An awkward thing happened to me today. I was halfway through playing in the Michael Douglas and Friends Celebrity-Amateur tournament…we stopped at the grill for a burger.
Heather Locklear (pictured with Billy in an older interview) and her foursome were finishing their lunch and heading back out to play. One of my teammates, Cheryl Ladd popped over to say “Hi”…I was walking by and I did too.
I don’t know Heather too well, but I thought it polite.
As soon as I started chatting with her, two publicists started shouting “Time to go. She has to go.”
“Uh…Bye”, I said.
Shortly after that, the two publicists huddled with a guy, who I later found out was one of the press coordinators. He made his way over to me and began questioning me, in a subtle way (not really) about my involvement… who my foursome was, their names.
I suddenly realized what was up.
They thought I was snooping around, like “Fletch”, trying to get close to Heather for a scoop on the whole Denise-Richie saga. I was being given the third degree like the guy at the club in jean shorts. I was like paparazzi.
Ironically, the grounds were being set up for an NBC telecast the next day. NBC is the network that owns Access Hollywood, my employer.
Hey, this is my family…wait, don’t throw me out!! I may have icing on my lips, but I did not eat the cake.
Truth be told, my friend Stewart invited me to play a long time ago…long before I knew Heather was attending. Yes, an invited guest. But, to think I might be so uber-aggressive as to sneak into the Michael Douglas Tournament…well, that’s flattering, but I do have a life (wife, three daughters) that beckons me to other pursuits on Saturdays.
One other note: each foursome costs so much money it’s crippling, so to approach anyone in one of these groups, in a suspicious manner is kind of tough in the etiquette department.
Stewart was embarrassed by me being embarrassed and swore he’d never play again in this tournament. I calmed him down by explaining things: the celebrity hunt on the weekends, led by the paparazzi, is wild and a lot of people will stop at nothing to exploit a salacious story.
He didn’t really understand, but how can ANYONE really?
Heather looked great and was very nice. There’s my report.
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