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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen has given NYU the old college try - and it looks like she's sooo over it.
Lowdown hears that for the past week, instead of buckling down and studying for midterms in the $7 million Morton Square apartment she bought with sister Ashley, the 18-year-old brunette Olsen twin has been playing hooky in Los Angeles and is considering dropping out.
"She's moved back to L.A., and might be staying indefinitely," reports a Lowdown spy. "She may not go back to school. Ashley says she's not sure if Mary-Kate wants to come back. They talk on the phone all the time."
Yesterday the Olsens' rep, Michael Pagnotta, confirmed that Mary-Kate has been cutting classes, but insisted the move was only temporary.
"She's been in L.A. for a few days and she's coming back in a few days. I think she'll be there for about a week," he told Lowdown.
MK, as she is known to her friends, spent six weeks in a rehabilitation clinic last summer for an eating disorder, and there was reported speculation at the time that she was being treated for drug addiction.
Pagnotta declined to elaborate on why she decided to visit now: "She's there on personal business. She had some things she wanted to take care of."
He added that Mary-Kate is missing "very few classes," but her timing could hardly be worse, academically speaking, because of the looming exams.
NYU's Office of Public Affairs did not return Lowdown's calls yesterday.
Taking political shots at Bush twins
Call it a first in the annals of political opposition research.
On Friday night, Jenna and Barbara Bush showed up at their favorite Washington, D.C., watering hole, Smith Point, for an evening of boozing and cruising with their friends - only to be bothered by paparazzi believed to be from the Kerry campaign, apparently intent on catching them misbehaving.
As per custom, the First Twins holed up at a table in the back of the ultrapreppy bar with 20 of their pals and settled into a steady flow of drinks. Suddenly, around 1 a.m., a trio of Kerry staffers, according to Smith Point owner Bo Blair, approached the twins' table, whipped out digital cameras and started snapping away.
Blair said, "The girls were drinking, and that's what these people wanted to catch them doing. I saw three different people - guys and girls - with flash cameras. Some of the guys they were with were trying to tell the Kerry people to stop taking pictures."
Blair defused the situation before it could develop into a Crips versus Bloods showdown.
"I went over to the Kerry people and said, 'You guys are being annoying,' and told them we don't allow photography inside the bar."
The Kerry campaign did not return Lowdown's call about the shutterbug shenanigans.
The briefing
MISSY MISSES SUSHI: Does Missy Elliott think the world owes her a free meal? Lowdown hears that a rep for the hip-hop diva recently called the West Village restaurant EN to book a private party. But when the rep reportedly asked that the Japanese restaurant comp the entire affair, management balked, and Missy was forced to entertain elsewhere. Predictably there were denials all around yesterday. An EN staffer said: "She didn't ask for it to be comped - it was just that we couldn't open the restaurant quick enough for the party to take place." And Missy's publicist, Sheila Richman, initially told Lowdown, "From what I know, Missy Elliott doesn't eat Japanese. She was never going to that restaurant at all." But after Lowdown informed Richman that EN disagreed, Richman theorized that maybe Missy tried to get a reservation on her own or - a more sinister scenario - "someone used her name."
TASTE OF DEFEAT: If Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry decides to dine at Michael's in the next couple of weeks, he might want to stay away from Table 27 in the back righthand corner of the front room. Judging by its lunchtime occupants yesterday - first Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) chowing on sole and, for the second seating, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) munching the Cobb salad - it's the table of the never-wases.
"THIS IS LONDON," 2004? Now that Richard Dreyfuss has bowed out of the London production of "The Producers" in favor of Nathan Lane - because of a bad back and other injuries, according to yesterday's announcement - he has more time to help the Democrats. I hear that the actor is making himself available to give many radio interviews touting Sen. Kerry from across the Pond.
Originally published on October 19, 2004
Mary-Kate Olsen has given NYU the old college try - and it looks like she's sooo over it.
Lowdown hears that for the past week, instead of buckling down and studying for midterms in the $7 million Morton Square apartment she bought with sister Ashley, the 18-year-old brunette Olsen twin has been playing hooky in Los Angeles and is considering dropping out.
"She's moved back to L.A., and might be staying indefinitely," reports a Lowdown spy. "She may not go back to school. Ashley says she's not sure if Mary-Kate wants to come back. They talk on the phone all the time."
Yesterday the Olsens' rep, Michael Pagnotta, confirmed that Mary-Kate has been cutting classes, but insisted the move was only temporary.
"She's been in L.A. for a few days and she's coming back in a few days. I think she'll be there for about a week," he told Lowdown.
MK, as she is known to her friends, spent six weeks in a rehabilitation clinic last summer for an eating disorder, and there was reported speculation at the time that she was being treated for drug addiction.
Pagnotta declined to elaborate on why she decided to visit now: "She's there on personal business. She had some things she wanted to take care of."
He added that Mary-Kate is missing "very few classes," but her timing could hardly be worse, academically speaking, because of the looming exams.
NYU's Office of Public Affairs did not return Lowdown's calls yesterday.
Taking political shots at Bush twins
Call it a first in the annals of political opposition research.
On Friday night, Jenna and Barbara Bush showed up at their favorite Washington, D.C., watering hole, Smith Point, for an evening of boozing and cruising with their friends - only to be bothered by paparazzi believed to be from the Kerry campaign, apparently intent on catching them misbehaving.
As per custom, the First Twins holed up at a table in the back of the ultrapreppy bar with 20 of their pals and settled into a steady flow of drinks. Suddenly, around 1 a.m., a trio of Kerry staffers, according to Smith Point owner Bo Blair, approached the twins' table, whipped out digital cameras and started snapping away.
Blair said, "The girls were drinking, and that's what these people wanted to catch them doing. I saw three different people - guys and girls - with flash cameras. Some of the guys they were with were trying to tell the Kerry people to stop taking pictures."
Blair defused the situation before it could develop into a Crips versus Bloods showdown.
"I went over to the Kerry people and said, 'You guys are being annoying,' and told them we don't allow photography inside the bar."
The Kerry campaign did not return Lowdown's call about the shutterbug shenanigans.
The briefing
MISSY MISSES SUSHI: Does Missy Elliott think the world owes her a free meal? Lowdown hears that a rep for the hip-hop diva recently called the West Village restaurant EN to book a private party. But when the rep reportedly asked that the Japanese restaurant comp the entire affair, management balked, and Missy was forced to entertain elsewhere. Predictably there were denials all around yesterday. An EN staffer said: "She didn't ask for it to be comped - it was just that we couldn't open the restaurant quick enough for the party to take place." And Missy's publicist, Sheila Richman, initially told Lowdown, "From what I know, Missy Elliott doesn't eat Japanese. She was never going to that restaurant at all." But after Lowdown informed Richman that EN disagreed, Richman theorized that maybe Missy tried to get a reservation on her own or - a more sinister scenario - "someone used her name."
TASTE OF DEFEAT: If Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry decides to dine at Michael's in the next couple of weeks, he might want to stay away from Table 27 in the back righthand corner of the front room. Judging by its lunchtime occupants yesterday - first Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) chowing on sole and, for the second seating, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) munching the Cobb salad - it's the table of the never-wases.
"THIS IS LONDON," 2004? Now that Richard Dreyfuss has bowed out of the London production of "The Producers" in favor of Nathan Lane - because of a bad back and other injuries, according to yesterday's announcement - he has more time to help the Democrats. I hear that the actor is making himself available to give many radio interviews touting Sen. Kerry from across the Pond.
Originally published on October 19, 2004