Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner Dead at 91He launched the magazine that helped kick off the sexual revolution and fashioned himself into one of the movement’s icons.
Gwyneth Paltrow Does Not Mingle With Hoi PolloiAnd that includes Katie Lee Joel. Plus, Brooke Shields bristles at an improv group’s tasteless jokes and people turn up their noses at Russian billionaires, in today’s selective gossip roundup.
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Lizzie Grubman Rises AgainThe PR guru takes on a managerial role, Dina Lohan goes house hunting on Long Island, and Kathie Lee Gifford makes people uncomfortable in the bathroom. That and more in our daily gossip roundup.
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‘Playboy’ Profits: Going Down?Plus, ‘02138’ graduates to a new publisher, Bush goes online, and Skadden makes big bucks — all in our daily industry roundup.
Why Wouldn’t Sharon Bush Be Involved With Roger Clemens’s Steroid Scandal?Roger Clemens’s friendship with the black sheep of the Bush family, Sharon Bush, may cost him a pardon from George W. if he is convicted of perjury. Both HarperCollins and Random House are set to come out with books about George Steinbrenner. A “Page Six” spy thinks Howard Stern’s fiancée, Beth Ostrosky, wants to have a baby because she, uh, stopped to say hello to one. Will Ferrell and Tom Brokaw did an onstage bit together at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday for Ferrell’s Funny or Die tour. The New Yorker reveals that the late Bishop Paul Moore was a closeted homosexual. Tracy Westmoreland, owner of erstwhile dive bar Siberia, may play a bouncer in a movie called The Bouncer.
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George Clooney Thinks Cindy Adams Is Awkwardly NosyGeorge Clooney’s response to a question asking whether he planned on marrying Sarah Lawson: “What kind of question is that to ask in front of her? Let’s just say I’m fine the way I am right now, thank you.” Four Seasons owner Julian Niccolini is selling his own Sauvignon Blanc, available at Dean & DeLuca. After falling ill in Israel (perhaps with dysentery), Maureen Dowd got medical attention from White House doc Richard Tubb and hitched a ride home on Air Force One. Some pro-life bloggers are angry that Vogue did a fashion shoot with a woman who got an abortion 22 weeks into her pregnancy. Diddy is hiring both a personal and an executive assistant. (One responsibility: acting as a “liaison” between the chairman and his family.) Diane Keaton ate at Michael Jordan’s The Steak House in Grand Central Terminal.
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Gwyneth: Hungry AND Pregnant?Gwyneth Paltrow may have gone to Mount Sinai Medical Center on Monday to deal with pregnancy complications. Pink is teaming up with PETA to help stop horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park. Billionaire Band-Aid heiress Libet Johnson refused to let her husband, weight-loss guru Dr. Lionel Bissoon, see their adopted child after they broke up. WD-50 chef Wylie Dufresne had BBQ and finger food at his wedding to former magazine editor Maile Carpenter this past weekend. Maroon Five guitarist James Valentine wrote about how much harder he used to party on his MySpace page. 5WPR founder Ronn Torossian has really low standards for the cases he’ll agree to take on. Ed Burns claims that critics in New York hate his films because he didn’t go to an Ivy League school and his dad’s a cop.
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Diane Sawyer Forgets to Ask Katie Holmes About the HubbaspermDiane Sawyer interviewed Katie Holmes on Good Morning America yet neglected to ask her about the rumor that she was impregnated with L. Ron Hubbard’s sperm. New York Giants Plaxico Burress, Antonio Pierce, and Ruben Droughns went to Home nightclub in Manhattan after flying back from Dallas and ordered $1,000 of Bacardi, vodka, and Champagne, but forgot to tip their waitress. Waiters at Brasserie 44 in the Royalton Hotel thought they discovered Frank Bruni’s notebook, but it turned out to belong to someone else (and they slipped in some Bruni ass-kissing to boot!). Jil Scott picked up a male model at an Allure fashion shoot and took him to Nobu. Keith Olbermann’s quote to Playboy that “Fox News is worse than Al-Qaeda” did not go over well with many of the magazine’s readers.
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J.Lo’s Pregnancy SpoilerJennifer Lopez will supposedly announce that she’s pregnant during her show at MSG on Saturday night. Jessica Simpson’s people say she didn’t drink and dash at the Box — her friend just accidentally took the receipt slip with him. Rosie O’Donnell did an impromptu ten-minute stand-up set during a show by Roseanne Barr at Comix. (Rita Crosby was there, despite having been served a subpoena earlier in the day.) Mariah Carey doesn’t know how many bathrooms are in her Tribeca penthouse. Howard Stein, the nightlife honcho behind eighties hangouts Xenon and Rock Lounge, died at 62. The Port Authority says the quality of its toilet paper is much improved, contrary to what Larry David said on last week’s episode of Curb. GLAAD forced “Page Six” to apologize for calling the pre-op transsexual who has a reality show on Fox a “she-male.”
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Oprah’s Politics ClubOprah is throwing a $2,300-a-head fund-raiser for Barack Obama at her ranch in Montecito, California, and it’s sold out. Writer Robert Olen Butler’s wife, Elizabeth Dewberry, left him for Ted Turner, perhaps because Turner resembles the grandfather who once molested her. The Good Morning America intern who posed nude (for Playboy) is named Lace Rose Allenius, and she once dated Matt Dillon. Mayor Bloomberg, Donald Trump, Billy Crystal, and Joe Torre won a charity golf tourney by nine strokes. Uma Thurman is dating Elle Macpherson’s ex, Swiss banker Arky Busson. Lindsay Lohan’s bodyguard has received half-million-dollar offers to sell her out, but he won’t do it. Members of Usher’s camp maintain that fiancée Tameka Foster made up her “baby scare” so Usher would talk to her. Cindy Sheehan sang along to Cypress Hills’ “Fuck the Pigs” while drinking beer at a Randalls Island concert.
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Gay Slur at the ‘Times’!The top photo editor at the New York Times allegedly called a co-worker a faggot during an office party, and now she may lose her job. Jane Pratt showed up for a Playboy Bunny audition; she was told her tan wasn’t good enough. Campbell Brown is leaving NBC for CNN. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony pride themselves on being “normal.” Hustler may publish the names of 30 politicians who frequented the D.C. madam. Natalie Portman wants you to know she does not get naked during Goya’s Ghost. Shakira wants her fiancé to sign a prenup. Calum Best played strip truth-or-dare with a “gorgeous, straight, black male” while Lindsay Lohan was in another room.
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Paris Likes ChineseParis Hilton’s first meal out of the clink was takeout from Mr. Chow. Former gossip columnist Charlotte Hays has written a book about attractive women and the rich men they marry. Rudy Giuliani wasn’t a fan of France until Nicolas Sarkoz — the “French Rudy” — was elected president. Brooke Astor may have cancer. Bill Clinton won’t be attending his personal trainer’s Chappaqua book signing. Laura Albert, better known as JT LeRoy, wants to pose for Playboy, though the magazine hasn’t made her an offer. Ashton, Demi, and their daughter went to the “Bodies” exhibit at South Street Seaport. A bunch of waiters are suing Sparks Steak House for allegedly using tip money to pay bartenders and others not entitled to it. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman is throwing a party for Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy.
company town
Breaking: Banks, Bankers Make a Lot of MoneyToday’s big news in the city’s big businesses.
FINANCE
• J.P. Morgan had a very good fourth quarter, but is $4.53 billion enough to top Citigroup? Answer on Friday. [DealBreaker]
• Projected versus actual 2006 Wall Street bonuses. Either way, they were big. [BankersBall]
• Taking a cue from its bonus-giddy brokers, Bear Stearns looks to invest in some Manhattan real estate. [NYO via DealBook/NYT]
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Let It Shine, Let It Shine, Let It ShineA choir sang “This Little Light of Mine” at Eliot Spitzer’s inauguration; the Albany Times Union editor was one of the singers. The owner of Patroon, who used to run ‘21,’ brought his current staff to his old restaurant. Courtney Love made 53 New Year’s resolutions. Casa Casuarina in South Beach lost power on New Year’s Eve, and Anna Anisimova and Jonathan Cheban couldn’t take the heat. Brad Pitt wants to produce a Borat project. Spirit Airlines lost James Gandolfini’s luggage. A producer was going to make an Elmore Leonard book into a movie but now isn’t. Oprah is happy that Madonna adopted that Malawian kid. Semi-disgraced Miss USA Tara Conner might pose for Playboy. Someone hit on David Schwimmer at Pastis. The Soup Nazi actor took Kramer’s Reality Tour. Former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe has a new memoir out, in which he tells stories about raising money. George Michael did a private New Year’s Eve concert in Russia for $3 million. Wilmer Valderrama is set to launch a menswear line. Meatpacking club Double Seven is moving down the block. Will Ferrell won’t do Elf 2. Kevin Connolly pulled a blonde out of the way of an ambulance in Miami.
