Grumpy Cat MStars News EXCLUSIVE Interview Part 1: We Speak With Her Manager Ben Lashes About All Things Grumpy Cat Including Her New Lifetime Movie!

Grumpy Cat has become the most successful Internet celebrity in history just with her perpetually unhappy look. With the premiere of her new Lifetime movie, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever, she has catapulted into a bona fide pop culture phenomenon.

MStars News spoke exclusively to the celebrity cat's manager Ben Lashes to get all the dirt on the famous feline and her new movie. In part one of our exclusive, we talk all things Grumpy including how someone comes to manage an web sensation and Grumpy's day-to-day activities.

MStars News: What is it like managing Grumpy Cat?

Ben: It's the best job in the world that's for sure. It's so cool to get to see the smiles it puts on people's faces when they see Grumpy, or laugh at Grumpy, or meet Grumpy in person. That's the most cool thing, but for something that's so well known for being grumpy, it actually makes millions and millions of people happy and it's really cool to see the affect it has on people. A lot of times you think oh I've seen something on Facebook and it's this certain kind of culture that is very trivial and flashes by, but we see so many layers to the Grumpy phenomenon. People are coming up to us a giving us hugs because it got them through hard times in the hospital, or to follow her on Instagram, or to read about Grumpy Cat or to hold the Grumpy doll. People really love Grumpy and think she's really special. She brings a lot of love and happiness to people and it's not lost on people for sure. There's a definite deep connection with her fans. We tried to touch on that with the movie where the lead character of the movie, Crystal, she's the only one who can hear grumpy talk and she has this really special connection with Grumpy and even thought Grumpy's grumpy, they form this special bond that is really cool to see happen. So that's the best part.

MStars News: What is Grumpy Cat's schedule like day-to-day?

Ben: Most days she does whatever she wants. That involves sleeping and playing and eating and then doing it in the reverse order. 99% of the time she's just a normal cat at home with her brother, Pokey, and she's got sisters Ketchup and Soy Sauce... A lot of times she's out of the public eye and then when she goes out to an event, then we've got very strict schedule of how much time we go out someplace. Tabby, her owner, or her human, as Tabby likes to say, is always the one with her and holding her and introducing her to people. When we do public events there's no touching.

MStars News: I thought people could pick her up, they can't?

Ben: Not unless Tabby, her owner, is there with you and she says, "You can hold Grumpy, you're cool enough, you're a special person who gets to hold Grumpy." At public appearances where people are allowed to line up and get pictures there's a very strict no touching rule. We've never had anyone break it.

MStars News: What does Grumpy like? Does she watch TV, what does she like to eat?

Ben: She loves to play hide and seek. She loves running around and hiding... She really loves to play. During the daytime, she's like a normal cat. She likes to nap and sleep a lot. Food-wise, she is the official spokescat for Friskies, so she only eats Friskies. She's the first Internet spokescat ever. She's been working with Friskies for just under two years now, into 2015. A lot of the events we've done are to help bring awareness and feed animals in shelters and take care of animals in need. Different events she's done with Friskies have raised hundreds of thousands cans of foods and meals for cats in shelters. Even when we were filming the movie, the pet store that Grumpy Cat lives in for the movie, all of the food in the store was donated by Purina with the only requirement being we donated to a local shelter when we were done. We loaded it up and took it to the local animal shelter outside of Vancouver.

MStars News: That's great. How much does Grumpy usually make for appearances and movies?

Ben: Well we never talk about any of that stuff. She's always well paid. She's a star in Hollywood like anyone else.

MStars News: Does she appear at bar/bat mitzvahs or weddings?

Ben: No one has ever offered enough to get her to a bar/bat mitzvah or a wedding.

MStars News: How much would be enough?

Ben: I don't know. We really don't do too many appearances... She gets lots of request to show up at things, but she's got a busy schedule being a cat and she's very selective about what she will do. Everything's always a case-by-case basis, there's no price tag on Grumpy Cat that you can pay the day rate and get her to show up somewhere.

MStars News: How does Grumpy decide what she wants to do and what she doesn't want to do when it comes to her career?

Ben: I think it's got to be the right amount of terrible for her. It's got to be something that's cool as far as what we actually take part in. it's got to be cool and is cool for the fans, something that makes people smile and something the fans would be into.

Stay tuned for part two of our exclusive with Grumpy Cat's manager, where we get into all of the details regarding her new film as well as what's next for the cute feline. We might break some Grumpy news as well!

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