After coming out while in office in 2004, former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey joined the seminary and tried to be an Episcopal priest. Now it turns out the denomination doesn't want him and, shockingly enough, the decision has nothing to do with his shacking up with another man.
It was five years ago yesterday that Jim McGreevey announced he was "a gay American," and said he was resigning as New Jersey's governor. What's he up to now? He's studying divinity and spends free time volunteering at a church in Harlem, and he tells the Star-Ledger that he's made peace with the past. ("I'm grateful for my brokenness. I'm grateful for my humility.") Also, as you probably could have guessed, he had a pretty good idea for how Eliot Spitzer was feeling during his sex scandal last March: "I felt pain for his family, and I prayed for his family, and I knew that he would once again discover productive service as he has. He's an incredibly bright, capable individual and he will continue to serve in different ways." [NJ.com via Gothamist]
Josh Schwartz, the man responsible for bringing you The OC and Gossip Girl, turns 33 today. Jim McGreevey, the man responsible for bringing New Jersey its most embarrassing political scandal—up until two weeks ago, that is—turns 52. Director M. Night Shyamalan is turning 39. Karenna Gore Schiff, the novelist daughter of Al and Tipper Gore, is turning 36. Publishing exec Jamie Raab is 56. American Express' marketing chief, John Hayes, is turning 55. Victoria's Secret model Marisa Miller is 31. Actress Melissa George is turning 33. Reality TV star Adrianne Curry is 27. Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is turning 37. And Soleil Moon Frye, who will always be Punky Brewster to you and me, celebrates her 33rd birthday today.
• Hope you're ready to go through it all over again: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis have all agreed to participate in a Sex and the City movie sequel. [Us]
• Graydon Carter should really consider writing a nutrition cookbook: It seems Madonna's secret to eternal youth is the salmon with lentils at the Waverly Inn. [L&S]
• Still more drama from the inaugural festivities in DC earlier this week: Chris Matthews got pissed about having to wait on line, Sharon Stone was annoyed she had to co-host a segment on CNN with D.L. Hughley, and Halle Berry went into panic mode after her dress got caught in an escalator. [P6]
• Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted on a flight doing yoga in the aisle recently. Is this becoming a trend? [Star]
• Charges against Mathias Guerrand-Hermès have been dropped. [NYDN]
Dina Matos probably isn't smiling right now: a divorce court judge ruled this afternoon that she is not entitled to alimony from her ex, former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey. Dina had asked for $1 million in the suit. She'll end up getting $109,295 as well as $1,075 a month in child support for their daughter, Jacqueline. It's a nice belated birthday present for Jim, who turned 51 the day before yesterday. Dina can take comfort that thanks to the sexual embarrassment of another politician, her humiliation won't dominate the nightly news tonight. [NYT, NYP]
New Jersey's former governor—and gay American—Jim McGreevey turns 51 today. Also celebrating: The man who brought Gossip Girl to TV, Josh Schwartz, turns 32. Publishing queen Jamie Raab turns 55. Creepy director M. Night Shyamalan is 38. The man to blame for all those celebrity-laden American Express commercials, Amex marketing chief John Hayes, is 54. Reality "star" Adrianne Curry, who you probably fondly remember from America's Next Top Model and My Fair Brady, is 26. And former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is 36.
So the gays are officially marrying each other in California. And there are a few celebrities sprinkled in among the hordes of couples now rushing to the altar: George "Mr. Sulu" Takei of Star Trek married his partner Brat Altman today, and Ellen DeGeneres says she plans to marry her longtime girlfriend, Portia De Rossi, later this month. But what about here in New York? Which locals are going to take advantage of David Paterson's recent decision to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and fly out West to pick up a marriage license of their own?
Poor Dina Matos McGreevey. Since her split from "gay American" Jim McGreevey, New Jersey's former first lady has gone from buying designer duds at Neiman Marcus to shopping the sales rack at T.J. Maxx and the Gap. And not only has Dina had to give up her private chef and security detail, she says she now has to do her laundry at her parents' house because she can't afford a washer and dryer, and their six-year-old has to sleep in a baby crib because Dina didn't have the scratch to buy a bed. Looks like Les Miserables has been revived in Springfield, NJ! Things are going to get even tougher this week when Dina loses her job as an administrator because the hospital she works at is shutting down. But she's hoping a judge feels her pains and awards her the $51,000 a month she's been seeking as part of a divorce settlement. Who knows, by the end of summer, she might finally be able to pick up some bedsheets so poor little Jacqueline Matos McGreevey doesn't have to sleep on a bare mattress.
Do you remember Corey Johnson? He was the kid who was the co-captain of his high school football team, and maybe "the first high school athlete in the nation to declare his homosexuality so publicly while still enjoying the support of his teammates, parents and coaches," back in 2000. It's his birthday! He invited all his Facebook friends! One person, though, can't make it. Former New Jersey Governor and Gay American Jim McGreevey. He has a totally valid excuse!
A tipster—who insists in no uncertain terms that he is not "friends" with the former governor of New Jersey and noted Gay American—forwards us this adorable image of Jim McGreevey's brand-new puppies. Sooo cute! Unfortunately, Dina Matos will sell them all to a puppy fur-obsessed heiress and use the money to buy more helicopters. [Facebook]
If it sometimes seems like every American will be talking constantly and forever about politicians whoring and cheating and having threesomes, until, within our sad lifetimes, the political fabric of the nation turns to ashes and our economy is paralyzed and society burned to the ground, it's because that is probably what is going to happen. In the meantime, let's all read and think about these important sexual issues some more. Here is what everyone is saying about governors having sex with people other than their wives:
The New York Post dug into the alleged threesomes involving former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, his wife and their male driver and found, not surprisingly, that gay guv was more into the three-ways than his wife. He enjoyed them so much, in fact, that he invited the driver on a romantic getaway where McGreevey planned to propose to his then-girlfriend. (The girlfriend, who later married McGreevey, got really pissed and disinvited the driver.) The driver now has a girlfriend "of several years" and has not disclosed any contact between himself and the governor during the threesomes. But it appears the governor was not left out of the action. The driver told the Post: "He liked watching me, and she would watch me while she was [performing sex acts] with Jim." The whole thing started one fateful night, when McGreevey was mayor of Woodbridge, NJ, and the tale is maybe vaguely hot, at least by New Jersey standards:
New Jersey WILL NOT be out-trashed by New York, so a former driver has announced that not only did ex-Garden State Gov. Jim McGreevey have a gay lover, but also the governor's wife joined in on three-ways with the driver on many Friday nights from 1999 to 2001. The encounters would usually start with dinner at TGI Friday's — classy! — followed by sex between the driver and the wife at McGreevey's condo. They were known to all involved as "Friday Night Specials." From the Star-Ledger's story: "[Driver Theodore] Pedersen did not say if he was gay or bisexual and only described having contact with [Dina] Matos McGreevey during the trysts. He also said he never knew for sure if McGreevey was gay." McGreevey did not marry his wife until 2000, so the aide is saying the three-ways belie her claim to have been duped about her husband's sexuality. (Also, McGreevey was not elected governor until 2001, so the driver may not have been a driver at the time of the three-ways.) The aide's allegations are coming as Jim and Dina Matos McGreevey are battling over custody of their daughter. After the jump, video of Dina Matos McGreevey lending moral support to the wife of very-soon-to-be-former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, whose own cheating now seems just a little bit more tame.
Eliot and Silda Spitzer apparently took fashion notes during the sex scandal of New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey: "If you own an American flag pin wear it to prove you're still patriotic... Your wife should wear any sort of soft blue lady power suit... Nothing says I'll stand by you more than a pearl necklace." [Blakeley on Boinkology]
McGreevey is the disgraced ex-governor of New Jersey and an aspiring Episcopalian priest. Yes, he's also a gay American.
"Pony rides and face painting don't make for a good parent," Dina Matmos McGreevey emailed to former Jersey love guv and gay seminarian Jim McGreevey last week, demanding that he cancel this coming weekend's 6th birthday party for their daughter because she has custody that week. Do you know what happens to kids whose parents use them as tools of petty revenge? That's right: Tiny Courtney Loves. [NYP]
