JOSSIP REPORTS — The story behind Clay Aiken's coming out cover for People goes something like this: Lots of magazines were in the running for the photo exclusive, but People outbid them all for a cool $500,000. That's the way MSNBC's The Scoop reported it last week, and that's the story Page Six carried this morning.

Except as our sources tell it — and these are the type of sources who were, let's say, involved in the actual transaction — OK! didn't have a shot in hell at the pictures. In fact, no tabloid did. Not Us Weekly, not Star, and certainly not In Touch or Life & Style.

Despite what OK! might have you believe, the only way Clay's coming out would be told was in the pages of People. And that's exactly how it happened. Here's why:

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Remember last week when we told you about Rosie O'Donnell's less-than-gripping book of memoirs? Well the book doesn't come out for another month or so, but already the reviews are in, and so far they're looking grim.

Says one dissatisfied reader: "This is the work of a deeply disturbed woman, page after page of insane ramblings. Ultimately, it's sad and pathetic."

Which is to say it's exactly like her blog, only with sporadic punctuation.

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