Island Life

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner and singer Jewel are reportedly an item.

After the Oscar winner’s acrimonious divorce from wife Christine Baumgartner, he and Jewel were having fun on Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s private Caribbean Island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands.

The twosome were on the idyllic locale for a tennis fundraiser for Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation.

TMZ reports Costner, 68, and the singer, 48, flew to Necker together and spent a week frolicking on the island.

Stay tuned.

‘Endgame’ Start Stalls

Despite all the controversial worldwide publicity about his new Royal Family tome, Endgame, Omid Scobie’s book sold just 6,448 copies in the U.K. in the first week of publication.

It has now plunged in the ratings to 215 on the Amazon bestsellers list.

The hatchet job against the Windsors was widely publicized by normally sympathetic media outlets like The New York Times, which described one chapter as “like a press release cooked up by ChatGPT.”

By comparison, Montecito resident Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare sold 467,183 copies making it the fastest selling nonfiction book since records began in 1998.

Film Fest Afar

Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who essentially retired from movie making a decade ago, is at the center of an “arts washing” controversy after flying to Saudi Arabia for a controversial film festival.

The Red Sea Festival reportedly offered celebrity participants a hefty $1 million each to appear and attracted actors Johnny Depp, Will Smith, and Sharon Stone to the red carpet last week.

Oscar winner Paltrow is one of the A-list signings after appearing as Pepper Potts in Marvel films, but not having had a leading role since the 2015 film Mordecai, preferring to concentrate on her lifestyle brand Goop.

The festival in Jeddah is run by a foundation chaired by the Saudi culture minister.

Critics regard it as part of the regime’s “arts-washing” and “sports-washing” in which glamorous international events are held to distance the country from human rights abuses.

Filling Roles

The Santa Barbara City College Foundation has appointed two senior members of staff as an interim leadership team following the departure of CEO Geoff Green at the end of the month.

Zorana Morris, Chief Financial Officer, and Sarah Street, Chief Development Officer, will assume leadership of the foundation until a permanent CEO is announced.

Green, who has been the foundation’s CEO for nine years, is becoming CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits, starting in January.

The search for a new CEO is underway. The position remains open until filled.

Remembering Charlie Munger

On a personal note, I remember philanthropic billionaire Charlie Munger, who has moved to more heavenly pastures at age 99.

I was invited to dinner a number of times at his 4,657-square-foot rustic $11 million home on a quarter of an acre in gated Sea Meadow, a community he developed 30 years ago and is known by locals as Mungerville.

I was also invited to stay at his magnificent beach aerie on Diamond Head, overlooking Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach in Oahu, just a tiara’s toss or two from Shangri-La, the Islamic art-filled mansion of the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke, containing more than 4,500 artifacts.

Munger also owned the 85-foot catamaran, the Channel Cat, which is docked in Santa Barbara Harbor, and would lend it to charities for fund raising events.

A kind and successful soul…

Sightings

Prince Harry back in court in London over his family security issues… Actor Ryan Gosling at the Riviera… Gwyneth Paltrow, stylish in Valentino, at the British Fashion Awards in London.

I will be rusticating at my 400-year-old cottage in Cornwall, England, for the holidays, so I wish all readers of this illustrious organ a Happy Yuletide. I will be back in our rarefied enclave in 2024.

Pip! Pip!