Ivanka Wants to Bulldoze Into the Book WorldThe Trumpette wants to write a book and get a $2 million advance. Plus, gossip about faux-lesbians, Sean Avery, and Kevin Costner, in today’s gossip roundup.
Heath Ledger’s Family Fights for the Right to His MoneyIt’s been two months since Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose in his Soho apartment, and despite the salacious details of his death, everyone involved has remained somewhat tasteful about it. Memorial services in Australia and Los Angeles were tasteful, low-key affairs, and family members and friends (and Mary-Kate Olsen) have all kept their mouths shut about it for the most part. Until now. Ledger’s family (not including Michelle Williams, the mother of his daughter Matilda) has exploded into squabbling over the management of his estate.
gossipmonger
For Cecilia Sarkozy, Revenge Is a Dish Best Served During the Venetian HourCecilia Sarkozy, the ex-wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is set to get married to PR exec Richard Attias in New York on March 22. (Friends say it’s a “revenge” wedding.) Shelley Ross was so hated in her capacity as executive producer of CBS’ The Early Show that CBS News president Sean McManus didn’t even wait to find a replacement before firing her. Colin Farrell tried hitting on model Meghan Lowther at the Rose Bar, but found out the hard way that she has a boyfriend. The April issue of Elle features an interview given by Michelle Williams right after she broke up with Heath Ledger. New York real-estate giant Steven Fisher, best known for turning the aircraft carrier Intrepid into a museum, is trying to get his own TV show. Gossip Girl’s Conor Paolo wants, uh, Daniel Day-Lewis to join the cast.
gossipmonger
Cumming Sprays Everyone at Le RoyaleHeath Ledger allegedly did so much coke and heroin that Michelle Williams kicked him out of their Brooklyn home. (His publicist denies that he opted not to check into rehab.) Farrah Fawcett got $500,000 for allowing The Insider to videotape her chemotherapy. Alan Cumming ripped the disco ball off the roof at Le Royale, and then sprayed partygoers with Champagne.
in other news
Photos of Ledger’s Dead Body May Be Up for GrabsA flurry of Heath Ledger stories last night and this morning have thrown the tabloids into a tizzy. After a report yesterday in Us Weekly that claimed Michelle Williams had driven Ledger all the way up to the door of Promises rehab facility in Los Angeles, only to have the Australian star refuse to get out of the car, today the Daily News spoke with Ledger’s rep. Mara Buxbaum, the beleaguered publicist who has been slaving away over Ledger’s affairs even after his death, claims the Us story is “just one lie among many.” And that’s not the only tale Buxbaum’s been battling.
• After pressure from Buxbaum and her publicity company, ID PR, Entertainment Tonight and the Insider canceled plans to air a video of Heath doing cocaine at the Chateau Marmont last year. Moments from the video were teased on last night’s episodes. [EW]
• The Post claims it wasn’t just cocaine and pot that Heath used regularly. They spoke with a member of his posse who claimed to have done heroin with him regularly and have witnessed him on several-day benders. A friend in the Daily News disputes this, saying he only smoked pot. [NYP]
gossipmonger
Cameron Diaz to Invade ChelseaCameron Diaz is looking to buy an apartment in West Chelsea and also hooked up with Felicity’s Scott Speedman in the Bahamas. Samantha Stein-Wells, daughter of murdered real-estate broker Linda Stein, is turning her 35th birthday into a charity event in her mom’s name. Padma Lakshmi told Dave Zinczenko that she’d cover her body in chocolate if he put her on the cover of Men’s Health. Portfolio magazine named Newsweek fashion scribe Dana Thomas its European editor. Michelle Williams has pulled out of her upcoming movie with Ryan Gosling because she’s too beat up over Heath Ledger’s death. Maybe-pregnant Angelia Jolie went shopping at a baby boutique in Tribeca.
in other news
Heath Ledger: The Day-Two StoriesPerhaps inevitably, as print outlets struggle to find a way to expand their coverage of Heath Ledger’s death without many new details (multiple timelines! medical analyses!), we find that writers are turning to a new angle: the real-estate effect. The story of the Australian actor’s life in the past couple of years is truly a New York story. He hit the hottest spots, he changed the face of neighborhoods, and he became a familiar figure to the regular city dwellers who surrounded him. Gridskipper.com has a geographical guide to his final months, since he moved out of Boerum Hill. The Daily News talked to his Soho neighbors, who described his usual uniform as “ragged jeans, an old jacket, brown boots and a stubbly chin.” He used to wander the neighborhood and stop into restaurants and bars alone, and many didn’t even know he was a superstar. But in the Post, we get the opposite story. Andrea Peyser, shockingly, is the first person to push the “Is it too soon?” boundary.
in other news
Heath Ledger: Covering the Coverage (Updated)Today’s coverage of Heath’s Ledger’s death doesn’t answer many more of the questions that his fans are asking one another. Police are no longer touting suicide as the cause, and his family has declared it was an accident. Looking through the stories, blog posts, and online videos, though, provides a telling peek into the way the actor affected people, and how no one quite knows how to handle his death.
• According to some police sources, Heath’s ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams kicked him out of their shared Brooklyn home because of a drug problem “that got worse after he left.” Williams, the mother of their 2-year-old child, Matilda, has said she is “devastated.” [NYDN]
• The masseuse who discovered the body didn’t first call the police; she called the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, another client. Olsen told her to immediately call the authorities. [PageSix.com]
gossipmonger
Hilary Swank Put Her Boob on Someone’s HeadKelly Ripa said she’s going to check out occasional Live With Regis and Kelly co-host Damien Fahey’s band tonight at the Cutting Room. Hilary Swank accidentally put her boob on P.S. I Love You co-star Bob Balaban’s head when she hugged him as he was having lunch. Robin
Quivers’s boyfriend, comic Jim Florentine, joked at Caroline’s that he’s not sure why she’s dating him because he’s “a loser.” The Olsen twins, Bob Saget, and John Stamos had a Full House reunion at the Bowery Hotel bar on Wednesday. Michael Jordan, ex-Knick Charles Oakley, and Ahmad Rashad hung out at Buddakan and then Socialista. Black Crowe Chris Robinson got six figures to play a half-hour set for a Wall Street firm at Arena.
gossipmonger
Sheryl Crow Finally Has Something to Say About Ashley and Lance
Sheryl Crow thinks it’s “pathetic” that Lance Armstrong is dating Ashley Olsen. Paris Hilton has been frequenting New York hot spots very late at night (or, rather, early in the morning). Donald Trump Jr. is suing the board members of his West Side condo for kicking him off. Jon Corzine’s ex, 48-year-old Carla Katz, is dating a 32-year-old American soldier and former model. Torch, a new club slated to open tonight, is scrambling to get Tiki Barber and 800 other invitees not to show up because the plumbing isn’t ready. A guy on the subway once told Matthew Broderick that he looked and sounded exactly like Matthew Broderick.
gossipmonger
Heath and Michelle Disorient Their ChildHeath Ledger and Michelle Williams are creating identical bedrooms for their daughter at their respective abodes in Soho and Brooklyn. Sumner Redstone and his daughter have reconciled after a lengthy feud over money. A Detroit preacher has come to the defense of Star Jones, who was accused of skipping out of a charity event for overweight girls. Office mates John Krasinski and Rashida Jones canoodled at an SNL after-party. Brandon Davis was “surprisingly sober-esque” at the fifth-anniversary party for Butter, only falling down once. Philanthropist Loida Lewis sold her Fifth Avenue co-op for $33 million ($12 million less than the asking price).
gossipmonger
Heath and Michelle: Everything’s Wrong!Michelle Williams may be leaving Boerum Hill because the brownstone she lives in is too big for just her and the baby. A pregnant Nicole Richie smoked a cigarette outside Da Silvano. Ed Westwick, a.k.a. Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, likes playing the bad boy. (Also, he’s British!) Ryan Gosling shopped for flannel shirts at the Urban Outfitters on West 14th and also set off the store alarm. Jennifer Hudson canoodled with New York Jets free safety Kerri Rhodes at Cipriani. Joan Rivers claims her apartment was once haunted by a Jewish ghost from Larchmont. Natalie Portman couldn’t flirt her way to a table at LES restaurant Apizz. The launch party of the Supper Club at the National Arts Club was way too hot.
in other news
Either Heath Ledger or Michelle Williams Fleeing BoHi
After their recent well-publicized breakup, at least one half of Boerum Hill’s most famous couple seems to be moving out, reports 801a. We’re guessing it’s Heath, based upon how aggressively he’s been trying to find another place to sleep lately. But the best part? The above picture, captured on their street today.
When Celebrities Move [801a]
gossipmonger
Why Does Peter Kalikow Have a $1 Million Ferrari?Billionaire financiers Stephen Schwarzman and Henry Kravis don’t like each other, and refuse to socialize at billionaire financier-type events. Speaking of billionaire financiers, Jeffrey Epstein hired former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr to help defend him against charges that he solicited prostitutes. Tim Gunn claims that he wasn’t allowed to reference Project Runway in his book for fear of being sued by publisher (and Runway co-producer) Weinstein & Co. MTA chairman Peter Kalikow’s $1 million Ferrari sustained $32,000 in damage in transit from Zurich to New York last may. James Gandolfini says we should “shit or get off the pot” regarding Iraq, and wants to reinstate the draft. Some designers are angry that Ralph Lauren is hoarding models for his Saturday show.
in other news
Vox Populi: The Boerum Hill BreakupAs the end of the day nears, it’s time we assessed the people’s reaction to New York’s biggest news of the holiday weekend, the breakup of Brooklyn Über-couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams. We have our own opinions on the matter (read a couple that never, ever looks happy might actually not be), but on this we’ll turn to the experts – the commenters on the Us Weekly blog, which broke the news. Their words of wisdom after the jump, God bless ‘em.
gossipmonger
Blowin’ in the WindBobby Kennedy Jr. says he and his uncle Ted aren’t as opposed to the proposed Cape Cod wind farm as a book says they are. Liza Minnelli and Isle Werther are fighting over a dress. Barneys creative director Simon Doonan is happy to be a “card-carrying fag.” Boxing will go upscale when three Ford models replace the traditional ring girls at the upcoming welterweight championship at MSG. Former Justin Timberlake flame Cameron Diaz and current Justin Timberlake flame Jessica Biel will both be at the MTV Movie Awards, which may be awkward. Adam Carolla noted that Rosie O’Donnell is a fat female lesbian, and thus has “triple coverage as a minority.” President Bush’s chief domestic policy adviser, Karl Zinzmeister, reportedly said he’d never hire another woman because they “just get pregnant and leave.” Dean McDermott broke up with girlfriend Mary Jo Eustace via “Page Six.”
gossipmonger
Also, There Were Parties After the OscarsLeonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, and Vince Vaughn cruised the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton’s solo. (Everyone who is anyone was there.) Except Brad Pitt, who was a no-show at the Oscars despite having starred in Babel and been a producer on The Departed. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard are leaving the West Village for Brooklyn because of the paparazzi. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams are fighting. Oprah says that Barack Obama didn’t start the Clinton-Geffen feud. Zero-star Kobe Club owner Jeffrey Chodorow has banned Frank Bruni from all 29 of his restaurants. At $70,000, a private soccer lesson with David Beckham was the lowest winning bid at Elton John’s Oscar-night AIDS benefit. Natalie Portman left an Oscars party with Gael García Bernal.
gossipmonger
Breaking: Less Than Pure Ethics at the ‘Post’!Conflict of interest alert! The Post’s state editor, Fredric U. Dicker, has been getting paid to make speeches by the New York Bankers Association. Citigroup’s head of wealth management, Todd Thomson, left the firm yesterday, perhaps because he flew his friends around too often on the corporate jet. The Bachelor’s Lorenzo Borghese is dating the show’s runner-up, but he also hit on Tinsley Mortimer’s sister Dabney. Jared Leto got angry and Sienna Miller partied with Diddy and Josh Hartnett at Sundance. Also, Jared Leto was not pleased to hear that fellow Scarlett Johansson pal Justin Timberlake was to perform at a party he was at. Jay McInerney and Anne Hearst celebrated their marriage in Palm Beach with a gaggle of society folk.
gossipmonger
O.J. Simpson, Now the Get of the CenturyNews execs are desperate to get O.J. Simpson to do a primetime interview about his canceled primetime interview with Judith Regan, his lawyer says. Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock are breaking up over, um, Borat. Really. Owen Wilson was diamond-ring shopping. Quoth Britney Spears: “I gave birth for 2 1/2 years, and now I want to party” (with Paris Hilton, no less). In other Hilton news, Lindsay Lohan is mad at rumors that Paris dumped a drink on her, despite the fact that she’s the one who spread them. Despite the hype, Bobby didn’t do so well at the box office over Thanksgiving. Jay McInerney offers Dan Aykroyd wine advice; Aykroyd to sing at McInerney’s wedding in return. Longtime Brooklyn lovebirds Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger might soon be getting married. Who will be the 2006 “Media Person of the Year”? (Our money’s on Stephen Colbert.) Former Post editor-in-chief Ken Chandler to quit the newspaper biz and get into consulting. The lovely folks of Darien, Connecticut, bid on a bunch of stuff from Moby’s youth at an estate sale. Busta Rhymes booked a hotel room in Miami, was a no-show. Derek Jeter is still hitting on Jessica Biel; Jay-Z is still hating on Cristal. Cindy Adams’s criticism of the new Bond flick: The first ten minutes are “unrelenting shoot-em-up” (uh, Cindy, it’s a James Bond movie). Also, Adams is the only person in the world who doesn’t find Daniel Craig sexy. Kiefer Sutherland’s kill-count on 24 last season: 38.
