Rolling Stone Founder Jann Wenner's 16-Years-in-the-Making Divorce
Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: the Wenner divorce, 16 years in the making, is happening and a draft Martin Sheen movement is on in Ireland.
Jane Wenner is finally suing publisher-husband Jann Wenner for divorce, 16 years after the Rolling Stone founder "sparked a sensation by leaving her and moving in with his gay lover," a former Calvin Klein model named Matthew Nye. According to the New York Post, the initial split "raised fears the rift would imperil Wenner’s media empire...[t]he divorce filing is raising similar speculation." When informed of the news, a source said, "It can only mean they are selling. In the past, it was always too complicated.” As for the question of why Jane is suing now, "some believe a change in New York law allowing gay marriage may have been a big factor, since it clears the way for Jann and Nye to formally tie the knot." The split has the potential to be messy. Jane's father loaned Wenner the money to start Rolling Stone in the 1960s and Jane's been "a substantial partner" in the publishing empire ever since. [Page Six]
There's a social media campaign underway urging actor Martin Sheen to run for president of Ireland. Sheen, who has Irish citizenry through his mother and has expressed no interest in holding the position, already has more than 3,000 supporters on a Facebook page devoted to his noncandidacy. On Twitter, the hashtag #letsheenbesheen, a play on "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet," from his character in The West Wing, is emerging as the actor's campaign slogan, after Former Deputy Prime Minister of Britain John Prescott tweeted it yesterday. Sheen's publicist told the Irish Daily Star that the Draft Sheen movement is "quite some news," but added that he is "not sure at this point if Mr. Sheen is aware of this campaign on his behalf." [Gatecrasher]
Not bad if you can get it: Elizabeth Murdoch reportedly made $214 million from the sale of her British TV production company Shine Group to her father's News Corp. back in April. [Los Angeles Times]
One male Juggalo has been found dead and another is still listed as missing following the Insane Clown Posse's annual Gathering of the Juggalos event last weekend in Illinois. The body was found in the Ohio River in western Kentucky, and authorities confirmed used "a Juggalo-related arm band" to track him back to the event. After an autopsy, no foul play or trauma is suspected. Meanwhile, "the "Kentucky State Police are also reportedly investigating a Gathering attendee who has gone missing." [The Hollywood Reporter]
Axed Spiderman: Turn of the Dark director Julie Taymor, Peter Parker understudy Matthew Thomas, and former Arachne understudy America Olivo were all on hand Monday for a party celebrating Vera Farmiga's new film Higher Ground at Crossbar. They avoided tension (and the desire to relive any of the show's high-flying, incredibly dangerous stunts) by mingling at opposite ends of the room. "Taymor at least seemed blissfully unaware of the actors," while "they appeared to go out of their way to avoid her." [Page Six]
