New bar - Trader Vics in the Hilton, Park Lane

Since quitting my job as a gossip girl, I can now go to parties and relax. Which, I can't lie, is bloody fantastic and very novel.
Tonight was the VIP re-launch of Polynesian themed bar Trader Vics in Mayfair. In the basement of the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane to be exact (originally opened in 1963).

We were all given Hawaiian flower garlands on the way in and Tiki cocktails were being handed out, made by bartenders in Hawaiian shirts.

The bar/ restaurant was ram-packed, with a sprinkling of celebs too - from Made In Chelsea, X Factor (Katie Waissel), TOWIE (Lydia Bright) and The Voice. However, I didn't have to worry about work, so just relaxed, had a good gossip with my friend Sam and tried a few cocktails. Perfect.




The cocktail list was impressive and each drink was served in different holders. Either a tall vase, coconut shell or quirky mug (see above).

COCKTAIL LIST:

Mai Tai - Trader Vics own world renowned creation (we tried it, it was amazing)

London Sour - Scotch Whisky, fresh orange, lemon and a whisper of almonds.

Gun Club Punch - Duck hunter special. A mixture of rum and fruit juices (potent, but very nice)

Samoan Fog Cutter - A legend says that this drink helped Samoan fisherman see through the fog

Bahua -  Snowy concotion of rums, coconut and pineapple

Honi Honi - Bourbon with the spice of the island (my favourite of the night)

Queen Charlotte Fruit Punch - A luscious combination of fruit juices

Alan Carr loves bird watching....the geeky binocular kind

Every now and then we ask a celebrity to come into the Daily Star office to guest edit the GOSS column.
We sit back, hand the column over to them and let them chat about their lives and other celebrity stories of the day.
We did exactly this with Alan Carr. Who is one of the naturally funniest people I have ever met.
He had me and my Goss sidekick Sonja crying with laughter.
The hour we spent with him was an endless stream of banter, sarcastic remarks and filthy/ comedy stories. This man really has no boundaries.
And though he was slagging off other celebrities all over the shop, he really doesn't have a nasty bone in his body. It's all just part of the act.

me, Alan and Sonja writing the column

The last time I came away from an interview in pain, because I'd laughed so much my cheeks/ stomach muscles were sore, was about five years ago when I interviewed The Bear from Bo Selecta.
Still makes me laugh thinking about how ridiculous that moment of my career was.

Anyway, during our Goss edit we found out Alan Carr loves bird watching.
He explained: “I really like bird watching. I haven’t done it for ages, but I love it. I love the quietness of it.
"For my 16th birthday I got a pair of binoculars. It’s a bit creepy but I loved them.
“The thing is though – all the nature reserves in Northampton where I’m from, they’re all dogging sites so I can’t go down there with my binoculars any more. "



Alan also told us he'd love to star on Celebrity Come Dine With Me but thinks the guests are naff.
He said they'd have to up the ante and get some A listers on before he'd even consider it.
He revealed: “I would love to do Celebrity Come Dine With me, but the celebs would seriously have to go up a notch.
“I love the idea but I’m not being funny, I don’t want to do it with Howard from the Halifax and Fatima Whitbread.
“If it was Mariah Carey and Lady GaGa and we were all going round each other’s houses I would be in. But I’m not doing it with MC Hammer and Alison Hammond.
I can’t cook. But you don’t go for the cooking, you go to snoop around the house don’t you and get really drunk?”

Ahh poor old MC H and Alison.

Alan puts his feet up after all his hard work

Sarah Harding in Rehab. Sad times

Sarah and me in Cannes for the
annual film festival

I love Sarah Harding. We've always supported her in our showbiz column, even back in the day, years ago when I had only just started at the Daily Star.
Hardcore Harding, as we nick-named her, always put us to shame with her canning ability often calling it a night hours past sunrise.
I've spent many a boozy night with Sarah in London, at Alton Towers, in Cannes and she could seriously drink most men under the table.
However, there's obviously a fine line between swigging out of a bottle of Jack Daniels while flicking the paparrazi your middle finger, to not realising your life's spiralling out of control.
So it was a sad day when we got the call to say she'd checked into an American rehab centre for alcohol addiction and depression.
Get well soon fellow party pal.
 

Sarah and me at the BAFTA awards earlier this year



Without poking my nose in too much, I'm really glad she's sorting everything out.
I was worried she was heading for a Lindsay Lohan/ Britney Spears style meltdown.
There's been a lot of gossip/ whispers about Sarah on the showbiz scene for months.
Ever since she seemed totally out of in at the BAFTA awards back in Feb.

Then she split up with her fiance Tom Crane amid speculation of someone being unfaithful. I won't say who.
A lot of people have been worrying about her, and not just her friends and family.

Good luck Harding, I hope to see you with a smile on your pretty mug again soon.



Fellow Goss girl Sonja, Sarah and me at V Festival in Essex

Kerry Katona strikes again

Only fame leach Kerry Katona could turn something as heartbreaking as Amy Winehouse dying into a possible moment to grab attention.
Kerry's more than happy to constantly let the world know she's had it tough, she battled against all odds and is still here to tell her sorry tale.

However, she's taken the proverbial biscuit this time.
No not a disco biscuit, although she's probably necked that with a bag of Columbian marching powder too.


I bumped into her manager Max Clifford at a party this week who told me: "As soon as Amy died Kerry phoned me up sobbing 'that could have been me'. She was distraught. She knows how lucky she is to turn her life around."

He's a shred business man Max, from the Simon Cowell school of training. Never one to miss a showbiz opportunity.
I'm surprised they didn't dye Kerry's hair black, lob it into a beehive and make get her to do a tribute act.
If she turns up in a magazine shoot  next week styled/ dressed as Amy talking about their similarities and struggles it's going to be a very bleak day in showbiz.

I won't know wether to laugh, cringe or cry.

Oscars day...Day Seven

The day of the Oscars….dun dun dun.

I was staying on Sunset Boulevard which means I was literally in the hub of everything happening.

There were film crews, transmission trucks, glamourous TV news reporters everywhere.

There was also a man dressed as Jesus wandering around blessing everyone with “love and gratitude”. Only in LA.

Here's a quick run down on what happened on Oscar night…

Anna Hathaway was a brilliant host, which was quite surprising for all. She revealed her secret weapon was to “change my dress as often as possible, so people pay more attention to what I’m wearing than my nerves.”

Leonardo DiCapro plans to move in on Russell Brand’s older woman Helen Mirren revealing: “Id love to work with Helen, she’s an amazing actress and seems fun. I’m gonna try and get it sorted tonight.”

Florence Welch gushed: “I'm so excited, I never dreamt I’d be in Hollywood at the Oscars doing a duet with Sir Elton John.”

After scooping best actress Natalie Portman admitted she will not be calling her unborn baby Oscar saying: “That’s really funny, no one’s asked me that yet, but no, there’s absolutely no change I will choose Oscar. We can stop that rumour, right now.”

Russell Brand has officially turned his back on his rock n roll routes. He proudly brought his Mum to the Oscars instead of wife Katy Perry.

Scarlett Johansson admitted: “The ceremony’s so long people sneak food into the theatre, I know it’s not very glamorous but it’s true”

And Gwyneth Paltrow shocked everyone by announcing she wants to turn her talents to hip-hop. “I would love to do a duet or collaboration with Jay Z," she said, "he’s a genius and I’m a massive fan.”

The after party everyone wanted to go to was at the Vanity Fair party…which looked like this from outside our hotel.

Still no signs of Cheryl Cole….

Oscars Eve...Day six

We started the day with a quick drive up to see the Hollywood sign in the hills and had a general cruise around Melrose Avenue and Beverly Hills

in our Beetle. The sun was out, so naturally the roof had to come down. Come on, we’re Brits abroad after all.

Me and my column mate Sonja attended the Golden Raspberry Awards in Los Feliz on the evening.
It was the biggest waste of time imaginable. Not one celeb, seriously not one.

Not to worry tomorrow is the big Oscars day.

Los Feliz is cool though. A compact bohemian area about 15 minutes out of town.
Littered with men sporting beards, tattoos and old skool Adidas jackets, hanging around in quirky bars with their Mac books.

We met our LA based showbiz journo pal Nadia and whipped out our laptops over some tea... Chamomile and honey to be precise.



Nadia, Me and Sonja



Day Two

After hearing Katie Price had arrived Stateside for the we went on a wee mission to track her down.
Didn't take long.
First stop The Ivy (a up-market, not as posh as you’d expect, quaint restaurant in Beverly Hills) A bona fide celeb hangout.
Luckily, considering we're not celebrities, and hadn't booked a table, we managed to get a seat a few tables away from Kate and her crew.
Our LA mate asked the maître’d if there was an "opening" for lunch? This code word seemed to work.  
So we waltzed in.
After spending far too much one just three salads, we grabbed Jordon as she left the restaurant, surrounded by a merciless mob of paparazzi braying for the big dollar shot.


Jordan looked really demure, for a change

She looked scared telling us: "It's mental and a bit scary, I really can't stop, I'm jet lagged, been up since 4am and I have to deal with this crap."

It was an eye-opener to see how she lives her life, even in a country where she's not that well known.
She looked genuinely intimated by the wolfish pack shouting and pushing to get a piece of her.

We spent the evening at another affirmed celebrity haunt The Chateau Marmont.
Despite swarming with celebs, this is one of my favourite places in LA.
It's trendy and oozes showbiz charm but is so chilled out. The architecture is magnificent inside and out.
It's hedonistic, glamourous and definitely a place for the A list to get their kicks in private.



Rhys Ifans was working his magic on Anna Friel in the garden area (the best area to chill, and it’s heated) snogging in full view of everyone.
How does he punch so far above his weight? First Sienna Miller… surely it can’t solely be his Welsh charm?
Annoying thing about the Tinseltown celeb watering holes is staff are like mini Hitler’s regarding discretion.
If you even pull out a camera, you get kicked out. And barred.



Not easy for a showbiz journalist reporting on celebrity comings and goings.

Me , Amy and her dog Killer



Baftas: The Aftermath. Drunk and disorderly. Not me (this time).

So I chatted to Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding, who got heroically stuck into the free plonk, unlike her relatively sober band mate Kimberley Walsh.
After getting engaged, on NYE, in the Maldives, to her fella of three years Tom, Sarah was quick to put an end to the Girls Aloud rift rumours.
(Just to get you up to speed... the band are on a 'break', rumours and evidence suggest Nadine and Cheryl hate each other, Nadine never attends girlie Girls Aloud bonding session, or her bandmate’s birthdays, or anything similar. The others stick together like orphan lambs. Smells a bit fishy, hey?)


Anyway Sarah told me, insistently, Nadine Coyle will definitely be at her wedding. Along with Chezza, Nicola and Kimberley. Hmmm.

Sarah also claimed she was dying her hair brown the morning after the Baftas saying, "I'll be the same colour as you tomorrow, dark brown."
Haven't seen any pictures of her yet.

However, Sarah was completely blotto'ed and probably would've believed Jimmy Hendrix had risen from death if I’d put on a convincing enough face.
I like Harding. A lot. But she was more wasted at the Baftas than I’ve seen her for ages.

I don't think she'd appreciate the Amy Winehouse references which were being mutter around the room,.

Meanwhile Kimberley had been presenting live on the red carpet for the E! channel, greeting A-list stars as they arrived. She admitted she'd never been so nervous.

Apparently half way through one of the interviews she asked to edit the interview and start again, forgetting it was live. Eeek.