chaunce-hayden

Meet Steppin' Out, America's Trashiest Magazine

Maureen O'Connor · 05/14/10 11:47AM

This week Jersey nightlife magazine Steppin' Out features Michelle Bombshell in a Sicilian widow costume that came from a plastic bag at a Halloween store. This isn't even its best work. A walk down memory lane with America's trashiest publication.

Scary Moments for Guy, A Wedding for Ashley?

cityfile · 11/03/08 06:55AM

♦ A "crazed" Madonna fan stormed the set of Guy Ritchie's new movie this weekend and threatened to kill him with a 12-inch knife before the 16-year-old was arrested. [Mirror, Daily Star]
♦ Is Ashley Olsen planning to marry boyfriend Justin Bartha in a secret wedding on the French Riviera? That's what the National Enquirer claims! Also: She supposedly wants Karl Lagerfeld to design her dress. [Daily Express]
♦ Joaquin Phoenix was acting "odd" and wobbly at an event in San Francisco last week, and now his friends are worried he's back to drinking and doing drugs. [P6]
Beth Ostrosky and Ryan Reynolds both finished the NYC Marathon yesterday, along with about 35,000 other people. [NYDN]

Chaunce Hayden's Imaginary Gossip Factory

Hamilton Nolan · 09/02/08 11:30AM

We have some natural sympathy for anybody locked in a battle against Page Six. Although that sympathy recedes when the P6 opponent is Chaunce Hayden, the rad tat-sporting editor of Jersey gossip rag Steppin Out who was denounced by P6 boss Richard Johnson for feeding him bad tips. Because Chaunce's rage is now leading him to send out mass email blasts about "news" that he, uh, just kinda made up! Or maybe he's always done that? Either way, now he's pissed off the Post even more. Here's the full story of one errant shot in the gossip war: Today Chaunce sent out a big email blast that "New York Post, Page Six scribe, Marianne Garvey, has been fired!" Chaunce wrote that Garvey used to write for him at Steppin Out (which she describes as two pieces when she was in college for $40 each), and that she had recently turned down a cover at the mag that instead went to Shallon Lester at the Daily News, so maybe Richard Johnson was so mad about it that he fired her? But definitely, she was fired. According to Chaunce. Actually Garvey left to take a job at In Touch—which she announced more than two weeks ago. By all accounts she left on her own terms, and wasn't fired. When this was pointed out to Chaunce, he sent out a "statement":

Gossip Skirmish Escalates Into Gossip War

Hamilton Nolan · 08/08/08 10:22AM

Chaunce Hayden, the random dude from Jersey who publishes the little-read but often-stolen-from gossip rag Steppin' Out, is really learning to play the retribution game! Page Six boss Richard Johnson angrily told off Chaunce after Chaunce gave him a bad tip about a radio shock jock fiancee's sex tape that got the Post sued for millions. But now Chaunce has gotten his revenge the gossip way-by giving rival gossip hack Shallon Lester from the Daily News a chance to trash Page Six as a dirty place that's out to "smear people and ruin people's lives." People like Chaunce Hayden, for example! Then Shallon talks about how everyone takes bribes. "Everyone" like Page Six (yes)? We haven't quite sorted out who we're backing in this war of too many words:

Entire New York Gossip Agenda Shaped By One Dude in Jersey

Pareene · 07/03/08 02:43PM

Recently, Steppin' Up editor Chaunce Hayden got himself banned from tipping Page Six because of an inaccurate item he sorta sent them about a sex tape involving the wife of radio morning show host Opie. Does that sentence confuse and upset you? It should, because there's no fucking reason you should've ever heard of Chaunce Hayden, Steppin' Out, or "Opie," as Chaunce Hayden more or less admits in a Radar profile today. The unread free New Jersey magazine is actually just a vehicle for Mr. Hayden to meet famous (or "famous") women and land his name in the columns.

Opie's $10 Million Page Six Suit: The Source Denies All

Hamilton Nolan · 06/27/08 08:33AM

Chaunce Hayden (pictured: his back tat), the editor of marginal gossip rag Steppin' Out, was named in a $10 million lawsuit yesterday for being the source who provided Page Six with a false item about a sex tape featuring Bam Margera and the fiancee of radio shock jock Opie. The Post already tried to pin all the blame for the mistake on Hayden (which is rather ungallant, whether accurate or not). And Page Six editor Richard Johnson even told Hayden he would never use another item from him again. But Chaunce has his own story, which can be summed up as: I just said this was a rumored sex tape, jerks. And I didn't start the rumor. It was some dude named, uh... Ben!:

Libel Lawsuit or Elaborate PR Stunt?

cityfile · 06/27/08 07:09AM

The Post is embroiled in another legal spat. Lynsi Smigo, the fiancée of radio host Opie of the "Opie & Anthony" show, has filed a $10 million libel suit against the Post, Page Six editor Richard Johnson, and gossip lowlife Chaunce Hayden for reporting that she'd appeared in a sex tape with MTV's Bam Margera. As the story goes, Hayden—who, in case you're not familiar with his work, is the editor of Steppin' Out, the sort of rag handed out for free to Ashley Dupre types outside of clubs in Sayreville, NJ—provided the tip to Page Six in April. The Post ran the story, but there was no sex tape, which the paper acknowledged when it issued an apology in May. Now the Smigo has filed a lawsuit for $10 million claiming the story left her feeling "humiliated" and "ashamed." (Funny, those are the same emotions that come to mind when we think of dating Opie.) Smigo will be lucky if she walks away with enough cash to cover the limo ride to her wedding, much less the eight-figure sum she's seeking. But we're guessing Opie isn't all that worried. This is, after all, the same radio personality who once encouraged a couple to have sex inside St. Patrick's (a stunt that lost him his job on WNEW). We figure the publicity value of the lawsuit should more than make up for his legal bills.

Opie's Fiancee Sues Post, Richard Johnson For Millions

Hamilton Nolan · 06/26/08 02:09PM

Remember when Page Six published a story in April about a purported sex tape featuring Bam Margera and the fiancee of radio shock jock Opie? And Opie immediately denied it, and then the Post admitted it probably wasn't true, and blamed it on a bad source? Well Opie is not the type to let them off that easy—his fiancee has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Post, Page Six editor Richard Johnson, and the source, Steppin' Out editor Chaunce Hayden. It's a bottom-of-the-barrel multimillion-dollar legal slapfight! Highlights of the lawsuit:

Tatum O'Neal Crack Bust A Godsend For One Lucky Magazine

Hamilton Nolan · 06/03/08 04:27PM

Guess who's on the cover of the new issue of Steppin' Out, the odd little celebrity magazine produced by Jersey gossip gadfly and Page Six enemy Chaunce Hayden? It's recently arrested former child star Tatum O'Neal! The interview obviously happened before her arrest, making this by far the most fortuitous coincidence of Chaunce Hayden's career. There are several questions about drug use in the interview, because that's what people always talk about with Tatum O'Neal. But she told Chaunce at the time that she felt "good, comfortable, and clear":

Richard Johnson Won't Let Source Burn Him Twice

Hamilton Nolan · 05/21/08 11:56AM

Last month, Page Six ran an item about a sex tape featuring Bam Margera Bam-ing the fiancee of radio shock jock Opie. Opie said the whole thing was false, and offered $100,000 to anyone who could produce the tape. A couple of weeks later the Post ran a retraction of the item—but laid the blame at the feet of Steppin' Out editor Chaunce Hayden, who they said gave them the bad info in the first place. Well Chaunce Hayden, unrepentant media whore, wouldn't let such a thing pass without turning it into a feud! And he helpfully forwarded on the snippy emails between himself and Page Six boss Richard Johnson. Watch out for flying spittle!