Beyoncé Knowles reportedly gave a private New Year’s Eve performance for an exclusive crowd in St. Barth that included Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, according to Mediaite.
The media website said that the singer was reportedly paid a six-figure amount for the concert, but it notes that several other websites say she was paid $2 million for the private concert.
The New York Post’s Page Six says the party was put on by Hannibal Khadafy, son of the Libyan leader.
Beyoncé reportedly sang five songs for a crowd that included her husband Jay-Z, Lindsay Lohan, Usher, Jon Bon Jovi, Russell Simmons, supermodels Miranda Kerr and Victoria Slivstedt and BET founder Bob Johnson.
Page Six said it couldn’t confirm the $2 million payout, but noted that Mariah Carey got $1 million for the same gig last year.
Heiress Casey Johnson, the late daughter of Jets owner Woody Johnson, stood to inherit millions — but faced repossession of her Porsche for nonpayment.
Casey Johnson, an heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, died owing Porsche Financial Services $105,740.93, the New York Daily News reports, citing court records.
The 30-year-old, who was found dead in her Los Angeles mansion by a maid on Monday, reportedly hid her leased Porsche Cayenne SUV in a garage to keep the company from repossessing it.
Porsche sought to seize the vehicle after Johnson failed the make the monthly $2,300 payment beginning last June, the records show.
Johnson was also sued for breach of contract last August by the Elizabeth Rose Agency, which finds nannies for wealthy parents.
The company claimed Johnson, who adopted a now 3-year-old girl from Kazakhstan and named Ava-Monroe, owed them $17,940, the records show.
Johnson’s dad, who friends said is “devastated” by the death of his daughter. His brother Keith died of a drug overdose in 1975. He had said he feared the same thing would happen to Casey.
“Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander‘s New Year’s resolution is to shed weight — as the newest spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
“It’s like someone’s clubbing me over the head it’s so obvious I should be doing this,” the actor told People.
“It was a deadly combination of I’m fat and they work,” he says of his decision to try the program. Alexander says he was drawn to Jenny Craig after watching footage of his recent appearances in film and television. “I just got to a point where when I would look at the Seinfeld reunion stuff or one of these other projects that I had done, I said, ‘I don’t like the way that guy looks. That guy is not attractive in any way, shape or form to me,'” he says. “It made me go, ‘Oh, yuck!'”
Alexander says he hopes to lose between 30 and 40 pounds to reflect his weight during the early years of the show that made him a star. “Over the course of the nine years of Seinfeld, I can actually see my hairline go away and my waistline increase. One of them I can do nothing about; the other I can,” he jokes.
The comedian credits his initial weight gain to his wife’s two pregnancies – he gained about 15 pounds during each — and the increased quality of craft services on the Seinfeld set — “it will absolutely kill ya!”
Mariah Carey lived up to her sometimes loopy reputation at the Palm Springs International Film Festival awards as she gave a long, rambling acceptance speech after being named Breakthrough Actress for her performance in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” Carey, teetering in a skin-tight, black-beaded full-length Herve Leger gown, was escorted onto the stage Tuesday night, and at the podium, greeted her presenter and “Precious” director Lee Daniels with a little dance and a big hug.
Carey hesitated for a few seconds, looked to the ceiling, sighed and said, “Please forgive me, because I’m a little bit, um …” An audience member finished the sentence for her with an obscenity, to which Carey replied, “Yeah!” adding a long, hearty laugh.
“Oooooooh, my goodness!” she bellowed.
For the next few minutes, Carey rambled on about first reading “Push,” about meeting author Sapphire, and about meeting one of the night’s other honorees, Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren, whom Daniels said turned down the “Precious” role.
In the midst of praising Daniels’ work, Carey spontaneously burst into applause.
“Sorry,” she told Daniels. “Sometimes I get a little …” Carey then stopped cold to snap her fingers, then added “… you know, difficult.” And then she giggled again.
— The Associated Press also contributed to this report
lsmith@denverpost.com
