That somebody would select James Frey's new book Bright Shiny Morning as a must-read this summer shouldn't be all that surprising — the reviews have been generally positive. That the somebody would be Gayle King, special friend to Oprah, is. When Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer asked her to recommend some sunshine-y reading material, King plugged two books: Scott McClellan's What Happened, and Frey's Morning, adding that she even liked A Million Little Pieces.
Frey spectators would be right to question King's motives.
It's almost impossible she would recommend the scandal-plagued author without first consulting Oprah; even more likely, King was acting as Oprah's agent, following direct orders to bring some appeasement, now that the Frey storyline – a demarcation in book publishing lore – has reversed itself to a degree, painting Oprah as the villain, and Frey as a complicit bystander.
This was not a casual, throwaway recommendation. Almost certainly, it was a calculated move from Oprah's camp to smooth some stones.
• 50 Cent pulls an Amy Winehouse. Intern Whitney explains, "A tv crew had the go-ahead to go into his dressing room and when the camera walked in he and his entourage were all over a table snorting something." Action starts around the 1:35 mark.
• Incredibly well connected daughters of politicians: they're just like us!
• Britney Spears' exonerated baby-daddy JR Rotem has apparently hit the internets in search of a "hot Jewish girl."
• Jenna Bush reminds us how much more we'd like her easygoing dad, if only he weren't sitting in the oval office.
• Oprah and Gayle fail to make People's 2007 list of the "Cutest Celebrity Couples." Better luck next year, girls!
• Everyone check out our boss' glamorous big-screen debut!
Oprah Winfrey tries to make up for that whole "Everyone at my new South African school was abused" thing by giving the entire student body her personal phone number.
We give it approximately one week before she gets pranked by a Ugandan claiming to be Gayle King. [Stereohyped]
• If ugly, unkempt brows are cool again, then consider George Whipple Miles Davis!
• Tea Leoni passed out (read: fell asleep) during a passionate lovemaking sesh with hubby David Duchovny.
• Seriously, we're sick of hearing about Lily Allen's nubbin already.
• You know what's a great way to dispel rumors that you and your best friend are lesbian lovers? By bringing them up yourself, a propos of nothing, and then denying them unconvincingly. Also: by spending waaaaaaay more time with said friend than you do with your longtime lover, whom you will never marry.
• Ever wondered what it is your dog does in the apartment all day? You know, besides drinking out of the toilet and intermittently licking his (neutered) genitals.
• From CNN: "Chimps on treadmills offer evolution clue." Also a clue: Darwin.
As we were the first to tell you about last month, Oprah and "special friend" Gayle King spent the holidays in Johannesburg, South Africa, opening the talk show queen's much-hyped school for some 150 disadvantaged girls. The final price tag to put together Oprah-style education? $40 million.
And it seems at least a good portion of those dollars went to the "five-day, star-studded celebration with 200 of her celebrity pals." Though the likes of Diane Sawyer, Chris Tucker, India.Arie, Sidney Poitier, Quincy Jones, Tina Turner, and Spike Lee had to pay their own airfare, once there they were treated to a five-star hotel stay, deluxe safari, cigar bar, gift bag, and stuffed guinea fowl.
Which is such an appropriate way of saying, "Sucks to be in poverty, but look, new pencils!"
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How is Oprah spending her Christmas holiday? Not at the side of sometimes-partner Steadman Graham in Chicago, but rather, we hear, she's heading to South Africa with "special friend" Gayle King. Over the holiday season they'll be heading there to open Oprah's boarding school for young girls.
And good news, gals! Just a few weeks ago, South Africa legalized gay marriage. You know, in case you know any same-sex twosome looking for the opportunity to seal their bond. We're just sayin'.
• Heather Mills McCartney may or may not have once been available for four-figures a night.
• Though it's yet to be seen if Michael Jackson will actually make it to the World Music Awards, sister Janet is nearly certain a no show. Something about the $400,000 it would cost to invite her.
• Gayle King claims she left her husband because he cheated on her. Not because of her "special relationship" with Oprah.
• Roger Friedman continues his TomKat wedding scoopaganza with news that Penelope Cruz, among others in Tom Cruise's past, will not be welcome at the nuptials.
• It isn't Jude's turn to cry this time around. He's the one who dumped Sienna Miller, for partying too hard while he tries so hard to, ahem, be a doting dad.
• Tom Ford wanted to spread his man crotch scent beyond the cover of VF.
• Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro split, creating a media frenzy. Star didn't know and Us Weekly didn't tell.
• Mediaweek’s Stephanie Smith gets ready to jump all over Women’s Wear Daily.
• The New York Times goes on a diet.
• Robert De Niro decided the New York Observer wasn’t worth his time.
• It’s hard to find the words to describe how beautiful Suri Cruise is… mainly because her existence is the shadiest thing ever.
• Oprah and Gayle King aren’t gay. For all of you who’ve been dying to know, they just like to swap panties once in awhile.
Before there was Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, there was Oprah Winfrey and her "we're not gay" BFF Gayle King. But did you ever wonder how the two met? Apparently the whole story is unfolding on XM radio channel 156 right now. (We don't have XM radio, so we're just going to have to take our tipster's word that this is being aired.)
"When I was 22 years old and working as a TV anchor in Baltimore, there was a young production assistant in the newsroom, Gayle King. One night there was a snowstorm and she couldn't get home. I said 'Hey, you can spend the night at my house.' She said, 'I don't have any panties.' I said, "Well, I do. I have clean panties, and once I give 'em to you, you don't have to give 'em back.'"
What Oprah doesn't know is that Gayle still has the panties from that night. They've never been washed. And sometimes, she goes into her dresser drawer, take them out, sniffs them, hugs them, and cries.
In the August issue of O magazine, Oprah Winfrey addresses the rumors concerning her special relationship with Gayle King. Big shocker here: the TV queen says she's not gay.
However, Oprah admits, she can understand why people might be inclined to think that. She and Gayle are always together, she rarely talks about Stedman, all unmarried women over 40 are automatically lesbians … you know, the general interpretations. Plus, adds O, if they were gay, they would tell people. Because they are theoretically not ashamed of this untrue statement about their sexuality.
She said people ask, "How can you be this close without it being sexual?†But she said it's not. She said the problem is "there isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women."
What do you mean there isn't a definition? Hello, it's called BFFs with benefits.
• Gayle King is really excited to be filling that black girl quota on The View once Star Jones leaves. Especially because she so "girly stylish." Whatever that means. [R&M]
• Somebody actually created a website to try and get Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to give them the rights to their baby photos. Selling babies to raise money for war victims … could anything even be more fucked up? [Help an Army Family]
• Finally, a guy doing a walk of shame from a young celeb's room instead of the other way around. (See Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson … this is how it's done.) [TMZ]
• An 11 year old in Britain becomes the country's youngest girl to have a baby. This is why don't drink until you're at least 14 ladies … at that point you can take the bus to Planned Parenthood by yourself. [Daily Mail]
• People hate Angelina Jolie more than Jennifer Aniston. These people apparently didn't see Derailed. [National Ledger]
Page Six is reporting that The View host Star Jones is being forced out of the show by Barbara Walters. Something about "everybody hates her," the other hosts being annoyed that she lied about her weight loss, and her pluggin' Payless shoes on the show.
"It was always Rosie's condition of joining the show, and Barbara agreed to those conditions from the outset," our source said. The network and Jones are now concocting a face-saving scenario in which Jones will be touted as moving on to pursue important new projects.
It's probably because her boobs look like cottage cheese and she scares the show's guests. And Rosie O'Donnell is the new token fat girl, so, we guess nobody really knows what to do with Star now.
Rumors swirl that Oprah's right hand woman Gayle King will take the spot, which means the Payless talk will be replaced with "yesterday at Oprah's" and "when Oprah sees cheesecake …"
JONES GETTING ' VIEW' VAMOOSE [Page Six]
• Gayle King's huge rock is just one of nine rings that Oprah gave out, which proves that Oprah is actually dating nine women right now. [R&M]
• It's hard to imagine Zack from Saved By the Bell as a dad. Whatevs, we're just thrilled it isn't Screech. [People]
• OMG! Caroline Kennedy leaving the Hamptons would be, like, the end of all social order everywhere. Stock in Pink Elephant just went down a notch. [Page Six]
• In other baby news, Adam Sander's wife had a kid. Let's hope he's better at being a Big Daddy this time around. Throwing newspaper under the kid and hoping for the best never works twice. [ET]
• Oh, big surprise here: Tom Cruise is wearing heels now. [Lowdown]
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