People in the News for April 7, 1997

Monday, April 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Just when speculation had reached a tepid pitch, the truth comes out of the closet: Not only is "Ellen" a lesbian, Ellen is too! Life imitates television yet again. "When I decided to have my character on the show come out, I knew I was going to have to come out, too," Ellen DeGeneres says in a revelation sure to catch a good half-dozen people by surprise. The rest of us noticed that her nationally televised kiss with k.d. lang a few weeks ago -- in the wake of news about "Ellen's" gay episode -- lasted just a wee bit beyond the demands of sitcom promotion. But DeGeneres didn't want to make any ratings-enhancing personal revelations until after the filming of the episode; she didn't want to don the mantle of Emblematic Celebrity Homosexual. "I never wanted to be the lesbian actress," says DeGeneres, who somehow managed to become both. "I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. I did it for my own truth." And the truth is that she stopped dating men almost 20 years ago. She says she recently met a woman with whom she hopes to have a lasting relationship, although, unlike her lucky sitcom alter ego, it's probably not Laura Dern.

Di's cash

The unseemly prying into the private affairs of celebrities just doesn't stop -- not as long as we have empty column inches to fill. Where, you've been wondering, does Prince-less Diana -- who, we're sure, has never wanted to be a lesbian actress -- rank on the list of Britain's 1,000 richest people? Not as high as you'd think: No. 916, with an estimated worth of $28 million, barely enough to keep a girl in fresh clothes and Swiss vacations. Most of her money, according to the Sunday Times of London, resulted from her divorce settlement and the estate of her late father.

Old news

Some days you peer deeply into the mirror of self-analysis and realize, I am a lesbian actress, and other days you conclude, I might as well be George Hamilton. Either way, Yikes! Jason Priestly of "Beverly Hills, 90210" doesn't mind the George Hamilton comparison. It's his way of acknowledging that he hasn't been pop culture's flavor of the month for many months now. "All of a sudden I'm the celebrity of yesteryear -- even on Fox, on my own network," Priestly says. "I'm not David Duchovny ... I'm not the next generation of superstars. I might as well be George Hamilton, you know what I'm saying?" Tan, campy and not often employed? No, unharrassed by fans in public. Like every other cooled star, he insists that it's, you know, liberating to be yesterday's news. "I never left my house," he recalls of his heartthrob days. "It was a freak show. I'm much more comfortable now." Priestly just signed up for yet another year of "90210," even though he'd vowed not to. He must have done it for his own truth.

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets