July 25, 2000

Hillary 'in bed' with De Niro, Cruise, Kidman

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

BIG-LEAGUE MUCKRAKING: Tireless in its efforts to uncover the truth, the New York Post has learned that certain celebrities made large financial contributions to Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign. For example:

ROBERT DE NIRO reportedly contributed the whopping, unbelievably huge amount of $5,000 (that's a 5 followed by three zeros) to the first lady's New York try.

TOM CRUISE AND NICOLE KIDMAN, perhaps after taking out a second mortgage on one of their palatial homes, threw a staggering $10,000 (a 1 followed by four zeros) into the Hillary pot.

BYE-BYE, BARBRA: And here we have word that Barbra Streisand is going to retire from live performing by putting on four farewell concerts, two in New York and two in L.A.

But terms like "farewell concert," "farewell tour," "goodbye concert," "adios fest" and "adieu extravaganza" have proven in the past to be inexact; witness the James Cagney-like dissolution scenes of acts like the Who and the Judds.

"Even if it's not her last show," an unnamed insider tells a reporter, "everybody's going to want to see her because it might be her last. The Who has retired a few times and they still sell out arenas." So "false advertising” really wouldn't even be a fair description.

WHO ARE THEY, NOW? You know very well that Jay McInerney is the writer who authored "Bright Lights, Big City." You may know that Helen Bransford is the name of the woman he was married to. If you are exceedingly well-informed, you know that Jay and Helen have split up. But we'll bet anything you didn't know that Jay supposedly is now pitching woo with someone named Jeanine Pepler, and that Jeanine is described in one print report as a "South African movie exec," whatever that is.

WHO ARE THEY, NOW? PART 2: Everyone in the solar system knows that Elizabeth Hurley is a top something-or-other who for the longest time was joined at the hip to movie star Hugh Grant. The same number of people know that the pair famously took a trip to Splitsville not that long ago. Almost as many know that Liz then supposedly was romantically entangled with a moneyed investor named Ted Forstmann. But you could count on the fingers of one or two hands the number of individuals who know that Ted, according to the New York Daily News, has now given Liz the heave-ho in favor of Deborah Yates, and no one in the world (except Deb's mom) knows that she's known for starring on Broadway in the musical version of "Contact.”

Incidentally, we are also hearing reports that Liz recently defied a Screen Actors Guild strike by shooting one of her glamorous Estee Lauder spots, but her "rep" says that's because she didn't know the strike was going on.

OH, STOP IT: Now we're hearing that Pamela Anderson, on the outs with her rocker husband Tommy Lee, is pitching woo with Bryan Adams. Bryan's flack, one Lisa Blake, even offers this quasi-confirmation to a reporter: "They flew to England together. Naomi (Campbell, the famous model) chartered a private jet and she and Bryan and Pam flew back together to London, where Bryan lives."

But then Bryan sends an e-mail message to Lisa that takes the wind right out of one's sails: "hope ... I photographed her (that is, Pam). That's it." But have they signed a prenup yet?

BRITISH STARS ON THE INJURED LIST: We are in receipt of a report saying one well-known, mellifluous British actor recently cut himself during a stage performance in London and had to be rushed to the hospital, where he received stitches. Another report says a different Britold star of stage and screen ran into a deer on his motorcycle and at press time was under a doctor's care. One of the actors is Liam Neeson, the other is Ralph Fiennes. Which star suffered which injury?

Answer: Liam ran afoul of Bambi, while Ralph is the one whose access to sharp objects ought to be restricted. If you answered correctly, you may pat yourself on the back.

CLOSE ENOUGH, GIVE HER A CIGAR: Gossip dowager Liz Smith got slightly mixed up the other day when she wrote that Hugh Jackman of “The X-Men" starred in a London stage production of "Oliver." What she meant to say, she admits in a subsequent column, was that Hugh won an Olivier Award for appearing in "Oklahoma!" But it's practically the same thing.

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

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