Kirsten Dunst Off the Wagon Again?The recently rehabbed starlet was spotted with Champagne glass in hand, and more celebrity mishaps in our morning gossip roundup.
Angie Harmon Is Just Like Us!The ‘Women’s Murder Club’ star joins the Official ‘Gossip Girl’ Fan Club, and other tidbits from today’s gossip columns.
company town
Who Is Bear Stearns’ Biggest Loser?FINANCE
• Joseph Lewis, the British billionaire who built up his stake in Bear Stearns last summer, lost about $1.6 billion this past weekend, approximately half of his entire fortune. Bear’s biggest investor, Dallas-based money manager James Barrow, whose firm had a 9.95 percent stake, also lost big — at least $750 million. Activist shareholder Bruce Sherman and departed CEO James Cayne each lost big on their 5 percent stakes, although Cayne might not care so much: He just closed on a $28.24 million Plaza pad and spent late last week playing bridge in a tournament in Detroit. [Bloomberg]
• Meanwhile, Bear’s “fire sale” is spreading like wildfire down the street, singing Lehman Brothers, among other top banks. [DealBook/NYT]
• And Barry Diller’s IAC is “sputtering.” [NYT]
in other news
While the Rest of Us Flounder, Tony Kushner Ponders: What Would Lincoln Do? Jann Wenner isn’t the only one who finds Barack Obama “Lincolnesque in his own origins, his sobriety and what history now demands.” Tony Kushner is working on a screenplay for Steven Spielberg based on Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about Lincoln’s last two years as president before he was assassinated. “He could bring together people of wildly disparate ideological bents and remind them of the moral core of their visions,” gushed Kushner about Honest Abe last night at a benefit dinner for Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “He brought into his Cabinet people who hated each other.” Would Lincoln, that original Log Cabin Republican, be a GOPer today? “Absolutely not,” the Kush assured. “He was a deeply progressive man and a deep believer in the Constitution. Any party that could make George Bush, who has raped the Constitution, is not one that Abe Lincoln would want anything to do with.” Well! So, uh, WWAD (that’s Who Would Abe Endorse?) in ‘08? Kushner: OHB, of course! “They’re both from Illinois. You can really trace a line from the politics of Lincoln through American pragmatism to the politics of Barack Obama.” Okay. And how would he weigh in on the Spitzer flame-out?
gossipmonger
For ‘Lipstick Jungle’ Star, Life Imitates ArtLipstick Jungle actress Lindsay Price met LSV Advisors’ David Tisch at the Cynthia Rowley show last week, and they’ve been dating since. Scarlett Johansson refused to talk to an Us Weekly reporter because of the plastic-surgery cover they did of her. Bruce Willis hung out with Victoria’s Secret model Emma Heming at Marquee for Lauren Kucerak’s birthday party, where he tipped $100 a drink. Justin Timberlake was spotted shopping at Tiffany & Co. Natalie Portman showed up 45 minutes late to a vegan-shoe launch she was doing in Soho and only answered questions for five minutes.
gossipmonger
Chris Rock Has a Good Question About Giuliani“Everyone says Giuliani was great on 9/11,” said Chris Rock during his show at MSG on New Year’s Eve. “What about on 9/10?” Joshua Jackson refused to let anyone sit with him and girlfriend Diane Kruger at the Soho Grand’s New Year’s Eve party. ABC anchor Bob Woodruff has made a full recovery from his Iraq injuries and recently went skiing. Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife Nicole Murphy hung out at the Plumm with New York Giant Michael Strahan while Murphy was getting ready to marry Tracey Edmonds on an island in the South Pacific. Britney Spears’s latest team of lawyers dumped her after a “breakdown in communication.”
gossipmonger
Benicio Del Toro Helps Out a Gay Meth AddictFormer New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso may or may not have had an affair and fathered a love child. Steven Spielberg ate at the Waverley Inn with his family and a whole lot of other famous folks. Denise Rich sang a Rolling Stones song to an audience that included Donald Trump Jr. and Ivana Trump at new venue Espace. Benicio del Toro appeared at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center as a sponsor for a meth-addict friend. One of Howard Stern’s sidekicks filmed a porno inside Stern’s studio with Ron Jeremy. Jay-Z may be “scrambling” because the lead single from his American Gangster album is not doing well.
gossipmonger
Leo DiCaprio Has Your BackAt Upstairs in Soho, Leonardo DiCaprio had the back of Danny A after the club promoter got into an altercation with a patron. New York Yankee Joba Chamberlain celebrated his 22nd birthday at the Plumm by drinking Red Bull with a bunch of teammates. Tom Touchet, who was a producer at the Today show until he was forced out by Katie Couric, may have to work with her again now that he’s at CBS. The Scores stripper who sold pictures of Oscar De La Hoya in drag regrets having done so for only $70,000. Derek Jeter sat near Hilary Duff at Megu Midtown. French soprano Natalie Dessay, star of the Met’s Lucia di Lammermoor, understands why a lot of people think opera is boring. George Clooney, girlfriend Sarah Larson, and a group of friends dined downstairs at La Esquina.
gossipmonger
Ba Ba Ba, Ba BarbaraleeHollywood players like Ben Stiller, Toby Maguire, and Steven Spielberg can’t figure out which Democrat to support for president, so they’re donating to multiple ones. (Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Jennifer Aniston, however, are firmly in Camp Obama.) Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel was passed over for appointment as executive director of New York State Council of the Arts, perhaps because she has donated money to Spitzer, who’s now trying to look ethically pure. Gwen Stefani loves breast-feeding even though she’s been getting bitten. Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz refused to be photographed with their KY Intimacy Kit swag bags at Lollapalooza because they were scared of Joe Simpson. Tracy Morgan wants to get his SCRAM ankle bracelet “blinged out” at Jacob the Jeweler.
gossipmonger
Madonna Does Not Live Up to Angelina’s StandardsAngelina Jolie questions Madonna’s adoption practices, when hers seem to be just as suspect. The publisher of Tom DeLay’s book isn’t exactly sure how to market it. Bridie Clark’s debut novel, Because She Can, is, like, about Judith Regan. Geraldo Rivera dared Keith Olbermann to fight him, and Olbermann accepted the challenge. (No word yet on when they’ll rumble.) Spielberg and Scorsese and Cruz and Eastwood all attended the National Board of Review event at Cipriani. Parker Posey admits she doesn’t take the National Board of Review Awards seriously, says “I’m rambling.” Paris Hilton accomplice Kim Kardashian may have a sex tape, and, if so, is likely involved in its distribution. Mandy Moore and DJ AM: “It’s pretty new, but they look cute.” Richard Gere rallied sex workers at an AIDS awareness event in Mumbai. “Page Six” calls Leigh Haber, an editor at Rodale, the next Judith Regan. Ivana made a particularly insensitive comment about war-torn Lebanon, even for a Trump. Remember when “Page Six” called Bono a drunk yesterday? Yeah, they were wrong.