Star Magazine

SHAME, SHAME SHAME, ON STAR MAGAZINE!

There’s honest mistakes, sloppy reporting, and then there’s STAR MAGAZINE! Longtime readers will remember me as the gossip columnist for STAR in its heyday, breaking countless scoops and having fun dishing the Hollywood gossip for years. It’s shameful to see what the once legitimate tabloid has turned into. This cover story was dated August 21 and it is total fiction – implying that Sandra Bullock’s longtime boyfriend Bryan Randall dumped her!  The true story is that heartbroken Sandra LOST her life partner Bryan Randall to ALS on AUGUST 5. STAR had the mindless audacity to put what you see above on their cover for the issue dated AUGUST 21!  Embarrassing! Even if the magazine had already gone to print, common sense would have dictated that they scrap the issue entirely, as opposed to releasing the false and insensitive cover. Sandra deserves better, as do their readers – though we doubt there are many of those left…

SHERYL LEE RALPH: THE TRUTH COMES OUT

Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph has been reminiscing about career advice that Robert De Niro gave her when they filmed Mistress in 1992. Suddenly I remembered a fun experience I had with Sheryl. Back in the early 90’s I was writing the gossip column for Star magazine and a security guard from a fancy NY hotel called with a story. The guard was laughing and said that Robert De Niro just had a tantrum in the hotel lobby. It was after 10 o’clock and the hotel had a strict rule: nobody goes upstairs unless they have a key (that means NO visitors) UNLESS person renting room comes down to lobby to bring visitor up. De Niro wanted to go UP immediately to visit someone and called for the manager. The manager insisted – the person De Niro wanted to visit HAD to come down and get him. Loud complaints and “Don’t you know who I AM?” followed – furious De Niro made phone calls. Finally Sheryl Lee Ralph came down in the elevator in a negligee and brought de Niro up to her room. I loved the story, but when it came out, De Niro called Star’s editor and tried to get me fired, threatened to sue Star AND the hotel – he denied everything. The editor was satisfied the story was true and stood his ground. De Niro didn’t take action and a couple of years later I ran into Sheryl Lee Ralph and reminded her of the incident. She was delightful and laughed out loud – admitting it was absolutely TRUE! I loved her for that – De Niro, not so much…

Photo: Instagram

ROBERT DE NIRO MET HIS MATCH IN SHERYL LEE RALPH

Sheryl Lee Ralph is a longtime favorite of ours and she brings to mind a funny story. Back in the 90’s when we gossiped for Star magazine we got a late night call from a security guard source who worked at an exclusive New York hotel. He was laughing as he said “Robert De Niro is here and he’s having a tantrum in the lobby because they won’t let him visit someone upstairs!” It seems this hotel was SO fancy they didn’t allow nighttime visitors to go upstairs unless the person they were visiting came to the lobby and escorted them up! De Niro was outraged and furious “Don’t you know who I am!” Security wouldn’t budge, and eventually DeNiro’s tryst-mate came down in a chic bathrobe to get him – and it turned out to be Sheryl Lee Ralph! (They costarred in the 1992 movie Mistress) When we printed this story, Deniro’s lawyer called to complain bitterly about the “fake” story and tried to get me fired, but didn’t sue. He also tried to get the security guard fired. A few years later we ran into Sheryl at an event and reminded her of that story– she laughed out loud and admitted – “Oh yes, that was me!”

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

CINDY CRAWFORD COULDN’T CARE LESS ABOUT FAKE TABLOID STORIES

Does Star magazine have something against Cindy Crawford? Granted, gossip IS scarce during the holidays, so someone at the magazine decided it would be fun to create an awkward situation for the uncomplaining Cindy Crawford. The tabloid wrote that when Cindy attended the British Fashion awards with her family, that she was mistaken several times for Caitlin Jenner! (Cindy wore a black velvet gown similar to one that Caitlyn has worn.) Keep in mind, Caitlyn is 6’2” and 69 years old and Cindy is 5’9” and 52. And why would Caitlyn Jenner be holding hands with Rande Gerber? The absurdity of the “mistaken identity” claim influenced Gossip Cop to disprove the silly story, but Cindy paid no attention as usual.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

JENNIFER ANISTON’S GOOD NEWS IS BAD NEWS FOR STAR MAGAZINE!

It was just announced by People magazine that Jennifer Aniston is now engaged to Justin Theroux (we’re VERY happy for both of them!) but how embarrassing for Star Magazine! Their cover this week has Jennifer BREAKING UP with Justin in July after “catching him with another woman.” THIS is what happens when magazines stop paying reliable sources for information. We worked for Star for years and they took good care of inside sources. But all that changed. Editors stopped paying for inside information and great scoops. This kind of cover happens when insiders refuse to talk for free and stories and dramatic cover stories have to be MADE UP by reporters.