People in the News for March 2, 1998

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 8:34 a.m.

As responsible purveyors of fine celebrity tidbits, we here at People in the News are naturally less interested in the sex lives of stars than in their creative and intellectual accomplishments -- we get our kicks above the waistline, sunshine. But when the two are in conflict, well, then we'll do a bed check. Which brings us to Robert De Niro, the subject a few weeks ago of a three-hour interrogation by French police investigating a prostitution ring. A questioning is not an accusation -- then again, it very well could be, for French law is quite, how you say, el complicado -- but it was enough to queer an upcoming deal with the Vatican. De Niro was one of several celebrities asked to record the pope's poetry for a new CD, an invitation extended despite a body of work heavy on psychopaths, murderers, hardened criminals and hardened criminals impersonating priests. Now, thanks to the French mess, the Vatican has withdrawn its offer. "In view of the news," says a spokesreverend, "De Niro's participation no longer seems such a good idea. These are poems written by the pope, after all, and it appears that the image we had of De Niro when we made the proposal is far from the truth." De Niro has vigorously denied any involvement in the call-girl ring.

UnLoved

As responsible purveyors of fine celebrity tidbits, we here at People in the News naturally care very little whether stars have had a hand in the apparent suicides of their moody spouses, but we do appreciate cheap irony. So we find it funny that Courtney Love, who played the wife of First Amendment barnstormer Larry Flynt in "The People vs. Larry Flynt," is trampling on the First Amendment rights of filmmaker Nick Broomfield. His documentary "Kurt and Courtney" that suggests Kurt Cobain's death wasn't a suicide and that Love may have had a hand in it. Incensed, she had the film dumped from the Sundance Film Festival, and now she's threatening to sue a San Francisco theater for showing it. Love's lawyer says the Roxie Cinema will be held liable for spreading "false and defamatory" accusations. Cinema owner Bill Banning wasn't intimidated. "We haven't had any bailiffs show up or anything like that," he says. "It's really a First Amendment issue."

Kids these days

As purveyors of fine blah, blah, blah, we here at People in the News naturally ignore the lurid tabloidy coverage of Madonna and her child -- we get our kicks above the headline, sunshine. But even we have noted that Madonna's momhood has brought forward an important parenting lesson: That what's important in child-rearing is not the chance to nurture another human being into a productive life; no, what really matters is what image-enhancing effects does the baby have on the mother? "I feel like I'm starting my life all over in some ways," Madonna says. "My daughter's birth was like a rebirth for me," Madonna says. "I got to a point where I went, 'OK, I've been incredibly petulant, incredibly self-indulgent, incredibly naive,"' Madonna says. But having little Lourdes changed all that. Now her life is "infinitely richer." And just in time for the marketing blitz on her new album! Kids do the darndest things.

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets