Kate and Owen last year
The currently on-again romance between Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson may be getting serious. The couple is reportedly apartment hunting in New York City and looking to move in together as soon as Owen is done filming “Marley and Me” with Jennifer Aniston. There’s even talk that Kate wants to have Owen’s child.

Kate Hudson is apartment- shopping in New York with an eye to living here part-time with her rekindled flame Owen Wilson, according to a pal.

“She is ready to nest and has even been talking about having more little ones,” a friend of the actress tells me.

The pal says she credits getting back together with Wilson for ending a wild period in her life, during which she was linked with Justin Timberlake and Dax Shepard.

“She is relieved to be more settled again,” says the friend. “She really felt as if she were testing her limits going out while she and Owen were separated.”

Hudson is in New York shooting “Bride Wars,” about best friends who fall out over setting the same wedding date, with Anne Hathaway.

But that doesn’t mean Hollywood’s most famous blond couple are ready to make Manhattan a full-time home.

“Kate is a great businesswoman,” says the friend. “If she bought an apartment, it would be to sell [later].”

[From NY Daily News]

So…which is it? Is Kate a good businesswoman, currently working in NYC and seizing the opportunity to buy an apartment while the market is in a lull, or is she all lovey dovey and nesting and looking for a place to lay another egg? These so-called “friends” and “insiders” never give away anything good. Personally, I’d like to see Kate Hudson go a few months between boyfriends. Girlfriend must have a revolving door on her bedroom. However, Owen does seem to be much more upbeat, post suicide attempt, since getting back with Kate- I just hope they don’t go rushing into the whole “let’s have a kid” thing.

Owen Wilson is not doing any interviews or going on talk shows to promote his upcoming comedy, Drillbit Taylor, which is out in the US on March 21 and features Wilson as a bodyguard to three kids who are bullied at school. Producers made the decision to let Wilson sit out all press for fear that he would get grilled about his personal life and suicide attempt last year. The official reason that Wilson isn’t promoting the film is that he’s busy filming Marley & Me with Jennifer Aniston in Miami.

The LA Times has a good overview of how films have failed when stars haven’t promoted them, and although it’s hardly scientific it does point to the need for Wilson to do some sort of press for the film. It might not matter for Drillbit, though, because the audience is adolescent boys and The Times points out that they’re not exactly watching the night time talk shows:

On Friday, Paramount Pictures will release “Drillbit Taylor,” a new comedy starring Owen Wilson as a bodyguard hired by several high school students looking for bully protection. The film has been accompanied by most of the marketing efforts typically associated with a national theatrical release — including television promotions and coming attractions previews — but you can look far and wide and not find Wilson conducting the kind of interviews that stars of his caliber usually do when they have a big movie to promote…

In some ways, the film doesn’t really need Wilson’s publicity help. Although the actor has a following among older, well-read filmgoers (his credits include “Meet the Parents,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Wedding Crashers”), “Drillbit Taylor” is aimed at pre-pubescent boys, many of whom aren’t setting their TiVos for “Late Show With David Letterman” and are not reading this or other newspapers. The interviews Wilson didn’t give, in other words, weren’t really missed.

But that hasn’t always been the case with Wilson or other actors who for personal reasons either weren’t able to publicize their films or faced uncomfortable inquiries when they fielded journalists’ questions.

[From The LA Times via The Huffington Post]

The article goes on to note that Owen’s first film that came out after his suicide attempt, The Darjeeling Limited, wasn’t promoted by him and didn’t perform well at the box office, taking in just $11.9 million in the US.

Eddie Murphy starred in the film Holy Man which was released in 1998, about a year after his tranny hooker bust. He didn’t do press for it either and it was a bomb at the box office.

But Hugh Grant’s film Nine Months came out just two weeks after his arrest for getting a BJ from a hooker named Divine Brown. Grant owed up to his conduct and did an “aw shucks” press circuit that earned him a lot of publicity. The film with Julianne Moore was a hit and took in $70 million.

Maybe Wilson should make a couple of appearances on the talk shows. You have to think they won’t ask questions about his suicide attempt if his publicist works it out ahead of time and it would help clear up some of the mystery. He could crack jokes and show everyone he’s doing fine. (And fighting off two women, by some accounts.)

Here’s the trailer for “Drillbit Taylor.” It looks pretty stupid to me, but I’m not the intended audience.

And here are photos from the film, thanks to Allmoviephoto.

Kate and Owen in a photo last year
They’ve been trying to keep their rekindled romance under the radar, but Kate Hudson and on-again love interest Owen Wilson, who was most recently rumored to be getting a little somethin’ from co-star Jennifer Aniston, were spotted having an intimate dinner together in Miami on Wednesday night.

Caught in the Act: Kate Hudson, holding hands over dinner with Owen Wilson at Michael’s Genuine in Miami. There with the producer of Wilson’s film “Marley & Me,” the actors “looked like a couple,” a source tells us. Adds the source: “They were very lovey dovey!” Hudson also has been spotted shopping in Miami recently. The actress stopped by Genius Jones baby store where she bought LIKEaBIKE, a toy to teach children how to ride a real bicycle, and some Marc Jacobs clothing.

[From People]

To hell with Kate and Owen. I wanna hear more about this LIKEaBIKE thing! I have an 8-year-old who refuses to lose her training wheels because she took a bad fall off her bike last summer. Little Ryder sure has a cool life.

Oh, yeah, topic! Well, I guess this kills those “Owen and Jennifer, sitting in a tree” rumors. Unless, of course, you believe Star Magazine, which claims that there is an Owen-Kate-Jennifer love triangle brewing.

Last week, Star told you that sparks were flying for Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson on the Miami set of the upcoming film Marley & Me. But don’t count out Kate Hudson just yet!

Star has learned that after word got out about Jennifer and Owen’s explosive chemistry, Goldie Hawn’s daughter raced back to Florida to pour on the charm.

“When Kate heard that Owen was going to work with Jen, she wasn’t worried, because she thought Jen was older and not Owen’s type,” says an insider. Plus, the two women have been friends for years. “Besides, Jen used to date Vince Vaughn, and Kate knows that Owen is Vince’s good friend and that Vince still cares for her. But once Owen started raving to Kate about Jen, saying how cool and pretty she is and how much he liked working with her, Kate got worried.”

Even though Jennifer has recently been linked to Brian Bouma, a crew member on her last movie, Traveling, Kate has cause for concern. Eyewitnesses in Miami say that Owen and Jen are growing closer as they play an on-screen husband and wife.

“They’re laughing all the time and always touching and hugging, even when the cameras aren’t rolling,” says a source. “Their connection is amazing!”

They’ve been meeting up after hours, too, sources tell Star. Owen is staying at a private home on exclusive Star Island, and Jen is at the deluxe Mandarin Oriental hotel. But on March 14, the actor was spotted entering the Mandarin — and he didn’t leave until 10:30 a.m. the next day.

“He arrives and leaves when no one is around,” says a source in Miami. “They seem to be trying not to be seen together.”

Kate was in Miami earlier in the month but left for New York — with son Ryder — to see her ex-hubby Chris Robinson. But word soon drifted back about Owen and Jen’s hot connection — and Kate quickly returned to Florida. She flew in on Saturday, March 15, says a source, and spent the night with Owen on Star Island. Later that weekend, the couple were spotted at a private classical concert at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach.

“They looked adorable together,” says an eyewitness. “At one point, Owen put his hand on Kate’s leg. She was giggling like a schoolgirl. They didn’t seem to hide their affection.”

[From Star Magazine]

Hmm. Maybe Owen and Jennifer were trying not to be seen together because every time they are, the tabloids go nuts and say they’re getting it on! But I digress. I seriously doubt Jennifer and Owen are anything more than very good friends who are playing a married couple in a movie. But, how crazy would that be if she really DID break up Owen and Kate’s relationship– and became, in essence, a WASP-y version of her nemesis, Angelina Jolie? I think people’s heads would explode. So, I’m officially rooting for an Owen-Kate-Jen love triangle. The end.

Thanks to popbytes for the Star Magazine cover.

Jennifer Aniston is rumored to be dating a key grip from her film, Traveling, Brian Bouma, who was also linked with Smallville actress Kristin Kreuk. Aniston was photographed with the tall handsome crew member going to her car outside Courtney Cox’s Oscar party on February 24. The two were then spotted out at dinner on February 28. Bouma lives in Vancouver, and was said to have been in LA with Aniston for 10 days. [Details from In Touch, print edition, March 24, 2008]

Despite this promising new relationship, people are still linking Aniston to her co-stars, including Traveling’s Aaron Eckhart, who plays her romantic interest in the film. The tabloids’ attention quickly turned from Eckhart to Owen Wilson once photos came out of Wilson and Aniston on set. The two play husband and wife in the film and were acting, but of course everyone had to point out how cute they looked together and what a great couple they would make.

One story about Aniston and Wilson that sounds true is OK! Magazine’s report that they do yoga together on set with a trainer brought in for their sessions. OK! also talks about how both Owen and Aniston are in casual relationships with other people (Owen is seeing Kate Hudson, but it’s said to not be serious and they’re trying to keep it quiet) and how great it would be if they got together - since Aniston’s biological clock is ticking and all.

Now, friends say Jen is taking baby steps on the road back to love. “She really is cautious about who she gets involved with and she’s always been very discreet,” a friend tells OK!

But that’s not to say she wouldn’t click with Owen. Jen’s criteria for potential suitors includes “must love dogs,” something that fits Owen to a tee. “Owen adores Jen’s dog Dolly,” a friend of his tells OK! “He loves animals in General, but he always compliments Jen on how well behaved Dolly is. Owen is especially impressed with her training. He freely admits that he wouldn’t have the patience to train a dog.”

Owen also shares Jen’s love of yoga. “Both Jen and Owen talk about yoga on the set all the time,” says a pal of Jen. “They share an instructor who does sessions with them. It helps keep a light and relaxed mood on set.”

[From OK! Magazine, print edition, March 24, 2008]

While the tabloids relentlessly focus on Aniston and her love life, they seem to be largely giving a pass to Wilson, who has been spotted out drinking and partying several times recently. Wilson attempted suicide last August and was said to have quit drinking and doing drugs through the help of a sober companion. He even took a spiritual vacation afterwards that included a “cleansing ritual” performed by a Native American medicine man on the walkway above the Grand Canyon.

Wilson was said to be downing tequila shots at a party earlier this month. Maybe if drinking isn’t his problem he won’t get in trouble again, it’s hard to judge:

The star showed no signs of depression or concern about drinking as he pounded shots of Patron at South Beach hotspot Nobu.

“I saw him do three tequila shots,” revealed an eyewitness…

Later, at another Miami Beach hotspot, The Florida Room, an observer saw him down another tequila shot.

“He looked wasted,” said the eyewitness.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, March 24, 2008]

If that was Britney out drinking at clubs everyone would be pointing and talking about her, but only the Enquirer covered this in an inside story. In February Helen reported on an article from the NY Times about how female trainwrecks get all the attention. The reason could be that men don’t sell as many gossip magazines when they appear on the cover, no matter how hot or troubled they are. We want to gossip about other women, so we give the men a pass. Hence the focus on Aniston and her relatively tame quiet life.

Thanks to Splash News for these photos of Aniston on set yesterday in Miami. She was also photographed recently in a bikini, and she looked great.

Every time Jennifer Aniston makes a new movie, the tabloids fall all over themselves, rushing to link her with whatever male lead she is working with. And when she’s not making a movie, Jennifer is rumored to be madly in love with someone new every week. Since Christmas alone, she’s been linked to Jason Lewis, Orlando Bloom, and a grip from her new movie “Traveling.” Oh, and somewhere in there she was supposedly hooking up with ex Vince Vaughn, too. Now, Star Magazine claims that Jennifer and her “Marley and Me” co-star Owen Wilson are having fun together- on and off the set.

Step aside, Kate Hudson!

According to a Star source, Owen Wilson has been cozying up to Jennifer Aniston in Miami, where they’re currently playing husband and wife on the set of the upcoming film Marley and Me.

“The hugging didn’t end when the cameras stopped rolling,” one crew member tells Star. “They were very flirty together, far more than you would expect. In between takes they were hanging onto each other. They are very friendly.”

Before they even started filming, Owen and Jen started bonding. Back in October, Star reported that they were speaking regularly by phone and Jen sent Owen some of her favorite books, including The Power of Now. At the time a source close to the actress said, “Owen has come to rely on Jen’s phone calls.”

Now, by all accounts, Jen and Owen, both 39, are having the time of their lives working and hanging out together.

“Jen wasn’t looking forward to it at first because she was worried about working with Owen, but he has turned out to be a real surprise,” an L.A. friend tells Star. “She’s finding out that he’s a terrific guy who’s fun to be around.”

Marley & Me, based on John Grogan’s memoir about his beloved Labrador retriever, is Owen’s first major role since his suicide attempt last August.

And it looks like his chemistry with Jen was instantaneous! “Jen is known for being a recluse on set,” says the friend. “But she’s having so much fun hanging out with Owen. She’s just really relaxed and happy, which is nice to see.”

[From Star Magazine]

I don’t believe this story for a second, and here’s why: The photos that go with the story of Jennifer and Owen hugging and smiling together are obviously stills from the movie shoot, in which they play a couple who owns a precocious dog. Of course they’re supposed to look like a couple- that’s what they’re getting paid to do in the movie! Now, if Star had coughed up candid photos of Jen and Owen snugging in a cafe, that would be a different story.

If I were Jennifer, I’d get pretty sick of all these stories about my love life. But who knows? Maybe she likes all these stories. It’s better than stories about a poor, heartsick Jen still pining away for Brad Pitt and the babies they’ll never have.

Owen Wilson is heading back to work following his breakdown and suicide attempt last year. He had a movie out last fall, the Darjeeling Limited, and while he did drop out of the Ben Stiller flick Tropic Thunder following his suicide attempt in August, it looks like his career is going to continue unaffected.

Which got me wondering – will Britney ever really come back? Will Amy Winehouse ever be introduced without the words ‘recovering addict’ included? Possibly not. And even though men aren’t immune to scandal (Keifer Sutherland, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Junior) they seem to get off lighter in the tabloid press.

I’m not the only one who thinks about this, the New York Times ran an article talking about it too.

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.”

[From The NY Times]

All of this is true – women are the ones who buy gossip magazines and we are more interested in hearing about other women. So are we partially to blame for the increased attention on the plight of female celebrities?

Owen is set to start work on a film titled Marley and Me, which features Jennifer Aniston and a dog as Marley. Owen and Aniston star as a young couple who work in the newspaper field who adopt an “incredible” puppy named Marley.

Note by Celebitchy: While Owen Wilson was said to be drinking again and was even supposedly seen buying a pipe with which you wouldn’t smoke tobacco, his post-suicide behavior didn’t attract a lot of press. You also have to give him credit for staying out of the hot spots, though, and he seems to have tried to keep under the radar. There does seem to be a disparity in how women are analyzed and dissected by the gossip press as compared to men.

The National Enquirer ran an item a short while ago claiming that Owen Wilson had fallen off the wagon and was calling Kate Hudson and trying to win her back. Now they say that he spent the night at her house and that they’re back together but are wisely trying to keep it from the public.

Owen spent the night at Kate’s Pacific Palisades home recently before jetting off to Hawaii, The Enquirer has learned exclusively.

“Owen has been secretly meeting Kate since the beginning of the year - at first for 20 minutes here or there, but the visits gradually became longer, revealed an insider.

“Then Owen ended up spending the night at her place.

“Owen and Kate are back together, but they’re not ready to take their relationship public.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, February 18, 2008]

The Enquirer adds that “insiders” are speculating if Kate Hudson is pregnant, and we were all over that on Friday. Hudson hasn’t been seen out in a form-fitting dress in some time and it seemed like something was up. Commentors pointed out that she did wear a fitted dress and skirt to an appearance on the Regis & Kelly show, and she wore a lovely tight gown to the BAFTA Awards this weekend, which seems to put a rest to that rumor.

According to The Enquirer, Owen’s drinking is under control now despite his relapse, and they say that Kate is helping him work through his issues. The article’s supposed source claims that “they are taking things slowly,” but that Kate “is the one true love of his life.”

We’ll have to wait and see if this one is true, and the evidence is sketchy. These two had an on and off relationship and were very low key about it until Kate showed up at an after party for the premiere of Owen’s movie with his brothers, “The Wendell Baker Story,” last Spring. They broke it off shortly afterwards. Although you want to hope they can make it work, those type of relationships rarely do unless one person makes a major change in their life. It seems like Owen had a transformative experience after the trauma he went through last year and maybe he has changed enough to make it work with Kate - if he even hooked up with her again.

Kate Hudson is shown below at the BAFTA Awards yesterday, not looking pregnant. Owen Wilson is shown in the header at the premiere of “The Wendell Baker Story” in March, 2007, and Kate is shown in the header outside the Late Show on 2/7/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Kate Hudson kept pretty quiet after ex-boyfriend Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt in August. There were a lot of reports that she’d tried to visit him at the hospital and had been angrily turned away by Wilson’s family – though that was never confirmed. Since then, Kate has been pretty quiet about Owen. She’s definitely someone that’s able to stay friends with her ex’s. She’s been photographed out and about with her son Ryder and ex-husband Chris Robinson more often than some married couples. Kate finally opened up about Owen, her marriage, and her son in January’s issue of Vogue.

“Owen is such a lovely person, and I love him dearly,” she says. “And I wish him beautiful things — health and everything that he desires in life.”

The 28-year-old — who poses in matching plaids for the magazine with son Ryder, 3 — also comes clean about her 2006 split with husband of six years, Chris Robinson. “We had Ryder, and we both sort of looked at each other and went, ‘Something’s off,’” she said. She called the divorce “the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life. The process of discovering with somebody that you love that you don’t work is so painful. And thank goodness I did it with Chris. We helped each other through it. Now we’re both single and since the day we separated, we talk multiple times.”

Of her past year, Hudson said, “It was just an extremely giant sort of leap. I definitely feel like I’ve grown up a lot.”

[From Us Magazine]

It was widely reported that Owen tried to kill himself after seeing pictures of Kate with her then-boyfriend Dax Shephard in a grocery store. Owen hasn’t talked publicly about his suicide attempt so pretty much everything is speculation. I can’t imagine how that whole situation must have felt for Kate – though she certainly seems like someone who just picks up and moves along. It sounds like she’s pretty happy with her life and things are going well for her.

While I love any list, particularly a top ten, Film Threat’s list of Hollywood’s Coldest People is one of my absolute favourites.

FILM THREAT’S FRIGID 50: THE COLDEST PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD 2007

1. George W. Bush
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Jim Carrey
4. Comedies Not Associated with Judd Apatow
5. Owen Wilson
6. Nicole Kidman
7. Hilary Swank
8. Eli Roth/Torture Porn
9. Jennifer Lopez
10. Jon Heder

While I might have to question George W. Bush’s inclusion on the list, it’s apparently because of his ‘appearances’ in movies like Transformers or TV shows like South Park. Number two Angelina Jolie currently has the number one film in the American box office Beowulf, so it seems particularly bad timing to have her on the most frigid list. Although, have you seen her legs lately? Not hot.

You can check out the full list of 51 on Filmthreat, and the reasons for inclusion, but I have to add that number eleven was Star Wars. I am completely on the anti-Jedi bandwagon. Sci-fi lovers, just because the films were great in the 70’s doesn’t make their prequels good – in fact, it’s like remaking The Dukes of Hazzard or Invasion of the Body Snatchers – perhaps a good idea in theory, but not in practice. Now, commence my stoning to death as I have violated the sacred nature of The Force.

Nicole Kidman may rank high on the coldest people list, but I think she’s hot after she spoke out about the Australian government’s attitude to domestic violence.

“I know why people call violence against women a pandemic.

“It is perhaps the most widespread human rights abuse violation.”

The star called for a greater level of support for victims.

“I urge the Government to do more in relation to victim support services,” she said.

“There needs to be a dramatic increase in counselling services for victims of sexual assault and victims need to be supported better by police and the courts.

“And secondly, there needs to be a huge increase in short and long term accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

“At the moment, I believe, one in two women who approach a refuge are turned away.”

news.com.au

Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but in Australia celebrities don’t get behind political parties like they do in the United States, and an election is only days away. Voting is compulsory there, probably because Australians care so little about politics if it wasn’t no one would vote at all, and if you didn’t make it law for everyone over 18 to vote you’d have to ambush people on the street and force them into polling booths.

Note by Celebitchy: I wanted to find fictionalized portrayals of George W. Bush, and while Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive list it wasn’t that easy to dig up clips and photos. I did find one though, a clip from Family Guy of George W Bush showing up for Vietnam.

Family Guy George Bush Misses Vietnam

Family Guy shows us how George W Bush missed Vietnman.

Get humor videos at NothingToxic

And here’s a link to a full length clip from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII that first aired in October, 1996 featuring Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. I looked hard for Clinton’s appearance on the “Max Power” episode of the Simpsons where he tells Marge he’ll be in the shed out back just in case, and the one where Lisa tells him he gave a lousy lesson and he says “Well, I’m a pretty lousy president” but this was all I could find. Presidents are always fair game for parody, although I doubt Clinton would have made this coldest list ten years ago. I am striving for neutrality here if it isn’t obvious.

In October it was reported that Owen Wilson was reunited with an ex girlfriend, Carolina Cerisola, a burlesque dancer who is also said to be an excellent vegan chef. The two were even rumored to be moving in together after they were spotted out several times.

Then Owen was rumored to be dating Jessica Simpson after getting reacquainted with the ditsy blond at a shoot for a Willie Nelsen video on October 17. Everyone was buzzing that they were a new couple after being spotted out on dates on both the west and east coast. People Magazine reports that both of those supposed dates were group outings, though, and that they aren’t serious. In Touch described their date in NY and made it seem more like they ran into each other randomly and were just hanging out:

They became friends in Texas, met for drinks in California and now, Jessica Simpson and Owen Wilson have hit New York for their second date. The blond pair met for drinks at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel on November 3. Jessica, 27, showed up after dinner at the Waverly Inn with her mother, Tina, and assistant… Owen, 39, arrived with a group of friends but spent the night talking and laughing with Jessica.

[From InTouch, print edition, November 19, 2007]

Meanwhile Jessica Simpson made a dumb statement last week that suggests she’s single and looking. She told Extra! “I think Boston has cute boys. I need a Boston man. A Boston man is closest to a Southern man, I believe.” She went on to explain that Boston men were like Southern men due to their loyalty.

There’s a photo of Owen out biking with a pretty “friend” in New York on November 1 in this week’s issue of OK! Magazine. He is also said to have had lunch with her that day.

People Magazine identifies Owen’s mystery friend as model Le Call. They went to an event together, were out biking, took a yoga class, and were photographed on another occasion looking flirty. Despite her ridiculous stage moniker American Le Call is said to be “overwhelmed by all of this attention” and plans to escape the paparazzi and speculation that go along with a budding relationship with Wilson:

The mystery woman seen around New York with Owen Wilson has now been identified: She is model Le Call.

“She is dating him,” an insider tells PEOPLE.

When asked about a possible relationship between Wilson and Le Call (who, despite the name, is American born), a rep for One Model Management told PEOPLE, “Le Call has no comment.”

But, a source close to the couple said on Monday, “Le Call is totally overwhelmed by all of this attention. She isn’t used to it. So they will be leaving town tomorrow to escape – and traveling a great distance.”

[From People.com]

This is the same woman who is said to be involved in a stupid feud with a restaurant owner over a $1,000 umbrella he once lent her. The whole argument sounded so petty to me that I wouldn’t be reporting it if she wasn’t dating Wilson, but Page Six has this as their cover story yesterday. It’s weird, so bear with me.

A restaurant owner who probably bribed Page Six for the mention, as Jossip notes, lent Le Call or whatever her name is an umbrella worth four figures. It was leather and a limited edition model by John Paul Gaultier. She didn’t return it for a while, and when someone finally did on her behalf it was broken. So the guy wants to sue her, big deal.

Le Call commented on the feud, telling Page Six “It is pretty funny, though. An umbrella that I didn’t ask for or want and refused to take two or three times from a man who if he is so ridiculously upset about an overpriced, ostentatious umbrella, he probably shouldn’t own one that expensive . . . Nello is desperate for attention, I guess.”

Meanwhile Le Call told NY Magazine this August that another restaurant owner and reality tv star, Rocco DiSpirito, gave her and a friend bikes when he learned they were going to rent some. She also bragged about getting free trips and vacations from guys “who want to have girls around.” I wonder what that entails:

Nice bikes.
LE: This guy we don’t even know just gave them to us!

What?
LE: We made this dinner for, like, twelve people, and this guy we don’t even know came. He’s a chef, and he’s on TV. His name is Rocco. Anyway, he was asking us what we were going to do the next day, and we said, “Rent bikes.” He said, “Oh, that’s so sad,” and the next day, he came over with these bikes!

As a gift?
LE: Yeah. I wish I could say it’s an unusual situation, but stuff like that happens not infrequently. CIARA: We don’t usually get gifts like that! We mostly get offered trips, because they want to have girls around. LE: Last weekend, we went to Croatia. We went to Sardinia the weekend before that. We went to the Bahamas six or seven times this winter. But the bike is a first. It’s cute, you know? Not presumptuous or lech-y.

[From NY Magazine]

Somehow this model who doesn’t want attention is dating a high-profile actor, bragging to the press about the free trips guys take her on, and giving long statements to Page Six. Maybe she’ll start showing up on the red carpet with Wilson, fluffing her hair while declaring that she just wants to stay out of the spotlight.

Photo below is from NY Magazine. Le Call is on the left. Header image is of Wilson out in NY at the beginning of this month, thanks to Splash News.