Diamonds and Stars Shine at Benefit

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/09/2001 at 12:15 PM EST

Diamonds were many a girl's best friend at the G&P Foundation for Cancer Research's star-studded "Denim & Diamonds" benefit at New York's Planet Hollywood on Thursday. "I am wearing about 75 carats of diamonds," proclaimed Star Jones, glimmering in canary-yellow drop earrings and a huge diamond ring and looking like a million dollars, literally. "My earrings alone are 60 carats. So you are talking about some bucks." Gesturing over to the hunky bodyguard who followed her around the packed fundraiser, Jones, who wore a mink-lined jean jacket, proclaimed, "I have this big guy here who's walking around with me and watching my every move." Jones, 39, didn't glitter alone. Denise Rich, who co-founded the foundation in honor of her daughter, Gabrielle, who died of cancer, was dripping in $3.2 million in diamonds; Natalie Cole, in $2.65 million; Ivana Trump, $1.2 million; and Jennifer Holliday, $1.3 million. (The night was actually centered on giving, not flashing, and the G & P Foundation announced $1.8 million in medical research grants that had been raised over the past year to benefit institutions including the Columbia University Department of Medicine and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.) And not all the diamonds were on display. "I'm wearing diamond underwear," actor Stephen Baldwin, 35, said to PEOPLE. "But I can't show you."