J.Lo parties until 3:30AM, and looks like she might be straining herself. LuAnn de Lesseps dances on a table. Who stole David Copperfield's precious magician award? Why does Arnold Schwarzenegger need three larger-than-life bronze statues of himself? Monday gossip goes too far.
Have you been "laboring" under the impression that our economy is bad right now. Not so! The WSJ points out that the super high-end real estate market, at least, is doing just fine, which is a relief. There's never been a better time to purchase a luxurious private island that could hypothetically be used as a terrifying sex dungeon!
Jersey Shore kids scoff at The Hills and Jerry Springer; Brangelina's PR team floats a new break-up excuse; Stephanie Pratt gets bounced; Nancy Grace's suicide-inducement trial will be televised, after all. Wednesday's gossip roundup is full of Schadenfreude.
Well well well, shut our collective mouths, magically! Last August, a woman accused David Copperfield of luring her to his private island, raping her repeatedly, and then threatening to kill her if she told anyone. Copperfield denied it at the time. But let's be honest: everyone already thought David Copperfield was kind of creepy, so it's the sort of accusation one might be inclined to believe.
• Those rumors about Tiger Woods in rehab have returned. According to People, Woods checked into a sex rehab clinic around New Year's and will be there until "Valentine's Day or thereabouts." (Perfect timing!) As for his estranged wife, Elin Nordegren, she's moved into a new home that's just a couple of miles from the gated community where she used to live with Woods. [People, TMZ, NYDN]
• Have Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel split up? That's what some people are saying, since she spent the last week climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro while he was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And couples that are really in love would never spend a moment apart, would they? Didn't think so. [Radar]
• The Post reported a few days ago that Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly have made plans to get married in November. Naturally, this had led the Daily News to report today that the story is totally untrue and the couple hasn't even discussed getting engaged, at least according to one of Minka's friends. [NYDN]
• Forbes released its list of Hollywood's "top-earning couples" yesterday. The winner? That would be Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who reeled in $122 million last year, or more than double what Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt collected. Possibly related: Beyoncé said yesterday that she plans to take a "hiatus" from singing so she can "live life." Which is what you'd do, too, if you made nine figures over the last 12 months. [Forbes, NYDN]
• The Conan-Leno mess is bad news for NBC. But it's also made late-night TV sorta watchable again, which is nice. [Gawker]
"Eat my panties off me," Mrs. Pratt rhythmically coos. Vogue threatens Anna Wintour's town car, Elin Nordegren invests in another house, Ryan Seacrest cries over Simon. Come, plumb the depths of Wednesday's gossip.
Funny woman Amy Poehler turns 38 today. Mr. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, is turning 41. Mickey Rourke is 53. Lauren Bacall is celebrating her 85th. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates turns 59. Magician David Copperfield is 53. Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls fame is turning 28. Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers is turning 17. Artist Christopher Wool is 54. Andy Serwer, Fortune's managing editor, is turning 50. Blues legend B.B. King is 84. And the man responsible for such '80s classics as "Endless Summer Nights" and "Right Here Waiting," Richard Marx, is 46 today.
• One of Jay-Z's bodyguards was arrested in Croatia yesterday after he got into a scuffle with a local TV reporter armed with a tripod. Video of the encounter is here. [TMZ]
• Heidi Pratt is scheduled to perform at the Miss Universe Pageant this weekend; not surprisingly, she and husband Spencer Pratt haven't exactly been making things easy for organizers of the event. [P6]
• Is it over between Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper? The two didn't attend the party for Zellweger's new movie together and, well, we all know what that means, don't we? [P6]
• Rudy Giuliani wandered into Blue & Cream in East Hampton the other day because he thought the clothing boutique was an ice cream shop. [P6]
It's a busy week for Amy Poehler. Last Saturday, she helped SNL score its highest ratings in years and then announced yesterday that she's planning to leave the show in November. Today she celebrates her birthday: She's 37. Also celebrating: Marc Anthony is 40 (although he held his big birthday blowout on Sunday at the Bowery Hotel.) Lauren Bacall is 84. Magician David Copperfield is 52. Nick Jonas is 16. Actress Alexis Bledel is 27. Mickey Rourke is 52. The artist Christopher Wool turns 53 today. Fortune's managing editor Andy Serwer is 49. Harvard professor and author Henry Louis Gates is 58. Televangelist Robert Schuller is 82. And blue's legend B.B. King is 83.
From time to time the news cycle offers up an event of such import and complexity that it can only be comprehended through the medium of musical theater. This week resident composer Ben Greenman takes a metahistorical view of the long, sad story of magician, alleged discoverer of the Fountain of Youth and accused rapist David Copperfield.
There's nothing like good-natured competition amongst cofounders. So which Google founder topped the other with the best wedding locale? Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki of 23AndMe conjoined their gene pools at magician David Copperfield's exclusive Musha Cay, and it's rumored that Larry Page and fiancée Lucy Southworth have reserved Richard Branson's Necker Island, pictured above, for a December 7 wedding. A complete comparison of the private islands after the jump. Who splurged the most? You decide.
So magician David Copperfield is under investigation by the FBI for raping a woman in the Bahamas, where he owns a couple islands (one of which has the fountain of youth!). In the last week or so, lots of creepy details about his typical methods of "seduction" have come to light. He or his people would mark the scantily clad girls to come on stage during the show, he'd ask them to meet him backstage, then he'd ask if they like the Bahamas—and who doesn't! So as someone rapidly developing a reputation as an all-around creep who might be a bit rapey, it's time Copperfield got serious. Like by hiring Mike Sitrick! Sitrick, who repped Paris Hilton after the jail thing, has long done great work for sketchy dudes, like supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle and "Girls Gone Wild" king and America's BFF Joe Francis. So Copperfield's in good company!
Accused of raping a woman he lured to the Bahamas, other women are now coming forward to tell of their own experiences being cherry-picked from David Copperfield's audiences for backstage Q & A and photographing sessions, with one sharing a (completely innocuous yet entirely creepy) voice mail left by the magician, proposing a "very interesting opportunity for you." [TMZ]
Star Jones, too often the lone voice of sanity to be found on basic cable programming dedicated to the celebrity-related legal issues of the day, has a point: We don't know much of anything about the ongoing investigation of the sexual assault accusations made against David Copperfield beyond the stream of gossip being leaked to the media by shadowy "sources within the FBI." So unless an official spokesperson from the Bureau comes forth to announce the case-making evidence discovered when agents pried apart the mysterious crate in the magician's Las Vegas warehouse stamped TOP SECRET BAHAMIAN RAPE TRICK: DO NO OPEN!!!, we should all give Copperfield the benefit of the doubt and stop wasting our lives on the kind of gossipy speculation Jones has abhorred ever since being ejected from The View.
Until only recently, the greatest mystery surrounding David Copperfield was how he successfully managed to put Claudia Schiffer under a magician-lusting trance for six years. But with recently surfaced accusations of rape and an FBI raid in which they seized computer equipment and nearly $2 million in cash, legitimate questions have begun to arise over whether there's something far more sinister afoot here than a mere penchant for blousy clothing and a suspected Just For Men addiction. In the wake of the controversy, meanwhile, Copperfield's upcoming Southeast Asian tour has been canceled:
So the Washington State-based FBI investigation of MAGIC MAN David Copperfield apparently stems from the claim of a Seattle woman that he raped her in the Bahamas. Hope you're all enjoying your Arrested Development jokes now guys! Copperfield bought four Bahamanian Islands last year (would you maybe like to stay on one of them? No?), and then claimed one of them held the Fountain of Youth. "I've discovered a true phenomenon," he said in '06. "You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again.... Bugs or insects that are near death, come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting." Here's a tip from us: when master illusionist David Copperfield invites you to drink from his magic pond, politely refuse. THEN TELL AN ADULT. [Fox]
Though reports had been circulating about a mysterious FBI raid of the heavily fortified Las Vegas warehouse where celebrity necromancer David Copperfield houses the contract with Satan documenting the exchange of his mortal soul for the infernal magickal powers he regularly displays in network television specials, the purpose of the probe had remained unclear. But now Fox News is reporting that the investigation is connected to a rape claim made against Copperfield by a Seattle woman:
