Rupert Everett is a tool. Don’t believe me? There’s lots of evidence. Back in 2007, he decided to trash-talk everyone from Diane Keaton to Robert DeNiro to Al Pacino, calling them “tragic parodies of themselves.” Then a few months ago he bashed his fellow gay men for wanting or needing or desiring to become parents, calling gay parenting “tiresome, egocentric and vain”. Because Rupert knows about vanity, that’s why he mangled his face with surgery and botox. Perhaps he saved the best for last week’s tirade, when he mocked Michael Jackson as a freak, then trash-talked former friends Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. I can get behind the Paltrow trash-talking in general, but when Rup claims he’d prefer Katie “Jordan” Price to Paltrow, things get a bit fishy.

It’s past time for Rupert’s nasty words of anti-wisdom to cost him something big. Rup’s not really working that much in film or television anymore. Allegedly, he’s got a small part in something called St Trinian’s 2: Legend of Fritton’s Gold, which screams “OSCAR” to me. And maybe he’s on Broadway…? Whatever. The biggest gig Rupert had going for him was as some kind of contributor to Vanity Fair. In the past, Rupert kissed enough butt to keep the editor (Graydon Carter) happy, even telling The Daily Beast that Graydon had a “monster c-ck” and that Graydon is “an amazing f-ck”. Seriously. Rup said that about his editor. But apparently, Rup won’t kiss ass forever. He was trash talking Graydon recently, and now Rup’s out the door at VF:

Rupert Everett is famously outspoken but his most recent outburst has cost him a lucrative sideline.

The actor has been sacked as contributing editor of Vanity Fair after making inappropriate comments about the editor.

Everett, 50, described Graydon Carter during an interview as a ‘weird character’ who is ‘rather fat’.

‘Rupert regrets being so indiscreet,’ says an insider. ‘He’s coming to the end of his Broadway run in Blithe Spirit, so money is tight.’

A year ago Everett had to apologise for calling British soldiers ‘whining wimps’.

A Vanity Fair source said: ‘When his remarks reminded Graydon that Rupert was still listed, it seemed some housecleaning was in order.’

[From Daily Mail]

Well done, Vanity Fair. Now keep the Johnny Depp covers coming, and we’re in business. Can Rupert Everett be persona non grata from now on? Can he be fired from everything, and then maybe he’ll resort to telling his “witty” little thoughts to random people as they pass him on the street. I get the feeling that Rupert thinks that Americans will find him charming for three reasons: because of his accent, or because we think his nastiness is “eccentric”. No, and no. Take him back, Britain!

The August issue of Vanity Fair has a fascinating article about Heath Ledger called “The Last of Heath”, all about his insomnia and sleeping pill usage, his own thoughts about his career, and his relationship with Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda. The issue went to print before Michael Jackson died, and Page Six is claiming that the stuff about Heath’s prescription drug usage is in poor taste, but I don’t really see it. Page Six pulled some of the most tabloid-friendly quotes, but reading the full excerpt on Vanity Fair’s site, it seems more like a tribute to Heath’s life, and an attempt to tell the real story about what Heath was going through in the last years of his life. Here are some of the most interesting parts:

Heath Cleaned Up His Act: Cinematographer Nicola Pecorini, who worked with Ledger on his last film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, says Ledger “used to smoke marijuana on a regular basis, like probably 50 percent of Americans.” But after it became an issue, Ledger “went clean as a whistle.” And vocal coach Gerry Grennell, who worked and lived with the actor during the filming of The Dark Knight, says Ledger even stopped drinking: “Heath would happily go to the bar, buy a round of drinks for friends, and come back and have a soda or juice, never once drinking alcohol.”

Insomnia, Flu and Sleeping Pills: Ledger’s use of sleeping medication to combat chronic insomnia at the end of his life was of more concern to Grennell. “I’d say, ‘If you can possibly bear it to stop taking the medications, do, because they don’t seem to be doing you any good.’ He agreed. It is very difficult for me to imagine how close he came to not taking them.”

Ledger would typically spend night after night awake, diverting himself with time killers, Biskind reports, such as re-arranging the furniture in whatever space he happened to be living in at the moment. Grennell coached him in the Alexander Technique, which helped him to sleep for a few hours at a time, but he still struggled.

“Everyone has a different view of how he passed away,” Grennell tells Biskind. “From my perspective, and knowing him as well as I did, and being around him as much as I was, it was a combination of exhaustion, sleeping medication … and perhaps the aftereffects of the flu. I guess his body just stopped breathing.”

Relationship with Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda: Terry Gilliam [says] that the romance between Ledger and [Michelle] began to unravel during the Oscar campaign for Brokeback Mountain. “The whole machinery started growing up around them,” Gilliam says. “That was the moment when it changed, when he realized, Uh-oh. We perceive the world differently. He didn’t care about things like those awards.”

According to Pecorini, “Heath was always blaming himself [about the relationship], asking, What did I do wrong?” Adds Gilliam, “Because he’s a much nicer person than I am, he really thought he could do the right thing. He was trying to be decent and graceful, give her whatever she wanted—the house, every f-cking thing. But once it started going south, it went very quickly. He was overwhelmed by lawyers, and there were more and more of them, as if they were breeding. I said, ‘This is bullshit. Heath, just end it. Get out—it’s bad. You’ve got to just walk away from it.’ The stakes kept going up. He wouldn’t listen to any of us.” As Ledger’s relationship with Williams unraveled, and the pair started dealing with lawyers and custody issues, according to Gilliam, Ledger fell apart. “The thing that really made Heath snap” was legal wrangling over his daughter, Matilda, Gilliam says.

Heath’s Ambivalence Towards Stardom, Playing The Joker: Ledger’s friend and agent, Steven Alexander, tells Biskind that Heath “was always hesitant to be in a summer blockbuster, with the dolls and action figures and everything else that comes with one of those movies. He was afraid it would define him and limit his choices.” According to friends of Ledger’s, one of the reasons he agreed to do Dark Knight was that the unusually long shoot would give him an excuse to turn down other offers. Alexander tells Biskind that Ledger had a pay-or-play deal on The Dark Knight—meaning he’d get compensated no matter what—so he felt he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted as the Joker. According to Pecorini, Ledger hoped his performance would be so far-out he’d be fired, and thus become the beneficiary of a lengthy, paid vacation.

[From Vanity Fair]

I found the Michelle Williams stuff interesting, but I have some nit-picking with Vanity Fair. Throughout the piece, they refer to Michelle as Heath’s wife, which she never was. They were engaged, but never married. That simple fact doesn’t limit their relationship, or make their split any more or less of a factor in Heath’s state of mind in his last year. The report seems to indicate that Michelle really had strong feelings about how much time Matilda spent with Heath – which makes me suspect Michelle had serious concerns about Heath’s state of mind. Even though I think it’s nice that so many of Heath’s friends and colleagues gave interviews about Heath, it’s interesting that Michelle was not interviewed. I’d imagine her take on that time period would be a lot different.

Heath Ledger is shown on 9/4/07 and 3/4/06. Credit: PRPhotos

Gisele was Vanity Fair’s May cover girl, and for the honor of a Vanity Fair cover (that wasn’t “The Fashion Issue” or whatever), Gisele dished big-time about her husband Tom Brady, Tom’s ex bridget Moynahan, and the son Bridget and Tom share custody of, John Moynahan. There were a couple of now infamous quotes from that article, including Gisele referring to John as “my son” and calling Bridget’s pregnancy “a wake-up call”. All of that juicy gossip ‘twas all for naught, however. Because that issue of Vanity Fair was the lowest-selling issue of the magazine in two years.

That, in itself, is just a media story, or even an economic story, because who really buys Vanity Fair on the newsstands during a recession, after all? But unfortunately for Gisele, a Vanity Fair spokeswoman decided to “joke” and give a “reason” for the slumped May sales. Spokeswoman Beth Kseniak told the New York Observer, “It might be that she’s losing her looks.” Oh, snap! I guess Beth is Team Moynahan all the way:

Gisele, it turns out, doesn’t sell.

Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar each put Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen on covers this year, and both promptly had their worst-selling issues off the newsstand in 2009.

The May Vanity Fair, which featured a bare-bodied Gisele, standing sideways with a come-hither look, sold only 280,000 single sale copies, the lowest total for the magazine in nearly two years, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations Rapid Report.

Harper’s Bazaar’s April issue, meanwhile sold only 132,000 copies, its lowest total of the year and its lowest since November 2008, when Drew Barrymore was on the cover.

Harper’s Bazaar has averaged about 155,000 single copy sales this year, and Vanity Fair has averaged 342,000.

“It might be that she’s losing her looks,” quipped Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak.

Considering the number of covers that Gisele Bundchen has graced this year—including the July issue of German Glamour and German Elle—magazine publishers and editors are crossing their fingers that she has more appeal overseas.

Ms. Kseniak also pointed out that when Gisele graced the Vanity Fair cover in September 2007, it was the third-biggest seller that year.

One industry source said that some newsstand sales were affected in earlier this year after Anderson News, a major distributor, suspended its business operations, though publishers feel that all distribution problems have been ironed out.

[From The New York Observer]

If someone was asking me for my response to why people didn’t pick up a Vanity Fair magazine with Gisele on the cover, I would just say: “Women buy the magazines, and women generally don’t care for or about Gisele, no matter what she wears, does or says.” It’s totally true (anecdotally, at least) – I’ve found most women are either utterly ambivalent about Gisele, or they really, really dislike her.

But was the Vanity Fair’s spokeswoman out of line, even if it was a “joke”? The guy at Cover Awards thinks the comment makes Vanity Fair look “mean and pathetic” and says that Vanity Fair should be offering Gisele an apology right now. I’m not sure if Gisele will get an apology, but I know she’s not going to get any more covers for any of the Conde Nast publications.

Gisele Bundchen is shown on 6/15/09. Credit: WENN.com

Back in April, Vanity Fair held an online poll to determine “the most beautiful woman in the world”. Vanity Fair had a pre-set list of beautiful women – everyone from Penelope Cruz to Queen Rania of Jordan, from Gisele Bundchen to Halle Berry. As it turned out, the earliest contender ended up winning the challenge, and Angelina Jolie was crowned “the most beautiful” after thousands of votes had been cast.

Someone at Vanity Fair was having fun, so they decided to host another online poll – this time for the world’s “most handsome man”. The list does include some of the most spectacular-looking men in the world. Here’s Vanity Fair’s complete list: Javier Bardem, David Beckham, Gael García Bernal, Tom Brady, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jakob Dylan, Nacho Figueras, James Franco, Jon Hamm, Hugh Jackman, Taylor Kitsch, Clive Owen, Robert Pattinson, Brad Pitt, and Denzel Washington. Um… Jakob Dylan? Son of Bob Dylan? What the…?

So, with that kind of line up of hot men, who would you imagine the early contenders to be? I just cast my vote for Clive Owen, but I would think perhaps Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio or George Clooney would the winning the first rounds. Not so much – even Brad “Twelve Percent” Pitt isn’t doing so well. The poll has been consumed by Twihards! Currently, Robert Pattinson (and his albeit lovely jawline) has 59% of the votes! Do Twihards even read Vanity Fair? Who alerted them to the poll?

Now, I love me some R-Pattz. I have become a convert. I love the way his shoulders slump a little, and I’ve begun to enjoy the Teen Beat-quality coverage of Pattinson’s every move. I like his messy hair, and I have dreams about his profile. My desire for R-Pattz makes me feel cougar-ish, and I’m not even that much older than him! Now that I’ve established my love for R-Pattz, I would like to speak directly to the Twihards. Robert Pattinson is not the most beautiful man in the world. That’s enough. We’re all crushing on him like crazy, and he is a very cute young man, but he’s not the end-all of manly beauty. Can this obsession be over soon?

Here’s Robert Pattinson shirtless & kissing Kristen Stewart on the set of New Moon on May 27th. Thanks to Ciao Pix/INFphoto.com and VENTURINI/bauergriffinonline.com

For the past six years, Vanity Fair has reserved its March issue to use as “The Hollywood Issue”, where the talented Vanity Fair photographers do a large portfolio of actors, actresses and Hollywood wheeler-dealer sorts. “The Hollywood Issue” has been a little blah the past few years, so it makes sense that the VF editors are trying to be innovative, by putting the new president on the cover with a large portfolio of his new administration inside. Don’t get too worked up – the VF editors also include a Hollywood portfolio.

It’s no secret that Barack Obama has a bunch of half-siblings. He’s always said that the relation he’s closest to is his sister Maya Soterio. President Obama also has several half-siblings from his father’s side of the family, many of whom still live in Kenya. One of these half-brothers, George Obama, was arrested over the weekend for drug possession – of one joint. The charges were dropped hours later, but the whole story of the arrest is coming out.

All charges against George Obama, half-brother to U.S. President Barack Obama, have been dropped after his arrest in a drug raid, according to police in Kenya.

He was released on Saturday hours later, police added. Obama was arrested in a Nairobi slum, and he was picked up with people who possessed marijuana, said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.

“Being found with people who are in possession of cannabis is a petty offense,” Kiraithe said. Earlier, police had told CNN that Obama had been arrested for possessing cannabis and resisting arrest, which can carry a sentence of up to a year in jail or hefty fines.

“Police in Kenya do not look at criminals in light of associations with relatives,” Kiraithe said.

Obama and the president barely know each other, though they have met. George Obama was one of the few people closely related to the president who did not attend the inauguration in Washington.

In his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” Barack Obama describes meeting George as a “painful affair.” His trip to Kenya meant meeting family he had never known.

Barack Obama Sr. died in a car accident when George was 6 months old. And like his half brother, George hardly knew his father. George was his father’s last child and had not been aware of his famous half brother until he rose to prominence in the Democratic primaries last year.

Unlike his grandmother in Kogela, in western Kenya, George Obama received little attention from the media until reports about him surfaced in August 2008. The reports sprung from an Italian Vanity Fair article saying George Obama lived in a shack and was “earning less than a dollar a day.”

The reports left George Obama angry. “I was brought up well. I live well even now,” he said. “The magazines, they have exaggerated everything.”

Obama, who is in his mid-20s, said at the time that he was learning to become a mechanic and was active in youth groups in Huruma. He said he tries to help the community as much as he can.

[From CNN]

George Obama sounds like a very proud man. I can’t imagine the range of emotions he must have felt when he found out his half-brother is the President of the United States. As a result, everything anybody in the extended Obama family does over the next four – and possibly eight – years will make international news.

Picture note by JayBird: This isn’t directly related, but I thought this was really beautiful. The Committee for African-American History Observances Quilters and volunteers took 10 (very harried) days to construct this gorgeous Michelle Obama History Quilt, which is now at The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Images thanks to Newscom.

British actress Kate Winslet is back in the spotlight to promote two new films coming out soon: an adaptation of the novel “The Reader,” co-starring the yummy Ralph Fiennes, and her much-anticipated reunion with “Titanic” co-star Leonardo DiCaprio in “Revolutionary Road.” So much attention is heaped on Kate as a great example of a beautiful woman who doesn’t necessarily fit the stick-think Hollywood mold – although her pictorial spread in Vanity Fair this month shows off a decidedly thinner physique for Kate. But she’s also an accomplished actress who has been nominated five times for an Academy Award.

Winslet is well aware she’s the subject of intense scrutiny in both her professional and private lives. “You know why I fear people’s judgment?” she’s asks. “Because I know they’re judging. I know they are.” She talks about walking to school with her kids—Mia, eight, from her first marriage (to Jim Threapleton, an assistant director she met while filming Hideous Kinky, in 1997), and Joe, five, her son with Mendes—and catching looks from the other parents. “You know, these mothers are going to read this article and they’re all absolutely great, but I know when I walk into that classroom in the morning, even if it’s for a split second, at some point I’m being checked out. And some of them will even say to me, ‘O.K., what’s the secret with the skin?’ At which point I’m like, ‘Oh my God, there’s no secret. I have makeup on. And by the way, since I turned 30, I’ve had an acne problem on my chin. I’m just like everybody else—I just know how to cover it. If you’d like me to show you how, I’d be more than happy.’ ”

…In the past, the actress has served as a notable exception to the rule about Hollywood weight obsessions, her full figure celebrated as proof that not all leading ladies have to be stick-thin to be successful. In Winslet’s teens, her weight fluctuated dramatically; at one point she stood five feet six inches and weighed nearly 200 pounds. But now the baby fat from her early years is gone, and after having two children, her body has settled into itself, giving rise to those beautiful cheekbones and gorgeous curves. (She doesn’t profess to be much of a gym rat. “Everyone can commit to 20 minutes,” she says of working out, “especially if there’s a glass of Chardonnay afterwards.”)

“This is going to sound really weird,” she muses, “but I never had a desire to be famous. I never had huge ambitions—never.… I was fat. I didn’t know any fat famous actresses. I just did not see myself in that world at all, and I’m being very sincere. You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid. Because you always think that you just look a little bit wrong or a little bit different from everyone else. And I still sort of have that. I often look at women who wear great jeans and high heels and nice little T-shirts wandering around the city and I think, I should make more of an effort. I should look like that. But then I think, They can’t be happy in those heels.”

[From Vanity Fair]

I’m definitely a fan – I have been since she played Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet.” I think her best role to date was in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” But I’m definitely looking forward to “The Reader.” Honestly, this woman just doesn’t make bad movies. It would be great if her achievements as an actress would be enough without constantly revisiting her weight issues – which seem to be nonexistent at this point.

An article in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair is set to expose former President Bill Clinton’s lurid sexual past – as if we didn’t already know about most of it. The article, written by Todd Purdum, who is married to former Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers – attacks Clinton, saying that his affairs and general Clintonian behavior have wrecked Hillary’s chances at the presidency.

One of the interesting revelations is that Clinton supposedly had an affair with actress Gina Gershon.

Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California. There has been talk of a female friend in Chappaqua, a woman in a bar at a meeting of the Aspen Institute, and a public sighting of Clinton, Bing, and a ravishing entourage in a New York elevator that, a former Clinton aide told me, led a business leader who saw them to say: I don’t know what the guy was doing, but it was so clear that it was just no good.

[From Vanity Fair via Gossip Rocks]

I don’t think it’s any news that Bill’s a player. So much was made of the Clinton’s marriage during the Lewinsky sex scandal that there really isn’t much to say about it anymore. I don’t think many people believe they have a marriage of love, at least in the traditional romantic sense. It seems more that it’s a partnership, and Bill at least gets his love somewhere else. Who knows. But it seems like plenty of people have been able to support the former president politically while decided that his personal proclivities are his own affair. So to speak.

Clinton’s office issued an angry, 2,476 word rebuttal to Vanity Fair’s article, pointing out many of its holes. They also point out that the article fails to mention any of the good Clinton has done since leaving office through the William J. Clinton Foundation – which has been prolific. While they defend nearly every single accusation in Vanity Fair’s article, the only seemingly-important issue they don’t address is that of Clinton’s sexual dalliances. Considering the depth they went into, leaving something like that out says more than anything they could have said.

Clinton called writer Purdum “Sleazy” “Slimy” and a “Scumbag” when asked by Huffington Post reporter Mayhill Fowler if the Vanity Fair article was “weighing on his mind.” He pointed out that Purdum used fifty anonymous sources.

“Anytime you read a story that slimes a public figure with anonymous quotes, it oughta make the bells go off in your head. Because anytime somebody uses those things– he wrote the story in his head in advance, and he just goes around and tries to find some coward to say whatever they want to say, hoping to get some benefit out of it. It didn’t bother me. It shouldn’t bother you.”

[From the Huffington Post]

Clinton’s spokesman had to apologize on his behalf for the sleazy/slimy/scumbag comments. I don’t really blame him – so many anonymous sources is something you’d expect of some magazines, but certainly not Vanity Fair. It will be interesting to see if the article does significant damage to Hillary Clinton’s campaign – though several websites are claiming she’ll be dropping out of the race any day now, regardless of the article.

Header of Gina Gershon at the Icons Of Music II auction in New York City on May 31st and Bill Clinton leaving his hotel the way to a benefit fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Dublin on November 17th. Images thanks to WENN.