Elton John is planning an extraordinary four-day bash to celebrate his partner David Furnish’s 50th birthday.
Elton, 65, is billing the lavish do in Los Angeles as ‘the party to end all parties’ and guests are expected to fly in from all over the world.
Elton will perform and Lady Gaga, the Scissor Sisters, Cher and Cirque du Soleil will also appear at the party’s various venues.
Guests including David and Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley have been invited to the extravaganza, which has taken six months to plan.
Those who have flown in will be put up at Elton’s expense at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where rooms start at £310 (Dh1,826) a night.
The celebrations for David kick off on Wednesday, October 24 at the couple’s £4 million new home in the Hollywood Hills.
The first night will take the form of a housewarming party for the couple’s mansion, which has undergone a multi-million-pound renovation and includes a nursery for their son Zachary, who will celebrate his second birthday on Christmas Day.
The following day is David’s birthday and dinner will be laid on for 200 guests in the ballroom of the 112-year-old Belasco Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Those guests who are still standing on Friday night will continue the celebrations at nightclub Greystone Manor, where Cher will perform.
The party will round off on Saturday when guests will be driven 300 miles to Las Vegas to see Elton’s Million Dollar Piano show at Caesars Palace.
“Elton wants this to be the party to end all parties,” said a friend. “Money is no object.”
His own 50th birthday was a study in excess, with the host turning up in an elaborate Louis XIV-style costume complete with 15ft silk train and a towering wig. The hairpiece was so tall he had to be driven to the venue in the back of a lorry.
Scarlett Johansson single again
Sultry Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has broken up with her boyfriend Nate Naylor. The 27-year-old lost In translation star met the dashing advertising executive — in January — after splitting up with 52-year-old actor Sean Penn and the romance progressed quickly, with Nate, 38, all but moving into her Manhattan apartment. But last month she was pictured cuddling up to and holding hands with her ex-boyfriend, actor Jared Leto, 40, during a speech at a political rally in North Carolina. At the time she insisted they were just good friends and her representatives adamantly denied that she and Nate had split, saying: “Scarlett is still dating Nate. This is very innocent.” Johansson and Leto have remained friends, nothing more, nothing less. But just a few weeks later Naylor, who is a dead ringer for Don Draper from the TV series Mad Men and who has posted hundreds of violent and sexually charged bondage photographs on his personal website, has moved all of his belongings out of her flat and the relationship is over. They never officially lived together, but Naylor has moved all of his stuff out and back into his apartment, says a source. The relationship is over. It has not been amicable. Johansson’s representative declined to comment last night.
Swank wants to reignite her film career
Hilary Swank is determined to make a fresh start after splitting from John Campisi, her agent and boyfriend of five years. The devastated star, who won a Best actress Oscar for her starring role in boxing movie Million Dollar Baby, has found a new agent, put her Los Angeles mansion on the market and fled to France, where she is house-hunting. Swank has a new group of friends in Paris. After the split she wanted to get out of LA, and she wants a whole new experience. She really loves the city and is looking for a place to live. Swank, 38, also wants to reignite her film career and has hired Reese Witherspoon’s husband Jim Toth as her agent.
