Paparazzi Wars

Things are not well in the world of the paparazzi.

 We've had Kayne West being arrested over an alleged assault an LA snapper while Russell Brand and Mike Tyson have both had their collars felt over scuffles with snappers . 30Rock star Alex Baldwin is renowned for his biffo bouts with New York photographers while and our National Treasure, actress Nicole Kidman was recently bowled over by an excited pap on a push bike in New York.

Now come a tale of a bust up in Kings Cross between Kidman's bête noire, the paparazzo Jamie Fawcett and another snapper named Max.  Apparently Fawcett was also placed under a  citizen's arrest by a former business partner Ben McDonald and there are claims of broken car mirrors and snaps appeared of Fawcett sporting a black eye before the local constabulary intervened. Fawcett has been the subject of attempted AVO orders in the past from Kidman and Mel B.  Nicole also appeared in court as a witness against him in a libel case against Fairfax Media which Fawcett won but was ordered to pay costs of $1M.

Now a new law has been enacted in California  that prohibits photographers from shooting pics of children without their parents permission. It's mainly aimed at the children of celebrities as swarms of snappers were hanging around school gates to get pics of celebs arriving to pick up their kids. Will such laws spread here?
Sadly gone are the days when the Shuttle and the late gentleman photographer Dave Morgan would be stopped by Tom Cruise , then living in Sydney with Kidman, who would politely ask us if we could leave him alone for a few days. Naturally being very well mannered, we obliged . Once we were rewarded with an invitation to join Tom for lunch and at a game of pool in the local pub.
Meanwhile former high flyer and now bust agency boss Darryn Lyons was last scene riding in a polo event at the Warwick Farm Polo two weeks ago. Rumours that he is reluctant to return to the UK because of the Leveson Inquiry are of course, malicious.

Plenty of Flavour in this Latte

Transvaal Avenue in Double Bay

While daily newspapers are losing readers at the rate of up to 20% every 6 months, former Fairfax editor Andrew Jaspan says it's the local publications that will be the beneficiaries as readers turn to specialised newspapers. Double Bay's Latte Life, now in it's 3rd year seems to be proving Jaspan right as it goes from strength to strength.

The Shuttle recently witnessed a well known newspaper columnist verbally attack an 18 year old intern from Latte Life over an alleged slight at a recent Kings Cross party- they must be something right.
This week's edition has an up and close interview with the paparazzi Jamie Fawcett who has emerged from the manicured bushes of the Bay-one of his haunts-to give his thoughts on local celebrity hunting, and also brings an update on the scandal they broke some months ago the outrageous shop in the Bay that is still selling luxury label rip-offs right under the noses of some of the smartest boutiques in the country.
All this comes courtesy of a new journalist Jonathon Marshal (known in the trade as  Maverick Marshall) who broke the story about stripper parties at the once snooty former Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Bay-one time home of such notables as Bob Hawke, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Princess Diana and George Bush Sn.
Pick up a copy around the cafes of Double Bay or you can read Latte Life online here.

Court Victory for Mel B?

X-Factor judge Mel B has won an AVO (Apprehended Violence Order) against paparazzi Jamie Fawcett that says " Fawcett must not "loiter" within 50 metres of Brown, must not approach within five metres of her and must not contact her."

The AVO was by mutual agreement, often the first step in these matters. But is this a victory ?. It's probably more a victory for Fawcett rather than Mel and husband Stephen Belafonte, pushing up the price of snaps of the two just a little higher. read the full story at the Nine Network site.

Mel B's Dramas!

One of the hot topics discussed at last week's Sony Music's Wharf4Ward kid's charity fundraiser was the absence of X-Factor judges Mel B, Ronan Keating and Guy Sebastian.
Given the charity lunch at the Finger Wharf is also an opportunity for the X-Factor finalists to strut their stuff and most of the X-Factor bigwigs, cast and crew were there including Natalie Bassingthwaighte, the trio's absence was noted.

There was some talk of a rift between the three judges over voting for their X-Factor wards and a family member of one of the finalists confirmed that recent reports of heated exchanges between the judges were correct and not a publicity stunt. The other talk was that Mel B and her husband Stephen Belafonte were still fuming over a weekend encounter with a paparazzi on Sydney Harbour.

All should be revealed when paparazzi Jamie Fawcett appears in Waverley Court today to contest an Apprehended Violence Order that Mel and husband have applied for. In 2004 Nicole Kidman successfully applied for an AVO against Fawcett after listening devices were found outside her Darling Point home.

Has Nicole Forgiven the Paparazzi ?

A portrait commissioned by Rupert Murdoch goes up for sale tomorrow at Southebys in London and is expected to fetch around $40,000 with the funds being donated to charity.

The painting, by Anthony Yeo was a study for a painting of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban which was  presented by Murdoch and wife Wendi to the couple after their daughter Sunday Rose Kidman Urban was born in 2008. The Murdochs attended their wedding and Murdoch is a fan of Yeo having himself sat for a portrait as have many Hollywood movie stars as our pic of Arnold Shwarzeneggrr shows.

The word is that the painting now stands above the mantelpiece at Bunya Hill, the Southern Highlands cattle ranch where the Kidman/Urban family are now ensconced for summer.


# HAS NICOLE KIDMAN finally forgiven the paparazzo Jamie Fawcett after she gave evidence against him in a defamation  trial in the NSW Supreme Court in 2009 ?. 

 Nicole testified that she had been "really, really scared" of Fawcett. 

As the snap that appeared in Sydney Confidential yesterday shows, Nicole and Keith with Sunday Rose were all smiles for the camera as they arrived at Sydney Airport on Tuesday.

The by-line on the snap credits Oceanic which is Fawcett's new photo distribution agency.

Sub-Edit Howlers #1-Comedy Legend Outed

Perhaps they were being kind and waiting until the death of his beloved wife Delores Hope who passed away yesterday at the grand age of 102.

The UK Daily Mail-as our picture shows- reveals possibly the USA's best kept show-biz secret : legendary comedian Bob Hope who died in 2003 (aged 100) was a cross-dresser.

  Why have their been no rumours ? The snap looks like it was taken for a fan magazine or perhaps the Ladies Home Journal.  Certainly London born Hope appears happy to pose for the readers in sensible shoes, matching skirt and top with a jaunty scarf casually draped around the shoulders.

So much more fashionable than Bob Hope's great friend J.Edgar Hoover (they were both fans of right wing politics) a cross dresser who was forever embarrassing his live-in lover Clyde Tolson.

They would holiday in Florida at Mafia owned hotels and J.Edgar loved nothing more than sitting pool-side wearing cheap make-up, a ridiculous blond Jean Harlow style wig and a gaudy sun frock while flirting with black waiters.
F.B.I motto : A G-Man always gets his man!

Here is a small film on J.Edgar. We're looking forward to seeing Leonardo DiCaprio playing the G-Man in Edgar.

J.Edgar in a pill-box hat

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On the subject of Leonardo DiCaprio- our spy disguised as an aspidistra on the set of The Great Gatsby currently being filmed at Fox Studios says there has been great hilarity amongst the cast with reports that  Leo, rake thin and 5'10", has a  bodyguard who stands at 6'4" and is "built like a brick sh*t house" who has been described as DiCaprio's "decoy" double to fool the paparazzi.
                                                                                                        
And no more so than Leo himself who was both mortified and amused that the bruiser would be mistaken for him.

And who was the offending paparazzo that sent an annoyed DiCaprio and co-star Tobey McGuire plus family back to shore only minutes into what was to be a relaxing Sunday afternoon harbour cruise when Leo spotted a boat following and a long lens poking his way ?

Step forward Jamie Fawcett (right)-scourge of Nicole Kidman and assorted slebs.

Nicole snaps

Nicole Kidman has ruffled the feathers of Sydney paparazzi Jamie Fawcett with her announcement that she cannot live in Sydney because of intrusive cameras.

Fawcett has responded calling Kidman a "hypocrite". It's a bit over 12 months since Fawcett faced the Supreme Court after suing the Sydney Morning Herald over alleged defamatory statements written by tSS friend and columnist Annette Sharp. Fawcett lost the case in spectacular fashion despite having an eminent libel barrister and QC on his team.

tSS attended court the day Nicole Kidman gave evidence in the case and our previous doubts about her acting abilities were swept aside as she gave the performance of a lifetime describing the terror of being followed in car chases by Fawcett. tSS has been with Fawcett on these chases and Kidman was correct to some degree but more often than not, the dramas could be avoided if over zealous minders didn't exacerbate the situation. Fawcett is probably one of the more professional snappers in town now that the place is crawling with kids who have purchased a digital camera and still dream of the riches they think can be made from pap snaps.

The problem is that prices for celebrity snaps are falling and the paparazzi -or the annoying bunch of louts that pass for them these days are becoming more obnoxious. Even worse are celebrity minders and PR's who have mistaken them for genuine media snappers who know the rules.

tSS has also worked for Nicole Kidman 3 times -once at her sister's birthday party were we played pool with then husband Tom Cruise for an hour. Leaving the party early to get some pre-arranged street snaps at Kidman's PR's request, we were suddenly abused by minders and nearly tossed beneath a passing car.

Nicole and husband Keith Urban have also encountered drama with the local council in the NSW Southern Highlands were they have been re-furbishing their magnificent country mansion. A bulldozed mound on their land alongside a main road on which they have planted thick foliage to defeat prying camera lens is now a matter of council debate about it's legality.

Nor are we fully convinced that Ms Kidman is that terrified of the snappers-or Fawcett for matter. As a passenger in Fawcett's car one day when the paparazzo spotted Tom & Nicole cruising through Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Fawcett decided to follow, within 10 minutes Cruise pulled over , walked back and had an amiable chat with us, requesting that we may like to leave him and his wife alone for the day. We complied.

Unlike others who are intrusive, Fawcett is the photographer no-one really spots, except the cleverest like Kidman. As a former private eye for top gumshoe Frank Monte , Fawcett was noted for his discreet ability to wait for hours upon end to catch his target like errant businessman Alan Bond to plant a summons in their hand. He once travelled to Marbella in Spain hunting for Quintex boss Christopher Skase who was holed up in a luxury villa.

Fawcett correctly guessed that Skase would eventually venture into town and sat in a local cafe for a week until Skase finally walked in to be handed a sheaf of summons with his cappuccino.

Christopher Skase in wheelchair and oxygen mask for his extradition court case in Spain,


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And the news you won't read in the tabloids yet and always in the Social Shuttle first... One of our favourite bars, Kit and Kaboodle in Kings Cross was raided last night by police with their dreaded sniffer dogs with the result, Home and Away star Todd Lasance has been charged with cocaine possession, nipping in the bud his plans to travel this week to Hollywood for a movie audition.