November 16, 1999

GERALDO: BYE-BYE, DOGHOUSE

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

CELEBRITY CANDOR (1): Whenever we begin feeling downhearted about the lack of trust human beings seem to feel for each other, we are encouraged and inspired to reflect that some of the most famous people in the history of the world are perfectly happy to share their deepest, darkest secrets with the rest of us, usually through the agency of a newspaper, a magazine or a television program.

For example, broadcaster Geraldo Rivera - who recently became estranged from his 73rd wife, C.C. Dyer - is expansive and life-embracing enough to make a comment to TV Guide about the happy fact that C.C. and he are now together again.

"I'm back," he observes. "Things have never been better. C.C. and I have found our way through the storm."

CELEBRITY CANDOR (2): By the same token, you might expect a gigantic singing star like Celine Dion to keep her personal family-planning notions to herself. Instead, she allows her much older husband/manager, Rene Angelli, graciously if somewhat coyly to hint to a reporter that the two of them are way ahead of the curve in the fertility department.

“We took some precautions," Rene explains, "some steps in modern science to be able to have children. We want to have a baby. We're trying right now." During the interview?

CELEBRITY CANDOR (3): And no one, certainly not us, would blame rap star/mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs if he declined to make any public remarks about his relationship with the beautiful movie star, Jennifer Lopez. But upon rumors going out that the two glamorous young people are planning to become married, Sean is large enough to clarify the matter by issuing a statement, to wit:

"Jennifer Lopez and I are not engaged. At this time, we have no plans to marry. We've just started a relationship, and we are taking things day by day." Great, so we don't have to go down to Crate & Barrel for a wedding gift!

CELEBRITY CANDOR (4): Nor would any reasonable person blame Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton if he chose to say nothing whatsoever about any hankerings he might have to produce children in tandem with his current wife, attorney Kathleen Newton. On the contrary, he is so forthcoming with an inquiring journalist that one hardly knows where to start "Kathleen keeps telling me that her biological clock is running out," Wayne says. (Kathleen, in case you're wondering, is 35.) "She has been wonderful with Erin." (Erin, In case you're also wondering, is a 23-year-old daughter of Wayne's from a previous marriage.) "I know she'll be a wonderful mother. If this is something she wants, then I want it, too." And so do we.

CELEBRITY CANDOR (5): Leave it to a "celebrity" far less well-known than Sean, Celine, Geraldo or Wayne to ruin everything by acting as though his romantic comings and goings were his own business and no one else's. Here we have actor Michael Nouri ("Flashdance") responding to suggestions that he's been squiring wealthy women around to the detriment of his wife of record, Vicki: "It's my private life. My job is not to confirm or deny anything." Apparently he just doesn't care if we starve to death for lack of anything to write about.

CELEBRITY CANDOR (6): Then there's Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (CQ), a model whose most recent professional break is to portray superhero Mystique in the movie version of "X-Men," a role for which Rebecca has to undergo considerable and arduous daily prep work. But here, let her tell it:

"Bryan Singer is so secretive," she says, referring to the fellow who's helming the pic. "He doesn't want anybody to know about my costume. I will say that it's a combination of prosthetics, makeup and dye; it takes 10 hours to apply it, two hours to take it off, and when I'm done I can't get all the blue off my fingers and toes." But who are you going to have a baby with?

CAMPAIGN 2000: The New York Post has it on good authority that presidential candidate Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management, has inked a representation deal with a model formerly associated with the Elite company, her name being Filippa Von Stackelberg.

NEWS THAT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Michael Jackson is going to appear as the author of "The Raven" and "The Tell-tale Heart" in a "big-budget thriller" titled "The Nightmare of Edgar Allen Poe."

SHOW-BUSINESS ANALYSIS: Finally, movie producer David Israel thinks there are good reasons why theaters aren't about to become gridlocked with millennium-themed movies. "I think studios probably looked at Y2K movies as having a short shelf life," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "What's the audience for it after Jan. 1?" None, since the Venusians will have blasted Earth to smithereens that morning.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

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