Taking Names

By | Tuesday, December 2, 2008

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Buckley son plans book

Christopher Buckley, whose famous parents, William F. and Pat Buckley, died within a year of each other after 57 years of marriage, is coming out with a book about them, "Losing Mom and Pop," in May - and it isn't going to be all sweetness and light, the New York Post notes.

"Writing this book may have been simply a way of spending more time with my parents before finally letting them go," the 56-year-old author tells Vanity Fair in its January issue.

"I honestly had no intention of writing about them. But I'm a writer, and when the universe hands you material like this, it would seem an act of conscious omission not to do something about it. It spilled out of me. I wrote it in 40 days - no biblical associations intended."

His father was the author of 55 books, founder of the National Review, a syndicated columnist and the host of PBS' "Firing Line" for 30 years. Pat Buckley, from one of the richest families in Canada, was a pillar of high society whose influence peaked when the couple's friends Ronald and Nancy Reagan were ensconced in the White House.

Yet the younger Mr. Buckley says his memoir exposes some flaws. "This book is going to land hard in some quarters. ... It's a book about two very complex people. They were not your typical mom and dad. This is not Ozzie and Harriet. They were William F. and Pat Buckley. The phrase 'larger than life' doesn't twice cover it."

Less loving is Gore Vidal, who can't drop his decades-long feud even now that William Buckley is dead. "He was out to get me from the very beginning," Mr. Vidal told Vanity Fair.

Ivana and No. 4 split

Ivana Trump has issued a statement confirming reports of marital discord with Italian entrepreneur Rossano Rubicondi, Associated Press reports.

Miss Trump, 59 - who wed Mr. Rubicondi, 35, in April - says she filed a legal separation agreement three months ago. She says she kept quiet about it because she didn't want to ruin Mr. Rubicondi's chances as a contestant on the Italian edition of the reality TV show "Survivor."

Mr. Rubicondi is Miss Trump's fourth husband. After about six years of dating, they tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla., estate of her ex-husband Donald Trump.

Tough love

Amy Winehouse's husband says he wants out of their marriage - for her sake, says People.com.

"I have to let her go to save her life," Blake Fielder-Civil told Britain's News of the World in its Sunday editions. "I am not abandoning her. I am doing this out of love," said Mr. Fielder-Civil - currently in rehab after being released from jail last month.

During the interview, Mr. Fielder-Civil also admitted that he "introduced" the 25-year-old Miss Winehouse to crack and heroin. However, the former video production assistant, who wed the Grammy winner in 2007, denied being after the singer's money and said he will not "fight her for anything."

Chris Goodman, Miss Winehouse's U.K. spokesman, says he is unaware of anything formal under way to end the marriage, People reports.

Elvis top draw at ball

Elvis Costello will headline the Creative Coalition's Inaugural Ball Jan. 20 at the Harman Center for the Arts in Northwest, event organizers said Monday.

Among the confirmed celebrity guests: Tim Daly and Tony Goldwyn, Anne Hathaway, Spike Lee, Tim Robbins, Kerry Washington, Susan Sarandon, Jane Krakowski, Alfre Woodard, Barry Levinson, Dana Delany, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Wendie Malick, Josh Lucas, Matthew Modine, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Connie Britton, Richard Schiff, Ellen Burstyn, Giancarlo Esposito, Gloria Reuben, Lynn Whitfield, Tamara Tunie, Tom Fontana, Sue Kramer, Kim Raver, Maura Tierney and many more.

• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from staff, Web and wire reports

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