Celebrity Gossip: Vince Vaughn, Mark Henry, Brad Womack
Apparently funnyman Vince Vaughn has now become a “regular Joe” at Zen on South Congress. He was seen there twice this past weekend, chatting up some local women, and downing several Tiger Shrimp bowls. Apparently Robert DeNiro took a liking to the place as well during the Austin filming of Robert Rodriguez’s slasher action pic Machete. I can’t say as I blame them. Owner Adam Weisberg and his partners have seriously ramped up both the taste and health options of this popular local chain over the past several months.
Saw Olympian and Austin power lifter Mark Henry at Vince Young’s recently. Mark is a very nice guy despite having such an intensely foreboding countenance. And like me, he’s gassed about the really good chow that the restaurant is turning out. Way above the usual celebrity restaurants I’ve encountered (are you listening Sandra?).
Speaking of Sandra, caught her introduction of the Best Actor category at the Oscar’s last night. I couldn’t help but notice that she looked rather glum: lovely as always, but I got kind of a Debbie downer vibe. Her red dress would have even been more stunning if she had smiled a bit more.
And speaking of celebrities, Austin bar owner Brad Womack is coming down to the final leg (no pun intended) of his 2nd turn as ABC’s The Bachelor. Some of you may recall when we broke the story about Brad’s girlfriend Laurel three years ago and how he had been sending her romantic texts during the filming of the 1st of Brad’s Bachelor appearances. I knew this because Laurel is a long time family friend.
Well, while we were away on vacation last week, apparently Laurel did a tell-all to US magazine alleging that she’s still getting love texts from Brad. I’ve always liked Brad: he seems like a nice young man. But if the ongoing contact with Laurel is indeed the case, why in the hell would ABC have booked him for a second shot at The Bachelor?
Apparently show host Chris Harrison characterized Laurel in unflattering terms as a “fame whore doing everything she can to cling to Brad’s coattails.” Hey Chris, have you looked in a mirror lately? Fame whore???? Hmmmm. When we first ran the story on Dining Out With Rob Balon several years ago, Laurel called me two days later and asked that I take it down. I’ll tell you, if there was ever a girl in the whole sordid Bachelor world that did not have an agenda, it was Laurel.
The truth is that there is nothing stranger or more convoluted than the weird life-as-art world of reality TV.
