Celebrity Mound

Star Jones and Herb Wilson (Ok Star that’s enough white dresses for you girl)

Beth Ostrosky

Kourtney Kardashian

Online bidding for “lunch with Rosie O’Donnell and Star Jones” for the Skating in Harlem charity has reached $13,500 on charitybuzz.com. Billed as a “girlfriend getaway” package, the auction item includes airfare to New York, two nights at a five-star hotel, two tickets to “Wicked,” “Billy Elliot” or “The Lion King,” and lunch with the two TV divas. Bidding ends today. We can only imagine what that conversation will be like — Barbara Walters, cover your ears.

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Star Jones — whose rapid weight loss played into her rocky exit from “The View” in 2006 — denies she took an easy way out having gastric bypass surgery and without the changes, Jones was told she would have died.

“I’m still 300 pounds in my head some days,” Jones told Oprah Winfrey in a taped episode airing Wednesday.

Jones admitted she was scared to disappoint people and ashamed that she wasn’t able to control her weight.

“… I was an addict for all practical purposes, that I had never stuck to a real diet, that I’d never stuck to a real exercise program, and that when confronted by my doctor and the doctor said if you don’t make changes, you will die. I had no choice.” Jones said. “When you hear people say, oh, you took the easy way out, I would have longed for an easy way. It was not an easy way. It was this — the hardest struggle of my whole entire life and I still struggle.”

Jones responded to remarks by former co-host Barbara Walters that after the surgery, the show’s audience couldn’t relate to Jones anymore.

“I was hurt and upset initially,” Jones said. “I’m so sorry that I placed a burden on my colleagues. I never asked them to lie.”

Jones’ appearance is part of a show on losing weight in the public eye. Valerie Bertinelli and Marie Osmond will also appear on Wednesday’s show.

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Star Jones may not be the only one who has moved on since her divorce from former banker-turned-professor Al Reynolds.

The ousted host of “The View” was flaunting her relationship with chef Herb Wilson before the ink was dry on her divorce papers. Now, despite those pesky gay rumors, Reynolds may be taking things to the next level with his new flame, Miami attorney Nicole Hutchinson.

A source says Reynolds, clad in baseball cap and sunglasses, bought an engagement ring at Tiffany & Co. at Miami’s Bal Harbour Mall just before Valentine’s Day.

“He shopped alone until he found something that he liked. Then he had one of the female employees help firm up his decision,” says our source.

A rep for Reynolds, who is reportedly in negotiations for a reality TV show with a major cable network, confirmed her client was shopping at Tiffany’s, but denied engagement rumors.

“Al Reynolds was shopping for a piece of jewelry for a Valentine’s Day gift for his mother – who lives in Virginia – and not an engagement ring,” said the flack.
Meanwhile, a friend says Jones and Reynolds may finally be on roads to happiness.

“They both found people they can be happy with, and I’m glad,” said the pal. “Star’s good with Herb.”

But the outspoken Jones is oddly mum about her new man.

“She doesn’t talk about her relationships anymore,” says the pal. “She’s learned to keep some things private. They’re committed to each other, though.”
And what will Jones think about Reynolds finding love again?

“It won’t faze her,” the friend said. “Star and Al don’t even talk anymore. I think she’d be genuinely happy to hear that Al has moved on.”

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STAR Jones is finally free of her freeloading hubby. Jones and Al Reynolds reached a last-minute settlement yesterday, moments before they were set to appear in court. Reynolds was said to be upset with the airtight prenup he signed, which left him with “basically nothing,” sources said – but finally relented to avoid court costs. A rep for Jones said the two “have reached an amicable settlement in their divorce proceeding . . . Both parties are moving on with their private lives.” Jones has been happily dating hunky chef Herb Wilson.

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Star Jones’s love life is cooking!

The former View host has a new boyfriend who knows his way around a kitchen – Herb Wilson, the executive chef at Manhattan’s Soho and Tribeca Grand hotels.

“This was one of the first times they were out in public together,” a friend of Jones’ tells PEOPLE, after the couple were spotted kissing in the stands at the U.S. Open last weekend. “It’s a new relationship, and he makes her very happy.”

Jones, 46, and her husband of 3 1/2 years, Al Reynolds, 38, filed for divorce in March. While Jones has not talked publicly about the split, Reynolds released a series of YouTube videos about their oft-scrutinized marriage last July, in which he claimed to still love Jones “very much.”

A rep for Jones refused to comment on his client’s personal life. But another source close to the TV personality confirms the relationship as well: “He’s a very nice guy,” the source says of Wilson. “She’s never been happier.”

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Al Reynolds continues to have a soft spot for Star Jones, despite their impending divorce.

“I still very much love her,” Reynolds told The Associated Press on Monday. “I do. I can’t lie to you.”

Jones’ soon-to-be ex-husband is opening up about his relationship with the former co-host of ABC’s “The View” in an interview being posted Tuesday on YouTube.

“I was approached by a number of media outlets to do interviews, and most of them wanted me to trash my wife,” Reynolds told the AP during a telephone interview Monday. “I wasn’t interested in participating in the sensationalism.”

Instead, the interview was filmed last month at the home of Reynolds’ publicist, Howard Bragman. Jones filed for divorce from Reynolds in March after three years of marriage.

Reynolds said his marriage to Jones began to unravel last year when Jones was launching her truTV talk show and Reynolds began teaching at Florida Memorial University in Miami. He said the pair separated in February, and he was served divorce papers in March. Reynolds was surprised when Jones issued a public statement about the dissolution of their marriage in April.

“I don’t know if I can point to a specific thing that happened,” said Reynolds. “I felt like we started to grow apart. I took a position down in Florida. I started working aggressively on my book. She was trying to get her show off the ground. We were also trying to deal with all the negative stuff after we allowed the media into our marriage.”

Reynolds, who now divides his time between New York and Miami, said he’s not gay, and the Internet and tabloid speculation about his sexuality – several bloggers refer to him as “Big Gay Al” – has damaged his professional reputation. The 37-year-old former banker said he has not dated anyone since the end of his relationship with Jones, nor has he spoken to the former prosecutor.

“I feel like I’ve still got a little bit of healing to do,” said Reynolds. “I’m not sure I could open that emotional side of myself up to anyone else right now. After the divorce is final, I’ll probably be a little bit more interested in that. Right now, I’m focusing on teaching and finishing my doctorate degree.”

Jones and Reynolds tied the knot in an over-the-top ceremony in November 2004. Jones was criticized for endlessly discussing the wedding and plugging its sponsors on “The View.” The negative reaction to the affair, which was attended by guests ranging from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Spike Lee, was cited by Barbara Walters as a reason why Jones’ contract wasn’t renewed in 2006.

Reynolds – who is originally from Horse Pasture, Va. – now agrees the wedding spun out of control but claims he thought such behavior was customary for celebrity nuptials. Reynolds is currently working on a financial help book aimed at the middle-to-low class, and tentatively titled “Bank On It.” He says he’s not interested in using the divorce as opportunity to fade out of the spotlight.

“I’m not a fade-away type of guy,” said Reynolds. “I’m a guy who progresses and moves forward. I was successful before I met Star, and I plan to be successful after Star. I’m in the public eye now. That’s the truth. It comes with responsibilities. I’m using it as an opportunity to educate and motivate people.”

Years after coming clean about her gastric bypass, Star Jones is cracking fat jokes!

“If I punched every b-tch who called me fat, it would be dead bitches all up and down the highway,” Jones said during a taping of The Bad Girls Club reunion special (watch above; her joke is at 1:19 in)

The reunion episode airs Tuesday on Oxygen.

Last week Jones got into a public feud with Barbara Walters, who claimed Jones asked her to cover-up the gastric bypass on The View.

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The war of the words is continuing between Barbara Walters and her former View co-host Star Jones.

“Poor woman, she’s gone through so much,” Walters said on Larry King Live Monday night.

Walters was asked about Jones’ comment to Usmagazine.com last week: “It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character.”

Walters – who claims in her new memoir that Jones forced her to lie about her gastric bypass surgery on The View – responded: “I think [Star's] suffering now and that’s why she’s lashing out.”

Walters insists she was a fan of Jones (who split from husband Al Reynolds in March).

“I was very fond of Star,” she told King. “The network wanted to let her go. The ratings were going way down… It took her a long time to get a job.

“I wish her well,” Walters added.

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