfried for “Scared-As-S–t moment,” Ninja Assassin star Rain for “Biggest Badass Star,” The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis for Comedic Performance and Up in the Air co-star Anna Kendrick for Breakout Star.

About the Author: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

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