Levi Johnston Lawyers UpPlus, Gwyneth Paltrow offers Mario Batali a free gym membership that may be either a kind gesture or a really catty move. In our gossip roundup!
There Goes the SchneighborhoodRichard Gere has put his apartment in Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi on the market, private-equity execs come down to earth, Sam Zell continues to be wacky, and Jeff Zucker and Harvey Weinstein fight like a couple of queens over ‘Project Runway’ in our daily roundup of real-estate, finance, media and law news.
gossipmonger
Graydon Is Going to Have Another Grayby! Graydon Carter and wife Anna are expecting their first child together (Carter has four kids from his first marriage). Kim Cattrall has been bragging that her SATC: TM castmates got paid higher salaries because she held out for more money. Bono, his wife, and Helena Christensen were harassed by paparazzi while eating at Serafina in the Dream Hotel. New Yorkers Julian Schnabel and PR guru Dan Klores both took home Independent Spirit Awards. Abby Diaz, the former maître d’ of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s who wrote the restaurant tell-all PX This! was asked to leave Jean Georges while having a glass of wine. “Page Six” mourns that dive bar Siberia has been converted into a Dunkin’ Donuts.
company town
Jeff Bewkes Starts Cleaning House at Time WarnerMEDIA
• At least 75 Time Warner layoffs are expected to be announced today. The layoffs are among CEO Jeff Bewkes’s first public tasks since taking the helm of the company from Dick Parsons last month. Earlier today, Time Warner announced a 41 percent decline in fourth-quarter earnings. [MSNBC & AdAge]
• Maybe some of those Time Warner folks can hang their hats over at Condé Nast. The Observer evaluates Portfolio’s recent spending spree, during which it recruited top talent from The New Yorker, the Post, and the Times. [NYO]
• (Product)Red, the love child of Bono, iPod, and the Gap, has raised more than $22 million for fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa. But considering the big advertising bucks spent during the Super Bowl and elsewhere, some are arguing that it’s not enough. [NYT]
gossipmonger
Has Al Gore Been Touching Bono in a Bad Way?
Bono says that being with Al Gore is like “being with an Irish priest.” Mel Gibson supposedly distanced himself from Heath Ledger after Ledger chose to play a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain against Gibson’s counsel. Celebs like Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey may like Hugo Chavez because of his drugs.
developing
‘Schneighbors’ No More?Friends, we have sad news. Last night at the GQ Man of the Year awards in Los Angeles, a member of Intel’s West Coast bureau — okay, fine, kidding, we don’t have a West Coast bureau; it was a USC journalism student named David Davin — intercepted auteur and art legend Julian Schnabel and asked him, quakingly, about his West Village development, Palazzo Chupi. Occupied by Schnabel, Richard Gere, and Credit Suisse cheese William J.B. Brady, the ginormous pink building is not only a monument to midlife crisis, it’s the set of Intel’s favorite (pretend) reality show, Schneighbors, which is why we were so excited when we heard that Bono had bought one of the two remaining condos. But we couldn’t find any records of the sale, so did he? “No, Bono is not going to be there,” Schnabel said. He was wearing green sneakers, a bathrobe, and yellow-tinted glasses, and as he shuffled away he seemed oblivious to the fact that, 3,000 miles away, our hearts were shattering into a million pieces. But then we looked on the bright side: Could not Bono’s loss be Salman Rushdie’s gain?
Related: Look Who’s Schneighbors!
ink-stained wretches
Meet Your ‘Six in the City’ Columnist, Faran KrentcilWe’ve been following the action behind the search for a writer of Page Six the Magazine’s “Six in the City” column for a couple of months, and were interested to see their final choice of scribe was Faran Krentcil, writer of the Fashionista.com blog. Faran has been running around fashion parties for years now, ever since she started working at Fashion Week Daily, and we’ve always suspected she had a little something of a Carrie Bradshaw complex. And lo and behold, witness her introductory column:
The problem with clichés is they’re usually true. Case in point: Me, the blonde, curly-haired girl writing tales of my “fabulous” life. You know what to expect – I breakfast at Tiffany’s sans carbs, I meet devils in Prada, and then I report back to you. Except, of course, it’s not that easy. Celebrities aren’t just like us. And socialites are sometimes just girls who get high in high heels. But there’s some gorgeousness, too, the kind that makes you live in NYC in the first place. It’s my job to find it and serve it up to you.
Oh dear. You can just hear Sarah Jessica Parker’s voice slowly reading that out loud, straining to make it sound wise, or at least world-weary. (Disclosure, Krentcil has contributed to nohib.com’s Best Bets feature.) Since the column isn’t available online, we’ve reproduced the rest of it for you after the jump. It only gets punnier.
in other news
When Bono Met BloombergYesterday Bono and Mayor Bloomberg met to talk about what philanthropic and civic projects they could team up on. The meeting went well, according to Bono, who told the AP that he thought he and Bloomberg could make beautiful music together. “I think [Bloomberg] could do an awful lot of good,” he said. But it’s not just Bloomberg’s money, or his power, or his soft, soft skin that draws Bono to him. He likes him for him.
“What I’m interested in is not just his cash, but his intellect, and how his business acumen could be used to work for the world’s poor.”
We think this sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Maybe Bloomberg will, like Bono, move into Julian Schnabel’s big pink castle and join the cast of Schneighbors!
Bono and Bloomberg Could Harmonize On Helping the Poor [NYS]
Earlier: Look Who’s Schneighbors!
gossipmonger
Kelly Klein Finally Nabs That BabyGisele Bündchen showed up at the haunted house on Suffolk Street sans costume and cut the line. Hunter S. Thompson’s widow is pissed at Jann Wenner because he portrayed Hunter in his book as an “awful beast of a man” after he left Rolling Stone . Calvin Klein’s ex, Kelly, finally has a daughter, via surrogate mother. David Brooks, a.k.a. the guy who was recently busted for using company cash to fund his daughter’s $10 million bat mitzvah, also used his employees’ pension funds to pay for his son’s bar mitzvah. Hillary Clinton backed out of a Vogue photo shoot being shot by Annie Leibovitz because she felt it would be “too glamorous.” Sting and some buddies went to Scores. Bono and Damien Hirst dined at Lever House. Law & Order’s Richard Belzer had to get his driver to walk his poodle during a screening at Core Club because he wasn’t allowed to bring it in.
multiple choice
Look Who’s Schneighbors!Let the speculation cease! The Wall Street Journal today reports that Richard Gere has in fact purchased a condo in Julian Schnabel’s building — 18,500 square feet of space with double-height ceilings, six-foot tall fireplaces, and earthenware or marble bathtub. And the other day, The Villager reported that Bono bought a penthouse in the big pink building. If this is true, the Palazzo has just usurped the Dakota as the residence for aging baby-boomers in the entertainment industry. In fact, we suggest that the people at VH1 begin crafting a proposal for a reality show posthaste. Just think: long, drunken dinner parties with the Dalai Lama, visits from Trudi and Sting. Bono will get pissed when Julian borrows his leather pants and returns them all stretched out, and every day they’ll do yoga around the communal pool —with a hot young instructor that Richard and Bono fight over. Wow. We can already see Julian, shirtless, in downward dog. But hold on: There are two other apartments left in the Palazzo!
gossipmonger
Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld Are a Little GrossAnderson Cooper talks to his young gay friends about AIDS. Jerry Seinfeld brags about the time Jessica Seinfeld touched a stick covered in urine to his bed pillow. Meanwhile, ex-Seinfeld producer Larry David couldn’t be happier he’s lost the ball and chain. Liz Smith finds Charlie Sheen more palatable than Denise Richards. Notorious PR pit bull Pat Kingsley has “FINALLY” resigned from PMK-HBH — or is she being “pushed out?” Donald Trump called both Mark Cuban and Dan Rather “losers” in the same day. That is, like, his
it just happened
Moby Finally Finds a Buyer for Upper West Side PenthouseThe wait seemed interminable, but it looks like Moby has finally a buyer for the four-level penthouse he’s abandoning on the Upper West Side. According to Streeteasy.com, the nine-room co-op, on the market for $7.5 million, just went into contract. The electronica guru bought the apartment atop the El Dorado — the building where Marilyn Monroe once lived — two years ago, but apparently had a change of heart. (This despite five terraces from which to enjoy the beautiful blue sky.) According to Gawker, Moby still thinks it “the most interesting and unique apartment I’ve ever seen in New York City,” but he missed downtown too much to make his move permanent. (He was serious about selling, even plugging the apartment in a Webcast.) No word on where he’ll next land. —S. Jhoanna Robledo
gossipmonger
Clinton-Gore ‘48The Gores and the Clintons ran into each other at kiddie restaurant Mars 2112. Warner Bros. execs told Tim Burton to tone down the gore in his upcoming Sweeney Todd. (Perhaps he’ll be an only mildy disturbed barber?) Oprah is trying to get a woman to relocate her wedding because it is being held at a ranch that Oprah wants to reserve for guests attending her Obama fund-raiser. For some reason, ex-CNN anchor Paula Zahn kept a detailed diary of her affair with ContiGroup CEO Paul Fribourg. New York Rangers Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan may star in hockey nut Mike Meyers’s upcoming movie. Bono’s duplex in the San Remo on Central Park West, once owned by Steve Jobs, may soon be for sale. Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot is setting her upcoming murder mystery at an NYU-like school.
gossipmonger
Judi Giuliani, Puppy Killer?Vanity Fair’s forthcoming takedown of Judi Giuliani paints her as “opportunistic, puppy-killing homewrecker.” ABC News employees were reminded not to surf for porn on company time after it was discovered that an intern had nude photos online. Married cosmetics heir William Lauder may be the illegitimate father of a child with nightlife honcho Howard Stein’s daughter. Mets pitchers John Maine and Aaron Heilman partied at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone. New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane might not technically be married to the mother of his two children, journalist Allison Pearson. Penélope Cruz and Bono were spotted holding hands in St. Tropez. Star Jones claims women on TV get a raw financial deal. Rachael Ray and Ron Jeremy were in Saratoga for the opening of the racetrack.
company town
Associates May Be Even More Overpaid Next YearLAW
• Salary rumor! Will Simpson Thacher raise its first-year salaries to $190,000? [Above the Law]
• The paralegal who worked as a lawyer at Anderson Kill & Olick pleaded not guilty to impersonating a lawyer. He is now unemployed. [NYT]
• Summer associates are like campers who get paid. [Daily Business Review via Above the Law]
the morning line
Lifestyles of the Rich
• The Sabhnanis, a “perfume mogul” couple, have allegedly kept two Indonesian women as slaves in their Long Island mansion. Both prisoners appear to have been subjected to systematic torture. And now, this photo of Mrs. Sabhnani will haunt our dreams. [NYP]
• The perpetrator of last week’s unusually intense clothing-store shoplift, which involved a getaway van and left a security guard near death, is an ex-preppie with Exeter and Yale in his past. The immediate moral falls along the lines of “kids, don’t do drugs.” [NYDN]
• Rudy Giuliani juggled a bunch of softball questions in the second Republican debate, somehow managing to clarify his tortured stand on abortion. Best of all, he got to let loose with the I’ve-been-there indignation when a rival suggested a modicum of U.S. culpability for 9/11. [amNY]
• Finally, a co-op dispute starring Bono! The board at San Remo, his CPW abode, has banned the use of fireplaces, yet chimney smoke keeps drifting into the Hewsons’ duplex. Somehow, Bono strikes us as a guy who sits in on every co-op board meeting. [NYT]
• And, XM Radio suspended its “shock jocks” Opie and Anthony for 30 days for their Laura Bush rape bit. What a pity; we were counting on them for a measured and nuanced Jerry Falwell eulogy. [WNBC]
party lines
Bono Celebrates Orangeman Lou Reed, Confesses He Owes Him MoneySo remember the mysterious, quasi-postmodern Unnamed Event With Lou Reed from last week? Big news! Turns out the thing did have a name; it was “Syracuse University awards Lou Reed with the George Arents Pioneer Medal.” (The medal is apparently Syracuse’s highest alumni honor. More interesting, Lou Reed is also apparently a Syracuse alum.) But we also learned that Reed might have more than just an alumni award coming to him. Why was Bono there, we asked the U2 front man. “Because I am in a state of genuflection,” he told us from behind his sunglasses. “I would carry Lou Reed’s luggage; I probably have carried his luggage! There are about nine or ten U2 songs that he deserves royalties for that I don’t think he’s ever received.” Um, wow. Is that really something you’re supposed to admit? We hope Reed’s into that whole debt-forgiveness thing, too. —Genevieve Leon
Earlier: It’s Not a Lou Reed Event Without Andy Rooney
gossipmonger
Breakups and the CityFormer Sex and the City partners Candace Bushnell and Darren Star are no longer speaking after Star sold a show similar to the one Bushnell was working on to a different network. Matt Lauer once had an awkward bathroom experience with Tom Brokaw. Kate Moss will launch her clothing line at Barneys on May 8. Alt Coffee on Avenue A is being turned into a stroller shop. Britney Spears may give Allure a tell-all regarding her family infighting. Lesley Stahl denies being the source of anti-Katie Couric rumors. On her way back to New York City, real-estate queen Barbara Corcoran boarded the wrong flight and ended up in Syracuse. Tyra Banks ate with Clay Aiken at Jean Georges. Andy Dick accosted two employees at a Chelsea club.
cultural capital
Look Out! Here Comes the Edge and Bono! Three years ago, Playbill posted a news item that seemed so ludicrous as to be a prank: An upcoming Spider-Man musical, it announced, would be directed by Julie Taymor, with music written by Bono and the Edge. Well, SuperHeroHype.com claims to have unearthed the casting notice for a July staged reading, and it looks either legit or extremely well faked: “The burden of being a superhero, his guilt for his role in his uncle’s death, as well as his debilitating crush on Mary Jane all weigh heavily upon him. Great pop/rock voice.”
We assume Bono and the Edge are writing original music for this, but why should they? We bet they could just repurpose their catalog and turn it into Spider-Man: The U2 Experience. Lyrics to “I Still Haven’t Found Uncle Ben’s Killer” are after the jump.
gossipmonger
Free Alfred TaubmanFormer Sotheby’s head Alfred Taubman claims he had no part in the price-fixing scandal that put him in jail in 2002. A cabbie claims Terrence Howard asked a blonde lady friend to engage in a rather disgusting grooming procedure, though Howard’s rep denies it was he. Bono took a private tour of Harvard, perhaps for one of his kids. Tina Brown and Harold Evans threw a dinner party for Helen Mirren. Judith Miller had lunch with Mort Zuckerman. Lindsay Lohan left one club for another because she thought her dad, recently released from prison, was about to show up. More firings may be imminent in CBS’ news division. Natalia McLennan, once dubbed the No. 1 call girl in the city by New York Magazine, is back working as a prostitute.
gossipmonger
Kaplan to the Rescue!Former CNN and MSNBC honcho Rick Kaplan is coming to save Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News. Bono disagrees with an Ad Age’s cover story saying that his RED campaign has been a financial failure. Brandon Davis mocked Paula Abdul for having an Arabic-sounding last name. His real surname? Zarif. Two staffers quit Star’s beauty department. Leslie Stahl’s contract at 60 Minutes is almost up, and it’s unclear whether she’s staying. Stephen Colbert’s new Ben & Jerry’s flavor is called “AmeriCone.” (And we told you all about it on Tuesday.) Buddha Bar fired its CEO. Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown hung out at their kid’s birthday dinner.
in other news
Alone, the Color Red Cannot Stop AIDS
When Bob Geldof was putting together Live Aid in 1985, he is said to have hoped for $2 million in relief. The concert raised well over a hundred times that amount. Now Bono, a Live Aid vet, appears to be running into a similar clash of expectations and results. Except, you know, the other way around. The cross-brand charity campaign known as RED was touted as a $100 million financial geyser for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. After a year of hype, RED is barely in the black; the would-be juggernaut has barely raised $18 million. Meanwhile, it cost $100 million to market, which basically makes Apple, Motorola, and Gap its primary beneficiaries. (The amount of ink and celebrity attention generated by the campaign would have certainly cost participants more than $6 million each.) Flacks cheerfully point out that all the money will now go directly to the Global Fund, since the costs are already covered. But we’re guessing that everyone who needed a red T-shirt with a parenthetical pun across the chest already owns one.
Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18 Million [Ad Age]
in other news
‘Vanity Fair’: We Are All Africa, Ad PagesThough you might have heard something about maternally inclined stars like Angelina Jolie, Madonna, and Oprah caring for some kids in the name of child welfare on the African continent, no superstar has as yet made a really chic effort to solve the country’s problems. Sure, Bill Gates’s wife, Melinda, upped the camera quotient on that couple, but they don’t carry the same paparazzi punch as a face-painted Gwyneth in an “I Am African” ad. Enter Bono and Vanity Fair, which is letting the U2 front man edit the July issue. “Africa is sexy and people need to know that,” Bono said of his editorial agenda. It’s not exactly clear yet how the marriage of Graydon Carter, debt relief, “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and AIDS is going to resolve a few hundred years of turmoil, but whatever happens, no way is it going to be frazzled, blonde, and fifteen pounds overweight: “We are trying to deal with the Sally Struthers thing … When you see people humiliated by extreme poverty and wasting away with flies buzzing around their eyes, it is easy not to believe that they are same as us,” says Bono. So what to expect? Carter claims that “a co-mingling of brands will help sell a tough subject,” so we’re seeing sand to the horizon, Jil Sander on the suffering, and some kind of headdress on Dominick Dunne.
Citizen Bono Brings African to Idle Rich [NYT]
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.
gossipmonger
Now With Daily Gatecrasher!Rosie O’Donnell called Barbara Walters a “(bleeping) idiot” in the latest round of The View–related acrimony, according to “Page Six.” (Ben Widdicombe has a slightly more reserved account.) Dita Von Teese and Marilyn Manson are squabbling over custody of their cats but not dogs. The TV critic who wrote a book about Bill O’Reilly wants George Clooney to play the title character. Fox is giving James Cameron a cool $200 million budget for his next film, Avatar. Julia Roberts may be pregnant with twins again. Arnold Schwarznegger forgets how old his mother is. Breaking: The Gotti Boys wear a lot of hair gel, gaudy jewelry. The Insider’s Lara Spencer might join Today when it adds a fourth hour. Snoop Dogg to host a television documentary on his childhood. David Schwimmer made out with a girl in public, possibly a ploy by her to get into the papers. (Success!) Disgraced Miss USA Tara Conner flirted with a bunch of male photo assistants at a cover shoot for New York Dog magazine, though her stint in rehab means she won’t actually be on the cover. The owner of Star Room in East Hampton set to open a branch in the Chelsea Hotel, described it as “elitist.” Bono got drunk in Utah. Mary-Louise Parker, dumped by Billy Crudup while pregnant, hung out with him at their son’s birthday party. Jessica Biel drinks water and champagne to stay pretty. Cindy Adams says Bryan Adams says he loves New York.
gossipmonger
Bloomberg Gets Frisky, or NotMayor Bloomberg and Diana Taylor got naked in the back of a car. (And it wasn’t as exciting as you’d think.) A special-effects guy lost a hand while filming Leo DiCaprio’s Blood Diamond. Kelly Ripa says Katie Couric avoids her. Someone took pictures of Jennifer Aniston; Aniston’s bodyguard gave chase. A 16-year-old girl posted vaguely illicit photos of herself with Vincent Gallo on her blog; the world got creeped out. Molly Sims and her boyfriend are on the rocks. Barbra Streisand’s contract requires bomb-sniffing dogs, “neatly dressed” security guards. Bono buys overpriced jeans because David Beckham does. CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante’s adult son made a weird bomb threat on Martha’s Vineyard. Ron Perelman had dinner; so did Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson. Liz Smith thinks Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be Time’s “People of the Year.” People hate Ann Coulter, unless they love her. Everyone hates Heather Mills. “Page Six” refutes reports that Emily White is Giacchetto’s ghostwriter, which was reported on “Page Six.” The residents of 25 Tudor City Place have an overzealous super and will have a nasty co-op meeting. It’s good to be the “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy.
