Book Month

A new biography of Australian billionaire James Packer gives a fascinating insight into Packer's recent "breakdown" with the author Damon Kitney of The Australian newspaper being given exclusive access to James:

"I was like Icarus," the billionaire tells his biographer of the heady days of 2016 when he broke up with pop star Mariah Carey, abandoned living in Hollywood and Israel, left the global casino stage, and divided the family fortune in a bitter separation from his sister.
With these words, Packer delves for the first time into the story behind his stunning public revelation in mid-March 2018 of his battle with mental health issues, which forced him to resign from the board of the Crown casino company he owns and loves.

Packer says he was "saved" partly by close friend Hollywood actor Warren Beatty who Packer often stayed with in LA and who he calls "father" (pictured above). 
 'The Price of Fortune' will be available on 22nd of this month.

Ahoy Newcastle residents: the fabulous Jackie Loeb is back in Oz for a series of shows. She lives in Los Angeles where she is a popular face in the various comedy clubs so this is chance to catch some side-splitting comedy. And crikey-look at the sponsers- this is serious.

Dreams of Stardom..

It was just a short time ago Whispers brought you the news that artistic Sydney duo Charles & Christa Billich were heading for the USA and a planned meeting with US president Donald Trump.

This info was imparted to us as we were being whisked home after a party in the Billich's sleek chauffeured Bentley.
Now news arrives that the colourful pair are to feature in a US reality TV show. And why not? Everyone is doing it these days.


Partnering in this proposed fab series is Aussie LA based budding show-biz star James Maas (pictured) who also appears in many scenes in the pilot as our snaps show. But where is Charles? It seems James (30 something) is romancing Christa (70) in most scenes. Possibly inspired by the glamorous French First Couple Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.
Well the Billichs are a freewheeling pair.

According to Maas he is working with US producer Adam Schroeder  who produced The Truman Show and the very weird Zoolander hit movies.
The film follows the colourful pair as they attempt to open an art gallery in Los Angeles.

And what of Mr Trump?. When he gets through with dealing with the errant Kim Jong Un and North Korea surely he will host a dinner at the White House for Charles & Christa.
After all, the trio have so much in common.

And just to remind our loyal readers: here is what happens at an average Billich party...and below that..a scene from the series Real Housewives of Sydney Maroubra where Christa marries her cat. As one does.

Gum Leaf Mafia invasion

WE JUST HAD the local ACCTA Awards in Sydney but this week it was also time for the International ACCTA Awards. Here are a few snaps from the event in Los Angeles. The Big Talk of the evening was the film Lion starring Nicole Kidman and David Wenham and based on the real life tale & book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose.

The film stars Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman, Abhishek Bharate, Divian Ladwa, Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sunny Pawar.
In our top snap is pictured Nicole  with Dev Patel and Sunny Pawar.
 Below is a trailer for the film which is tipped at least for a Golden Globe and maybe an Oscar or two.

And any day now it will be time for G'Day Australia where all those slebs will turn up again for another star-studded bash in LA.



Top row : Sunny Pawar,Dev Patel & Nicole Kidman

Middle row: Zoe Ventiura, Mel Gibson, Kim Wilson and Isla Fisher

Bottom row : Emma Stone, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban 

Victoria's Secret

Some highlights from that fashion show....

G'day USA

It's that time of the year when the Gum Leaf Mafia gather in Los Angeles for a series of Australian themed events, fashion shows and so on. Last night it was the gala dinner and of course, another opportunity for casino billionaire James Packer to show off his fiancee Mariah Carey, and of course that ring. Here are a couple of short films from the events. And aren't the LA paparazzi just delightful?



And an Only In Australia moment : 2 Weeks ago he was in Washington meeting with US president Barack Obama...just yesterday our newly minted Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull was in Melbourne catching a tram. No police, flashing lights or bodyguards. And no-one noticed.

Heath Ledger Scholarship Awards

Heath Ledger & winners : Matt Levett , Emilie Cocquerel and Lily Sullivan

  Matt Levett was announced the winner of the prestigious 2015 Heath Ledger Scholarship Award and Emilie Cocquerel and Lily Sullivan were named the runners up.
For the high calibre judging panel at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles the choice was not an easy one to make. Emmy award winning casting director, Laray Mayfield (Fight Club, Gone Girl, House of Cards, The Social Network), who joined the panel for the first time this year said, ‘It was inspiring to be on a judging panel where every person was passionate and invested in the result. The decision was not easy as each of the applicants are talented and unique and we are sure they will have long and lovely careers."
At the awards: 

at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles : Denise Roberts, Phil Noyce, Luke Hemsworth & Mark Morrisey

Sharon's New Career

Feisty party girl Sharon Sargeant who has sold her escort agency (and treated herself to a new Mercedes with the profits) has launched a new career in the media and it's taking off like wildfire
The healthily built Sergeant has not only fronted a Japanese TV commercial shot on Bondi Beach (modestly dressed in full bikini) but has now acted in 2 movies soon to hit the screens.
Sharon has roles in both in the House of Hancock based on the life of Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart which stars Mandy McElhinney and Sam Neil and the flick that has just been shot in Western Sydney Truth which stars Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford. In Truth Sargeant received plaudits from Blanchett whilst Redford was so impressed he asked Sharon to accompany him in his limo to discuss a possible film project in the USA.
And it seems she has taken Redford up on that offer as our latest snap shows Sargeant and fiancee Frank Monte in Beverley Hills.

Robert Redford              Cate Blanchett                                         Gina Rinehart                              Sam Neil

The  House of Hancock which will appear on our TV screens soon charts the life of billionaire Lang Hancock, his daughter Gina and Lang's marriage to his Filipino maid Rose Porteous.

 right : Frank & Sharon in LA & Rose & Lang in Perth

 Here's Rose in action, below:

Hollywood : Where Dreams Come True

Pictured above at the Los Angeles premiere of Hercules is Bondi Battler James Packer, his film business partner Brett Ratner & star of Hercules Dwayne Johnson and his wife Simone Johnson.

Yesterday the movie premiered in New York with the same line-up. Our dear friends at the UK Daily Mail have indulged in the same fantasy that has gripped several local publications with this tale of Miranda Kerr & Packer supposedly meeting secretly in New York with Kerr going to great lengths to swap cars. Alas the tale is almost word for word for the April Fool's Joke we ran on April 1st this year. The fact the Mail excitedly contacted us for more details on the great non love affair of the year is entirely co-incidental. Below is a preview of the Packer Ratner flick.
                                                             

Noah Selfies

  above : Noah's Logan Lerman and Jennifer Connelly pose with fans

They're all the rage..the celebrity selfie. Here are two from the Noah premiere in Berlin.
Sadly the great man himself didn't attend so here is our exclusive selfie sent to us last week from Russell's rural retreat at Coffs Harbour where he was tending to some of those animals he saved all those aeons ago. Doesn't he look healthy and trim ?



## the Shuttle has just been in Los Angeles for 5 days and we managed to snap our very own selfie with a World Famous Comedian and Hollywood Royalty in a  restaurant car park. We'd just lunched together with mutual pals. Later that day his agent tracked us down to our hotel and said we couldn't publish it as it may "breach several agreements". We were impressed. And intimidated.

Hitting the Heights

Their recent foray into the Los Angeles art world, via Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion seems to have paid off for Sydney couple Charles and Christa Billich.  The pair have purchased a penthouse near Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills and plan to spend at least four months of the year there.
Christa was telling pals at the weekend at a cocktail party to aid St Luke's Hospital cafe that the penthouse will double as an art gallery and she and Charles had fallen in love with the city of angels.

Organised by the Darling Point Committee, around  hundred of the good and great attended the Great Gatsby themed party at the magnificent harbour side Spanish style mansion of Robert and Elaine Gregg.

left : Charles Billich (3rd left) parties with flapper friends to aid St Luke's Cafe.
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 Jewellers Hardy Brothers celebrated their 160th Anniversary with a dinner outside the amazing Guardian Vaults, a safety deposit unit. Guests included Governor Marie Bashir, Stephanie Rice, Edwina McCann, a brace of Waterhouses- Kate, Gae and Robbie and Jessinta Campbell.

Letter from Las Vegas

THE MYSTERY surrounding the absence of Sydney party girl Sharon Sargeant has been revealed : she's been spotted by the Shuttle's spy disguised as a one-armed-bandit, hitting the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Sargeant has featured many times on the Social Shuttle as well as the UK's Daily Mirror and numerous European publications because of her outrageous antics. She's also a pin-up girl for a US battalion in Afghanistan .
Apart from being spotted at Hugh Jackman's recent Oscar party in Los Angeles she also attended the Adultcon Convention in Vegas.

But what news of her permanent fiancee, the private eye Frank Monte ?. Our spy says he was spotted deep in conversation with some serious looking gents at a private dinner at the ritzy Sahara Hotel. Apparently they were the security managers of Las Vegas' top casinos and Monte was imparting some advice. One rumour has it that Monte was involved in unmasking the recent $32M card sharp attempt at Melbourne's Crown Casino. Monte was seen arriving at the casino last month for 3 days that coincided with a visit by Crown owner James Packer.

Our Spies on the Ellen DeGeneres show

Top Sydney based journos and style writers Melissa Hoyer (from News Ltd  & Foxtel) and Shelley Horton (right) from Fairfax Media have been posting tales and pics from their trip to Los Angeles for G'Day Australia week.
These snaps are from the Ellen show.
Nice work if you can get it !




Our girls in action:

Kitsch Week in LA

Those social scribes still holding down a job on a tabloid will be heading for Sydney Airport on Monday for one of the best freebies in town- the annual gala week in Los Angeles known as G'Day USA.
It's a government sponsored promotional week where everything Oz gets shown around LA- local fashion designers, wine tastings, tourism events and err, a discussion on the carbon pricing.

The big do of the week is the LA Black Tie Gala dinner where a few Aussies who have done well in the USA get inducted into some sort of Hall of Fame- this year it's Paul Hogan and Rose Byrne and Qantas pilot John Travolta. Guests include usually every actor in LA that week - Guy Pearce, Naomi Watts, Eric Bana, Toni Collette and it wouldn't be a party without Olivia Newton John. Chef for the night is Curtis Stone.

But wait-there's more : also flying to Los Angeles is the World's Richest Woman and the Aussie version of Christina Onassis, Gina Rinehart and her daughter Ginia Rinehart who is the apple of her mum's eye.

Ryan Johnson  * Gina Rinehart  * Ginia Rinehart

Ginia will wed her long time boyfriend in LA- Ryan Johnson who is the son of the legendary Beach Boys' Bruce Johnson.
On the wedding guest list :  Canadian hamburger king Jack Cowin, John Singleton and Barnaby Joyce MP.  Not invited : Gina's estranged children Hope, Bianca and John.

Life At The Top

Nick & Holly

Former soap star Holly Vallance is to get hitched to her (reputed) billionaire boyfriend property developer Nick Candy this Saturday in Los Angeles at a wedding bash that is said will cost up to $2M. Guests like Sir Elton John  and Simon Cowell are expected to celebrate with the couple.

Erica & James

Meanwhile in Sydney local billionaire James Packer and his beautiful wife former model Erica


have just welcomed the birth of their second baby daughter Emmanuelle yesterday.
 James is selling off the last of the media empire he inherited from father Kerry Packer for around $1B while he expands his gambling and casino empire.

Ain't life grand !.

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And from the Emmys actor Tom Hanks demonstrated a new use for the award : he taped one to the bonnet of his car and drove around LA.