Denton Mulls Diller, Death Wish

Media mogul Barry Diller and wifey Diane von Furstenberg made an appearance at Madonna‘s celeb-filled fuck fest last night. While we’re sure the glamorous couple had some chuckles, made some memories and may have possibly helped Malawian children (or Kabbalah?), none of those niceties concern us – or Nick Denton.


The Gawker honcho used the aforementioned event as a platform to reanimate one of Gayville’s most pressing questions: Why did Diller – a man long dogged by gay “rumors” – marry Diane von Furstenberg? Here’s but a taste of Denton’s brave needling:

There seems little doubt that the IAC boss and Diane von Furstenberg are close friends; they have known eachother for decades. In the homophobic Hollywood of the 1970s, it was probably useful for Diller to confuse the issue of his personal life. His counterparts might suspect, or know; but there was enough contradictory information to prevent exposure by the press. That’s now less of a reason for dissimulation, of course: the dam has broken; newspapers and magazines, facing competition from gossipy blogs such as this, are much less easily browbeaten by privacy-obsessed moguls; they can’t afford to repeat the official line without looking craven. Diller’s marriage to Diane von Furstenberg was described, even in the normally straight New York Times, as a “merger”.

Bingo.