Richard Johnson: Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde’s romance was a casualty of negative press
Harry Styles may have broken up with Olivia Wilde because he was so unhappy with the negative press around their movie “Don’t Worry Darling.”
“He is a very positive, chilled-out person and constant stories about Florence Pugh and Wilde fighting drove him nuts,” said one source.
“It kind of took the air out of their romance. Plus, he is not ready to play daddy to her kids with Jason Sudeikis.”
Managing the relationship with her and the kids was becoming a burden for the young actor, who became famous singing in the boy band One Direction.
“He feels she needs to settle her custody case and concentrate on her children,” said my source. “The age difference was starting to show its ugly fangs.”
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No matter how much he overpaid for Twitter, and how badly things might turn out, Elon Musk will thrive.
“Elon’s already won at life,” Luke Lintz, co-owner of HighKey Enterprises LLC, told me.
“If Twitter completely fails, Elon will still be on top with his other companies.”
Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion, has brought back many Twitter accounts that were previously banned for violating the terms of service, including Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jordan Peterson and Kathy Griffin.
Lintz believes Musk’s moves will bring more users to Twitter and significantly increase the average time each user spends on the platform.
Trump has stayed away from Twitter because he’s still pushing rival Truth Social.
But when former kick-boxer Andrew Tate, who had been banned for his comments about sexual assault victims, was reinstated, he grew an additional 1.5 million followers in 72 hours.
Under Musk’s leadership Twitter has lost several big advertisers, but Lintz said, “In the end, he’s going to come out on top.”
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Clarke Peters plays Whitney Houston’s father John in “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” — and he realizes that John was no saint.
When Bobby Brown comes to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage, John, who was managing Whitney’s career, wants to make sure he’ll continue to get a cut of her earnings.
“She was a bit of a cash cow,” Peters told me from his home in Portugal.
The movie, starring Naomi Ackie as Whitney and Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, premiers Dec. 23.
Peters, who grew up in New Jersey and spent 25 years on the stage in London’s West End, is also in Showtime’s 10-part series, “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” a sequel to the 1976 David Bowie film about an alien among earthlings.
“It opens up a dialogue on the questions Bowie never got to ask,” Peters said. “But that could be just me blowing smoke up my own a-s.”
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The paintings acquired by the late real estate developer Sheldon Solow are so valuable, it’s hard to believe they’ll be on display to the public next year.
The collection, including canvases by Francis Bacon, Giacometti and Matisse, is locked away on the ground floor of 9 W. 57th St.
Solow’s heirs, Stefan and Hayden Soloviev, get a tax break for making the art available to the public.
The Solovievs say the gallery will open in the latter half of next year after some remodeling work is finished.
But the cost of security is daunting and my source is doubtful it will go off as planned. “They would never display those paintings to the public in our crime-ridden city,” the source said. “Apparently no insurance company is willing to issue a policy on such an obvious risk.”
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Staffers of “The Daily Show” were not happy that Will Smith picked Trevor Noah’s show to make his first TV appearance since the slap heard around the world at the Oscars.
They were gobsmacked when Smith, promoting his “Emancipation” movie, announced, “At the end of the day, I just — I lost it. And I guess what I would say is, you just never know what somebody’s going through.”
Noah, who is friends with slap victim Chris Rock, gave Smith a pass for his “mistake,” saying, “That’s not who you are.”
But the show’s staff felt Noah went too easy on Smith.
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If Jeremy Murphy’s book “F*ck Off, Chloe” gets made into a movie, it might need a new title.
The funny book about public relations skewers such celebs as LL Cool J, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Kaley Cuoco and Ronan Farrow.
Now, Hollywood deal makers want a film or TV adaptation, and are contacting the author’s agent Sacha Di Bona at Passport agency.
“I was hoping to never see a Chloe again, and now she may be on the screen,” said Murphy.
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Bill McCuddy and Bridget LeRoy have teamed up on a new one-hour radio and television program, “AirHamptons with Bridget and Bill.”
McCuddy is the former Fox News star.
LeRoy’s great-grandfather, Harry Warner, founded Warner Brothers. Her grandfather, Mervyn LeRoy, directed and produced “The Wizard of Oz.” Her father, Warner LeRoy, was responsible for Maxwell’s Plum, Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room.
“Forget Kevin Bacon, Bridget LeRoy is one degree of separation from half of Hollywood. The mostly good half,” McCuddy quipped.
The show airs on the radio on Sunday on WLIW and as a television program on LTV.
“It’s a gentle journey each month,” says LeRoy. “A kind of ‘Hamptons Hootenanny’ with a variety of guests.”
“We like talking to one another,” says McCuddy. “Now we’re going to see if anyone else enjoys that.”
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Concert producer Erol West, who has worked with top DJs including Tiësto and Steve Aoki, and his partner Marcelo Martins are reopening the old Daniel Boulud space at 299 Bowery as a Tulum-inspired Mexican restaurant called IXTA.
The duo have tapped Le Cirque alum chef Francisco Blanco to serve up his specialties, including a suckling pig that needs 72 hours advance notice. The eatery, which has a private room with a 12-foot painted Jaguar and intricately hand-carved totem columns imported from Mexico, will open Dec. 7.
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Pete Davidson, Chris Rock and Kate Hudson are all fans of healthy smoothie bowl chain Baya Bar.
The franchise founded by Bill Loesch has nine sites in Brooklyn and will expand next year into Manhattan and to more than 50 locations across the US including Los Angeles and Las Vegas.