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In Hollywood, you learn who your real friends are after your movie bombs in its opening weekend, or, in certain other cases, once you're jailed for possessing explosives and/or allegedly conducting scores of illegal wiretaps involving some of the most powerful people in town. Erstwhile Private Eye to the Stars Anthony Pellicano has figured out the hard way that the bond he shares with Universal president Ron Meyer is both real and special, as the NY Times reports that Meyer is fiercely defensive of their relationship after being questioned about his jailhouse visits to his incarcerated pal:

"I'm offended that my friendship would be questioned," he said on Saturday. "I like him the way anybody would like a friend. He's never given me any reason to feel differently about him. I'm not his judge, and all these charges against him haven't been proven. The only way I can judge anybody is how they treat me, and Anthony's never given me a reason to think of him as anything but a friend, and frankly, a stand-up guy." [...]

Asked by reporters to explain his repeat visits to Mr. Pellicano behind bars, Mr. Meyer said: "I visited him because he's my friend, and I don't have anything to hide. I know the truth, and I don't care what anybody thinks.

"I feel no need to apologize for being his friend," he added. "And when he's able to have visitors, I'll go visit him again."

It's an almost shocking display of loyalty in such a heartless. mercenary industry. We hope that Meyer's being completely sincere about returning and not just trying to cast his involvement with Pellicano in the most favorable light; there's a person with real emotions in that prison cell, one who's counting off the days until his last friend in Hollywood sits opposite him in the visitor's cubicle, when they can once again gently press their hands against the grimy glass divider that cruelly denies the two men the restorative power of a soulmate's touch.