For some celebrities, pals are found on the payroll

When Entertainment Tonight reported—erroneously, though they've never actually admitted they were wrong—that Angelina Jolie had given birth to her twins prematurely in June, the rumor was traced back to someone impersonating Jolie's longtime assistant, Holly Goline. Like many assistants in Hollywood, Goline's not just a coffee-fetcher. She's there, standing quietly yet proudly on the red carpet, when Jolie poses for photos. Photos of them side by side reveal an almost eerie resemblance; Goline has cut her hair in a very similar style as Jolie, and it's just about the same shade of rich, auburn-tinged brown. Weirdest of all—celebrity and assistant were reported to have the same due date earlier this spring. That's right, Goline got knocked up roughly around the same time as her boss.

Or take Jessica Simpson and her former assistant and "best friend," CaCee Cobb. Now dating Scrubs (and Clueless!) actor Donald Faison, Cobb used her proximity to Simpson and then-husband Nick Lachey (with whom she's still friendly) to turn herself into a bona fide Famous Person. The same thing happened with Britney Spears' former assistant and distant cousin, Alli Sims, who attempted to start a singing and modeling career after she muscled her way into a few X17 shots.

"Everybody makes the mistake of being either too nice or too removed," says Jill Glist, the founder of assistant placement firm Lambent Services. (Though she declined to name names, her publicist assured me that Lambent draws its clients from prominent names in media, entertainment, sports, and business.) Lambent, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, specializes in short-term or even part-time placement of assistants. "The general pattern is an initial rush of excitement, and then it's all pretty matter of fact."

Glist is sanguine about celebrities who turn their assistants into their "friends." "Whatever works. Some people absolutely need social support," she says. "I don't think that's a problem, particularly for celebrities where a lot of friendships are suspect. As long as you know exactly what you're doing—you're paying them! The whole point of assistants is they're supposed to help you." And isn't that, after all, what friends are for?