Julia Roberts

Madonna, Julia Roberts, Michele Pfeiffer, Kim Basinger, Richard Gere, Cindy Crawford – all of them owe their fame in some measure to the late Herb Ritts, the renowned photographer whose portraits for the likes of Vanity Fair, Vogue and various fashion houses in the '80s and '90s helped turn many of his subjects into icons. A new book by Charles Churchward, Herb Ritts: The Golden Hour, is a lavish scrapbook / oral history looking at both Ritts' life, legacy and work. Along with some of the well known celebrity and supermodel poses the book's 200 images include intimate portraits, images of extravagant Hollywood parties, travels to exotic locales, and other unforgettable moments from an extraordinary career, many from Ritts' personal archive and previously unpublished. Richard Gere provides an introduction and there are scores of interviews from Ritts' friends including Annie Leibovitz, Elton John, kd lang, Helena Christensen, L'Wren Scott and more.

Keith Richards, Julia Roberts, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell all go there for a getaway – now you can call it home. Pink Sands, the exclusive resort on idyllic Harbour Island in the Bahamas formerly owned by famed record producer Chris Blackwell is now offering a limited number of private residences on the picturesque property built to owners' specifications. Only 13 of the elite estates will be constructed on the celebrity hideaway's 20 acres overlooking the most beautiful stretch of pink sand beach in the Bahamas. Building lots are priced fro $700,000 – $1.995 million, and the resort's luxe amenities including the concierge service, housekeeping, private dining, beach chairs and umbrellas, massage studio and more will be available to estate owners.

Once they've acquired a lot owners can choose to hire their own architect or pick out one of Pink Sands' unique turnkey plans, and can also stay at the posh resort while their villas are being built. One of the first estates, designed by the award-winning Garcia Stromberg architectural firm, is a three-bedroom villa with panoramic views of the beach and the bay, a beautifully landscaped private outdoor courtyard, an open-air sitting area with fireplace and a private swimming pool, and a guest cottage. This villa will also be available to rent with weekly rates starting at about $19,000 during the off-season, as will certain others, with the option of joining the rental program open to all purchasers.

[via JustLuxe]

From the Los Angeles Times:
Los Angeles poster artist Robbie Conal and his wife, movie and television title designer Deborah Ross, have listed their Gregory Ain-designed home in Mar Vista for $1.149 million. The home is in a development of 52 so-called "Modernique Homes." The pair added bamboo floors, a new kitchen and an art studio.

--Artist Ed Ruscha has sold his Point Dume-area home in Malibu for $4 million.
--The Studio City home of the late model agent Nina Blanchard has sold for $1.1 million.
--The late Nancy M. Daly's former Malibu home, which recently sold for more than $40 million, has been leased out for $200,000 a month by the new owner.
--Singer-songwriter Graham Nash and his wife, Susan, have sold their longtime Encino home for its asking price of $1.6 million.
--A Bel-Air compound owned by the late real estate broker Jon Douglas has come on the market at $18.7 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Post:
--Julia Roberts has purchased a penthouse co-op at 45 W. 10th St. for $3.895 million.
--Technology investor Peter Thiel, a Facebook billionaire and PayPal co-founder, is renting a three-bedroom apartment at 15 Union Square West.
--Gerard Butler recently checked out a $7.995 million townhouse condo at 385 W. 12th St.
--Ad man Alan Levenstein, former vice chairman at Bozell Worldwide, and his wife, Gail, who ran the private-client division at Bill Blass for many years, have put their 2,200-square-foot, second-floor co-op at 75 Central Park West on the market for $4.25 million.The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal:
The Boca Raton, Florida home of former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski has had a price cut to $19.5 million. The 1.6-acre waterfront compound is composed of five adjacent lots and has more than 600 feet of waterfront. It was listed at $24.5 million when we checked it out last year. His former North Hampton, New Hampshire home will be up for auction on November 9 and is our estate of the day tomorrow.

A three-story home on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill is for sale for $12.9 million. The home's current owner is Sandra Lloyd-Smith, ex-wife of the late Texas oil tycoon Robert Mosbacher. The listing is here.

From the NY Times:
--Many of New York City's ultrarich are choosing to rent rather than buy, spending between $10,000 and $100,000 a month.
--Walter Cronkite's summer home on Martha's Vineyard has gone to contract. It had an asking price of $12.25 million.

From the NY Observer:
--George Robb, Jr., the founder of the RPM Nautical Foundation, who until last year was married to model Veronica Webb, has picked up an apartment at 15 Broad Street for $2.785 million.
--John Eck, the president of NBC TV, and his wife Malia have just bought a condo at 43 Clarkson Street in the Far West Village for $3.675 million.
--Zachary Kestenbaum runs who, with his father, runs Building Link, a digital management system for residential properties, has bought a $4 million coop at 1095 Park Avenue.
--Edwin C. Cohen, son of Nixon Treasury Secretary Edwin S. Cohen, has sold his his Central Park West coop for $9.75 million. He bought the home for $11 million in 2006.
--Leonard Stern has paid $14.25 million for a Soho penthouse at 495 West Broadway.
-- Dickson Chu, who is in charge of development and products for Citi, and wife Kristin have paid $2.7 million for a unit at Extell's Aerial West at 245 West 99th Street.
--Writer Vicky Ward and publisher Matthew Doull have sold their Bleecker Street townhouse for $6 million.
--Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown and her pundit husband Dan Senor have moved into The Hastings at 71 Murray Street buying a loft for $4.495 million.
--Judith Greenberg Seinfeld who used to work in perfume and is now a real estate maven picked up a unit at 27 West 67th Street for $4.7 million.
--Bruce and Marlo Wrobel have sold their four-story home at 150 Lincoln Place to Roopal Luhana and Birbal Kaikini for the asking price of $3.195 million.
--Roger A. Enrico, former CEO of PepsiCo. and current Dreamworks Animation chairman has purchased a three-bedroom at 37 West 12th Street at the Butterfield House for $3.14 million.

Giant white letters spelled out "Eat," "Pray," and "Love" repeatedly in the weave of the red carpet at the premiere of "Eat Pray Love" on Tuesday at New York's Ziegfeld theater. Topiary shrubs in the shape of corkscrews flanked billboards framed in gold of Julia Roberts tucking into gelato. "This little thing?" "Eat Pray Love" author Elizabeth Gilbert responded to Luxist when we asked about her fluffy ethereal ball gown amid the din of photographers. "Just a little Oscar de la Renta number that I picked up for my red-carpet debut."

Remarkably, Gilbert, who wrote the tale of her epic travels to Italy for cuisine, India for spiritual guidance, and Bali for love, has the same thin, impossibly broad smile as Roberts. "She's lovely like a candle," said Gilbert. "She's like a little flickering flame." No one says Gilbert can't turn a phrase. In fact, that night, her runaway best seller made it to the big screen, one of Manhattan's very biggest, with an after fete at New York's gilded era Metropolitan Club on Fifth avenue. Think soaring ceiling, much marble and a sea of ballroom chairs.

To my left on the carpet, Bardem, in a blue suit, blue suede shoes, and some gray scruff, was telling a camera that he had known "the work" but hadn't known Julia Roberts "the person" before this project and that they "laughed and laughed" on location, where, by the way, he was joined by his soon-to-be wife, Penelope Cruz. Moving stealth from crew to crew, Roberts was dressed like a publicist in black but with a short skirt or shorts and long black jacket. We overheard her mentioned how lucky she was to "bring her kids to work" and that she had tried to distance herself from the "popularity of the book."

Bare arms and bangle bracelets are a summer classic. Julia Roberts is on her "Eat Pray Love" media tour this month and she wore an armful of golden bangles to her appearance at the Regis and Kelly show this morning, Monday August 9th. Roberts was wearing a stack of bangles by Melinda Maria: a pair of the popular Gwyneth Bangles ($185 each); a couple of Mini Pave Pod Bangles ($115 each); an Infinity Pod Bangle ($252) and a Teeny Pod Bangle ($88).

Roberts is just one of the many celebrities decked out in Melinda Maria designs. The pieces are done in semiprecious stones and gold-plated metals. Other stars that wear her pieces include Jennifer Lopez, Hayden Panetierre, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria and Vanessa Hudgens.

If you want to start a fight among people who love to travel, raise the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love. It was a bestseller, which means that many people really liked it, but the backlash against it has been pretty vociferous -- in summary: self-absorbed, navel-gazing, "me, me, I, I," not-really-travel-writing, crap.

A good even-handed exploration of the backlash is here. Personally, I thought the book was fine and believe that the strong negative reaction is actually against the concept of a woman who does not follow a cookie cutter path to being a happy wife and mother. Although I will concede that the movie's official URL - letyourselfgo.com is cringe worthy.

Anyway, in August, the book that people love to hate will be better known as a movie that they'll love to hate, starring Julia Roberts who many people love to hate, or hate to love. (To say nothing of eating and praying.)

Since there's an obvious travel tie-in, get ready for many EPL-themed travel packages. My colleague, Deb West, wrote about an early adopter this past January, and now there's news that guidebook publisher Lonely Planet is a promotional partner of the film. There's even a special page to help you plan your own Eat, Pray, Love journey.

Here's hoping no one hates you for it.

The rain started to fall but the stars came out for the Golden Globes tonight in Los Angeles. The occasion was marked by some beautiful gowns. Check out some of our favorites in the gallery below. Above, Kate Hudson charms the crowd in a white Marchesa bustier top with a long white skirt, white platform pumps and tassel pearl earrings. Hudson was a rarity in white, many stars wore gowns in peach, pink and purple tones and a few went with basic black. Let us know your favorites in the comments.

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote a memoir in 2006 titled Eat, Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia which became a national bestseller. The book takes the reader along the author's personal quest for equilibrium after a messy divorce and other life snafus. Really it focuses on one woman's question "What am I doing with my life?" Her journey's final stop is in Bali where she starts to find her center and balance. Her search is partially about finding love with an appropriate man but really more significantly learning how to know, love and appreciate herself.

Soon to be a major motion picture staring Julia Roberts the story so captivated readers that it was one of only two books to be on the New York Times Paperback Bestseller list every week of 2008. For those of you who made New Year's resolutions to really examine their life Spirit Quest Tours has organized an amazing spiritual journey to Bali based on the book. The trip will take place in May 2010 and can accommodate thirty-five travelers departing from either New York or Los Angeles. It is a good compromise for those who are not writers and can't leave their desk jobs for a year to travel the world and find themselves.

While the tour has been inspired by the book there are some key differences. First, the tour organizers don't guarantee that you will find love on the vacation and they do not make you stay in little cottages. They do promise that all participants will be pleased to stay in four star accommodations, eco-friendly and with spas, rather than the little cottages enjoyed by the author. The tour does include a visit with Ketut Liyer, an authentic Balinese shaman, who advised Elizabeth Gilbert during her four month stay in Bali. Guests will also have the opportunity to visit local temples, time for yoga and meditation, shopping for items made by local artisans and traditional Balinese dance ceremonies including the Kecak dance. To view the exact itinerary click here.

Will the trip change your life? Who knows, but it does sound like a nice vacation and that seems to be something that is on the top of many to do lists!

Lancôme has bestowed the first definition on Julia Roberts in the ongoing epic "Another Day, Another Celebrity Endorsement." Cynicism aside, Lancôme has, through the years, had a bevy of beautiful women endorsing its products -- Isabella Rossellini, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, and numerous models. Roberts is the newest, according to a WWD exclusive:

"By her remarkable personality and career, Julia Roberts is an emblematic woman of her time," said Youcef Nabi, president of Lancôme International. "Her exceptional talent, her radiance, and her strong commitments perfectly echo Lancôme's values. We are convinced she will embody the brand in the most sublime way possible."

Lancôme executives declined to share details on the relationship between Roberts and the brand, including the amount the actress is being paid to sell the products, the length of her contract, and specific duties, saying more would be revealed early next year.

Roberts, who is said to command salaries upward of $20 million for her acting projects, is in post-production on two films - Eat, Pray, Love, and Valentine's Day.

The WWD article goes on to say that "getting Roberts - or any other star of her caliber - to appear in U.S. advertising a decade ago would have been a longshot, although many stars consented to appear in product advertising outside the U.S. ... however, the celebrity culture has become ubiquitous, and the stigma once associated with selling products to middle America seems to have disappeared."

Persol Eyewear has long been associated with Hollywood's leading men. A pair of Steve McQueen's Persol sunglasses, which he wore in "The Thomas Crown Affair," were sold for $60,000 in 2006. They've also been spotted on Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, George Clooney, Adrien Brody and Brad Pitt, but lately, women are getting in on the Persol action, too.

Julia Roberts (pictured), Angelina Jolie, Hilary Swank, Beyonce, Heidi Klum and Elle Macpherson have all recently donned Persol shades, and we can tell you exactly which ones. Julia is wearing #2873, and so can you -- the ladies' styles are in the $300 - $400 range.

Check out the gallery for the models spotted on our favorite celebs -- maybe you'll see the perfect pair for yourself. The sunglasses are available from ILORI, just tell them the style number (included).

Julia Roberts has created a new T-shirt for (Product) Red that is pricier than the Gap versions. Roberts has teamed up with Giorgio Armani to produce a new T-shirt for men and women. The tree of life design mimics the design of the bracelet Roberts created for the December launch of the Emporio Armani (Product) Red leather bracelet. The T-shirts are made in Africa and 40 percent of the gross profit margin goes to The Global Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs in Africa. The Emporio Armani online-store sells the T-shirt in red, black and gray for $125 each. The bracelet is $175 for the women's version and $195 for the men's version.

[via WWD]

It's not easy to be successful in Hollywood as an actress these days -- the competition is pretty fierce. Making it big is defined in a few different ways, from winning the best awards to getting the best parts to making the biggest money. And although careers go up and down on a dime and everything can change overnight, somebody has to be making the biggest money of them all. That somebody right now? Reese Witherspoon.

She's doing well for herself, earning between $15 and $20 million per movie -- despite her latest work "Rendition" not doing all that well in theaters. And she's in good company, too, with actresses like Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, and Jody Foster joining her in the ranks of the top 10 highest paid actresses.

Very few celebrities have only one home -- owning multiple residences in locations around the world is key to keeping any sense of normalcy and routine in their lives. But although first homes are usually in cities like New York and LA to be close to work, where do celebrities like George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Oprah choose to buy vacation homes? Where do they go when it's entirely up to them and they want to relax?

Well for Clooney it's a waterfront villa in Lake Como, Italy, for Depp it's a 50 acre farmhouse in France, and Oprah prefers her ocean-front ranch in Santa Monica. Where would you live? Check out this list of celebrity summer homes and see who's taste is closest to your own.

Is the love affair between fashion houses and actresses on the wane? First we heard that Lindsay Lohan wasn't getting the Louis Vuitton deal (although she is rumored to be on the Versace short list) and now Julia Roberts misses out on the chance to rake in all that fashion dough. Julia Roberts may be fine for Ferre and she has a burgeoning Broadway career but the New York post reports that she's not a big enough star for Dior. The NY Post reports that Dior was looking at Julie to be the face of a new 2007 perfume but are no longer interested. Is it Julia's new maternal look? Dior already has Charlize Theron as the face of J'Adore so they are clearly not actress adverse.

[photo via AP]

Celebrities may have gotten some great baby couture at the Golden Globes, but they are also picking some out for themselves, since not too many celebrities can resist spending on their kids. A few other celebrity favorites, from Child.com, include Inky Dink Tees -- which are well liked by moms who include Angelina Jolie and Kelly Ripa -- and City Threads. For bibs, Tess and Winter and Funkie Baby are loved by Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Victoria and David Beckham. Bloomers Baby Diaper Cakes are remarkably popular as baby shower gifts and have been served to half of the A-list.

The nicest baby gifts are the ones for moms. Jill Alberts Jewelry makes one of a kind lockets so stars like Debra Messing, Julia Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick can keep their true loves close to their hearts. Designs can start as low as $650, but can range to more than double that price.