M.R.: Is it hard to be friends with the people that you cover, Liz?

Smith: Of course! It's terrible. You have to figure out whether you're going to end your friendship with them half the time.

Musto: I've managed to keep most of my friends. Though it's true that Meryl Streep is not calling me to go bowling. I think it's healthy that I'm not friends with any of these people.

Walls: I don't think you can be friends with the people you write about. It just complicates things.

M.R.: Do you compete a lot amongst each other? How far would you go to get an item? Much laughter.

Molloy: What would Jeannette do for an item? Can I show you the stiletto prints on my back?

Musto: I think the biggest competitor for all of us is "Page Six." I mean, even dear, dear friends that I've known for twenty years will tell me something about themselves that's newsworthy, and I'll say, "Can I write that?" and they'll say, "No-no-no, I'll let you know when I'm ready," and two days later they'll have phoned it into "Page Six."

Smith: Don't you give "Page Six" any credit? Maybe they ran out and got it.

"Excuse me! How about Sharon Stone sending out a release after Columbine saying, 'I've given up my gun.' She was trying to get publicity out of Columbine! Like anyone gave a shit about her gun, except her husband, who should be afraid." -- Michael Musto

Musto: No! This is a friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn, Liz! Not John Travolta! But you just charm them, Liz. They're yours.

Smith: Certain celebrities like Barbara Walters see the beauty in what I do. But she's a friend of mine, and she makes a lot of news.

M.R.: So Liz, do Barbara and Diane Sawyer really hate each other?

Smith: I don't think they hate each other. They have grudging respect for each other. But they're in this titanic struggle all the time to see which one is going to . . . It isn't money they want. Barbara doesn't need money. She's already making $10 million a year. She wants love and affection from the people at ABC. She wants to feel she has as much power as Diane does. But I don't think they actually hate each other.

Molloy: And I don't think any of us really hate each other.

Walls: Speak for yourself, bitch. Laughter.

M.R.: Is it dangerous for gossip columnists to get too cozy with their subjects?

Molloy: I think so. For years, I did items without really meeting people except for five minutes at a premiere. I prefer it that way. When you meet someone and look into their eyes, you see that somewhere back there is a person who just wanted to be an actor, somewhere is the creative soul that existed before all of the money and the power got to them, and it becomes harder and harder to trash them.

Smith: That's true. But here's the rub. Ultimately this job is all about access. You use your access to get items, and then decide how far you want to go in telling the truth. When I got embroiled in the Donald Trump- Ivana Trump divorce, I hadn't started out thinking that I was going to have to take sides until circumstances forced me to do so. In the beginning, I was talking to both of them. Then I gave up on Donald. I thought, "Well, I'll never have access to him again." Not that I cared particularly. . . .

Musto: Let me be denied access to Donald Trump. Please.

Smith: But no. A year later he wrote me a letter saying, "I think I'm falling in love with you again." I framed it.

Walls: I think gossip columnists have to be confrontational, especially when celebrities keep messing up. Someone needs to keep these people in line. It's like Eminem gets arrested every other day when his mother isn't suing him. Or Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton, just watching that car accident speeding down the highway.

Smith: They're too hot not to cool down. Don't you think?

Musto: They're very explicit about how hot they are in bed, which makes me wonder if the whole thing wasn't orchestrated to divert the public from thinking that she was fucking her brother.

Smith: Say right what you mean! Much laughter.

Molloy: Do you think Angelina and her brother both got collagen implants at the same time so that we believe her lips are naturally that big? Laughter.

Smith: We love to bring celebrities down a notch, all of us. But it comes out of sheer love. We care about these people so much, we feel like they're our best friends, and when they disappoint us, we have to knock them down a peg.

Walls: It's also a drama. It's Shakespearean. I mean, when you care about a neighbor or a friend or a lover, you gossip about them. You want to know what's going on with them, you follow their lives. It's a soap opera. Take all these Whitney Houston items. I mean, everybody feels bad for this woman. She's very talented. Nobody wants to see her crash and burn. They'd like to see her respond to intervention.

M.R.: Do you know that for sure?

Smith: Absolutely. I do know it for sure.

Walls: It seems to me that her friends and family are behind all this negative publicity. They decided the way to push her to do something about her drug problem was public humiliation.