Showbiz folk have long memories and, with awards season in full flow, some have been reminiscing about the night the then Prince Andrew introduced his friend to the cream of Hollywood.
It was November 2000, and Andrew was the guest of honour at a event – the Britannia Awards – in , at which he handed over an honour to .
There are around 700 members of Bafta in Hollywood, and the Britannia Award is their most prestigious annual event. This was a year before Andrew was appointed as a trade envoy, and he was there representing his mother and his country, presenting Spielberg with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.
On the night, Andrew paid tribute to Spielberg and joked: 'I've only been in Los Angeles for a short time, but I've seen a tremendous amount of work by Hollywood's elite. I believe the term is schmoozing.'
But behind the scenes there was drama as at the last minute Andrew said he wanted to bring a plus one – Ghislaine Maxwell – and insisted she sit with him on the top table.
A source said: 'Everything had been arranged and then there was a request from Andrew's office to say he was bringing a guest who needed to be seated with him and next to Spielberg. It was Ghislaine. Bafta said no as it was such short notice. He brought her anyway.'
Photos from the event show Ghislaine, daughter of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell and now notorious as Jeffrey Epstein's 'madam' – posing alongside actresses Denise Richards and Jessica Capshaw, Spielberg's stepdaughter.
Her presence proves how significant her friendship was to the then prince, and how happy he was to use his cachet and influence as a royal for his friend – and reportedly sometime lover – Maxwell.
Ghislaine Maxwell with Jessica Capshaw and Denise Richards in Los Angeles 26 years ago, at the Britannia Awards
The then-Prince Andrew was the guest of honour at the Bafta event when he allegedly brought Ghislaine as his plus one
Allegations made many years later suggest that Epstein was abusing young girls from at least the mid-1990s onwards. Ghislaine Maxwell is, of course, now serving 20 years in a US prison for grooming and trafficking girls to the late paedophile.
It has long been known that Andrew and Ghislaine mixed socially. Around a week before the Bafta LA meeting, he was Ghislaine's guest at a notorious 'hookers and pimps' fancy dress party in New York thrown by model Heidi Klum.
He had also invited Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein to the Dance of the Decades in June 2000, which saw more than 600 guests descend on Windsor Castle. It marked four royal birthdays including Andrew's 40th.
In 2001 the infamous picture of Andrew and Ghislaine with a 17-year-old Virginia Roberts – who claimed to have been trafficked to London by Epstein to have sex with the prince – was taken in Maxwell's mews house.
In the years since, the full grim details of Andrew's association with Epstein and Maxwell have emerged. He has been stripped of his titles and patronages and forced to move out of Royal Lodge in Windsor. The now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is living in reduced circumstances on the Crown estate in Sandringham, Norfolk – with red carpet events a fast-receding memory.
Fragile Liza forgets her lines in front of 2,000 adoring fans
Liza Minnelli's book – Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! – has attracted brilliant reviews and is both shocking and shockingly funny about her eventful life story.
However, the superstar appeared frail and seemed to have difficulty in stringing a sentence together at a publicity event in Los Angeles this week.
The sell-out event, which saw 2,000 adoring fans pay $90 a head, started with a dazzling dance show. But when it was over and the curtains came up to reveal Liza, sitting in a director's chair, some in the audience were troubled by her apparently wobbly state.
Liza Minnelli appears frail as she arrives at a publicity event in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Described as 'halting', some said she seemed to have trouble in marshalling her thoughts. At one point she forgot the words to a song she was to have performed, Our Love Is Here To Stay. Footage of that performance posted on social media is a sad confirmation of the toll taken by time and illness on Liza, 80.
A reviewer who attended the show said in The Hollywood Reporter: 'Answers came haltingly, sometimes in fragments or single words. 'No,' she said when asked if she thinks about her legacy. Moments later, she added, 'I listen to the words, the story.' '
He added: 'At one point, attempting to explain her connection to performance, she circled the thought before landing simply on: 'It's… not good without it.' Later, speaking about sobriety, she began, 'Ask anybody out there…' before trailing off. Even her reflections on family came in fragments. 'I thought my mother was perfect. Perfect.'
The book was written with her confidant Michael Feinstein who was on stage with her and also played piano for her. She's due to repeat the promotional event in San Francisco on April 9.
'Man crazy' Kate's therapy? Give up sex!
Kate Hudson says her therapist told her to quit dating as she was 'man crazy' and needed to work out how to be happy on her own first.
The Oscar nominee, who lost out to Irish actress Jessie Buckley on Sunday night, said she went through a period of celibacy after her 'heartbreaking' split from Matt Bellamy, frontman for the British rock band Muse, in 2014. They share a son, Bing. She had previously dated Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes and they have a son, Ryder.
She admitted: 'My doctor said, 'There's only one common denominator here and it's you. So, we're going to cut boys out.' He was like, 'This needs to stop. You need to stop.' ' She added: 'I was never not in a relationship. I'd never spent time alone.' She started figuring out why her romances were so similar, and so bad. It seems to have worked. She started a relationship with musician Danny Fukikawa in 2017 and they are still together.
Actress Kate Hudson says her therapist told her to quit dating as she was 'man crazy'
Noor's bagged her man (but look out for the ex)
Congratulations to film producer Noor Alfallah, 31, and her actor beau Al Pacino, 85, who seem to be very much 'on' again.
She was with him two nights running – at the Charles Finch/Chanel party on Saturday night and at the Vanity Fair Oscars' party on Sunday. Noor posted a picture of them together on Instagram with the caption: 'My favourite person always… Roman's dad.' Their son is nearly three years old.
Both events were also attended by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and his ballerina girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, which is super-awkward as Noor had a fling with Mick in the early days of his romance with Melanie.
The morning after the night before...
Did Timothee Chalamet have a bit of a hangover after the Academy Awards on Sunday? The actor, who missed out on the Best Actor gong for Marty Supreme, declined to take part in a Dune: Part 3 promo event on Monday morning and instead sent a pre-recorded video, apparently shot in the garden of girlfriend Kylie Jenner's home in Calabasas.
Understandably, Chalamet is utterly fatigued from promotional activities for the Oscars. It's going to be an interesting press tour for Dune…
Timothee Chalamet appears on screen in a pre-recorded video played at a Dune: Part 3 promotional event
Popular Strictly pro Johannes Radebe is hoping his co-stars will come and see him in Kinky Boots at the London Coliseum. They would be advised to get there early as he says he 'loosens up' before the show – on the pavement outside.
'I absolutely need my own space,' he said. 'I always step outside the theatre for 20 minutes before lights up. I'm in full drag so I need to cover up! I have a red blanket I use.'
Gordon Ramsay's entrepreneurial drive never sleeps. He has gone into business with the heir to The Ivy in a booze venture.
The TV chef has teamed up with Ben Caring, the director of Caprice Holdings, which owns the luxury restaurant chain, to set up a new company called Krusade Co. Ltd. Ben's father is Richard Caring, known as the 'King of Soho', who owns the Ivy chain, which is reportedly worth £1 billion. Gordon and Ben have yet to announce what the offering is.
