Royal Puppy Name Released; Eric Schmidt Hoping for a Quiet Divorce
Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: How Lupo's identity became public knowledge, a beloved member of the Seinfeld universe is in critical condition after an apparent suicide attempt, and Bruce Willis is going to have an Australian son for the fifth Die Hard.
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Prince William and Kate Middleton weren't going to reveal the name of their new fuzzy cocker spaniel puppy because, as a spokesman for St James's Palace explained earlier this month, the dog is a "private pet" entitled to a private life. Unfortunately, Kate let the secret out during a visit to a primary school over the weekend. When Kate arrived, the students gave "a cuddly toy dog" to the princess. Touched by the gift, she told them her little fella is called Lupo. So there you go. The Palace has confirmed Lupo's identity. [The Daily Mail]
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Actor Daniel von Bargen -- whose recurring performance as George Costanza's pudding-eating, chair-spinning boss at Kruger Industrial Siding ("We don't care and it shows") was the highpoint of the final season of Seinfeld -- is "clinging to life in an Ohio hospital after shooting himself in the head Monday morning in a failed suicide attempt." TMZ has a copy of von Bargen's highly disturbing 911 call to paramedics, which we're not going to embed here, but you can find offsite if you want your day ruined. In his conversation with the 911 operator, von Bargen -- who is diabetic -- said he was scheduled for a hospital visit where doctors were "supposed to amputate at least a few toes,” but decided he "didn't want to, so I shot myself but it didn't work." Von Bargen's said to be in critical condition at Bethesda North Hospital in Cincinnati. [TMZ and People]
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Why is Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt planning to sell $1.5 billion of his stake in the company? According to Page Six, there's "speculation" that he needs the money to settle his upcoming divorce case with his wife Wendy. Google insisted he was just trying to diversify his investments, which according to a source is kind of true ", since there are "many reasons why he’s selling shares, mostly business reasons, but he’s also working towards a transition and an amicable separation and settlement with his wife." Both apparently would prefer to keep the details of their split private, to the extent that they've been "quietly divvying up assets" in the hopes of avoiding scrutiny. [Page Six]
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Jai Courtney from Starz's Spartacus: Orgy of Orgies and Unconvincing CGI has beat out fellow Australian Liam Hemsworth for the hypothetically coveted role of John McClane's son in the fifth Die Hard movie, which has regrettably been titled A Good Day to Die Hard. Bruce Willis will be back, which makes us happy, and we're cautiously optimistic about Courtney, since he's not Shia LaBeouf, and has yet to ruin a long-awaited follow-up to a beloved film from the 1980s. So that's exciting, even if we're unclear on how Bruce Willis ended up with an Australian son. [Deadline]
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This is nice: Chelsea Handler, America's preeminent author of allegedly humorous essays about how funny and awful she gets when she drinks, is reportedly getting back together with Andre Balazs, the hotel magnate and serial celebrity dater. The pair split up in November, but according to insiders, they've "rekindled the flame." Example: last weekend, the pair had dinner with Handler's brother Roy and another guest, sampling oysters and bouillabaisse at BP Oysterette in Santa Monica. A source says: "Chelsea and Andre were holding hands, leaning on each other and kissing. They looked really happy." With oyster-y hands no less. [Us Weekly]
Just four months after being hired to lead Paramount's new in-house animation division, David Stainton has stepped down because of "personal issues." As of now, nobody seems to have any inkling of what those issues consist of. [Company Town]
