They said it wouldn't last, and, well, it didn't. After repeatedly denying her marriage was on the rocks, Ivana Trump issued a statement this morning confirming that she and Italian playboy Rossano Rubicondi are divorcing. Ivana actually says she filed for legal separation three months ago, which means the couple was together for just four months following their lavish nuptials at Mar-a-Lago back in April. (This also sets a new record for the former wife of the Donald: Her second marriage to Riccardo Mazzucchelli lasted a full 20 months.) So what caused the split between the 59-year-old grandmother and her 35-year old third husband? It was just a matter of geography, apparently. Ivana says Rubicondi wanted to "live in Miami and work in Milan," but she's a New Yorker who would rather go to "Miami for weekends, and Milan to see friends and go shopping." And, really, how could a couple survive something as serious as that?

We were impressed last month when it was rumored that the Huffington Post may have raised $15 million in new investment, a big accomplishment for a media company at a time when the media economy is in the trash. Well, those rumors turned out to be false. Actually, HuffPo has raised $25 million from a venture capital firm. Amazing. So what will they do with all this cash?

Hey, Barack Obama's on the TV. Remember when he introduced the people who'd save the economy, week before last? Now, it is time to save the entire world. Please welcome his all-star national security team, starring Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, a Republican, and a retired General! New Beginnings guaranteed or your money back!

Apparently, sexy nerd comedian Tina Fey has a scar on her face that she keeps covered up. How'd she get what the NY Post classily calls the "Fey-mous" mark? Somebody slashed her face. When she was five. For no reason. That's what her husband told Maureen Dowd for Vanity Fair, which profiles Fey and features her on the cover as a scantily clad Uncle Sam. Tina herself won't discuss the matter because she doesn't want to "exploit" it.

• Gary's Guide: This is by far my favorite. It's not only easy to navigate, it's industry specific. As long as the site isn't down, you'll save time and effort with Gary.

I watched two documentaries last night. The first was Frontline's famous 2001 essay "The Merchants of Cool," about the big, cynical business of marketing to young ones. It particularly focuses on MTV and how they, with definitively ugly success, figured out a way to throw advertising at kids without the kids really noticing. Then I watched that network's unveiling of Britney: For the Record, a supposed "tell-all" featuring Britney Spears, the smeared and unfocused pop star, that was, in my opinion, the acme (or nadir, not sure which) of this sneakily integrated marketing strategy. Here was not just the party, not the curious almost-normalness of Ms. Spears, not her childish funny voices, not even just her well-guarded children. No, here was something deeply sad—a bit haunting, a bit evocative—but nonetheless blatantly selling a new album and some chintzy perfumes. It was an infomercial asking us to, in some ways, buy a wayward young person. It was strange and vaguely interesting and I'll talk a bit more about it after the jump.

David Beckham walking around town with his sons on Saturday morning and later joining up with Victoria to take them to see Jersey Boys ... Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr. walking their dog and drinking coffee ... Britney Spears arriving at JFK yesterday ... The Jonas Brothers signing autographs outside their hotel ... Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes buying candy at the M&M's store in Times Square with Suri and Isabella ... Natalie Portman filming scenes for her new movie ... Hillary and Chelsea Clinton leaving Billy Elliot on Broadway ... Taylor Momsen standing on the Gossip Girl set ... Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts walking downtown with cups of coffee in hand ... Miley Cyrus arriving at her hotel, accompanied by her mom and boyfriend, Justin Gaston ... and Tyra Banks leaving dinner with boyfriend John Utendahl.

As predicted, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone sold his stake in Midway Games for pennies on the dollar, just for the tax benefits. We still think he'll eventually have to sell some or all of CBS to pay his $1.6 billion debt. [WSJ]

How are New Yorkers who depend on tips faring as the economy heads into recession? Waiters, bartenders, bellhops, barbers and shoeshine guys all report that gratuities have dropped in recent weeks, in some cases by as much as 30 percent. (Some seem used to it, though: "I get a lot of people from Europe, especially the French, who don't even tip a dollar," says one horse-carriage driver.) Just something to think about when the Chinese food deliveryman comes to the door of your multi-million apartment and gives you a nasty look after you hand him two quarters and a nickel. [NYM]

Can hipster clothing conglomerate American Apparel and its balls-out CEO Dov Charney never have a normal, peaceful, lawsuit, which is settled quietly and forgotten about? Most recently, the company was fighting back against a lawsuit by ex-employee Roberto Hernandez by trotting out his ex-lovers and leaking documents showing that Hernandez himself recently defended Charney from the very charges he's now being sued for. And now AA is playing more legal hardball! The company is trying to prove to the world that Keith Fink, the lawyer for another ex-employee suing Dov for sexual harassment, is in fact an extortionate scumbag himself. Leaked internal emails below:

The problems are piling up for financier Steve Rattner. Two weeks ago, the media investor and Quadrangle Capital co-founder announced plans to shut down one of the firm's hedge funds; last week, it was revealed that Rattner's Alpha Media Group, which publishes Maxim and Blender, had fallen behind on payments to the company's creditors. Now the publishing company has been hit with a lawsuit by a hospitality company that claims Alpha Media failed live up to an agreement to promote a resort in the Dominican Republic bearing the Maxim name. The company, EMI Resorts, is now seeking more $80 million in damages. The full suit is below.

No more time off til Christmas, boo hoo. At least we have some blind items for you on this barren December 1st morning. An editor giving his lover unfair promotions, a model doing lots of blow, an actor doing lots of blow and being gay (we think? we don't really speak British), and a famous fellow who got himself circumcised after his disapproving mother passed away.

Terrible news for sun-worshippers and tanning salon habitués: Mahogany-hued skin is officially a fashion no-no, so drop that bottle of sunless tanner, pull the blinds down, and be grateful we've brought this breaking news to your attention. Make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury—who confesses to being partially culpable for the bronzed craze after she gave Kate Moss a dark tan for a 2002 Vogue shoot, a look that was replicated in the model's campaigns for Roberto Cavalli (himself a walking cheese doodle) and Louis Vuitton—is deadly serious when she warns: "The backlash is going to be huge." Not convinced? Listen to Simon Doonan, whose word on such matters is not to be trifled with: "What once looked healthy and lush now looks cheesy and has baaad connotations... I associate a tanned look with skin cancer." Say no more, we're canceling our Christmas trip to St. Barts as we type.

♦ Hedge fund mogul and Obama mega-fundraiser James Torrey has chopped $2 million off the price of the duplex at 131 E. 66th St. that he and his wife listed just over one month ago. The 4,850-square-foot spread is now on the market for $12.5 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
♦ UBS exec Ramesh Singh and his wife Farida Khan are finally unloading their co-op at 860 Park Avenue. The four-bedroom apartment, which underwent a handful of price cuts since it was first listed for $13.4 million in 2007, was most recently on the market for $9.5 million before it went into contract last week. [Cityfile]
♦ Tommy Hilfiger has taken his $50 million Plaza apartment off the market, and is now reportedly planning to move into the 6,000-square-foot duplex himself. [NYP]

Want to snag a slice of the $700 billion bailout so you can be sure you can cover your credit card bills this holiday season? You're in luck. Vanity Fair's Bruce Fierstein has gotten his hands on the "the one-page EZ-CASH form that's been making the rounds at corporate board rooms, weekend ski chalets, and NetJets waiting rooms all across America." [VF.com]

This week's Miami Art Basel, the world's most important art fair and normally a scene of champagne-soaked excess as wealthy art lovers convene to outdo each other on spending tens of millions on star artists, has a gloomy cloud over it as the art market experiences a dramatic dive. The hedge funders probably won't be snapping things up—even those who haven't been crushed in recent months are likely to deem big spending unseemly—while buyers from the emerging markets like India, the Middle East and China, who had recently swelled the ranks of serious collectors, won't be making an appearance.

We may not find out how Carrie Bradshaw celebrates her 50th until the sixth Sex and the City movie debuts in a decade or so, but the character's creator, Candace Bushnell, will experience the milestone for herself today. It's a big day for Woody Allen, too. He's 73. Bette Midler is turning 63. Sarah Silverman is 38. John Densmore, the drummer from The Doors, is 64. Actor Treat Williams is 57. Fox News correspondent Rick Leventhal is 49. Brit actress Emily Mortimer turns 37. And former supermodel Carol Alt celebrates her 48th today.

You probably won't find a smile on Donald Trump's face today. A month ago, it was reported that Trump's 92-story Chicago property, the Trump International Hotel & Tower, was on the brink of bankruptcy since Trump had fallen behind on debt payments as he struggled to line up residential and commercial tenants for his over-the-top condo/hotel/retail venue. Now the bank that extended him the millions to build the property, Deutsche Bank, has filed suit against Trump. [WSJ]

♦ Is Naomi Campbell planning a secret wedding with her Russian boyfriend Vladimir Doronin later this month? Her reps say no, although the new emerald and diamond ring she sported in Miami this past weekend seems to suggest otherwise. [Mirror, NYDN, DS]
♦ Alex Rodriguez had a busy Thanksgiving. He spent half of Thursday with his ex-wife and kids and the other half with Madonna before jetting off to Mexico City with Madge. [NYDN, NYP]
♦ Amy Winehouse's estranged husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, says he was responsible for turning his wife into a junkie, and that he has to "let her go to save her life." [NYDN, People]
♦ Giants star Plaxico Burress, who shot himself in the leg while partying at Latin Quarter on Friday night, turned himself in this morning. [NYP, Newsday]

♦ The Big Three automakers are putting finishing touches on new business plans to take to Congress this week, part of a last-ditch effort to secure a federal bailout. [WSJ, Bloomberg, NYT]
♦ Shoppers spent $41 billion over the four-day weekend, up 7.2 percent from the year before. That was better than expected, but retail experts are still pessimistic about the holiday season outlook. [CNNMoney, WSJ]
♦ Hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones has suspended withdrawals as he splits his $10 billion flagship fund into two. [FT]
♦ The bailout has already cost more than World War II, in case you're keeping count at home. [Clusterstock]