The president of France and his gorgeous bride, Carla Bruni, who speaks many languages and is a fixture of the International Glamour Set, have solved their problems. He is now wearing 2-inch lifts to make him taller and she is sticking to flat shoes.
The London Telegraph reports that there is a new biography of the brand-new Madame Sarkozy by authors Christine Richard and Edouard Boulon-Cluzel. They report that Carla is determined not to be called "Sarko's Control Tower," which was what the press dubbed the last Mrs. Sarkozy because she was so much taller than her husband.
It's about money
Maybe by the time you read this, Heather McCartney and Paul will have settled their divorce differences. (They were reported as having "thawed" toward each other during private hearings last week. He even shook hands with her personal trainer.) But although Heather brought along her makeup artist and looked terrific, others insist there was "no thaw." Nobody knows for sure if the judge has "heard enough," but Courtroom 34 has been booked through today.
Heather's chief presentations last week seem to be in showing that she has received so much hate mail that it has "tarnished" her ability to raise money for charity. She wants Paul to make up the difference. But nobody thinks she really has a shot at getting half his fortune, estimated by some as more than a billion dollars. Forbes says, however, the famous Beatle is no billionaire. He is rich but not that rich. There are reports that Paul was heard saying to his lawyer, "Offer her 30 million pounds. Get her off my back!"
The equivalent of $60 million doesn't seem too shabby to me for a marriage lasting only four years.
Run, don't walk!
You have only until Sunday to catch the limited engagement of Chazz Palminteri in A Bronx Tale at the Walter Kerr. ... And my good friend Tommy Jones, who helped write The Fantasticks, will be acting in this classic musical at Snapple Theater on West 50th Street. ... My favorite play is still The 39 Steps, which lasts at the American Airline Theater through March 29. ... Remember the 1991 Broadway hit The Will Rogers Follies? Producer Pierre Cossette wants to bring it back with a really big name playing Will - Hugh Jackman, the boy from Oz himself! Reports that producer Hal Prince has snapped back from his minor stroke two weeks ago are true. He has no lingering symptoms and he is already working again, fine-tuning The Phantom of the Opera. He was seen at the matinee last week taking and giving notes. Hal, 80, is said to have his eye on the record of his mentor, the great George Abbott, who lived to be 107 and worked to the end.
All sympathy
Actor Ewan McGregor is on Britney Spears' side. He says, "I feel sad for her. I look at those pictures of ambulances outside her house, and there are hundreds of paparazzi. It makes me feel sick. I'm lucky to understand how to defend myself from it now if I need to. The most basic thing is work. If you can make that the center of it all, then you're in good shape. As soon as any of the other trappings of it become more important, you are [sunk]!"