Who

Veteran publicist and managing director at PMK/HBH, Berger has repped a string of difficult clients from Rosie O'Donnell to Mariah Carey to Jessica Simpson.

Backstory

Cindi Studin was a college student when she decided what she wanted to do with her life. "I was laying in a friend's pool reading Cosmopolitan, drinking a can of Tab, and there was an article about celebrity publicists. And I thought, My God, that's what I want to do." The Orangeburg, NY native started off at PMK/HBH in the early 1980s (it was called Pickwick Maslansky Koenigsberg back then; it became PMK/HBH after merging with fellow Interpublic praisery Huvane Baum Halls in 2001), as receptionist. She worked her way up the corporate ladder to assistant, then publicist, and finally partner. When Pat Kingsley relinquished the top job in 2007, Berger became co-CEO with Simon Halls.

Of note

Over the past two and a half decades, Berger has turned celebrity damage control into an art. She has handled PR—and uttered the words "no comment"—for a long list of A-listers including Star Jones, the Dixie Chicks, 50 Cent, Harry Connick Jr., Billy Crystal, Jessica Simpson, Bette Midler, Sharon Stone, Barbara Walters, Tyra Banks, Rosie O'Donnell, and Mariah Carey.

Stress-free work it most certainly isn't. It was Berger who tried to keep Mariah's reputation intact following her split from Tommy Mottola and her descent into, well, complete craziness. (Berger prefers to call it an "emotional and physical breakdown.") Of course, there's only so much that even the very best spindoctor can do: During the height of Mariah's madness, Berger was caught on camera yanking the mic from the diva just as she was about to embarrass herself in front of a crowd of fans; when Carey showed up with cuts on her body amid reports she'd tried to commit suicide, Berger described the "unintentional injuries" related to broken "dishes and glasses." In recent years, Berger came to the aid of the Dixie Chicks when they criticized President Bush and momentarily turned radioactive (at least to country music fans); she also tended to Jessica Simpson's image in 2006 after she split from husband Nick Lachey.

These days, Berger has the unenviable job of keeping Rosie O'Donnell in line. After becoming Rosie's mouthpiece in 2002, one of Berger's first tasks was choreographing her client's coming-out. Berger later had to deal with a hundred and one crises when Rosie was on The View, fending for her during her high-profile spat with Donald Trump, and then somehow explaining the meltdown between Rosie and Barbara Walters in February 2007. The tiff was particularly dicey for Berger considering since she handles PR for both ladies.

For the record

Occasionally the headaches become even too much for Berger to bear. Berger has said it was her decision to part ways with Susan Sarandon and she also says she dropped Tyra Banks as a client, although some have chalked that up to a longstanding feud between Berger and Banks's manager, Benny Medina.

Personal

Berger is married to oncologist Mitchell Berger, who practices in Great Neck. They have three kids and live in Roslyn. She once told a reporter that she attends spinning classes to relieve the stress which prompted her husband to point out that she seems to both "spin recreationally and spin for a living."