Breaking Hanukkah Special: ScarJo Half Jewish!But she’s so icy and Scandinavian, right? Only half! Other dreidl spinners: Jennifer Connelly! Shia Labeouf! And Cindy is misbehaving in London. In the Judeo-Christian gossip roundup.
Chace Crawford Had His 23rd-Birthday Party This WeekendOur invite must have gotten lost in the mail. Meanwhile! Mean jellyfish continue to spoil summer fun! Aretha never reached the beach! And Howard Stern and his fiancée looked so tall this weekend! There was so much going on in the Hamptons … honey, where were you?
Ted Kennedy’s Considerable Weight Handy in Obama EndorsementBarack Obama came away from Saturday’s shellacking of Hillary Clinton in South Carolina with more than a few delegates: Ted Kennedy, elder statesmen of liberal politics, is throwing his considerable heft (bloat?) behind Obama’s candidacy. And of course his niece Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter, also endorsed Obama in the Times. What will be the impact of Camelot’s endorsement? Not much? Or, as seems to be the popular consensus, a whole lot?
in other news
Neil Diamond Reveals the Cute, Pervy Roots of ‘Sweet Caroline’Late yesterday, singer Neil Diamond revealed that the inspiration for his famous song “Sweet Caroline” was a girlish Caroline Kennedy, who was 12 when the song was originally released. He even performed the song via satellite at Kennedy’s 50th-birthday party last week, which friends say was a thrill for the charitable New Yorker. This unwraps one of music’s great riddles, in the order of “Who is Carly Simon singing about in, ‘You’re So Vain’?” and “Hey Steve Miller, what the hell is a ‘pompatus’?”
Diamond, 66, said he was a “young, broke songwriter” in the ‘60s when he saw a cute photo of Caroline Kennedy in a magazine. “It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony,” he recalled. “It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there.”
Wait a minute … There may be a lot of complicated lyrics to that song, but we seem to remember at least a couple that aren’t “little girl” appropriate…
gossipmonger
‘Journal’ Takes Beef with Mariane Pearl PublicMariane Pearl, the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl, and the Journal are no longer on friendly terms. Naomi Campbell told a crowd at a dinner for the Black Action Retail Group that she was done with throwing cellphones. (Her visit to Hugo Chavez also garnered praise from terrorist groups.) Former Giant Tiki Barber will attend the book party of NFL Network host Rich Eisen tonight at the Time Warner Center. Tyra Banks made out with a “gorgeous model type” at Thor in Hotel Rivington. Hilary Duff gave lap dances to a Joel Madden look-alike at Tenjune. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg ran into her aunt Lee Radziwill at City Center.
gossipmonger
Ron Perelman Is Making Up for Lost TimeRon Perelman wasn’t the ladies’ man he is now when he was in high school. Harold Ford Jr. wants to be governor of Tennessee. Lindsay Lohan turned 21 yesterday, looking healthy and acting rather adultlike. Jackie O. didn’t like it when Caroline gained weight. Anna Wintour’s stylist is working weekends at a salon in Bridgehampton. Zach Braff and Drew Barrymore made out at Beauty Bar. Mice, dead and alive, are wreaking havoc at the new New York Times building. Padma Lakshmi is finally divorcing Salman Rushdie, and a billionaire or an unidentified chef may be to blame. Europe is the new Hamptons for celebrity Fourth of July celebrations.