June 22, 2000

Gossip queen goes to bat for Talk mag

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

WALKING THE TALK, AND VICE VERSA: For reasons we find elusive, gossip dowager Liz Smith seems to have made it her mission in life to act as a champion on behalf of Talk magazine, the periodical loosed upon the American public by ex-New Yorker editor Tina Brown.

Implicitly taking umbrage with media observers who believe the mag is conspicuously uninspired, Liz gets Tina to respond to such cavils in the following manner.

"We paid attention" to the critics, Tina says, "and decided we were a bit visually confused. We wanted Talk to feel more modern and to have a lot of snap!"

SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! Liz deems Tina's efforts along those remedial lines fruitful, citing the fact that the current ish features a big photo of one big celeb, as opposed to previous covers, which have each been divvied up among images of a number of the great and the near-great.

And who is that one celeb? Here, let Liz herself tell you.

"It is Leonardo DiCaprio in an amazing Aaron Lathan article about Leo's relationship with his father!"

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE TRUTH: A Parade magazine reader puzzled by George Clooney's decision to end his romantic relationship with a Frenchwoman named Celine Balltran based on his own "Intimacy Issues” asks our man Walter Scott to find someone who can explain what in the world George means. Accordingly, Walter gets self-help author Steven Carter ("Men Who Can't Love”) on the blower.

"This beautiful woman spoke a different language," Steve explains, "and was from a different culture, so she became a blank slate - a perfect symbol for his fantasies of perfection."

That doesn't sound so bad, but read on.

“Claiming 'Intimacy Issues' is just a new way of ending a relationship when the real reasons are narcissism, defensiveness and a terror of connection,” Steven goes on. "And let's face it; Hollywood is the capital of narcissism." Do we have to face it?

TRUMP BACK IN CIRCULATION: Meantime, Donald Trump has let it be known that he has issued walking papers to Melania Knauss, the supermodel with whom he has been keeping company the last few weeks or months.

"She's a great girl," a source close to Trump tells the New York Post in the strictest confidence, but Donald has to be free for a while. She didn't want to get hooked." Neither do we, so we’ll move on to the next item without further ado.

REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT NEWS: The Post's arch-rival, the New York Daily News, recently printed a report that former presidential aide and current talking head George Stephanopolous has got a mutual thing going with Bebe Neuwirth, the "Chicago" Broadway star who used to appear on "Cheers."

THE OTHER SHOE: However, on the very same day the Post goes straight to the source and gets George to string together a few words on the matter.

George?

"I don't comment about my personal life and I'm not going to start now."

What a killjoy

ANNALS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS: Indeed, many celebrities and/or their flacks recently have been responding to such queries with similar protestations, claiming it is not their practice to make remarks on personal topics.

Thank goodness Catherine Zeta-Jones' rep, a fellow named Todd Adair, takes a more expansive view when reached by a journalist for comment about word that his client is now officially engaged to Michael Douglas.

Todd freely admits that Catherine is now in possession of a "big diamond ring" purchased for her by Michael, and that "it's very nice. She's ecstatic, thrilled and very, very happy." Thanks, Todd, we'll see what you have to say in a year or so.

PUFF DADDY AND JENNIFER: Never mind all this bootless talk about Sean "Puffy" Combs, his girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, and the little matter of weapons charges. Liz Smith has the real nitty-gritty on the pair in the form of reliable information that Jennifer recently bought Sean a treadmill worth $6,500.

A FINAL PIECE OF ROMANTIC CELEBRITY NEWS: Reports in more than one news organ have it that Billy Joel and his girlfriend, artist Carolyn Beegan, decided to hang it up immediately following New Year's.

"It was mutual, friendly," an “East Ender" tells a reporter. They were together six years. She's only 34. She was tired of reading about herself as “Billy Joel's girlfriend.” So now she can read about herself as "no one in particular."

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

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