VIDEO: Author recounts stories and secrets from decades in public relations industryPhil Elwood reveals the underbelly of the PR world in his book, "All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians."
ABC News sat down with Elwood to discuss how he is now going through therapy and using some other methods of finding peace within himself.ABC NEWS: For decades our next guest made a name for himself in the PR business as a man with a long list of questionable clients, from Muammar Gaddafi's son to the Qatar government. Phil Ellwood has long occupied the seedy underbelly of Washington politics, where money and power meet.
One afternoon, we were doing a funeral, and, we had, you know, they dug the hole and lowered the body into the hole. And during the funeral, water started gushing into the hole. No one noticed, but I nudged my father and he started speaking more quickly to get the service over with quickly. And the coffin started rising out of the hole. I eventually had to put my foot on it to keep it submerged so no one would notice, and then he was able to get the audience away before anyone noticed.
ELWOOD: Absolutely. And that would have to be a trip to Las Vegas. Shortly before Muammar Gaddafi spoke to the United Nations General Assembly, my job was to, and this is very important. You have to understand, I had never been to Las Vegas before in my life, so functionally I was useless as a tour guide. But, and I didn't know why I was going until I got on the plane.
ELWOOD: Absolutely, absolutely. I have many regrets, one of which was helping Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. Something that, you know, started off as a bit of a prank ended with a human rights issue. And a number of people died building those stadiums, and it's one of my deepest regrets.