TOWN WHISPERS…
The daughter of a top celebrity who’s having a sex change operation and is currently about to finish the hormone phase.
The power movie star couple about to split up. The wife is trying to re-negotiate the settlement before the news leaks, but she’s been away from home doing movies most of this year.
The male bachelor matinee idol sex symbol who just had his eyes done and the beautiful, respected movie star who used to be a VERY expensive call girl.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SHERRY LANSING. She has received the Rotary Club of Century City’s humanitarian award not only for her trailblazing work in the film industry but for her post-Hollywood commitment to philanthropy, which led her to create the Sherry Lansing Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to cancer research, education, art and culture. Sherry now has a bronze plaque on Avenue of the Stars.
LAILA ALI, daughter of Mohammed Ali, danced her way into our hearts on Dancing with the Stars. As a professional boxer, Laila has made quite a name for herself and she is using it for the “greater good.†She was honored at the Girlz in the Hood luncheon for A Place Called Home, a youth center providing at-risk youth with a family environment and a safe place to go. Famed dermatologist Dr. Jessica Wu, hairstylist Steve Lococo and B2V/Borelli Vo Salons, and Stila Cosmetics have formed Beauty Cares to help the center’s young ladies. “I’m really glad I can be a part of this,†said Laila, as she was busy signing autographs. “I want young girls to see that [they] can be strong and grow up and do good things.†Other honorees were actresses Parminder Nagra of E.R. and Shondella Avery, as well as Farmer’s Insurance and the Independent School Alliance.
THE WORLD OF “MRS. CHIEF,†RIKKI KLIEMAN…
Police Chief William Bratton’s wife Rikki Klieman makes the energizer bunny look like a sloth. She’s everywhere–from hosting Best Defense on Tru-TV and playing a judge on Shark, to being of counsel for the Boston law firm of Klieman, Lyons, Schindler & Gross.
She is the closest thing to “First Lady of Los Angeles,†since Mayor Villaraigosa is single. Looking inside the life of L.A.’s number one power couple is a privilege and a fascinating opportunity. There are a lot of women married to executives and producers in La La Land, but there is only one “Mrs. Chief.†The demands on Rikki break down into three areas: Career woman, Wife and Rikki the Human. With the exception of Rikki the Human, the wife and the career woman, in many cases, make over 20 appearances a week. “My priority as Bill’s wife is to support him in his personal life so when he comes home it is a place of rest and calm. We just want to be quiet and be with each other. My public support of him is as his partner in the community. We both care a great deal and we work together. I am on the board and devote a lot of time to the Rape Treatment Center and L.A.’s BEST, an after school enrichment program that has so far given 200,000 children a better future. It deals with the same kids Bill might never have to deal with because of the program. For the Rape Treatment Center I can work as a liaison to the police department and participate in teaching detectives how to approach a sexual assault case,†said Rikki.
And what about her responsibility to herself? “It is to find some time just to be me. I need to know I am a human ‘being,’ not a human ‘doing.’ I spend time in a tropical Maui Zen garden I had created and watch birds. I also run two or three times a week in Griffith Park; I love hot baths with music and candles. I try to do that for an hour before going out. I like Eckhart Tolle’s meditation tapes. I can’t be a whirling dervish all the time. Bill and I love to go to movies at the Grove or the Arclight, too.â€
In the week I followed the Brattons around, I ended up at (just to name a few) the KCET Vision Awards honoring Tim and Bernadette Leiweke; the Women Against Gun Violence Brunch emceed by Rikki (award to Chief Bratton); L.A.’s BEST (Chief Bratton presented an award); and the Police Medal of Valor Awards, the most moving event of all. Chief Bratton bestows medals on those heroic policemen and women who go above the call of duty and rush into burning cars, stop bullets from killing children, and in so many life-threatening ways, keep our city safe. At almost every one of these events I saw the same cast of characters: Villaraigosa, Greuel, Yaroslavsky, Feuer, La Bonge, Hahn, Delgadillo, Chick, Garcetti – you name it. They all should carpool!
“My life isn’t always like that, said Rikki. “In L.A. I go to the gym three times a week, I read books, go to lunch with friends. Maybe I’ll hike, and then Bill and I have dinner alone. When Bill and I lived in New York, for a long time our doorman thought he had two wives. There was one who ran out early in the morning with her hair wet and no make-up, and the other who came home in perfect hair, make-up and suit.â€
And speaking of hair, Rikki’s must be perfect at all times. Every time I was with her I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. Slightly embarrassed to bring up something this trivial in what is an extremely significant life, I finally I asked her how it was always flawless. “The two most important things in my life are Big Sexy Hairspray and the Velcro roller.†Thank you, Mrs. Chief.
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