Stone Cold Shoulder?
Model behavior may be the source of trouble for rocker Mick Jagger and wife Jerry Hall
Focus
Less than 24 hours after walking arm-in-arm with his wife in London, Mick Jagger split for Paris, where he dropped by a gathering at model Carla Bruni's home for a soup and tuna dinner. On the menu for the world's press: speculation that the Rolling Stones' 55-year-old frontman wasn't there for the food. Bruni, 31, scoffed at the notion. "I am nothing in his life, you know," she reportedly told a photographer later. After dining at Bruni's, Jagger moved on that same night to his château in the Loire valley; his wife, model Jerry Hall, 42, with their 11-month-old son, Gabriel, the youngest of their four children, headed from London to New York City. Simple geography put Jagger and Hall more than 3,000 miles apart. How close they remained emotionally was another question—a "ridiculous" one, Jagger's spokesman said, adding, "They'll be together soon."
After 21 years with Jagger—the last eight married—Hall is quite aware of his roving eye. She told Britain's Harpers & Queen magazine about a certain supermodel (not Bruni) who "doesn't know I know she slept with Mick, but I do, and she's just a little tramp." But some think the model causing the biggest problems for the couple is their daughter Elizabeth, 14, who began strutting the catwalks this summer. Jagger is "furious" about her career, admits Hall. "He wants Elizabeth to concentrate on her schoolwork." Hall agrees there are perils and told Harpers & Queen, "I'd never let Elizabeth work with an agency that takes young girls off to Milan and encourages them to go out with playboys. Ugh!"
Jagger's own behavior around models could be reason enough for him to worry about Elizabeth; in recent years he's been linked not only with Bruni (a 1992 tryst prompted Hall to bolt briefly) but also with models Kathy Latham, Nicole Kruk and Jana Rajlich. Author Laura Jackson, who has written about the Rolling Stones, says Jagger's liaisons are legendary but adds: "He has never stayed with anyone quite as long as he has stayed with Jerry Hall, so there must be a strong love there, too."
The Game's Over for Rodman, Electra
They said it would never last. Boy, were they right. Less than two weeks after basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman married former Baywatch babe Carmen Electra in a quickie Las Vegas ceremony, the groom cried foul, filing annulment papers in Orange County, Calif., citing an unsound mind (his). "Dennis alleges he was so inebriated at the nuptials that he didn't know which end was up," his lawyer Gerry Phillips told PEOPLE. "I don't think Dennis did anything during the seven hours (after the ceremony) except nurse a hangover." Maybe so. But things didn't seem to bother him for at least a week. Rodman's sister Debra said the couple spent several days together at his California home after the ceremony, and Rodman "was fine when he came home from Vegas." Still, Debra says, she was not surprised at the annulment—although she doesn't explain why. Electra's publicist, Cindy Guagenti, says the couple mutually agreed to part "because of all the events that have occurred"—but won't name them. Dwight Manley, Rodman's agent, says the couple "never cohabited." So why bother to wed? For now, no one is saying
Peep Show
Yep, no question, it's art. And everyone knows, New Yorkers love art. That must be why they're snapping up tickets for The Blue Room, which opens on Broadway Dec. 13. The surge—USA Today says it could be "the most intensely sought-after nonmusical ticket of all time"—couldn't have anything to do with the fact the play features Nicole Kidman, bare naked (for, literally, five seconds)—could it? "I'm very perplexed," director Sam Mendes told the Los Angeles Times, "that one very, very small piece of unerotic nudity should cause such a fuss." It did in London, where the show premiered Sept. 22. Daily Telegraph critic Charles Spencer used the phrase "pure theatrical Viagra" to describe Kidman's pulse-popping performance in a series of vignettes involving various lovers. Kidman had some problems with the nudity at first, and there were rumors she wore a body stocking. Now the actress, who is married to Tom Cruise, says she's "not even aware" of the nudity when in character. And four weeks before showtime, 80 percent of the tickets for the limited run's 111 performances had been sold.
...and Justice for All
The rich and famous are different from the rest of us—except when it comes to jury duty in Manhattan. Loophole tightening now means celebs must show up, even though getting picked remains rare. Lawyers and judges "don't want the process to become a circus event" says New York State supreme court chief clerk Vincent Homenick, who in 26 years has seen everyone from Henry Kissinger to Carly Simon corralled for civic duty. Famously publicity-shy Robert De Niro, for example, sat quietly and gave a few autographs, while Marisa Tomei left an autographed photo ("For Vinny—you know how to show a girl a good time!"). Last month, Homenick got De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Katie Couric to return for Jury Duty Appreciation Day. "I really enjoyed the experience," Keitel said of his time in the jury box. And why not? Notes sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who has also served: "The jury room is a great place to meet people."
ON THE BLOCK
KENNY FLIES COOP
Singer and roasted chicken pitchman Kenny Rogers is taking his love to town—and selling his country estate near Athens, Ga., for $11 million. The sprawling, 360-acre property—which Rogers bought in 1980—comes with several lakes, two clay tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course and a barn with three guest apartments. The 10-bedroom, 12-bath, 16,000-square-foot main house has a commercial-size kitchen and screening and billiard rooms. Rogers and his wife, Wanda, who married in June 1997, have relocated to Atlanta to be closer to her family.
Now You See Her, Now You Don't
Does this poster make you want to take a shower? Does it make you want to see Gus Van Sant's remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic opening on Dec. 4? Or does it offend you so much that having to look at it while, say, riding the Boston subway could ruin your whole day? Fear not; the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has banished the image—an updated nod to the original's most chilling scene—from Beantown's buses and subway stations, adding it to a list of municipally censored material that has included, over the years, the books Leaves of Grass and The Sun Also Rises, a 1997 Surf detergent ad (too revealing) and a poster for last summer's execrable movie comedy BASEketball. The ban came after about a dozen complaints, most of them from men, concerning the ad's strong content. "We were founded by the Puritans," says MBTA spokesman Brian Pedro, "and I think some of that has stayed with us." If you're hawking a scary movie, however, being able to say it's banned in Boston isn't so bad. Says Brian Grazer, Psycho's producer, "I'm more amused than offended."
ON THE TOWN
LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRIVOLITY
"There are only a few things that will actually get me in high heels," declared 3rd Rock from the Sun's amazon alien Kristen Johnston (above right, goofing around with NYPD Blue's Sharon Lawrence). The occasion was the Nov. 21 L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center ball honoring Veronica's Closet's Kathy Najimy. "She's an amazing woman—since the operation," joked Ellen DeGeneres. The happily married Najimy championed the right to "love whomever you choose."
Woofie Barks; Bardot Answers
One of Scotland's most prominent criminals is free to fetch again, thanks to the dogged determination of former movie sex symbol Brigitte Bardot. Woofie, a three-year-old collie-boxer mix, had violated the local Dangerous Dogs Act by invoking her canine right to growl at a mailman. Then her owners made matters worse by pleading guilty, unwittingly guaranteeing the pooch a place on Death Row. Woofie's attorney contacted animal activist Bardot, who scratched the beast's belly before pleading for mercy. "She hasn't bitten, she has only barked," B.B. told the British press of her new best friend. The courts relented, sparing Woofie's life and reaffirming Bardot's: "I have given my name, my celebrity, my money and my health to the animals for 25 years," she said.
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