Brad Pitt Finally Hot AgainThe actor has finally relinquished his straggly facial hair. And more seismic celebrity changes, in our daily gossip roundup.
Adrian Grenier Banged Bongos in BrooklynPlus: Victoria Beckham does the robot dance, Jamie-Lynn Sigler plays ping-pong, and other expressions of celebrity joy, in today’s gossip roundup.
Ryan O’Neal Hit On His Daughter at His Girlfriend’s FuneralPlus, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are still making out all over the place, Billy Joel wants Katie Lee back, and more dysfunctional celebrity relationships in our daily gossip roundup.
Whitney Won’t Catfight Olivia for RatingsEven though ‘The City’ producers supposedly want them to. Plus, Madonna’s new family unit brunched in the meatpacking district Sunday. In the gossip roundup.
The Noels Have Finally Rented the Mustique HouseWe can all finally exhale, thank God! Plus, Charles Barkley and Matt Dillon provide mug-shot do’s and don’t’s, in the very first gossip roundup of 2009! Yay!
ByTim Murphy
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Lily of ‘Gossip Girl’ Named Her Real-life Son ‘Hermès’Also, his first words were, “I’m Chuck Bass.” Also: Derek Jeter imbibes, Matthew McConaughey does push-ups in the sand, and more in-character behavior, in our daily gossip roundup.
company town
Richard Arens Is Having His MomentFINANCE
• Trader Richard Arens, who runs a brokerage named ABS, made a vanity trade in order to push oil past the $100/barrel milestone. We’re sure the girls at the bar will be real impressed. [MarketBeat/WSJ]
• Citigroup will likely start laying off between 5 and 10 percent of its workforce next week, cutting as many as 32,000 jobs. Merrill Lynch plans to cut around 1,600. [CNBC]
• Former E*Trade CEO Mitch Caplan, who helped load the company with the subprime loans, made off with a $11 million golden parachute. Compare that with former H&R Block chief Mark Ernst, responsible for his own big subprime losses, who took home a paltry $2.5 million. [Deal Journal/WSJ, DealBook/NYT]
in other news
Jude Law Brings His Pillbox Hat to Halston RoleIt looks like 2008 is the new 1978. That is, it will be the year of Halston. Not only will the fashion house, purchased last year by Harvey Weinstein with the creative help of Tamara Mellon and Rachel Zoe, show again at New York’s Fashion Week — but it turns out that a Weinstein movie is in the works about the iconic designer’s life. And Jude Law is in talks to play the lead role! Which not only means that we get to see Jude Law play gay again, but also that we’ll get to see a whole bevy of celebrities played by younger stars. We can see it now: Zach Braff as Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell, Anne Hathaway as Bianca Jagger and oh! Oh! Amy Winehouse as Liza Minnelli!!
Jude Law to Play Halston? [Fashionista]
The A to Z of What’s Hot for 2008 [Daily Telegraph]
Earlier: Can Harvey Resurrect Halston?
party lines
Inventing Drama at the ‘Sleuth’ PremiereLike any good red-carpet watcher, at the premiere of Sleuth, we did our best to sniff out some drama between stars Jude Law and Michael Caine, director Kenneth Branagh, and writer Harold Pinter. With all those egos on one set, sparks must have flown! But apparently, unlike catty actresses, men can get along on a set. “They’re extremely funny and easy to work with,” said director Kenneth Branagh, as Caine and Law told us they “loved” each other. Well, fine. They all “love” screenwriter-playwright Harold Pinter, too, apparently. “Thirty years ago, I did a monologue from a Pinter play for my audition for drama school, and it’s taken me 30 years to meet the guy and work with him, and it was a real thrill,” Branagh told New York. “When I knew him, he was an actor called David Baron,” Caine said, one-upping Branagh (ooh, let’s project some tension here!). “He decided to write plays, and he thought, ‘I’ll use my real name,’ he told me, which is Harold Pinter,” Caine explained. “And so I did his first one, and then he wrote all this great stuff, and I wasn’t in any of it!” Caine says that though he and Pinter are friends, this is only the second of the famous scribe’s works he’s performed in. “I thought, I’m the one who started you, and then no one gave me any more,” he said. “I was sort of pissed off!” Yeah, that’s right. Fight, fight, fight! –Bennett Marcus
Find more photos and chatter from Bebe Neuwirth, Joan Collins, and others at our complete coverage of Sleuth’s New York premiere.
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Why Does Peter Kalikow Have a $1 Million Ferrari?Billionaire financiers Stephen Schwarzman and Henry Kravis don’t like each other, and refuse to socialize at billionaire financier-type events. Speaking of billionaire financiers, Jeffrey Epstein hired former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr to help defend him against charges that he solicited prostitutes. Tim Gunn claims that he wasn’t allowed to reference Project Runway in his book for fear of being sued by publisher (and Runway co-producer) Weinstein & Co. MTA chairman Peter Kalikow’s $1 million Ferrari sustained $32,000 in damage in transit from Zurich to New York last may. James Gandolfini says we should “shit or get off the pot” regarding Iraq, and wants to reinstate the draft. Some designers are angry that Ralph Lauren is hoarding models for his Saturday show.
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Don’t Cry for Us, O.J. SimpsonO.J. Simpson had a ghostwriter for his never-released memoir, If I Did It (who’d have thunk it!) and even practiced a crying scene for his TV interview with Judith Regan. Barry Bonds’s ex-mistress, who has alleged that the slugger has used steroids, is shopping a tell-all and nude pictorial. Enrique Iglesias wishes he were gay. Nathan Lane wants to start a heterosexual pride parade, with George W. Bush as grand marshal. Jay McInerney is sick of telling people he broke his foot chasing after a taxi. Madonna didn’t invite Janet Jackson to sit at her booth at Butter, though she did hang out with Shakira. Also: Ashton, Demi, and Penélope were there. The flowers at the Waldorf-Astoria wedding of billionaire Russian heiress Angelina Anisimova and real-estate developer Ryan Freedman cost $1 million. John McCain didn’t wash his hands before leaving a restroom in East Hampton.
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Paul Wolfowitz, Meet KarmaPaul Wolfowitz and his girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza, broke up. Harvey Weinstein and Luc Besson argued over Weinstein’s treatment of Besson’s film. AA member Lindsay Lohan is having a vodka company sponsor her 21st-birthday party. Gwyneth Paltrow covered her daughter’s head with a black veil to ward off paparazzi. Kevin Spacey snapped at an audience member whose cell phone went off during a play. Tom Ford and Anderson Cooper had lunch at the Four Seasons. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is giving Danny Glover $18 million to make a movie about Haiti, and Haitians aren’t happy. Britney Spears was jeered at an impromptu performance at a Miami club. Paris Hilton was photographed at her local bookseller purchasing a Bible and self-help book The Power of Now. Oprah’s dad’s book is now on hold.
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The Soho Grand Is a WonderlandRumors of the demise of the John Mayer–Jessica Simpson relationship may be greatly exaggerated; the two spent Sunday night together at the Soho Grand. (Mayer is also still doing the stand-up comedy thing). Today show correspondent Jill Rappaport owns eighteen acres in the Hamptons. Johnny Damon hung out till 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, but he still hit a two-run double later in the day. Ivanka Trump and Zach Braff exchanged numbers. (Uh-oh. Does Jared Kushner know about this?) Warren Buffett, David Remnick, John Kerry, Ted Turner, and Jann Wenner, among others (ahem), were all rejected from Harvard. After asking for $5.5 million, Stone Phillips sold his penthouse on West 72nd Street for $4.35 million. Times managing editor Jill Abramson is suing the truck driver who ran over her foot.
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Anand Jon Was Always CreepyDesigner Anand Jon, who’s charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, is a publicity whore and total creep. Among the dogs in Lindsay Lohan’s life right now are a Yorkie, a Jack Russell, and Jude Law. Uma Thurman and André Balazs officially broke up yesterday. Nicole Richie collapsed on the set of The Simple Life in Malibu. A woman once died in Jay McInerney’s bed. The Jewish Theater of New York wants the Times to fire drama editor Rick Lyman for allegedly passing on reviewing Last Jew in Europe because of pressure from the Polish government. NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter wrote a book about his hard-knock childhood. Country-music star Merle Haggard backs Hillary Clinton for president but is not ready to fully commit to her. Florida advertising mogul Jordan Zimmerman is backing Mitt Romney for president. Two more top editors from Life & Style quit.
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And He Was Telling Her She’s Still GoingJennifer Hudson tried to back out from performing at the Soul Train Awards in L.A., until Clive Davis gave her a stern talking to. Leonardo DiCaprio is in Israel visiting the family of girlfriend Bar Rafaeli. Lindsay Lohan has been hanging out with Jude Law in New York, but it’s unclear whether they’re dating. (Lindsay’s dad also gets out of jail today.) Eddie Vedder joined the band of teenager Miles Robbins, son of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, for an impromptu jam session at a bar. Harvey Weinstein is trying to buy fashion house Halston, but not for girlfriend Georgina Chapman. Marc Jacobs is in rehab in Arizona, and “Page Six”-ers are annoyed they didn’t get the scoop. Foxy Brown is banned from Junior’s in Brooklyn for dining-and-dashing on a $53 bill and then lying about it.
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U.S. Military to Rid New York of PigeonsInk-stained journos and general ne’er-do-wells pour one out for Siberia, which closes this weekend. Kanye West: hip-hop superstar, fine-art connoisseur. If Nicole Richie’s DUI arrest holds up, she’ll serve mandatory jail time (it’s her second drunk-driving charge). Stavros Niarchos attempted to tone down Paris Hilton’s partying so he could introduce her to his parents, was — shock! — mostly unsuccessful. Travis Barker ex Shanna Moakler is now dating her Dancing With the Stars co-star (as is Mario Lopez). Angelina Jolie says she’s on the pill, plans to adopt her next child with Brad Pitt. She might want to avoid the British TV personality who gave Madonna flack for adopting her African baby. Madonna was not amused. Eighty-eight-year-old Long Island socialite and New York Botanical Garden big shot Jane Choate “doesn’t seem to understand the nature of probation.” A military-recruitment center in Times Square has created a pigeon-free green zone by electrically shocking birds that mill around the building. The president of E! is dating Chelsea Handler, one of the network’s (unfunny) stars. Stephen Colbert planned to give President Bush a “Certificate of Presidency” award at the White House press-corps gala last April, but he chickened out. British actor James Purefoy is straight, mostly. Derek Jeter may be with Jessica Biel, but gridiron star Tom Brady is no longer with Bridget Moynahan. Liz Smith says that Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” will be a guy (either Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Hu Jintao, James Baker, or President George Bush). Jude Law can’t afford to buy a new house because his divorce is so expensive. Sacha Baron Cohen continues to play the Borat card.