Janice Min Resigns from Us Weekly“In short, I decided it was time to try something else in my life, do a little Gosselin detox and occasionally go out on Monday nights.”
ByChris Rovzar
gossipmonger
Jake Gyllenhaal Once Peed on Someone’s LegThe actor shares his tried-and-true method for how to cure a jellyfish sting. Plus, a Stroke moves to Brooklyn, and Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan continue to move among various restaurants, in today’s gossip roundup.
in other news
Has ‘Us Weekly’ Peaked?Keith Kelly reports that the celebrity magazine had trouble meeting its rate base for the first time in eight years.
gossipmonger
Robin Williams Bounces Back QuicklyWho is Robin Williams new girlfriend? Which socialite is shipping out of town? And which actress-singer’s voice “doesn’t match her face” according to a Grammy-winning artist? Find out in our daily rundown of the juiciest bits from New York’s gossip columns.
ink-stained wretches
Line Between ‘Us Weekly’ and ‘Times Magazine’ BlursTraditional news outlets have taken a lot of flack in recent years for trading “hard news” coverage of politics and current affairs for softer, celebrity-oriented stories. But who knew that the news media’s oft-snubbed brethren, celebrity magazines, would step up to fill the void? For the past month or so, Us Weekly has done a number of stories on political figures, including an online interview with Barack Obama that caused the Website’s traffic to spike to record highs. Naturally, they are eager to follow up this success, and this week, The New Yorker’s Lizzie Widdicombe sat in on an editorial meeting with Us editor Janice Min and her team, where executive editor Catherine Romano came up with an idea for a story that combined celebrity with politics.
“There are a million people involved in the U.N.,” Romano said. “How about an activism story?”
Michael Steele, an executive editor, asked, “Should we build our own fake U.N., with celebrity heads and titles?”
Great idea, right? In fact, it was so good that the multi-Pulitzer-winning New York Times Magazine did pretty much the exact same thing this past weekend. It’s like Janice Min and Gerry Marzorati had total mind meld.
The Fourth Estate: Just Like Us! [NYer]
The Money Issue [NYT]
gossipmonger
Mayor Bloomberg Smooches Janice MinDanny Fields, manager of Iggy Pop and the Ramones, filed a $100-million suit against Out magazine for making him seem like a pedophile. Heath Ledger crashed a party at the Bowery Hotel with three Australian friends and drank champagne. Mayor Bloomberg kissed Janice Min after Us Weekly named him one of the 25 Most Stylish New Yorkers. Kanye West bailed on gigs at the Today show, Letterman, and TRL because he doesn’t think he needs to promote his new album. Jennifer Hudson will play Sarah Jessica Parker’s assistant in the Sex and the City movie. Wilmer Valderrama took Mandy Moore shopping for blazers at Saks. Damien Hirst didn’t know who the Olsen twins were before they came to his party at the Prada store on Friday.
company town
You Were Right About the Personal-Injury LawyersLAW
• David Sheeger, a Manhattan personal-injury lawyer, pleaded guilty to using a “runner” to ferry him potential cases from inside hospitals. [New York Law Journal]
• A missing Connecticut lawyer admits to embezzlement in a letter to his attorney son. [Connecticut Law Tribune]
• Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau is 88 and unrelenting. [Law Blog/WSJ]
gossipmonger
Lindsay Dries Out, or Tries ToLindsay Lohan checked herself into rehab after passing out in the hallway of a hotel following an all-night drinking binge. Perhaps it’s just the Method: Lindsay plays Dylan Thomas’s boozy wife in a movie out next year written by co-star Sienna Miller’s mom. Ketonah residents are not pleased that Martha Stewart is trying to trademark the name of their village to use for a line of home furnishings. The people behind fictional literary “It” boy JT LeRoy don’t think what they did constitutes a hoax. Bronx native Frank Lombardi was not fired on The Apprentice, and the borough rejoiced.