A-Rod Has ‘the Heart of a Poet’He’s been writing Madonna love notes. Also gross: Raffaello Follieri is tormented by rat poop in prison, and Artie Lange spanked it eavesdropping on Christina Applegate. All in the gossip roundup!
ByTim Murphy
the most important people in the world
Anne Hathaway Rubs Her New Sexy Man in Raffaello Follieri’s FaceAs her ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri awaits his sentencing on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, Anne Hathaway tells the world all about the ‘sexy’ new man she’s interested in. AWKWARD.
Kidney Stones Won’t Come Between Lydia Hearst and Fashion WeekRead about the inner strength the socialite summoned to go on in the face of abdominal adversity. Plus, humiliating moments for Damon Dash and Mario Lopez, in this morning’s gossip roundup.
Is Hudstrong Already Over?Have Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong split before even getting a nickname? Does Jeffrey Epstein really send valentines from prison? Did Janice Dickinson really flash a pilot? That’s what New York gossips are saying! Read all about it in our daily roundup.
Jeffrey Epstein, Original Perv, Rises AgainApparently annoyed that other members of the Clinton Perv Posse stole his thunder, the billionaire massage enthusiast is back in the news.
cultural capital
Raffaello Follieri’s Big LieYou have to hand it to Raffaello Follieri: He certainly did have a pair of brass ones.
Bury Raffaello Follieri’s Heart in CapriAccording to reports, the Italian businessman planned to win Anne’s heart back in the Mediterreanean this weekend. And other Follieri news of the day.
Anne Hathaway’s Humiliation Will Go OnThe beloved actress has an interview coming out in the next ‘In Style’ in which she gushes over her disgraced ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri. That, and the rest of today’s gossip in our daily column roundup.
Leave Anne Hathaway Alone!The question of the day is this: How could Anne Hathaway have stayed with Italian financier Raffaello Follieri for so long, despite all signs pointing to his being a big fraud? We think the most obvious answer is the correct one.
Anne Hathaway Finally Gets Smart!Reports that Anne Hathaway broke up with boyfriend Raffaello Follieri go undenied by her reps, Ivanka Trump reveals a childhood trauma, André Leon Talley threatens to style again, and other celebrity reports in our daily digest.
in other news
Is Hathaello Over?That’s what a British paper is claiming — that actress Anne Hathaway and her Italian financier boyfriend Raffaello Follieri are finally on the outs.
Hathaello Has Another Bad DayAnother financial scandal besets the Italian businessman, setting the cops off on his trail, and leaving girlfriend Anne Hathaway in tears.
Court Orders Raffaello Follieri to Pay Publicists for Breach of ContractAnne Hathaway’s boyfriend is in a pickle again, after a D.C. court has ordered him to pay $250,000 to the Carmen Group, the public-relations group that sued him after, ironically, he hired them to help him get over the last lawsuit.
gossipmonger
Cancer Has Not Impaired Patrick Swayze’s JudgementPatrick Swayze passed on playing a gay cheerleading coach in Fired Up for “creative reasons,” not because he’s sick. The script for Saturday’s Inner Circle show at the Hilton had to be overhauled in light of Spitzergate. Tom Brady made a rare post–Super Bowl public appearance with Gisele at the opening of the Zegna store on Fifth Avenue. Anne Hathaway bought five bottles of absinthe and borrowed an absinthe fountain from a restaurant for a party she was hosting with her boyfriend Raffaello Folllieri. ABC may cancel Rachael Ray’s show because of poor ratings. Padma Lakshmi and Salman Rushdie shared an “uncomfortable silence” after being seated six feet apart from one another at a Cinema Society screening.
in other news
Clinton Counselor Doug Band Used to Date Naomi Campbell?!??!Remember Doug Band, the mysterious “counselor” of Bill Clinton who introduced him to Raffaello Follieri and hassled restaurateur Nino Selimaj into taking a photo of Chelsea Clinton off the wall of Osso Buco because she was, in his estimation, “not a public figure”? The Washington Post spotted him in the background of that video of Bill Clinton dressing down CNN’s Jessica Yellin, and wondered what we wondered some months ago: Who is this guy? Band is the spotlight these days, the paper notes, a fact which he can’t be too happy about, not least because the spotlight is apparently shining directly on what the Post describes as his “prematurely thinning hair.”
in other news
Hathaello Goes to the Oscars; Despite Threat of a Lurking BurkleLast night Raffaello Follieri mingled at the Oscars on the arm of his girlfriend, presenter Anne Hathaway. No one knew who he was, not really, but he looked, one news outlet noted, “tall dark and handsome.” Little did they know he could barely afford the tux. Seems just last week, Follieri made an appearance in Delaware Chancery Court, where he explained that he couldn’t pay the $12 million he had agreed to pay Ron Burkle to settle a lawsuit the supermarket magnate filed against him in April. The suit alleged that Follieri had taken $57 million of Burkle’s money, intended to develop church properties, and used it instead to spend it on “a lifestyle that included private jets, a penthouse and trips to Europe with his movie-star girlfriend.” Follieri denied the charges — he would never! — but agreed to settle some months ago. But now, he says, he, um, doesn’t have any money anymore. You see, judge, all those trips to the Waverly Inn kinda add up. “The money is not there,” one of Follieri’s attorneys, Philip Trainer Jr., told the court. Oops?
Yucaipa to be paid in property [Bloomberg]
in other news
Imaginary Eavesdropping on Raffaello Follieri and the Sultan of BruneiThis morning, “Page Six” reported that the Sultan of Brunei and Raffaello Follieri met for lunch at the Dorchester Hotel, in London. Confused as to what the Sultan, who is famously estranged from his rogue brother, Jeffri, was doing with the rogue Italian businessman/Anne Hathaway boyfriend, we attempted to imagine what they might be talking about over tea and scones.
The Sultan of Brunei: Hello, Hathaello.
Raffaello: Hello, your majesty. Er, your Sultan-ity?
The Sultan of Brunei: No need to be so formal! Please, call me Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah. And how are you, today, Hathaello.
Raffaello: Um, I’m fine. And, by the way, it’s not a big deal, but my name is Raffaello. Hathaello is this name that some people gave to me and my girlfriend, together.
The Sultan of Brunei: What? You mean Anne Hathaway isn’t coming to this lunch? I have been watching that scene from Brokeback Mountain when she and Jake are in the backseat of the car, on repeat, all week just to prepare myself.
Raffaello: Oh, wow.
The Sultan of Brunei: I also loved her in The Princess Diaries. Very poised.
Raffaello: Yes, she is.
The Sultan of Brunei: So why did you want to meet me today, over lunch at the Dorchester in London, if not just to dash my dreams of meeting the star of the Devil Wears Prada? And how did you get here so quickly? I just read that you were at the Miss Sixty show. I love the fringed mukluks they’re doing this year.
Raffaello: I took a private jet, which I paid for with my World Missions Visa credit card. One percent of net purchases go to … the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
The Sultan of Brunei: Is that like the Human Fund?
Raffaello: Kinda. Anyway, you see, I’m looking to expand my business, and I need backers. I just ended my financial relationship with Ron Burkle —
The Sultan of Brunei: Oh! I know him! We met through our mutual friend, Blanket. You might know of his dad, Michael Jackson.
company town
Hathaello Checks Out Miss Sixty
FASHION
•Lela Rose thinks she’s still in the running to design Jenna Bush’s wedding dress, despite a first family visit to Oscar de la Renta last week. [NYDN]
•Anne Hathaway totally lied when she said she wouldn’t be attending any fashion shows this week. She and Raffaello Follieri were at Miss Sixty. [The Cut]
• Sheryl Crow enters the fashion arena, with an affordable denim line by the same people who make Victoria Beckham’s dVb line. [WWD]
in other news
Hathaello Will Survive With the Help of Baby JesusLooks like Anne Hathaway’s not getting any Christmas presents this year! The L.A. Times is reporting that her boyfriend, Italian developer Raffaello Follieri, has decided to settle with Ron Burkle, who sued him last April after partnering with him in a real-estate scheme gone awry. The suit alleged that Follieri had misappropriated funds given to him by a sector of Burkle’s Yucaipa Company for the development of Catholic Church property by squandering it on private jets, a $40,000-a-month penthouse, expensive restaurants, and gifts for his movie-star girlfriend. Why did he settle? Was it because he felt he was in danger? We don’t know, nor do we know what the settlement amount was, because the Follieri Group is too busy being possibly nonexistent to answer their phones. However, some time ago the Wall Street Journal suggested that Burkle was looking for at least $1.3 million of his money back, which is kind of a lot for a developer who doesn’t really seem to develop very much. Lucky for Follieri, he can always play the Catholic card and tell Anne that Christmas really isn’t about presents. It’s about thanking Jesus for not putting you in jail.
Yucaipa, Follieri Settle Lawsuit [LAT]
in other news
Hathaello Facing Another, More Dangerous Hurdle?Gawker just put up a very upsetting item: Hathaello is in danger! Apparently at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation gala last night there was tight security, but Raffaello Follieri and Anne Hathaway felt the need to have their own burly bodyguard. None of the other (brighter) luminaries had personal protection, not even A-listers like Meryl Streep, Diane Sawyer, Robin Williams, or Barbara Walters. As Gawker points out, Anne Hathaway doesn’t usually travel with a bodyguard (we know, because once we accosted her at a party about her New Jersey Eastern all-state choir days and there was no one there to stop us), so it was probably all for Follieri’s benefit. “The weird thing,” explains their source, “was no one was approaching the guy anyway.” Does this mean that there is a hidden threat to their controversial love? Is one of the men (or churches) that Follieri allegedly ripped off going to come after him? Or, as we secretly suspect, is the young Italian exerting a Scientology-like hold over the lovely Anne, refusing to allow her to read bad press about him? That would explain why he’d hire a bodyguard: to keep prying reporters away. That would also explain something we’ve been wondering about for a long time: why the hell she hasn’t dumped him already.
Marked Man: Who Is Trying To Kill Anne Hathaway’s Hot Crazy Boyfriend? [Gawker]
gossipmonger
Padma: When in Doubt, Suck Face With SalmanA prankster made lewd comments to Ann Curry and Matt Lauer during a media conference call between TV writers and the Today anchors. Banker Rafael Follieri, boyfriend of Anne Hathaway, flew commercial from Atlanta to New York despite supposedly owning a private jet. Padma Lakshmi was overheard telling someone she still was “still trying to work the secret to a great relationship out” hours before she made out with Salman Rushdie at Bungalow 8. (Rushdie also almost fell asleep during a play at the Guggenheim on Saturday.) Ivanka Trump couldn’t get into East Village dive Black and White because she didn’t have an I.D. The smoking hot ex–First Lady of France, Cecilia Sarkozy, is coming to visit New York with her kid.
in other news
Anne Hathaway’s Boyfriend Got Served … AgainRemember Raffaello Follieri? He’s the Italian real-estate developer who was sued a while ago by his investor, Ron Burkle, for allegedly misappropriating funds, and more important, he is one half of the power couple Hathaello. (The other half is actress Anne Hathaway.) Follieri is again being sued, this time by D.C.-based PR firm the Carmen Group, which says that he hired them to smooth over the whole Burkle thing but then failed to pay them a portion of their $25,000-a-month fee. Follieri’s rep denied the accusation. However, had he not paid them, we could sort of see why, what with that big honking front-page Wall Street Journal story that made him sound like the shadiest dude in Shadetown. But the real question is this: Have Hathaello broken up? A quick search indicates that they haven’t been photographed together since September 5! Did Anne become the J.Lo to Raffaello’s Puffy? Developing
Ciao, Carmen [Legal Times via NYP]
Earlier: Will Hathaello Last?
intel
A Field Guide to Bill Clinton’s Fonzworth BentleyOn Wednesday we noted that Clinton’s aide Douglas Band had a no-good, very bad day. He was deemed responsible for hooking the Clintons up with shady real-estate developer (and Anne Hathaway boyfriend) Raffaello Follieri in a Page One Wall Street Journal story (which also made mention of the possibly embarrassing-for-Band fact that one of his duties for Clinton was carrying the President’s mobile phone) and busted on Page Six for sending a snippy note to Osso Buco asking the restaurant to take down a photo of the owner and Chelsea, though as it turns out it is the owner’s constitutional right to put up said photo, even if Chelsea does not look that cute in it. But we really didn’t know who this Douglas Band was. So we did some digging around, and it turns out, he’s actually a little more interesting than your average wonk.
in other news
Douglas Band Is Having the Worst Day Ever Douglas Band, former White House intern and Bill Clinton’s longtime personal assistant, is having one hell of a day. First there was the Wall Street Journal story this morning, which basically blamed him for getting the Clintons to sink a ton of cash into a questionable real-estate deal with Raffaello Follieri and took an incidental shot at him for how his job used to be carrying the president’s cell phone around. Now Band’s gotten the Clintons into trouble with another loopy Italian.
in other news
Will Hathaello Last?So it appears that the Clintons have made another unwise real-estate investment, this time with Raffaello Follieri, more commonly known as Anne Hathaway’s boyfriend. According to today’s Journal, after being introduced to Follieri by an aide, the Clintons got buddy Ron Burkle to invest up to $100 million with the young Italian, who said he was planning on buying and developing property for the Roman Catholic Church. Now Burkle is suing Follieri, alleging that he barely bought any churches and instead used everyone’s investment money to fund a “lavish lifestyle.” This all looks not great for the Clintons: What with Whitewater and Norman Hsu and all, they’re starting to look kind of gullible. Maybe they’ll go into time shares next. But enough about them: What does this mean for Anne and Raffaello?
