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.

Abbey Under The Knife

She was the face of Versace's 2011 Spring campaign and this year the face of Gucci but gorgeous Australian model Abbey Lee Kershaw was absent from much of the catwalk at the recent New York Mercedes Fashion Week.

Now Patti Huntington of the [frockwriter] blogspot has revealed that Abbey is to undergo an operation in the Big Apple today because of a knee complaint that has troubled her for several years. Kershaw has taken a tumble at a few fashion shows which would not have helped her ligaments and fainted once at an Alexander McQueen parade.

Huntington also speculates the world's no 5 top model may be working on a project with Stephen Spielberg. Read more at [frockwriter] and see more of Mario Testino''s wonderful pics of Abbey here.

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     Duty Calls...

 An odd thing has been happening in the local media scene over the past few months.
Amongst the loose  gaggle of  paparazzi who attended every media event in Sydney and Melbourne, several of the more eager (read aggresive ) members have been no-where to be seen.

The lads from Big Picture seem to have vanished into the mist, coincidentally just as the Leveson Inquiry in the UK went into second gear.

Run by the self styled Mr Paparazzi Darryn Lyons of implanted six-pack fame, the Big Picture crew were all over the place in the last few years, exasperating the oldtimers of the pap scene who relied on keeping a low profile. In the UK they were equally disliked by the regular celebrity snappers who hang around outside the homes of the famous.
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Lyons is currently starring in Excess Baggage, the bizarre TV show where viewers watch a bunch of  minor celebrities like Ajay Rochester and Kevin Federline (Britney Spears's ex) try to lose weight. It's a bit like watching paint dry.

Could the low profile of the Pig Picture snappers and Mr Lyon's extended stay in Australia have anything to do perchance, with the fact that Justice Leveson wishes to call a representative of the paparazzi to the witness box and interrogate them over their relationship with the late News of The World and accident prone The Sun ?.

Lyons has claimed he got his start in photography after a 'chance meeting' with Rupert Murdoch (although the great man when once asked said he'd never heard of Lyons). Whatever happens the name Murdoch is probably not the best one to drop should Mr Paparazzi end up in front of M'Lud.