So goes the beginning of today's Rush & Molloy column. They have three sources claiming that she was, in fact, a hooker and a madam. Who are they, and what're they saying?

You might be familiar with source number one: it's Mark Ebner, the Hollywood, Interruped writer who helped us report on the original item. Ebner notes:

"Kari Ann said that, unlike Nici, she'd only take 40% of what a girl brought in," recalls Ebner, adding that Peniche admitted having turned tricks herself. (Another source says Peniche once joked, "I've gone from labor to management.")

The NLRB would be proud. Source number two is onetime Roger Clemens fling, Peniche's Celebrity Rehab roommate, and general hot mess: Ms. Mindy McCready.

"Did she say she'd been a madam?" says McCready. "She sure did."

Now: McCready's been accused of stealing the tape, is a home-wrecker, a supposedly reformed addict, and is basically the female David Allen Coe, so take her word with those things in mind.

Our third contestant on "How Much Of A Hooker Is The McSteamy Threesome's Third Wheel?" is Joey Gonzalez, a bodyguard. Gonzalez asserts that Peniche hired him to trail a hooker who was going in on her territory.

"Kari Ann wanted to hire me to follow a girl who worked for her - who she said was skimming money and stealing clients. I declined. But she bragged about how her girls could make $15,000 a month. She introduced me to one girl who told me she'd just gotten a boob job Kari Ann had paid for."

See, now we have a ballgame. Three's a trend, is it? Even with the inherently sketchy nature of the people involved (an investigative reporter, a trainwreck country singer, a Hollywood bodyguard), really, only one of them has anything to gain by this kind of thing — Ebner — and Ebner's been right plenty of times before. The other two? Maybe McCready can sell a few more records, get her name out there more by putting herself into the narrative of this thing, but is this the best way to sell a country record? (Don't answer that.) As far as the bodyguard goes, maybe Gonzalez is trying to drum up some business for himself, though really, who in Hollywood wants a bodyguard who's ratting out potential clients?

The best, of course, comes from Peniche's own putz manager, who throws this Blue Ribbon, hack statement to the Daily News:

Peniche and her manager, David Weintraub, declined to comment on any of the charges, though Weintraub allowed, "I don't know her whole past."

Really, though? You couldn't have just said nothing? The way things are going, Weintraub isn't going to have much to manage unless he's okay with making trips to the pen, soon. Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have already lawyered up, to distance themselves from allegations of paying for sex, or the company of Peniche. Might be time for her, to, as well. She might be enjoying her time in the spotlight, but there's really no amount of infamy that's worth going to prison for.