Phil Elwood recounts stories and secrets from decades in public relations industry

Phil Elwood reveals the underbelly of the PR world in his book, "All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians."

Elwood recounts that his journey to becoming a PR professional began at 12 when he had to conceal the truth by creating a false narrative while working for his father.

In the book, Elwood declares, "My industry is worth $129 billion. We will do anything to earn those billions." When speaking to ABC News, he speaks about the most outrageous things he did while working in PR and discusses the moral dilemma he faced throughout his career and the lengths he went through to silence that guilt.

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.

In his new book, "All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians," Elwood is ready to pull back the curtain on the PR industry. Phil, it is so nice to see you. Thanks so much for speaking with us.

ELWOOD: Thank you very much for having me on.

ABC NEWS: So take us to the beginning. When did you first discover your penchant for truth twisting? 

ELWOOD: Well, there's actually only one story in the book from my childhood. It's when I was 12 years old. My father was an Episcopal pastor at a place that was a little low on the water table. And my job was to be his altar boy at funerals.

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.

And, I ended up having to jump on the coffin to try and sink it and fell into the grave. That's the first time I try and to kind of cover up the truth with a false narrative.

ABC NEWS: Wow, that's a lot for a 12-year-old. What was, what did your father say in that moment? 

ELWOOD: I believe he said something along the lines of, 'Please handle this.'

ABC NEWS: OK. And you've handled a lot since then. So you write in your book that, quote, "My industry is worth $129 billion. We will do anything to earn those billions." So that's a pretty wild story. But what is one of the wildest things you ever did during your time in the industry as a professional, as an adult? 

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. But when I got on the plane, I received an email that said I would be babysitting Mutassim Gaddafi, the 35-year-old son of Muammar Gaddafi and the national security advisor of Libya at the Bellagio Hotel for a very long weekend.

Some of the, in the email, it was a list of demands from the dictator's son. He wanted to buy some Harley-Davidson's and an Escalade. He also wanted to see Cher. And, they, he wanted to buy some jean shorts, some jorts. Not sure about why, exactly, but, that weekend is chronicled in the book and is definitely, I think, the wildest thing that I've ever done in my career. I ended up having to flee or not flee, but leave Las Vegas with $60,000 strapped to my chest. It was a very strange weekend.

ABC NEWS: Oh, it sounds like it. So, ever give you pause at any point to represent some of these people, these dictators in the families of dictators? Did you, did you pause at any point and say, 'I probably shouldn't do this?'

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.

But, you know, over the course of this, you know, there have been a number of interventions. I have, you know, gone through a lot of therapy and through, I use ketamine therapy, actually, to treat depression and bipolar 2 disorder. And that, that therapy and intervention has made it possible for me to do things like continuing my career, which I no longer will work for dictators or against democracy or break the law.

ABC NEWS: And you say, and on that same note, you, you are very honest in the book about the moral dilemma that you faced throughout your career and the lengths that you went to silence that guilt. You just mentioned going to therapy and using some other methods. But take us through that journey, of finding peace within yourself. 

ELWOOD: I would like to, I would love to say I have completed that journey. I don't think that I've really found the peace that you describe, but, throughout my career, you know, reporters use the word deadline a lot. And what they don't know is that the origin of the word deadline is actually in the American Civil War.

It was because they couldn't afford to build fences around their POW camps. So instead they drew a line in the sand and put a sniper at all four corners. And if you cross the line, you would be shot. And that's where the term deadline comes from. I'm not sure how it migrated into newsrooms, but I had certain events in my life caused me to create a deadline for myself, things that I wouldn't do and lines that I wouldn't cross.

And that's all part of the journey you are talking about.

ABC NEWS: Well, Phil, we wish you the absolute best on your journey and thank you for sharing your story and for documenting it for us. Thank you so much for your time. You can get "All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians," out now wherever books are sold.