People

By Sora Song Sunday, May 02, 2004
    • Being Rich Isn't Enough
    Scary but true: PARIS HILTON has become somebody's role model — her mother's. Not to be outdone by her rich and famous daughter, hotel empress KATHY HILTON is starring in a reality show of her own. The Good Life, scheduled to air on NBC, will follow Hilton mere as she teaches 10 young women how to fit into high society. The winner gets clothes, jewelry and a year's stay at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. The Donald's ex-wife IVANA TRUMP, right, hints that she's about to launch a reality program too. If reality stars' relatives are getting TV shows, let's just hope Omarosa has a small family.

    Here's A Tip: Domino's Delivers
    For the third time in as many years, rocker BILLY JOEL has crashed his car into an inanimate object. In 2002 it was a post. In 2003 it was a tree. Last week it was a house in Bayville, N.Y., down the street from the Piano Man's Long Island estate. Joel says he was on his way to pick up a pizza when his vintage 1967 Citroen skidded off the wet road, through some shrubbery and into the home. He suffered a minor cut on his left ring finger but refused medical attention. Police say the singer showed no signs of intoxication — he's just that bad a driver naturally — and didn't give him a sobriety test. The house's owner, Maria Dono, who was out shopping at the time of the accident, says she had never even heard of Billy Joel before he ended up in her yard. Now that's gotta hurt.

    Madge Gets Mad
    Looks like MADONNA'S stuck between rock music and a hard place. Warner Music (recently sold by TIME's parent Time Warner), her long-time record label, has sued her over Maverick Records, the boutique label they co-own. The partnership expires this year, and one side is supposed to buy out the other. Warner claims that Maverick — whose biggest success was Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill in 1995--has lost more than $60 million since 1999 and demands Madonna repay $92.5 million before she buys the label. Madonna's side says Warner miscalculated Maverick's earnings and hasn't provided the label with legally required promotional support. "I find myself in the ludicrous position of being sued by my own record company, whom I have been loyal, industrious and reliable to for over 20 years," says Madonna, who is launching an international tour this month. "For them to behave this way is nothing short of treason."

    Magnum, G.I.
    Forget Extreme Makeover. Look what a haircut and a shave will do. TOM SELLECK got rid of his famous mustache and almost all of his hair to play General Dwight Eisenhower in A&E;'s biopic Ike: Countdown to D-Day, about the 90 days leading up to the Allies' invasion of Normandy. "I didn't want to screw it up," says Selleck, who also prepared for the role by talking with Eisenhower's son and learning an appropriate President-to-be's voice. So what does he think of TV these days? Selleck refers to a gig he once had on a little NBC show called Friends: "I think Monica still really loves Richard."