Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via nytimes)

"So maybe the announcement of Sumner Redstone and his wife of 5 1/2-years, former NYC schoolteacher Paula Fortunato, filing for divorce is news to everyone else. But not to me. I reported 14 months ago that there was trouble in the entertainment mogul's marriage. See my previous, Redstone Family Woes: Now His Marriage. At the time, I was told she signed one of those iron-clad prenups and would only get $1 million if the marriage breaks up. But now Redstone claims he'll be more 'generous' and everything is very friendly between them. Whatever." (DeadlineHollywoodDaily)

"Will Smith is married with kids, right? And he's a totally devout Scientologist, true? So there's no way in hell he could ever have been interested in male pleasure engineers. None whatsoever! Still, as you may have heard, a certain madam just told an award winning journalist that where there's a Will, there's a gay. She said the sinewy action star of Mancock, I mean Hancock, used to call on her for escorts, and she generously provided them, assuring the actor that the transactions would be carried out with a maximum of discretion." (Musto)

"The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August. According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74. The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September." (Politico)

"If Hugh Grant thought he could take his time while he decides whether or not to rekindle his relationship with Jemima Khan, he had better start thinking about stepping things up a gear. Jemima, 34, was walking around Soho arm-in-arm with another man yesterday." (ThisisLondon)

"Bill O'Reilly has signed up for another tour of duty at Fox News, saying that he decided "to put myself through all the attacks and smears" for several more years ..Fox is expected to formally announce the four-year deal today, and the decision by O'Reilly -- who will be paid more than $10 million a year -- was not unexpected. After re-signing Sean Hannity and luring Glenn Beck from CNN's Headline News in the past two weeks, Fox has solidified a right-leaning lineup that has kept the channel's ratings well ahead of its rivals'." (WashPo)

"TIM Robbins and Susan Sarandon celebrating his 50th birthday at Elements in Santa Barbara with friends including singer Jackson Browne." (PageSix)

"The smartest bit of political wisdom (McCain strategist Steve Schmidt) ever heard was dispensed by George W. Bush one spring day at the White House residence in 2004, at a time when his re-election effort was not going especially well. The strategists at the meeting — including Schmidt, who was directing the Bush campaign’s rapid-response unit — fretted over their candidate’s sagging approval ratings and the grim headlines about the war in Iraq. Only Bush appeared thoroughly unworried. He explained to them why, polls notwithstanding, voters would ultimately prefer him over his opponent, John Kerry. There’s an accidental genius to the way Americans pick a president, Schmidt remembers Bush saying that day. By the end of it all, a candidate’s true character is revealed to the American people." (NYTimes)

"Sean Connery ixnayed playing Harrison Ford's father in The Quest for the Holy Grail saying, 'They'd have had to get a younger son for me to take that role.'" (CindyAdams)

"(T)he Whitney Museum of American Art's annual gala .. Right after Donatella Versace made her grand entrance with friend and muse Patrick Dempsey, Mariah Carey and Sting and Trudie Styler stormed the space full of art greats, publishing giants and financial brass." (Fashionweekdaily)