Meet 'Dr. George,' Wheaton's chiropractor to the stars

WHEATON – Only 11 entertainers have ever received an EGOT. The term, popularized by the television show ‘30 Rock,’ refers to performers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

But when it comes to celebrity award shows, local chiropractor and wellness practitioner George Gauthier is in a category all his own.

Gauthier has attended a slew of award ceremonies, including the Emmys, Academy Awards and, most recently, the Teen Choice Awards, as a sort of “chiropractor to the stars.” His job is to tend to Hollywood’s sprained ankles to tweaked necks in the days surrounding award shows.

But how does a Wheaton doctor find work treating the migraines of A-Listers?

“Some things really just happen all at the right time,” Gauthier said.

“Dr. George” said in the late 1980s and ‘90s there were a lot of movies being made in Chicago. Crewmembers and stars would get small injuries that, while not serious or life-threatening, still required treatment.

Gauthier was often in and out of downtown Chicago and one day, one of his patients contacted a local producer who was having trouble keeping his crewmembers healthy.

“He went to the producer and said ‘I’ve got this one doctor out in Chicago doing some cool stuff,’” Gauthier said. “That was 1999, and the producer asked me if I wanted to help out with the 1999 Billboard Music Awards.”

“I just said, ‘Well, if you’re going to twist my arm...’”

From there, more producers approached him.

“They told me ‘the celebrities want to have you around, do you want to be the doctor for the Emmys?,’” Gauthier said.

Since then, Gauthier said, he is offered up to 50 events around the country month on movie sets and behind the scenes of award ceremonies. Usually, he said, he only chooses five or six a year so that he can work at his Wheaton practice.

“I usually just pick the best of, or something I haven’t been to before,” he said. “But it’s always hard to turn down the Academy Awards.”

Gauthier said he has been in the far background of some of the movies he has worked on.

Despite his past work on the new Hobbit movies and possibly being involved in the new Star Wars franchise, Gauthier tries to balance his more glamorous work and his private practice in Wheaton with volunteer work.

In addition to being involved with several charities, Gauthier started his own, called Get Em’ Healthy. Gauthier said it is his mission to bring sports equipment to kids in America’s inner cities and impoverished areas of the world, so they can be healthy and active.

“I’m also a nutritional expert as well, and the last several years it was becoming obvious that kids were getting heavier,” he said. “What I wanted to do was have an impact on later-in-life health problems by reaching them earlier.”

Gauthier said children who don’t have access to resources for an active life early on don’t have healthy diet or exercise habits later. Maintaining childhood health is even harder in the age of the Internet, particularly in communities without athletic equipment, or, in some cases, a gym program,

“We have a map up ahead,” he said. “Each year, we try to at least increase how many kids we’re helping by at least 10 percent. We are up against a huge mountain of health problems as a country, and I feel like sometimes I am a shovel against it. But I think a lot more impact needs to be made.”