The Celeb Price of Fame

[Jerrica Benton 60]

you all may not like it but it is most likely a fact that consumers are more likely to purchase a magazine based on who is on the cover with a scandalizing story. hell, i admit i am more likely to buy a magazine if it had a scandalicious cover story in it.

[poofball 0]

you all may not like it but it is most likely a fact that consumers are more likely to purchase a magazine based on who is on the cover with a scandalizing story. hell, i admit i am more likely to buy a magazine if it had a scandalicious cover story in it.

So true, so true. When I lived in the States, I'd flip through a juicy People magazine (oxymoron!) just like the next person in line at the checkout. Now I just come here for the REAL scoop!

[princess 1,712]

you all may not like it but it is most likely a fact that consumers are more likely to purchase a magazine based on who is on the cover with a scandalizing story. hell, i admit i am more likely to buy a magazine if it had a scandalicious cover story in it.

Oh I agree, I've been suckered into buying mags just for the cover story.

[Jerrica Benton 60]

blame consumers who prove the magazine editors true!

[Freckles 79]

Trouble is, Vanity Fair cannot compete with the tabloids. It is trying to be like an upscale Us Magazine but it simply doesn't work. They should have stuck to more substantial stories and left the Paris Hilton stuff to People. I now HATE Vanity Fair and never, ever buy it.

[poofball 0]

It is trying to be like an upscale Us Magazine but it simply doesn't work.  They should have stuck to more substantial stories and left the Paris Hilton stuff to People.

The Paris cover made me sick. As if this stupid ho with no reason to be in the news needed any more attention. *Kicks Graydon Carter in the family jewels and saunters away self-righteously*

[niobe 2]

But he banned Paris - and all other Hiltons - from the VF after-Oscars bash this year, which she didn't like one bit, and it was reported that Kathy even wrote a please, please let us in letter to him...

[poofball 0]

But he banned Paris - and all other Hiltons -  from the VF after-Oscars bash this year, which she didn't like one bit, and it was reported that Kathy even wrote a please, please let us in letter to him...

I'd read that too, but it only partially excused him from the debacle of having a no-talent ho like Paris on his cover (especially since tons of his staff disagreed with that decision).

 

In the end though, it never was clear to me what made him sour on that loser to the extent that he didn't allow her at the party? Latecomer to the globally known fact she is an utter LOSER or what?

[soho2chelsea 3]

But he banned Paris - and all other Hiltons -  from the VF after-Oscars bash this year, which she didn't like one bit, and it was reported that Kathy even wrote a please, please let us in letter to him...

Doesn't the Vanity Fair party invite like one "joke" guest every year? I was always under the impression that Paris was the "joke" a few years back when she was invited. I think maybe she doesn't know that, though. Edited May 27, 2006 by soho2chelsea

[poofball 0]

Doesn't the Vanity Fair party invite like one "joke" guest every year? I was always under the impression that Paris was the "joke" a few years back when she was invited. I think maybe she doesn't know that, though.

LOL, Soho! From where I sit, it's TOTALLY lost on her and her stupid firecrotch panties.

[princess 1,712]

NY Daily News

 

That's some Bill!

 

Ex-Prez opens mouth, rakes it in

 

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

 

WASHINGTON - How do you earn $7.5 million working part-time? It's easy - if you're Bill Clinton.

That's how much the former President raked in last year giving 43 speeches, according to financial disclosure forms released yesterday for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

 

Bill Clinton's speaking tour earnings were a major jump from the $875,000 he earned by talking the year before, when he underwent heart surgery and wrote his memoirs.

 

"He's very healthy and has been exceptionally busy in 2005 and into 2006 with work and travel for his foundation," said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson.

 

While the ex-President did well for himself, he and his Clinton Global Initiative had a hand in raising billions for charitable causes including tsunami and hurricane relief and AIDS programs.

 

"Given all of that work, paid speeches are actually a very small part of his schedule," Carson said.

 

Sen. Clinton focused on her job, which pays $162,000, but still earned $872,891 in royalties from her 1999 memoir, "Living History." She earned $4,465 in royalties from "It Takes a Village," which she donated to charity.

 

Bill Clinton nearly equaled his wife's take in just a few impressive engagements, banking $800,000 in four days speaking at expositions run by a Latin American business group.

 

He also earned $650,000 in two days working for a Canada-based motivational speaking outfit, The Power Within, and landed another $300,000 payday in the United Arab Emirates sponsored by the same group and an Abu Dhabi promotional firm.

 

New York's senior senator, Democrat Chuck Schumer, may also be a member of the house of Congress referred to as a millionaires' club, but his net worth barely qualifies, if at all.

 

Schumer's disclosure says he earns the same Senate salary as Clinton, and Schumer's wife, city Transportation Department Commissioner Iris Weinshall, earns $162,619.

 

Schumer brags about owning a 2001 Taurus. He and his wife have IRAs and deferred compensation accounts worth $450,000 at most. Their biggest asset is their Park Slope co-op.

 

Wanna hear a celeb talk? It'll cost ya

 

First class travel and expenses not included

 

Donald Trump: Was paid $1 million an hour by the Learning Annex last year for a series of three speeches.

 

Nicole Kidman: Reportedly was offered $435,000 to give a 25-minute speech to a corporate conference in Australia last year. She denied the report, saying she spoke for free.

 

Bill Cosby: Was paid $175,000 for a speech in 2000 (although he's rumored to sometimes command twice that).

 

Tony Robbins, motivational speaker: $135,000 a speech.

 

Katie Couric: $115,000

 

Rudy Giuliani: $100,000

 

Originally published on June 15, 2006

[BobbyD 2]

June 16, 2006 -- THE Davis dynasty of Beverly Hills is urging oily heir Brandon to enter a drug and alcohol rehab facility - but so far Brandon has resisted their pleas. The family of the billionaire Marvin Davis, who died in 2004, was mortified last month when a video of club-hopping Brandon, appearing bloated and sweaty, surfaced on the Web. Brandon, followed and egged on by a giggling Paris Hilton, performed a monologue for the camera - calling Lindsay Lohan a "firecrotch" and making puerile fun of her freckles and genitals. Also in the video, Brandon sneered that Lohan was "poor" because she was "only worth, like, $7 million." A friend of the Davis family said, "It is obvious Brandon is on something in that video - just look at him!" But while the unemployed Brandon is balking at entering a rehab facility because he thinks he doesn't have a drug or alcohol problem, his family wants him to go for public-relations reasons. Ever since the video surfaced, the Davis family has been shunned by young Hollywood, and matriarch Barbara Davis is even having problems getting A-listers to participate in her annual Carousel Ball in October. Brandon reportedly told family members he would enter rehab yesterday, but as of late afternoon, he had not. He has, however, continued to party since the infamous video was released and has tried going to many L.A. nightclubs - several of which won't let him in anymore. If he does go to rehab, he may have a different place to hang his hat when he gets out. His mother, Nancy Davis, is selling the family home. According to an L.A. real-estate listing, Nancy has listed her house at 616 Nimes Road for a whopping $29.75 million. Last year, Barbara sold her Beverly Hills home for $50 million and is now residing in the famed Beverly Hills Hotel - which she and Marvin used to own - until the pipes on her rented home can be fixed. No word on whether Nancy will join her mother at the hotel. A family rep declined comment.

[Freckles 79]

ugh. Brandon is looking more and more like bloated Elvis - minus the talent - by the day.

[BobbyD 2]

'American Idol': Another Star BoltsI’m told it’s over between "American Idol" star Fantasia Barrino and 19 Entertainment, the company that owns the show.In the last few days, sources say, Fantasia has fired her managers at 19 Entertainment, the firm that owns the TV show. She’s said to be considering offers from several new advisers.Fantasia isn’t the first "American Idol" star to ditch 19 Entertainment.Clay Aiken, the contest’s second series runner-up, got out as quickly as he could. His lawyer also extricated Mario Vazquez before the 2005 season was completed, because he feared the diminutive singer would win and then be tied to 19 for a long period. Vasquez is now managed by Arnold Stiefel, Rod Stewart’s longtime adviser.Last March, Kelly Clarkson — the original American Idol — dumped 19’s Simon Fuller as her manager, claiming he wasn’t really involved in helping her.Fuller is controversial figure: In 2003, British group S Club claimed that he’d paid them each a total of $500,000, while Fuller himself made 100 times that amount off the group’s success.Will Young, the British winner of that country’s "Pop Idol" show, has also feuded with Fuller over money. Ruben Studdard, who beat Aiken, has almost completely disappeared.The timing of Fantasia’s departure is interesting, because her second album is due out on J Records in October. She also plays herself in an autobiographical Lifetime movie next month, directed by Debbie Allen.But Fantasia’s career, which should have skyrocketed following her "American Idol" win in 2004, has been quite pedestrian. By contrast, Jennifer Hudson, who lost to her in that season, is about to become a breakout star in the film version of the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls."“Simon doesn’t really care,” a source told me yesterday. “He encourages everyone to leave as soon as they can. Because of the contract, he still makes money from them anyway.”Fuller also manages Annie Lennox’s solo career, and is responsible for celebrity curiosities David and Victoria Beckham (formerly known as Posh Spice), creating their fame in vacuum of renown.Fuller often compares himself to the Beatles’ long-deceased manager Brian Epstein, because he invented The Spice Girls.Fuller sold 19 Entertainment — which is named for a hit single by Paul Hardcastle called “19” — in 2005 to Robert Sillerman’s CFX company for $156 million, but agreed to stay on as an advisor. CFX also owns a majority interest in Elvis Presley’s estate.Sources say that in recent months, ex-Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola has gone to work for the firm as a consultant. CFX’s original name was SFX, which was responsible for the rise of Clear Channel Entertainment several years ago, when Sillerman sold them a huge number of radio stations

[princess 1,712]

Lindsay Lohan and a gal pal run into another of Los Angeles's notorious traffic jams – a snappy crowd – while exiting The Ivy in Los Angeles recently.

[tobeysgirl 0]

Paparazzi scoop

New York Magazine recently interviewed a celeb photographer about his job and got some star scoop from the perspective of a paparazzo:

 

What was a recent score?

 

Pink's wedding in Costa Rica. They had an Israeli security team and they were keeping an eye on us, so the other photographer and I pretended to be gay. We were rubbing suntan lotion on each other's backs and having a cuddle and stuff, so the security turned their eyes off us, and we got all the pictures we wanted. Mine made six-figure money.

 

Who's your favorite celebrity?

 

Britney Spears. Everybody's made money off her.

 

The worst?

 

Jennifer Aniston. She's bad. It's personal, and I don't really want to say... I just think she's an a**hole.

 

Which celebs don't sell?

 

They don't buy Jude Law much in the States, unless he's fooling around with the nanny. Sean Penn, you can give him away. John Travolta, Robert Downey Jr., you can give them away, too. Tobey Maguire doesn't sell. The only time Leo Dicaprio sells is if he's with Gisele or another girl. He always seems to have the same outfit on anyway.

 

Biggest score?

 

Gwyneth Paltrow's baby photo of Apple. That made a lot of money - $500,000 to $750,000. Maybe even a million. She asked me to do it. I emailed her, and she said, "I'm going to have my baby. Why don't you come and shoot it?"

 

Did you pay her for the photo?

 

Sandra Bullock asked a friend of mine on a movie set, "What did Steve pay Gwyneth for that picture?" and he said, "He didn't pay her anything." Sandra said, "Bullshit. No way a celebrity's going to do something like that without taking any money." Well, guess what? She was right. But that's all I'm going to say.

 

Where do you draw the line?

 

I don't break the law, but I'm starting to change my ethics about this: I'm really tired of celebrities saying, "Oh, no, no pictures of the baby!" And you listen, and then two weeks later, WireImage gets the exclusive. I'm not going to listen anymore.

 

Any injuries on the job?

 

I had to have wrist surgery after I was hit by bodyguards for Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. A car door slammed into my face and split my lip when I was chasing Madonna.

 

Where's Tom Cruise's baby?

 

Some lucky fool's going to bump into them and make $4 million.

 

source:nymag.com

[Queen G 0]

Will Tax Crackdown End Swag Handouts?Thursday, August 17, 2006 11:52 PM EDTThe Associated PressBy SANDY COHENLOS ANGELES (AP) — While the IRS reminded celebrities Thursday that gifts to curry their favor constitute taxable income, don't expect a sudden end to the swag-bag parade.The celebrity tradition rewards stars for on-air appearances and the like with overflowing goodie bags approaching six figures in value."This is a big perk that (celebrities) have become very, very accustomed to," said Lash Fary of Distinctive Assets, a company that provides lavish gift bags for celebrity events. "You're never too rich or famous to deserve gratitude and appreciation. This is a nice thank you gift for them."Uncle Sam, though, wants his cut."Merchants who participate in giving the gifts do not do so solely out of affection, respect or similar impulses," the IRS said on its Web site. "In general, the person has received taxable income equal to the fair market value of the bag and its contents."The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with the IRS to pay taxes on gift bags given to Oscar presenters through 2005. Recipients of the 2006 Oscar booty basket will be issued tax forms as reminders of their obligations to Uncle Sam.Neither organization revealed how much was owed or paid.The practice of giving swanky thank-you gifts to celebrity presenters who donate their time to appear on the Oscar telecast has been popular since the early 1970s, according to Academy President Sid Ganis.The IRS raised a flag days before this year's Oscarcast reminding participants that "movie stars face the same tax obligations as ordinary Americans." Academy leaders decided in April to discontinue the longtime gifting tradition, said spokeswoman Leslie Unger."The Academy would still like to be able to express its gratitude but we don't yet know how we might do that," Unger told The Associated Press. "There are no plans as yet."Lavish gift bags have been assembled for presenters at next week's Emmy Awards, but recipients will have to sign a letter acknowledging they are aware of possible tax implications before taking the gift bag, said Pam Ruben Golum, a spokeswoman for the television academy.A decision has not yet been made whether the Emmy Awards will discontinue the practice for future ceremonies. "It's premature to discuss any decision at this time," Golum said.Celebrity gift baskets typically come packed with the latest electronics, designer clothes and jewelry and gift certificates for fancy dinners, four-star hotel stays, spa treatments and cosmetic surgery procedures.Actors who don't take home trophies at this year's Emmy Awards will receive extravagant consolation gifts from Distinctive Assets worth $42,000, Fary said. Each massive swag bag — packed in a rolling footlocker for ease of transport — includes a couture iPod case worth $395, Stud Monkey jeans that sell for $280 and a VIP stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas valued at $8,500.Presenters at February's Grammy Awards enjoyed free LASIK eye surgery, a SportsClub LA bicoastal gym membership, a dozen skin-care treatments, an XM satellite radio, martial arts classes, customized Louisville Slugger bats and a case of whiskey. Total value? Nearly $70,000."Ten thousand dollars is the minimum value" of a celebrity gift bag, Fary said. "For the Grammys, Oscars and Emmys, you're talking $50,000 plus."Academy officials never comment on the value or contents of the Oscars gift bag, Unger said. All items are donated and companies clamor for inclusion. A handful of staff and Academy members select which gifts make it into the bag, she said.The tax necessities don't diminish the need — or effectiveness — of celebrity marketing, Fary noted."There's no better brand ambassador than a celebrity," he said. "Awards shows are a great access point. The rules of the swag game may be changing but the game itself is going to be around for a long, long time."Officials at Sundance — whose annual Park City film festival has become connected with a celebrity gift-house free-for-all — hope new attention from the IRS dissuades celebrities from accepting piles of swag that has nothing to do with their work."Our feeling is that it's embarrassing and uncool to be a highly paid actor or actress who is photographed with free things," said Elizabeth Daly, a director at the Sundance Institute. "My hope is that it will be a real wake-up call that the whole idea of celebrity gifting has gotten out of hand. It's tacky."

[Cutielb99 0]

Swag has gone the way of the dodo

PopWatch Blog

August 17, 2006

 

Fun item coming at you now courtesy of our special, fun-loving friends over at the IRS: If you’re a celebrity and you’ve ever attended any sort of awards ceremony where you received a gift bag full of shiny, expensive items, you are responsible for paying taxes on said gift bag; in fact, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reached a settlement today to pay for the back taxes due on all the swag they’ve passed out through 2005, and -- hold on to your free cell phones, everybody -- they’re discontinuing all gift bags in the future. That’s right: According the IRS, “There's no special red-carpet tax loophole for the stars,” and “movie stars face the same tax obligations as ordinary Americans.”

 

Say it with me now: Whaaaa?

 

Do you mean to say that all those Fred Segal gift certificates and spa visits and ski vacations and bars of gourmet chocolate embedded with chunky solid-gold nougat clusters count as -- horrors -- income? That it may be remotely possible that certain celebrities are only showing up at awards shows because of swag bags, and therefore swag bags could be considered payment for services rendered? That famous people are not, as I have long suspected, existing entirely outside the law kind of the way foreign diplomats get to park whereever they want to in New York City?

 

Dude, what the hell am I going to aspire to be now?

 

(P.S. My favorite part of this Variety article is where it talks about the “ripple effect” this is gonna have on other awards shows. Like the producers of this weekend’s Teen Choice Awards are in a boardroom somewhere right now hysterically debating what to do with the 1,800 pounds of Noxema products they ordered interns to stuff into American Eagle messenger bags, and whether or not the Olsen Twins are totally gonna ditch now...)

[Cutielb99 0]

UNDERLING ANGST

Page Six

 

August 20, 2006 -- IT'S not the rich celebrities who are upset about the new IRS ruling that will tax gift bags given out at awards ceremonies - it's their assistants, p.r. reps and other underlings. "[My client] would always hand me the gift bag after an award ceremony and say 'Thank you for all your hard work,' " lamented one publicity-type. "Now that's going to end. It sucks. It was a lot of good stuff and worth a lot of money. I can't afford that on my own." Traditionally, stars sift through the bags for the best stuff and pass off the leftovers to their aides.

[alpierce 9]

I can imagine many celebs refusing the gift bag entirely. If it were me, I'd have a hard time with paying cash out of my pocket for a gift, even if it is taxes on said gift. For example, let's say one of the gifts was a piece of jewelry worth $20,000. Now, to get my free gift, I have to pay an exorbitant gift tax. I don't know about you but the word gift means to me I don't have to pay anything, but now the government wants a piece of it. I wouldn't even bother taking a gift bag home. I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle. Who ever said it is right, this won't hurt celebrities, it will hurt the people who ultimately recieve the gift.

 

I'm not defending celebrities here, I realize they could easily afford this. But this new tax will have the unintended consequence of shorting all the little people who ultimately benefitted from this.

[Jerrica Benton 60]

seems fair. if you want it, pay the tax. just like if you buy a $500,000 car, you have to pay the luxury tax too.

[alpierce 9]

For anyone who is curious I found this Gift Tax Faq on the IRS website. If I read it correctly, the gift giver is responsible for the tax unless otherwise agree upon.eta: I wonder if this will affect attendence at any of the awards shows this season?

Will Tax Crackdown End Swag Handouts?Thursday, August 17, 2006 11:52 PM EDTThe Associated PressBy SANDY COHEN. . . "Our feeling is that it's embarrassing and uncool to be a highly paid actor or actress who is photographed with free things," said Elizabeth Daly, a director at the Sundance Institute. "My hope is that it will be a real wake-up call that the whole idea of celebrity gifting has gotten out of hand. It's tacky."

It sounds to me like someone is just po'd that they aren't a highly paid actor getting tons of free stuff Edited August 21, 2006 by alpierce

[Lea 0]

Gypsy Cabbie Has A Name!!

 

 

Last week I posted on this dude that was bothering celebs like Rumer Willis, Paris Hilton and James Gandolfini at JFK. I called him "gypsy cabbie", because he reminded me of those cab drivers that accost your ass when you're waiting for a taxi.

 

Rush & Molloy reports that his name is Jason Ertischek. He's a 24-year-old from Brooklyn. He has a long history of bothering celebs. In July, Gypsy Cabbie admitted to Michael Buble that he was the one that called his hotel in Arizona at 2am begging him to come downstairs and take a picture with him. Michael screamed at him, "You're an ass-. ... I just have to laugh because you even have the balls tonight to admit it was you, even after I cursed you out for calling me in the middle of the night and I was telling you how I wanted to kill you." Gypsy Cabbie shrugged him off and said, "Yeah, but could you pose for me now since I didn't get you that night?" That is an amazing response. He seriously needs to consider doing stand-up. There's pictures of the incident on Confessions of a Paparazzi.

 

A few readers wrote me that Gypsy Cabbie has been doing this since 2002. He apparently stalks every major event in the Tristate area hoping to get an autograph with some kind of celebrity. He tells the celebrity he's their #1 fan! In college he went by the name "The White Funkmaster Flex" and had his own radio show. He was allegedly a black history major and his room is covered in the pictures he's taken with celebrities.

 

I adore Gypsy Cabbie!!! He needs to keep a video diary of this shit, because I would love to see what celebrities curse his ass out next. Gypsy Cabbie just doesn't give an eff!

 

http://www.dlisted.com/

[Lea 0]

Save The Carpenters' Home!

 

 

Karen and Richard Carpenters' former home in Downey, CA is in danger of getting the chop. The home is where the two wrote a lot of their songs and it was the cover of their album "Now & Then." It was also where Karen collapsed in 1983 before passing away.

 

The home's current owners, Manuel and Blanca Melendez Parra, want to bulldoze the house down and build a new one, because they are sick of being bothered by Carpenters' fans. The Parra family said that when they first bought the house they allowed the fans in, but it became too much. "In the beginning, we let everybody in. But honestly, it became horrible, not only for us but for the neighborhood. People peek in windows and take pictures. They leave flowers on the front porch." Free flowers? Where's the problem?

 

Carpenters' fans are protesting the demolition and have asked the city of Downey to make the home a historical landmark. One fan said, "This house is our version of Graceland. When they photographed the 'Now & Then' cover here in 1973, the house was instantly immortalized."

 

We've only just begun, Blanca! All these fans needs to do is ask Blanca to give them the house and they can move it somewhere else and turn it into a museum or something. This sounds like a job for Ty Pennington and Extreme Home Makeover.

 

http://www.dlisted.com/

[bittermuch? 0]

February 17, 2008

The New York Times

Boys Will Be Boys, Girls Will Be Hounded by the Media

By ALEX WILLIAMS

 

A VIDEO of Heath Ledger hanging out at a drug-fueled party two years before his death would seem to constitute must-see material for a tabloid entertainment show.

 

But when such a video ended up in the hands of the producers of “Entertainment Tonight,” the program declined to broadcast it, a spokeswoman said, “out of respect for Heath Ledger’s family.” The 28-year-old actor died on Jan. 22 from what the medical examiner called an accidental overdose of prescription medications.

 

Amy Winehouse did not merit the same discretion. Images from a video that showed her smoking what a British tabloid, The Sun, said was a pipe of crack cocaine, as well as admitting to having taken “about six” Valium, were widely disseminated in the news media around the same time.

 

When Owen Wilson was hospitalized in August after an apparent suicide attempt, his plight was the subject of a single US Weekly cover story. Not so Britney Spears, recently confined in a psychiatric ward, who has inspired six cover stories for the magazine during the same time span.

 

When Kiefer Sutherland was released from the jail in Glendale, Calif., after serving a 48-day sentence for a drunken driving conviction, the event merited little more than buried blurbs.

 

Contrast this to Paris Hilton’s return to jail last year after a brief release to serve the rest of a 45-day sentence for a probation violation involving alcohol-related reckless driving. The event invited a level of attention that evoked the O. J. Simpson trial. Hordes of cameras enveloped the limousine that ferried the tear-streaked heiress to jail.

 

Yes, women are hardly the only targets of harsh news media scrutiny — just ask Mel Gibson. But months of parallel incidents like these seem to demonstrate disparate standards of coverage. Men who fall from grace are treated with gravity and distance, while women in similar circumstances are objects of derision, titillation and black comedy.

 

Some celebrities and their handlers are now saying straight out that the news media have a double standard.

 

“Without a doubt, women get rougher treatment, less sensitive treatment, more outrageous treatment,” said Ken Sunshine, a publicist whose clients include Ben Affleck and Barbra Streisand. “I represent some pretty good-looking guys, and I complain constantly about the way they’re treated and covered. But it’s absolutely harder for the women I represent.”

 

Liz Rosenberg, a publicist at Warner Bros./Reprise Records who represents Madonna, among others, also thinks sexism is at work. “Do you see them following Owen Wilson morning, noon and night?” she asked.

 

Some editors confirm that they handle female celebrities differently. But the reason, they say, is rooted not in sexism, but in the demographics of their audience.

 

The readership of US Weekly, for example, is 70 percent female; for People, it’s more than 90 percent, according to the editors of these magazines.

 

“Almost no female magazines will put a solo male on the cover,” said Janice Min, the editor in chief of US Weekly. “You just don’t. It’s cover death. Women don’t want to read about men unless it’s through another woman: a marriage, a baby, a breakup.”

 

Thus, magazine coverage of Mr. Ledger’s death gave way to stories about Michelle Williams, Mr. Ledger’s former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter; US Weekly, for instance, put the headlines “A Mother’s Pain” and “My Heart is Broken” atop a four-page spread. Mary-Kate Olsen, telephoned several times by the discoverer of Mr. Ledger’s body, came in for it, too: “What Mary-Kate Knows” trumpeted In Touch Weekly.

 

Indeed, while one of People’s best-selling issues of the last year was its cover story on Mr. Wilson’s suicide attempt, a follow-up cover on his recovery was one of the worst sellers, said Larry Hackett, the managing editor.

 

Conversely, he said, the Britney Spears story continues to flourish precisely because women are fascinated by the challenges facing a young mother.

 

“If Britney weren’t a mother, this story wouldn’t be getting a fraction of attention it’s getting,” Mr. Hackett said. “The fact that the custody of her children is at stake is the fuel of this narrative. If she were a single woman, bombing around in her car with paparazzi following, it wouldn’t be the same.”

 

Others, like Roger Friedman, an entertainment reporter for FoxNews.com, said that female stars tend to make more-compelling stories because “they are more emotional and open” about their problems. Male stars, he said, tend to be “circumspect.”

 

Rebecca Roy, a psychotherapist in Beverly Hills, Calif., who has several clients in the entertainment industry, said that male celebrities can often wriggle out of trouble with a rakish bad-boy shrug. But, she said, the double standard can reinforce the destructive behavior of female stars, pushing them to further depths of substance abuse and erratic behavior.

 

Ms. Roy said that troubled male stars like Robert Downey Jr. are encouraged to move past problems to a second act in their careers, while the personal battles of women like Lindsay Lohan or the late Anna Nicole Smith are often played for maximum entertainment value.

 

“With men, there’s an emphasis on, ‘he had this issue, but he’s getting over it,’ ” Ms. Roy said. “But with women, it’s like they keep at it, keep at it. It’s almost like taking the wings off of a fly.”

 

Ms. Min acknowledged that her magazine played down its coverage of Owen Wilson and Heath Ledger. Part of the reason, she said, was that female readers tend to be sympathetic toward young men in crisis.

 

“With Heath Ledger, people walked on eggshells trying to strike the right tone,” Ms. Min said, adding that “public sentiment for Heath Ledger factored into our coverage.”

 

Edna Herrmann, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, said that while schadenfreude is part of the enjoyment of star travails, women especially respond to female celebrities with commonplace demons. “Misery likes company,” Dr. Herrmann said.

 

But some believe the power of a celebrity’s publicist has more bearing on coverage than gender. “Entertainment Tonight” reversed its plans to show the video of Mr. Ledger following protests from stars like Natalie Portman and Josh Brolin organized by ID, which represented Mr. Ledger and still represents Ms. Williams.

 

In some cases, celebrities may be victims of their own appetites for media attention.

 

“It would seem to me that no one who demanded, who expected privacy, at the get-go was denied that privacy,” said Stan Rosenfield, a publicist who represents George Clooney.

 

And Harvey Levin, the managing editor of the gossip Web site TMZ.com, said that female stars are afforded every opportunity to move past their sins, as long as they clean up their behavior.

 

“Nicole Richie, who took a beating generally for being a screw-up, has turned it around, and everyone’s cheering for her now,” Mr. Levin said of the former Paris Hilton sidekick and tabloid staple, now the mother of a month-old daughter.

 

Even if news media coverage is weighted in their favor, male celebrities aren’t exactly feeling immune from harsh scrutiny.

 

“There is certainly an argument for it being incredibly sexist, the attention that’s given to women and the hounding of them,” the actor Colin Farrell said at a recent party for his new film, “In Bruges.”

 

Mr. Farrell, who has attracted his share of attention, said such potential bias did not make him any less of a news media target. “If they catch me out and about,” he said, “they’ll go for it.”

 

As Mr. Farrell spoke in a room filled with journalists and photographers, he was not even sipping a beer.

 

Additional reporting by Paula Schwartz.

Edited February 18, 2008 by bittermuch?