The trio whose poolside sex trap prank helped sink the marriage of Princess Stephanie of Monaco have received suspended prison terms. For stripper Muriel Houtemann, seen romping with the princess's then-husband Daniel Ducruet at a private pool in pictures and videos, it was six months suspended sentence. For her former companion Yves Hoogewys, it was also six months suspended, while for the scheme's mastermind, photographer Stephane de Lisiecki, it was a year's suspended. They were convicted of breaching the intimacy of Ducruet's private life. He has maintained the threesome spiked his champagne to weaken him before Houtemann's charms, and de Lisiecki has long since admitted to planning the trap, while Houtemann maintains she didn't know she was being used as part of a scam. The pictures and videos led to Prince Ranier banishing Ducruet in disgrace. He and Princess Stephanie divorced a year later.
NEW YORK - When Donna Hanover performs in The Vagina Monologues in May, among the no-shows, according to the New York Post, will be her husband - New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Hanover debuts May 30, while her husband attends the state Republican convention in Buffalo, where he'll be named the official party nominee for the U.S. Senate. If timing is critical in politics, Mrs. Mayor's absence could be deadly, since Hizzoner was expecting a big boost from the Republican convention, the Post said. And Hanover's appearance is ticklish in another way for the mayor: the controversial play was written by Eve Ensler, who is a fervent backer of Giuliani's Senate rival, Hillary Clinton. Attacked as raunchy and tasteless, The Vagina Monologues are short pieces about orgasm, masturbation, lesbian sex, rape and... vaginas. Hanover, an experienced actress, will co-star with, among others, former Cheers star Kirstie Alley. Giuliani, meanwhile, told a stunned New York that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer - thought to be curable, since it has been detected early enough. The mayor, whose father died of the disease, told the New York media he was uncertain how the illness would affect his Senate campaign, but while he hopes to keep running, his priority is the best treatment to beat the disease.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The former husband and the former boyfriend of the real-life Erin Brockovich have been arrested for trying to extort some $300,000 from Brockovich and her boss by way of threats to go public with allegations the two had a sexual relationship. Shawn William Brown, Brockovich's former husband, and her former boyfriend Jorg Lawrence Halaby, along with their attorney John Jeffrey Reiner, were arrested April 26 following a two-week sting by the Ventura County District Attorney's office and the FBI. Investigators waited as Brockovich and her boss, Edward Masry, handed the trio checks adding up to over $300,000, and the trio signed an agreement for their silence. But hidden cameras rolled and the moment Brockovich and Masry left the room, the trio were arrested. Bail was set at $50,000 apiece for the three. Both Brockovich and Masry deny they have ever had a sexual relationship. Brockovich and Masry's uncovering of power plant pollution and prying a record $333 million settlement from utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric inspired Erin Brockovich, the current hit film with Julia Roberts in the title role and Albert Finney as Masry.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
