To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > People Feb. 9, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/02/09/npwed Little frankfurter lost Leo sez: Don't believe everything you read ... even if it's true. Plus: It's a sad day under the big top; and Winslet won't play Bridget, v. bad! - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amy Reiter You've read all those rumors about Leonardo DiCaprio and his wild, club-hopping buddies. Who hasn't? The late-night rampages, drug-crazed parties, adolescent pranks, poor treatment of women, and -- worst of all -- stingy tipping. But while the actor is ready to admit that "the core" of what's written about him "might come from somewhat real events," he figures only about 10 percent of what you hear about him is true. "I don't want to get into specifics, because it's just a waste of time," DiCaprio says in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, "but I will comment on one." A rumor that causes him great pain, that is as starkly disturbing as the cartoons of DiCaprio's boyhood buddy R. Crumb and that I, for one, am rather sorry to see go: The Pussy Posse. The actor says he doesn't know who's responsible for coining the catty phrase to describe him and his frisky compadres, but it wasn't him. "I think it's the most degrading thing toward women I've ever heard in my life," he tells the magazine. "I've never used that term in my entire life." Regrets? He's had a few. And they mostly have to do with the true rumors. "I wish I hadn't said 'Screw this ... I'm going to go out there and do whatever the hell I want to do, whenever the hell I want,'" DiCaprio says, before admitting that he "still [has] that attitude." And it started young, when he and his Bohemian dad joined something called the Mud Men. "These guys smeared their bodies with mud and put rags over their genitals and made these mud masks and ran around," he says. Once -- mud-smeared, loinclothed -- he broke away from the group and jumped out at a poor, unsuspecting woman trying to buy a hot dog. "She lost her shit," he chortles. "It was dope." Well, it's all dope until someone loses a hot dog. - - - - - - - - - - - - The talkative mime "I couldn't get a word in edgewise!" -- Studs Terkel on interviewing mime Marcel Marceau, at the Floating Film Festival. - - - - - - - - - - - - Disappearing acts It's a sad week for magic shows and dancing bears. The New York Daily News reports that magician Doug Henning died Monday at age 52 after a five-month battle with liver cancer. Although Henning traded in his successful career in the magic biz for a less stellar turn in Canadian politics, his most recent passion was holistic real-estate development. He spent his final years refining plans for Veda Land, a transcendental meditation theme park he sought to build on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. This past week also saw the loss of Hercules the grizzly bear, who appeared in a number of Hollywood movies, including the Bond flick "Octopussy." The gentle animal -- who "had ears like two furry purses," according to his owner -- passed away at home in Scotland at the age of 25. - - - - - - - - - - - - The unfathomable depths of celebrity friendship "We're both minorities, and we both love to shop." -- Madonna, explaining her bond with pal Rupert Everett in the upcoming Vanity Fair. - - - - - - - - - - - - Juicy bits It's a good thing Bridget Jones fans are used to waiting for happy endings. Empire online reports that Kate Winslet will not play the man-obsessed, self-help-book-reading heroine of Helen Fielding's popular books. Was there interference from Fielding herself? The author is said to favor having an unknown actress play Bridget. But producer Eric Fellner says Winslet "turned down the role because of a clash of schedules." Or you might chalk it up to pride and prejudice. You know our poll-obsessed culture has gone too far when ... there's a survey asking music fans to vote for the rock star "most in need of a breath mint." The results of Candystand.com's poll won't be final until next month, but so far it looks like Marilyn Manson should get ready to have 100,000 breath mints delivered to his door. Kid Rock and Ozzy Osbourne follow Manson's 75 percent lead with less than 6 percent each of the votes. Madonna, meanwhile, has only 3 percent. Maybe that's what she meant by being in the minority ... salon.com | Feb. 9, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Amy Reiter is a staff writer for Salon People. For more columns by Amy Reiter, visit her column archive.