Long-lost Gawker darling Melissa Berkelhammer has been evicted from her Fifth Avenue apartment, the New York Post reports, after being arrested on shoplifting charges in May. “I’m convinced that you all won’t be happy until I’m dead,” Berkelhammer recently wrote on Facebook. How the mighty have fallen!
Tyra Banks, Suze Orman, Keith Olbermann, and Phil Donahue were among the honorees at the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Marriott Marquis on Saturday night. A few of the people on hand for the occasion: Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan (left), Chris Noth, Clay Aiken, T.R. Knight, Tim Gunn, Christian Siriano, Cherry Jones, Robert Verdi, Heather Matarazzo and Carolyn Murphy, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Ana Ortiz, Junior Vasquez, Jay Manuel, Hanna Storm, Brad Rowe, Jenny Shimizu, Stockard Channing, Judith Light, S. Epatha Merkerson, State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, and Hedda Lettuce. [PMc, Wireimage, Advocate, Access Hollywood]
♦ Is Kate Hudson trying to steal Alex Rodriguez away from Madonna? She was spotted with her "arms completely wrapped around" him at a party in Miami this weekend. But she might just be trying to steal Jason Statham away from his girlfriend, since the two were seen downing dirty martinis together. [NYDN, P6]
♦ A PETA activist pelted Lindsay Lohan with a bag of flour at an event in Paris on Saturday. Sam Ronson responded by dissing the activist on MySpace: "My dog is far more civilized than that person." [People]
♦ Kanye West was arrested in London on Friday after an altercation with a photographer. Now he's suggesting the entire episode was "bogus," and has upset some Brits by comparing himself to Princess Di. [People, The Sun]
♦ Sarah Palin may collect a $7 million advance if she writes a book. [MSNBC]
1) Piaget launched its new Limelight Paris-New York Collection last night with a party at The Loft & Garden at Rockefeller Center, where Leighton Meester and Emmy Rossum (left) mingled with Liv Tyler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Becki Newton, Mena Suvari, Joe Zee, Lisa Anastos, Lydia Fenet, Allison Aston, Adam Lippes, Roopal Patel, Zoe Kravitz, Philippe Leopold-Metzger, Geoffrey Bradfield, Gillian Miniter, Kate Schelter, Meredith Melling Burke, and Paul Sevigny. [FWD, PMc]
Don't tell Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger that the concept of "magabrands"—magazines that have "extended" their "brands" to new media, old media and non-media"—is out-of-control bankrupt. Esquire North is the magazine's sprawling Harlem three-level condo on Central Park North; each room and everything in it was decorated by an Esquire advertiser. To have the honor of furnishing arcade seats in eel skin in the gaming room, both Kenneth Cole and Intel had to purchase at least one page (ooh!) of advertising. Last night all these brands threw a party for Riverkeeper. We don't care really about fisheries on the Hudson, but we do care about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the main litigator for the environmental outfit. He is so boyishly handsome and so charismatic and so, well, Kennedy-like! Semi-socialite Melissa Berkelhammer stood alone near the panini bar as Kennedy gave a speech. And—was she wearing a sad pony mask?
"I'm a wire photographer. The socialite has to be someone you can't sell. Any photographer will take a picture of a girl you can sell except Samantha Cole—that's where I draw the line. Berkelhammer doesn't sell and she's super desperate. She'll stand over your shoulder while you write her name to make sure you spell it right."
There are four horsemen of the apocalypse. Related: there are, according to the Post, "five socialites . . . competing in a real-life challenge to win the starring role in a TV series titled 'Social.'" Keira Chaplin, Fabiola Beracasa, Melissa Berkelhammer, Gillian Hearst-Shaw and Tinsley Mortimer were
Another week, another Observer debutard. Today George Gurley introduces us to Charlotte Bocly, a nineteen-year-old resident of Park Avenue and Bridgehampton. Charlotte's a woman whose knowledge belies her tender years. Join us after the jump and spend a little time with a girl who just might be Brigitte Bardot's granddaughter.
It's been far too long since we checked in with our favorite professional party girl, would-be socialite Melissa Berkelhammer. The poster child for the glamorous side of unemployment is paying her dues on the social circuit, working hard to ensure her place with the Hearsts and Joffes of this world, sitting on the executive committee for the ASPCA's Young Friends benefit next week. If she's a Young Friend of the organization, it suggests that her parents shelled out quite a bit of money — just so everyone could point out the irony of Berkelhammer hosting anything horse-themed. Cruel, really.
• As it turns out, everyone's new favorite do-nothing socialite, Melissa Berkelhammer, is repped by society flack R. Couri Hay. When she cries, he gets her an invite to whatever stuffy party is otherwise keeping her from her twitty happiness. Figures — there's no way this girl was cruising Bridgehampton Polo Club on her own accord. [Lowdown]
• British Airways staff fights terrorism by refusing to let a wasted David Hasselhoff board his flight from Heathrow. [TMZ]
• Oh, our bad. Poor Jeffrey Epstein was set up. He's just a nice guy with knots in his back. [Page Six]
• We should've known: the man who's bringing you the disturbing bust of Hillary Clinton is the same sculptor responsible for the Britney Birthing on a Bearskin Rug statue. [R&M]
• Madame Tussaud's in Times Square will do anything to creep the hell out of you, even if it means creating a carefully constructed wax Shiloh. [NYDN]
• Thanks to Us Weekly's celebrity baby morphs, you can see that as adults, Sean Preston Federline will look like a victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Barron Trump will resemble a composite of most rapists. [Us Weekly]
• Russell Crowe drops $100K to rent a home upstate in Nyack while filming his latest project. Consider it an investment in the safety of hotel employees everywhere. [Page Six]
As the Middle East continues to implode, the Observer introduces us to Melissa Berkelhammer, a kind-of socialite who has no job other than to go to parties and be photographed. We're unsure of whether or not she'd qualify as an It Girl — she's got no compelling quality to speak of — but she's certainly worth listening to:
