Scott Neeson, who gave up everything for poor children in Cambodia. Scott Neeson, former owner of 20th Century Fox Scott Neeson biography

At 45, Scott Neeson had everything he ever dreamed of. The position of president of the film studio XX Century Fox. Luxurious home. A sports car and a whole list of celebrities among friends. However, at the peak of his career, he unexpectedly quit the film business, sold all his property and disappeared from the world of cinema forever.

“I could easily work in the film industry for the rest of my life. I don't think I've been more unhappy than any of the other successful Hollywood producers,” Scott tells me. - Looking at my life from the outside, you would say that I am lucky. I couldn’t say that about myself.”

Scott came to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, almost by accident: he took his first vacation in twelve years to see the Buddhist temples of Asia. Cambodia was just a stop on a list of several countries. While sitting at a local cafe, Scott gave some money to a homeless child. One of the visitors Scott chatted with remarked: “If you want to really help children, go to the city dump.” Neeson himself cannot explain why, but he followed this advice.

“What I saw was a blow to the gut,” Scott recalls, “one hundred and fifty homeless children collecting garbage in a garbage dump in order to somehow live another day. A smell you could literally touch. Like most people, I believed that special organizations should help such children - but at that moment I was standing there alone, and there was no social service nearby. Either you do something or they stay there. I could turn around and pretend I never saw it. But for the first time, I felt like I was meant to be here.”

Photo from the archive of Scott Neeson

That same day, Scott rented apartments for two homeless children away from the city dump and took care of their treatment. “It only costs $40 a month to provide everything a homeless child needs in Cambodia,” Scott says, “I felt ashamed that it was so easy.”

On the way to America, Scott began to think that helping children might be his real calling, and then he thought for a long time about where such thoughts could come from. “I was afraid it might be a midlife crisis. And I've seen how terrible they can be in Hollywood,” Scott says.

Over the next year, Scott spent three weeks a month in Hollywood and flew to Phnom Penh for one week. “I was waiting for some sign that I was doing everything right,” he says. “And one day one of the five most sought-after actors in Hollywood called me. The next day we were supposed to have negotiations, the man was on a private jet and he was served the wrong lunch. He shouted into the phone - word for word - “My life shouldn’t have been so difficult!” At that moment I stood in front of the garbage dump, watching the children slowly die before my eyes from hunger. If there was a sign that my whole life in Hollywood was just a set, a fake, it was it. It became obvious to me that I had to give up everything and go to Cambodia.”

Photo from the archive of Scott Neeson

Scott has lived in Cambodia for ten years. During this time, the number of children he cares for has increased to two thousand. He no longer relies only on his own money - the former Hollywood tycoon has sponsors and followers. And he still doesn't have any children of his own. “I've never been married and never felt like I needed one. It's too good a life to be a single man in the Hollywood movie business, says Scott. “In Los Angeles, of course, there were wonderful women, but even in my wildest dreams I could not imagine that I would marry one of them. I have quite a few children to look after now. In ten years they will take care of me, and I will be their grandfather.”

Scott spent his weekends in Hollywood boating with friends and playing table tennis. Now the former president of the world's largest film company spends his everyday life at the landfill. “I never thought about moving back to Los Angeles. The feeling of liberation from the corporate world that I experienced was incomparable,” he says. I ask him the question that arises in everyone who has heard his story: does he miss his old life? “Only by boat. She gave me an inexplicable feeling of freedom."

Scott Neeson is one of the heroes of Alexander Murashev's book Normal People.

These stories became the basis of a book about the people we all try to be, but don't always know how to do it.

At 45, Scott Neeson had everything he ever dreamed of. Scott was the president of one of the largest Hollywood film studios, he had a luxurious home, a sports car and a list of famous friends. However, at the peak of his career, he unexpectedly quit the film business, sold all his property and moved to Cambodia to help homeless children with his own money.

“It was like a punch in the gut,” Scott recalls, “one hundred and fifty homeless children living in a garbage dump and collecting garbage in order to somehow survive. A smell you could literally touch. Like most people, I believed that special organizations should help such children - but at that moment I was standing there alone, and there was no social service nearby. Either you do something or they stay there. I could turn around and pretend I never saw it. But for the first time I felt like I was meant to be here.”
That same day, Scott rented apartments for two homeless children away from the city dump and took care of their medical treatment. “It only costs $40 a month to provide everything a homeless child needs in Cambodia,” Scott says, “I felt ashamed because it was so easy.”

On the way to America, Scott began to think that helping children might be his true calling, but decided not to act hastily. "I was afraid it might be a midlife crisis, and I've seen how terrible they can be in Hollywood," Scott says.
Over the next year, Scott spent 3 weeks a month in the film business and flew to Phnom Penh for one week. “At the end of the year, it became obvious to me that this was the right thing,” Scott says, “I had to give up everything and go to Cambodia.”

Absolutely everyone tried to dissuade him from this decision. However, Scott sold all his property and calculated that this money would be enough to support two hundred children for 8 years. He spent all these years creating the Cambodia Children’s Fund, whose goal is to provide homeless children with education, housing and medical treatment.
Scott does not hide the fact that the absence of his usual comfort was very difficult for him. “Sometimes I still miss my friends and my dog who remain in Los Angeles. And along my boat, which gave me some inexplicable feeling of freedom. I spent Sundays boating with friends and playing table tennis. Here I see them off at the landfill. But I never thought about moving back to Los Angeles. The feeling of liberation from the corporate world that I experienced is incomparable.”

Scott has lived in Cambodia for nine years. During this time, the number of children he cares for has increased to 1,600. Scott no longer relies only on his own money - he is looking for sponsors and followers. And he still didn't have children of his own. “I have never been married and never felt the need to. “Being a single man in the Hollywood movie business is a very good life,” says Scott. “There were certainly wonderful women in Los Angeles, but I couldn’t even imagine marrying them.” And now I have quite enough children to look after. In 10 ten years they will take care of me, and I will be their grandfather.”

I don't sleep well, so when the sun rises, at 5-5:30, I'm already on my feet. I put on old clothes and boots with thick soles - later I’ll go to the landfill. For breakfast I drink freshly ground espresso from local coffee varieties. I usually need three cups to wake up. Then I go up to my office, check my email, and make some business calls.

I live in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. I like it here, although, of course, my life now bears little resemblance to the time when I lived in Los Angeles and was the president of Twentieth Century Fox.

By the time I finish sorting out the mail, the whole house is already awake. I am the chairman of the Cambodian Children's Foundation (CCF), and I spend every morning at the dump - the Foundation has set up four orphanages there, housing a total of 460 orphans. Local residents work there. There are 140 children in each orphanage, and I know them all by name. They are like family to me - after all, many of them come to us when they are very young. They call me “Papa Scott.”

I was born in Australia, but at the age of 34 I decided to move to Los Angeles. He made his way to the top: he began his career as a leaflet distributor, and eventually became the head of the studio where Hollywood blockbusters Braveheart, Titanic and Star Wars were filmed. I had a beautiful house with a swimming pool, a Porsche - an indispensable attribute of a good life, a BMW M3, an SUV, a yacht, hanging out with the stars. But 11 years later, I'm exhausted. Filmmaking is a tough, ruthless business, and at some point I realized that it was also aimless.

In 2003, I was about to move to Sony and took five weeks off to recover a little. I went to Phnom Penh and made friends with a local restaurateur there. He told me about a municipal dump where children live and work. I decided to take a look and was amazed - I had never seen anything like it! 11 hectares are littered with garbage, flies are swarming everywhere... Due to the heat, methane, which is formed during the decomposition of garbage, ignites, and the fires last for months. Real hell. 3,000 families lived there; hundreds of orphans rummaged through the garbage in search of things they could sell. The children ran barefoot, wrapped in several layers of rags to protect themselves from the fire. Many made a living through prostitution. Some of them ended up in landfills because parents couldn't or simply wouldn't support them.

I realized: something needs to be done about this. I returned to Los Angeles and started working at Sony, but my thoughts were elsewhere. That year I went to Cambodia for a week every month to set up a charity in this landfill. In 2004, I sold my house, cars and yacht and moved to Phnom Penh. Now there is almost nothing left of my former condition.

The main event of the day was a visit to the “holy of holies” of our area in the thick of the landfill. There is a medical center where 1,100 people are treated a month, and a kindergarten for children from two to six years old who have been abused or are at risk for those whose parents suffer from alcoholism or have tried to sell their children.

By noon I return home for lunch. My housekeeper Sophie, originally from Cambodia, prepares generous portions of soup and rice. More email awaits me, then fundraising meetings. Many of the locals - the fathers of these children - hate me for what I do. For them, a child is a source of income, and they are unhappy that we send our children to school. They threatened to kill me more than once, and one of my employees, a local resident, once had acid thrown in her face because she worked for me.

In the afternoon I go to the center where we conduct various educational programs. At five o'clock the distribution of food begins for the "savage" children, as I call them - they have neither housing nor family, and there was not enough space for them in the shelters, so they live in a landfill. I help distribute nutritious milk drinks, noodles, meat and fish. We watch a movie together, the children ride the slides or play on the volleyball court. I turn into a living children's horizontal bar - children climb on me from all sides, like monkeys.

Then I go to evening clubs - folk dancing, music. We also have a culinary school. We try to give people work skills so that they can later get a job. I get home around half past eight. Sophie will probably have already cooked me some delicious Thai dinner - maybe chicken curry - and then I'll watch some bad movies - I like Steven Seagal movies, they're very simple. I don’t want to think or worry. It’s paradoxical that the very business that once tired me so much now gives me relief.

I get lonely. In Hollywood, I dated beautiful women because that was the norm, but I haven't had anyone for five years now. I'm afraid it will always be like this now. When people ask me why I gave up my old life, I respond by telling them how I realized that I can change something in this world. A few more emails and calls, and at midnight I go to bed and try to sleep. Now I wear a mouthguard at night to prevent grinding my teeth. I keep a lot to myself...

“I could easily work in the film industry for the rest of my life. I don't think I've been any less happy than any of the other successful Hollywood producers," Scott says. "If you looked at my life from the outside, you'd say I'm lucky. But I myself didn’t see the point in it.”
Scott came to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, almost by accident. An avid follower of yoga, he took his first vacation in 12 years to see Buddhist temples and monasteries throughout Asia. Cambodia was just a stopover in one of several countries. While sitting in a local cafe, Scott gave some money to a homeless child begging for change. One of the visitors Scott chatted with remarked: “If you want to really help homeless children, go to the city dump.” Scott actually decided to go there.
“It was like a punch in the gut,” Scott recalls, “one hundred and fifty homeless children living in a garbage dump and collecting garbage in order to somehow survive. A smell you could literally touch. Like most people, I believed that special organizations should help such children - but at that moment I was standing there alone, and there was no social service nearby. Either you do something or they stay there. I could turn around and pretend I never saw it. But for the first time, I felt like I was meant to be here.”
That same day, Scott rented apartments for two homeless children away from the city dump and took care of their medical treatment. “It only costs $40 a month to provide everything a homeless child needs in Cambodia,” Scott says, “I felt ashamed because it was so easy.”
On the way to America, Scott began to think that helping children might be his true calling, but decided not to act hastily. "I was afraid it might be a midlife crisis, and I've seen how terrible they can be in Hollywood," Scott says.
Over the next year, Scott spent 3 weeks a month in the film business and flew to Phnom Penh for one week. “At the end of the year, it became obvious to me that this was the right thing,” Scott says, “I had to give up everything and go to Cambodia.”
Absolutely everyone tried to dissuade him from this decision. However, Scott sold all his property and calculated that this money would be enough to support two hundred children for 8 years. He spent all these years creating the Cambodia Children’s Fund, whose goal is to provide homeless children with education, housing and medical treatment.
Scott does not hide the fact that the absence of his usual comfort was very difficult for him. “Sometimes I still miss my friends and my dog who remain in Los Angeles. And along my boat, which gave me some inexplicable feeling of freedom. I spent Sundays boating with friends and playing table tennis. Here I see them off at the landfill. But I never thought about moving back to Los Angeles. The feeling of liberation from the corporate world that I experienced is incomparable.”
Scott has lived in Cambodia for nine years. During this time, the number of children he cares for has increased to 1,600. Scott no longer relies only on his own money - he is looking for sponsors and followers. And he still didn't have children of his own. “I have never been married and never felt the need to. “Being a single man in the Hollywood movie business is a very good life,” says Scott. “There were certainly wonderful women in Los Angeles, but I couldn’t even imagine marrying them.” And now I have quite enough children to look after. In 10 ten years they will take care of me, and I will be their grandfather.”

Why did the main man in cinema give up his billion-dollar fortune and the best job on earth?

For 45 years, Scott Neeson had everything he ever dreamed of. The position of president of the film studio XX Century Fox. Luxurious home. A sports car and a whole list of celebrities among friends. However, at the peak of his career, he unexpectedly quit the film business, sold all his property and disappeared from the world of cinema forever.

“I could easily work in the film industry for the rest of my life. I don't think I've been more unhappy than any of the other successful Hollywood producers, Scott tells me. - Looking at my life from the outside, you would say that I am lucky. I couldn’t say that about myself.”

“What I saw was a blow to the gut,” Scott recalls, “one hundred and fifty homeless children, collecting garbage in a garbage dump in order to somehow live another day. A smell you could literally touch. Like most people, I believed that special organizations should help such children - but at that moment I was standing there alone, and there was no social service nearby. Either you do something or they stay there. I could turn around and pretend I never saw it. But for the first time, I felt like I was meant to be here.”

Over the next year, Scott spent three weeks a month in Hollywood and flew to Phnom Penh for one week. “I was waiting for some sign that I was doing everything right,” he says. - And one day one of the five most sought-after actors in Hollywood called me. The next day we were supposed to have negotiations, the man was on a private jet and he was served the wrong lunch. He shouted into the phone - word for word - “My life shouldn’t have been so difficult!” At that moment I stood in front of the garbage dump, watching the children slowly die before my eyes from hunger. If there was a sign that my whole life in Hollywood was just a set, a fake, this was it. It became obvious to me that I had to give up everything and go to Cambodia.”

Scott has lived in Cambodia for ten years. During this time, the number of children he cares for has increased to two thousand. He no longer relies only on his own money - the former Hollywood tycoon has sponsors and followers. And he still doesn't have any children of his own. “I've never been married and never felt like I needed one. Being a single man in the Hollywood movie business is too good a life, says Scott. - In Los Angeles, of course, there were wonderful women, but even in my wildest dreams I could not imagine that I would marry one of them. Now I have quite enough children to look after. In ten years they will take care of me, and I will be their grandfather.”