1. Why do we have a love-hate relationship with gossip?
My catch phrase is, "I'm not one to gossip, but ... " because that's what people always say to me. Men try to pretend it's their wives who want to be in the gossip columns. Baloney. They love it! Never feel sorry for a celeb who is in the gossip columns, because their agents and PR people get them in there. If you're in the public eye, that's part of the deal. You take it or you get out. But the children and families should be left totally alone. They didn't ask to be involved.
2. What do you think of the Kardashians?
I take my hat off to them because they've made something out of nothing. Really it's just crap TV but the gullible public buys it and they've got money oozing out of every pore. Perez Hilton will be working hand in glove with them on this week-long ban. Inside a couple of weeks he'll have an exclusive. He doesn't fool me at all. It's like Caitlyn - he or she does look extraordinary but it's just the timing of it. Cross-dressing is common in Hollywood. I'll only believe he's serious about being transgender when he actually has the surgery.
3. How did you get into the gossip game?
Through my work as a make-up artist. I was actually the first male make-up artist in Australia. When I applied for the job I had no qualifications but I'd taught myself how to do make-up during my years as a competitive roller-skater and I just went for it. Years later I asked the Revlon woman why she employed me and she said, "You had the 'it' factor. You understood show business". I toured all over Australia for David Jones and Farmers and then on to London and Hollywood. That's what led me into gossip. In the make-up room you always know the gossip because you have to send a car to pick the person up where they'd stayed the night before.
4. Do your celebrity friends ever feel betrayed by what you write?
I can go and speak to everyone I've ever written about. I've always been tongue-in-cheek. An exclamation mark or a raised eyebrow is all that's needed. Today's gossip columnists are vindictive and nasty. They have no soul. A gossip column should be entertaining and give readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a fantasy world they can never enter. There has to be some mystery.