People’s well-liked managing editor, Larry Hackett, has created more gossip inside the magazine’s office than he does in the magazine.
Staffers are buzzing that the glossy’s honcho, who is also president of the American Society of Magazine Editors, has been secretly dating an underling at the magazine.
“Everyone is saying he’s been seeing a very high senior member of staff and that they have been dating since he divorced his wife,” one insider tells us. “The whispers are loud because no one knows anything about his personal life at all.”
Hackett and his schoolteacher ex-wife finalized their divorce last year after 20 years of marriage and two kids.
Immediately after the split, Hackett was rumored to have been dating an actress, but that turned out to be just a rumor.
Another source in media tells us Hackett has moved from Brooklyn, where he lived with his kids, and “hooked up with a beautiful younger woman that works at the magazine.”
The notoriously private editor, who reveals personal details about celebrities’ lives in his magazine, does not list his ex-wife or children’s names in his official People bio.
“New beginnings seem to be in the air for Larry,” says our initial tipster. “His contract at People is up at the end of the year and it will not be renewed as the magazine’s sales numbers continue to decline.”
(You first read about People not renewing Hackett’s contract in Confidenti@l in July.)
The print mag has struggled in the past year, most recently when it ran a Bethenny Frankel cover that rival Us Weekly had turned down. That issue sold just over 600,000 copies — a stunningly low figure for the most respected magazine in its class. Just a few years ago, People moved over 2 million newsstand copies weekly.
Hackett landed the top spot at People in 2006 and oversees all editorial operations of the magazine. He previously served as deputy managing editor.
The affable editor, known to be friendly with his staff, also has a weekly gig on “Good Morning America” in which he talks celebrity gossip, and appears on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to chat about Hollywood. He may be looking toward TV for his next gig, we hear.
Neither Hackett nor a rep for People returned a request for comment.
LEO’S LOFTY AMBITION
Leonardo DiCaprio was planning to go apartment-hunting Thursday afternoon at 12 E. 13th St., where a spy tells us he was set to check out a parking garage that’s being renovated into high-end condos. The building just south of Union Square doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the pending residential conversion might appeal to “The Wolf of Wall Street” star. “Maybe they’re offering him raw space to do whatever he wants,” a source says.
Developers DHA Capital LLC and Continental Properties snatched up the garage — which houses a Hertz rental car station — for $32 million, according to the real estate journal Globe Street. The new owners plan to gut the space and market it as a mix of full-floor homes and duplexes. That could wind up luring some big-time buyers. “It’s hard to find huge lofts in the middle of the Village,” says Adrienne Alpert, CEO of the Marketing Directors real estate firm. “Usually you have to go pretty far west or east to find anything like this. It’ll be spectacular.”
PHOTOS: THE GREAT GATSBY ERA: NEW YORK CITY IN THE ROARING TWENTIES
MASKED INTENTIONS
Khloe Kardashian’s steel veneer may be starting to crack. Since tossing hubby Lamar Odom out of their L.A. manse due to his alleged crack addiction, Khloe has remained mum. But she posted an eerie picture of a girl in a mask to Instagram on Thursday, with a caption reading: “She smiles to mask the pain in her heart. She laughs to conceal the tears in her eyes.” It may be a clue into the near future — we’re hearing the couple’s divorce is imminent.
IT’LL BE A RACY FILM
The mayoral race isn’t over yet, but Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir already has the perfect cast in mind if someone makes a movie about candidates Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota. “Christopher McDonald and Jason Alexander,” Saffir told us at the New Yorkers for Children gala to benefit youth in foster care. Saffir also looks forward to Mayor Bloomberg attending more of his star-studded screenings after he leaves City Hall. “I hope so, because he’s a good guest and he’s smart and fun and people love him.”
POSEY TAKES THE NYC LOCAL
New York isn’t such a big city for Hollywood indie darling Parker Posey. At a recent Hope North charity event, the Big Apple resident told us she rarely ventures north of 14th St. “I’m pretty much strictly downtown,” she said. “The Union Square Market and then down.” Staying downtown lets Posey reduce her carbon footprint — and so does the greenmarket. “We’re so blessed to have that market. You know you can compost there? I store it in my freezer then bring it down.” Posey was at the event to support a school in Uganda for orphans and former child soldiers.
THIS BODY'S CLEARLY AN ALBA-TROSS
Of all the actresses to feel self-conscious about looks, we don’t want to hear it from the absolutely stunning Jessica Alba. In the new issue of Health magazine, where she looks gorgeous as always, she breaks down her insecurities. “I was a lot more critical of my body when it was probably pretty awesome,” she says. “It’s like, why did I not ever wear jean shorts? That’s so crazy. I was so skinny! I didn’t have any cellulite. … what was I thinking?!”
PHOTOS: JESSICA ALBA MAKES A SPLASH FLAUNTING SIZZLING BIKINI BOD IN ST. BARTS
GOING THE EXTRA MILEY
You’ve got to hand it to Miley Cyrus — since the backlash over her totally naked “Wrecking Ball” video she at least had the decency to put on underwear on a newly leaked alternate album cover for “Bangerz.” With a pixie cut slicked to the side and that underboob tattoo, the now-single Cyrus doesn’t look like she’s shying away from the spotlight after calling off her engagement to Liam Hemsworth earlier this week. If that’s too much skin for you, yet another version of the record cover shows her merely pants-less.
UPTON DOES HIGH-PROFILE DINING
When you look like Kate Upton, you can’t go low-key. The supermodel tried to fly under the radar Tuesday at Stone Rose Lounge in the Time Warner Center, but was noticed by nearly every patron in the restaurant. “She was sitting with an unidentified male friend and was not with [boyfriend] Maksim Chmerkovskiy,” a spy tells us. “She looked demure in a black sweater and matching leggings.” The duo sipped on Sonoma Cutrer wine and Don Julio Silver tequila on the rocks with their meal.
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SEEN AND HEARD...
LeBron James enjoying a romantic night out with new wife Savannah Brinson at Antica Pesa in Rome — the sister restaurant of the Williamsburg hotspot. … Amanda Seyfried dressed down without makeup, with boyfriend Justin Long at Lure Fishbar in SoHo. … Bill Wackermann, publisher of Condé Nast Traveler, giving away trips to Madrid and Milan, for the launch of the mag’s “I Am a Traveler” ad campaign at Tertulia in Greenwich Village. … Tim Gunn attending the American Folk Art Museum’s gala kickoff at the long-anticipated Harlem supper club Minton’s.
DON'T HIDE CHARLIZE, PLEASE
Known for her privacy, Charlize Theron spent most of the night in a lounge that resembled a “cage” at Hakkasan Beverly Hills. Our spywitness says the actress hid out in the restaurant’s Ling Ling Lounge as Chris Ivery and wife Ellen Pompeo hosted a launch event for Vallure Vodka Wednesday. Also at the fete were Hillary Duff, Sanaa Lathan, Minka Kelly, Mandy Moore and Julianne Hough, and Samantha Ronson dejaying.
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