KEY POINTS:
It was meant to be a nice night out. TV mogul Julie Christie put on wine and cheese at her lavish Viaduct apartment last week in honour of her new show, Burying Brian, only the shindig ended up being a bit of a sin bin of insults, apparently.
Radio star Leah Panapa (above left) arrived at the private party with her friend and colleague Simon Doull. She told Spy, "The party was wonderful to begin with... Julie was the perfect hostess, everyone was so nice and friendly, and then I ran into April."
Panapa reckons April Ieremia (above right) has never acknowledged her before, despite the two broadcasting babes being in the media for the past 15 years. "She's never said hi to me," Leah said, "and would you believe, she swans up to me at Julie's [party] and the first words out of her mouth were 'So, when are you due?'
"I said 'April, I'm not pregnant, actually', and April just said dismissively, 'Oh, my mistake'."
Doully turned to Leah at the time and said, "What was that about? Was that premeditated?" The pair hit the airwaves the following day on their Rock morning show and told their 300,000 listeners the story. Panapa laughed about it, saying if she ever had a little girl, she'd "name her Apes, after my nemesis".
Listeners rang The Rock's hotline with their own frenemy stories. The story became so popular Panapa and her co-hosts discussed it again on-air the next day.
"You don't f*** off someone with a microphone," Panapa laughed. She's right.
"I was just surprised," said Leah, "that April, as a woman, and as someone who has battled weight issues, would be so insensitive."
But did April set out to be malicious? Issues of weight are nothing new to Ieremia. In fact, she's dedicated a portion of her TV show, April in the Afternoon, to her own weight-loss battle. Neither Ieremia nor Panapa are size-10 figures.
April told Spy it was all just a big understanding. "Look, Leah was glowing and her boobs were big in that pregnancy kind of way, I just asked her when she was due. I haven't seen her in six years and I just thought she looked glowing." Preggers, you mean. Ieremia insists it was just an honest mistake.
Will the girls kiss and make up and have a good laff? We'll keep you posted.
Best celeb spats
It never ceases to amaze me how some stars use the media to bleat about their innermost private thoughts and feelings, yet on the flip side, have trouble posing for a simple publicity photo. What gives? Who cares? We can all agree, thanks to the media, celebrities have great platforms to spill the juice. Here's our pick of the best celebrity spats played out in the media:
1. Bob Jones vs Annette Presley: In a Radio Live interview in 2006, Sir Bob let rip how he felt about his Dragons' Den co-star, Annette Presley, using adjectives like "appalling", and "one of the crassest human beings I have ever met". Charming! He topped it off with his own personal forecast: "She would have single-handedly driven more men to homosexuality than any other women in history."
2. Charlotte Dawson vs Gary Rogers: In 2006, Dawson alleged that Parnell hairdresser Gary Rogers gave her hair extensions that made her hair fall out and her scalp blister. Rogers hissed back with claims that the star owed him thousands for work done on her locks. Dawson spat back that Rogers had used an image of her in his salon and not paid her. Emails were flying, and even a media release was issued.
3. Bill Ralston vs Chris Taylor: In 2005 TVNZ news boss Bill Ralston launched a scathing attack on his rival at Prime TV, declaring: "If I were [Chris Taylor], I'd be shooting myself. I'd be pouring petrol over myself and throwing myself off Auckland's tallest building." Not stopping there, he criticised Prime-newbie-at-the-time, Paul Holmes and his team of "no reporters", and reckoned his exclusive interview with Suzanne Paul was "crap. You know it's crap, I know it's crap and the viewers know it's crap." Taylor responded: "It saddens and surprises me greatly that anyone in this business in his position would stoop to that level of talk. That's a sad day. We're not down, we're not out. And we're not going to give up." Neither Taylor nor Ralston hold their respective positions at Prime and TVNZ any longer.
La Disco du Cirque ball
Dean Lonergan is back, this time with his La Disco du Cirue Ball held on Wednesday and Thursday at the Waitakere Trusts Stadium. Click here for photographs
Rachel Glucina
La Disco du Cirue Ball photos / Norrie Montgomery