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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Vanity Fair got burned by this Roman scandal


Roman Polanski
 (The Spokesman-Review)
The Spokesman-Review

Roman Polanski on Friday won his libel suit against Vanity Fair magazine over an article that accused him of propositioning a woman while on the way to the funeral of his murdered wife, Sharon Tate. The Academy Award-winning director was awarded 50,000 pounds, equal to about $87,000, in damages plus court costs.

The jury took 41/2 hours to reach its unanimous verdict at London’s High Court.

Polanski, 71, sued Vanity Fair’s publisher, Conde Nast, over a 2002 article that accused him of propositioning a woman while on the way to the funeral of Tate, who was killed by followers of Charles Manson in 1969.

The article alleged that Polanski put his hand on the woman’s thigh and promised her: “I will make another Sharon Tate out of you.”

Conde Nast accepted that the alleged incident at Elaine’s restaurant in Manhattan did not happen before Tate’s funeral, but argued that it occurred about two weeks later and that the article was substantially true.

Why, she was singing in a shanty

Grammy-winning singer Ashanti has been ordered by a federal jury in New York to pay $630,000 to her first producer for breach of contract.

Genard Parker released the then-16-year-old Ashanti from her contract with the understanding that he could produce two songs on her first album.

She says he did not live up to the terms of their agreement as he helped her create music in a home studio that was so crude she sang in the bathroom.

They’ll have to rename it the J.Loop

Marshall Field’s in Chicago will be the first U.S. store to house a boutique for Jennifer Lopez‘s line of products.

Electric-pink cargo pocket knit pants, a faux crocodile leather clutch purse and a wild rose camisole with a removable garter belt are among items likely to be featured at the singer-actress’ store within a store.

The first JLo boutique opened in Moscow last year.

Back is Black

Lisa Hartman Black has returned to acting after a five-year hiatus that included writing and recording music with husband Clint Black.

During her time away, she and Black recorded the Grammy-nominated song “When I Say I Do.” She also had the couple’s first child, Lily, now 4.

She returns to television tonight in the Hallmark Channel movie “Back to You & Me,” another collaborative effort with her husband. Black doesn’t appear in the movie, but he sings three songs.

Better brush up on that kissing, too

“Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria is owning up to her romance with basketball star Tony Parker.

“It’s so hard to keep things private because then you compromise your own lifestyle,” she says. “It’s like I don’t want to hide, I don’t want to eat-in every day … we have a good time and we don’t care what is written.”

Longoria says she’s decided to learn French, since San Antonio Spurs guard Parker is a native of France.

“It’s a beautiful language. I mean his whole family speaks French and all his friends,” she says. “I am going to have to get with it.”

The birthday bunch

Actress Gloria DeHaven is 80. Radio personality Don Imus is 65. Actor Woody Harrelson is 44. Guitarist Slash (Velvet Revolver, Guns N’ Roses) is 40. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is 38. Model Stephanie Seymour is 37. Country singer Alison Krauss is 34. Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 33. Actor Omar Epps is 32. Singer Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) is 25. Actor Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”) is 16.