RUMORS DOGGING HECHE

'I'LL DIE young, but it's like kissing God," said Lenny Bruce,
pathetically, of his drug-taking.

THE STORY to watch now is Anne Heche vs. The National Enquirer. Heche
has been branded by the gossip sheet as "the witch" who encouraged and
supplied Robert Downey Jr.'s return to drug-taking. Heche denies it
and has threatened to sue. Downey denies it. The tabloid says its
story is "rock solid." This was a truly hurtful, harmful, vicious
article. If Heche sues and can prove herself innocent, she might walk
away with a settlement that ensures security for life. If she doesn't
sue ... well, she joins such stars as Whitney Houston, who have seen
themselves splashed in the tabs in an endless variety of unsavory
drug-related stories. Houston has maintained a significant silence.

(Next week's Enquirer cover screams "Yasmine Bleeth is a coked-out
mess!" Subtle, the tab is not. And we'll see what poor Yasmine has to
say.) Not that drug rumors haven't swirled around Heche before. There
was her "sunstroke" episode in the immediate aftermath of her split
from Ellen DeGeneres. And we received many tips that drugs were a
major problem in the Heche-DeGeneres relationship; that indeed it was
the primary reason for the breakup.

HERE'S A story making the Hollywood rounds. The veteran actor Robert
(R.J.) Wagner was telling the director of directors, Billy Wilder,
about the wonders of Viagra. His wife of many years, the beautiful
Jill St. John, sat nearby.

R.J. raved on about how many times the prescription drug enabled him
to perform. Wilder, eating a bowl of soup, looked at R.J., spoon in
midair, and asked, "And did she wake up?"