Today we have a mean comedian, a spliff-smoking musician, an actor who was having some scary hallucinations, and an action star on Viagra.
Lunch with Anderson Cooper went for $7,500 at Bailey House's annual fundraiser last night, which raises money for homeless people with HIV and AIDS. "Like stocks and real estate, Cooper's market value has declined by more than 60 percent—the Cooper date sold for $21,000 in 2007." [NYM/Daily Intel, previously]
Marla Maples, Anna Nicole Smith, Padma Lakshmi, Monica Lewinsky, Amy Fisher, Patricia Duff, Paula Fortunato, Cindy McCain, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Ellen Barkin, Katie Lee Joel: You're in fine company, Victoria Floethe! Hearty congratulations to you and Michael. Click on the photo for a large screenshot.
• Software entrepreneur Peter Norton has gone into contract to sell his 45th-floor, 4,415-square-foot apartment at the Trump International, which had been listed most recently for $17.9 million. Norton probably won't have to worry about moving: He paid $6.8 million for a smaller condo on West 13th Street back in August. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Todd Waterbury, creative director of Wieden + Kennedy's New York office, paid $1.375 million for a ninth-floor, one-bedroom apartment at 180 West 58th Street. [Cityfile]
• The government of Iceland has put the four-bedroom home of its UN ambassador at 417 Park Avenue on the market for $5.6 million. [WSJ, SC]
• Gaetano Sallorenzo, the former CEO of Calvin Klein Jeans in Europe and Asia (and who now runs Italy's Fashion Box Group) has paid $1.645 million for a pied-à-terre at 133 West 22nd Street. [Cityfile]
• Retired Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata has cut the price of the apartment building he owns at 43 Crosby Street for the seventh time since first listing it for $22 million in January 2008. It's now on the market for $15 million. [WSJ, PDE]
Most banks are running for cover these days, seeking out ways to cut costs whenever possible. Not TD Bank! The company that scooped up Commerce Bank last year says it plans to continue expanding, which means pretty soon you'll be able to cash in your change (or pick up free treats for your dog, left) on every corner in the city. The next stop for the recession-defying bank, according to a spokesman: "We have another store under construction at Canal and Lafayette in Chinatown opening at the end of March." Take that, WaMu. [NYO, Flickr]
Chelsea Clinton is celebrating her 29th birthday today. Elizabeth Taylor is turning 77. Josh Groban is 28. Ralph Nader is 75. Joanne Woodward, the Oscar-winning actress and widow of Paul Newman, turns 79. Actor Noah Emmerich is turning 44. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Johnny Van Zant is 50. Rozonda Thomas (or Chilli) from TLC is 38. And the head of the 92nd St. Y, Sol Adler, turns 55. Weekend birthdays—including Olivia Palermo's big day—after the jump.
• The Treasury Department announced a plan to save Citigroup from near-certain doom. The government will take a 36 percent stake in the company, three-quarters of the bank's shareholders will be wiped out, and the board will be overhauled. Vikram Pandit? He keeps his job. [WSJ, BN, NYT]
• New GDP figures indicate "the U.S. recession deepened a lot more in late 2008 than first reported." The figures haven't been this bad since '82. [WSJ]
• Stocks tumbled this morning on the Citigroup and GDP news. [BN]
• Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed Bank of America seeking the names of the Merrill execs who received $3.6 billion in bonuses. This comes after BofA CEO Ken Lewis failed to provide the details during his deposition yesterday. [DB]
• A "mutiny is brewing" within UBS's investment banking unit following the ouster of the bank's CEO, Marcel Rohner. [NYP]
• Blackstone reported a fourth-quarter loss of $827.1 million. [BN]
• Bernie Madoff moved $164 million from London to New York in the weeks before he was busted, according to new court documents. [NYP]
• Scammer Sam Israel has moved from a prison hospital back to prison. [AP]
• After a handful of false alarms (and after claiming they were weren't even engaged) Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen finally got married yesterday, tying the knot in a small ceremony at a Catholic church in Santa Monica. [Us, People]
• It looks like Jeremy Piven won't be penalized for walking away from Speed-the-Plow, since officials from Actors' Equity and the Broadway League couldn't come to a consensus at his hearing yesterday. [NYT, NYP]
• Russell Simmons has agreed to pay Kimora $40,000 a month in child support until their daughters turn 19. [People]
• Derek Jeter is supposedly dating a 22-year-old FIT student. Given she enjoys playing his voicemails for her group of friends, you probably shouldn't expect the relationship to last very long. [NYDN]
You may be seeing some new taxis on the street in the near future!
Tough love: Nadya Suleman's mom denied her babysitting services; Christian Bale's tantrums get one celebrity hot and Mr. T has a message for unemployed pansies.
So it has come to this: The makers of three different wearable blankets arguing, in the New York Times, over who pioneered this obesity-accelerating technology. We are truly a pathetic nation.
Jeremy Piven convinced five other actors his mercury poisoning is real, deadlocking a union hearing and sparing Piven penalties for leaving Speed the Plow. How did he do it? Maybe with some crying.
Google paid $125 million to settle copyright charges over its scanning of 7 million books. Today authors were told their cut: $60 to $300 per title. Woo?
• A preview of what's planned for Milan Fashion Week. [Vogue UK]
• Roberto Cavalli isn't the only designer in Milan grappling with the gloomy economy: The parent of Gianfranco Ferré is now bankrupt, and some Italian designers are hoping for a government bailout. [NYT, NYM, Telegraph]
• You won't find too many Americans shopping in Milan these days thanks to the economy and dollar. Ukrainians, however, are everywhere. [IHT]
• What recession? The champagne flowed in London this week. [Fashionista]
• Michelle Obama debuted a new hairdo last night! [NYM]
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have a new men's line in the works. [WWD]
• Fashion's "10 most controversial obsessions." [Pipeline]
Pundits will say Newsday's desperate plan to charge for the Long Island newspaper's website is some kind of bellwether for the industry. What it really means: Newsday and its owner, Cablevision, have nothing to lose.
