Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  Guy Ritchie met up with sons David and Rocco in London yesterday for the first time since October, but only after agreeing to follow a list of rules issued by Madonna, which included no new friends, no fast food, no newspapers, and no TV. [Us, Mirror]
♦  Back in the US, Madonna supposedly threw an "intimate dinner party" at her apartment so she could introduce Alex Rodriguez to a group of her friends. [Mirror]
♦  One week after Tim Robbins experienced a few problems trying to cast his vote in the presidential election, officials now say they pinpointed the issue: Robbins turned up at the wrong polling location, which he might have known if he'd bothered to vote in the mid-term elections. [NYDN, P6]More

Lydia Hearst: Points for Trying | Lydia Hearst had a little run-in with Page Six magazine earlier this week: After bashing the media conglomerate founded by her great-grandfather in her weekly column, she accused the mag of making the item up and simply slapping her byline at the top. The heiress took her revenge last night. Sort of! Proving originality isn't her strong suit, Lydia wore precisely the same get-up that Britney Spears wore after she was dissed by Page Six way back in 2003. [GoaG, Jossip]

♦  You didn't expect to hear that Lydia Hearst actually wrote that column in Page Six magazine by herself, did you? In response to Hearst's accusation that Page Six fabricated her latest column—the one in which she bashed her family's publishing company—the mag now says that Hearst's writing process involved being interviewed by a reporter who then "put her thoughts into cohesive paragraphs." And they have the emails to prove Lydia's trash talk. [P6]
♦  Madonna is reportedly under pressure from the leaders of Kabbalah to reach a divorce settlement quickly, lest the mess cast a negative light on their freaky cult. Guy Ritchie, however, isn't making it any easier now that he's apparently rejected Madge's latest £20 million offer. [Daily Mail, ThisIsLondon]
♦  Michael Phelps got paid $100,000 to swim around at a pool party thrown by a TV network chief's wife. [P6]
♦  It's a match made in heaven: Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Jerry Ferrara, who plays Turtle on Entourage, are dating. [R&M]More

Lydia Hearst Steps Down | Heiress/self-proclaimed journalist Lydia Hearst is stepping down as a columnist for Page Six magazine. Why? She claims the column published in yesterday's issue—the one in which she criticizes her family's publishing company for throwing parties amid a recession—wasn't actually written by her. A more likely explanation: Someone explained to Lydia that it's probably not a great idea to bite the hand that feeds you (especially when it doesn't take much to be disinherited!), and suggested she backpedal as quickly as possible. [GoaG, previously]

♦  Lydia Hearst, seen here attending a party last week, doesn't think her family's publishing company should be hosting parties these days. "It's time to work through this crisis, not party through it," she says. [P6]
♦  How are Madonna and Guy Ritchie coping with their split? Madonna has supposedly enrolled in anger management classes at the Kabbalah Center, while Guy has been out with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. [The Sun, People]
♦  Elisabeth Hasselbeck is introducing Sarah Palin at a rally in Florida this weekend. [ET] 
♦  A month after vacationing together in St. Tropez, Jennifer Lopez has asked Benny Medina to come back on as her manager. [Fox411]
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♦  Pat Field's debuted her line for HSN today. The Carrie-like dresses cost $150 a pop and each order comes with a subscription to Vogue. "If only Anna Wintour would go on the air and shill along with Pat Field." [The Cut]
♦  Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen might be feuding, their neighbors might hate them, but their fashion empire keeps expanding: They've just signed a deal with Steve Madden to create a shoe line under their Elizabeth and James brand. [WWD]
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Happy Birthday | It will probably be a fun weekend for Lydia Hearst: the heiress  turns 24 today. Others blowing out candles today: Jimmy Fallon is 34. Soledad O'Brien of CNN is 42. Richie Akiva is 32, although the invite to his birthday party said it was his 30th. James Lipton is 82. Former HarperCollins chief Jane Friedman is 63. Defense attorney Barry Scheck is turning 59. And model Victoria Silvstedt is 34. On Saturday: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (pictured here with Lydia, a first we imagine) will be 54. Financier Joseph Perella will be 67. Sophia Loren will turn 74. Ad exec Scott Goodson will celebrate his 45th. Interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield will be 62. And Jossip's David Hauslaib will turn 25. On Sunday: Jane Rosenthal will be 52. Stephen King will be 61. Bill Murray will celebrate his 58th. Jerry Bruckheimer will be 63. Book publisher Geoff Kloske will turn 39. Natural History museum president Ellen Futter will be 59. Nicole Richie will be 27. Cheryl Hines will turn 43. Luke Wilson will be 37. And filmmaker Ethan Coen will be celebrating his 51st.

Poor Lydia Hearst is still stuck in the hospital, having been rushed to the New York-Presbyterian ER last night for kidney stones. But this is Fashion Week, dammit, and there's socializing to be done, and so she's going to fight through the pain. "She is still expected to be seated front row at the Tommy Hilfiger show Thursday, and to attend London Fashion Week next week." Lance Armstrong would be proud, babe. [Star]

1) Of the many fashion parties over the weekend, none was bigger than Calvin Klein's 40th anniversary bash on the High Line last night. Among the fresh-from-Bryant Park faces present: Francisco Costa, Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou, Brooke Shields, Lindsay Price, Kim Raver, Eva Mendes, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Ellen Pompeo, Molly Sims, Alan Cumming, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Anna Wintour, Bee Shaffer, Bryan Adams, Bijou Phillips, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Fabien Baron, Ashley Olsen, Cynthia Nixon, Carlos Souza, Linda Fargo, Casey Spooner, Erin Fetherston, Ellen von Unwerth, Estelle, Rachel Zoe, Fern Mallis, Glenda Bailey, Jared Leto, Coco Rocha, Esther Canadas, Joy Bryant, John Leguizamo, Jay Manuel, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Jessica Szohr, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Leighton Meester, Lydia Hearst, Martha Stewart, Ethan Hawke, Olivia Chantecaille, Padma Lakshmi, Rosario Dawson and Stephanie Seymour. [NYDN, NYO, PMc, GoaG]More

1) One of many Fashion Week kick-off events was the Agyness Deyn-hosted, Thierry Mugler-sponsored bash last night at Christie's, where Chloë Sevigny, Henry Holland, Kelly Osbourne, Peaches Geldof, Yigal Azrouël, Kelly Cutrone, Paul Sevigny, Kate Schelter, Jennifer Creel, Holly Dunlap, Genevieve Jones, Jen Cohen, Dori Cooperman, Ellen Von Unwerth, Padma Lakshmi, and Mary Alice Stephenson previewed the auction house's fall sales of post-war and contemporary art, impressionist and modern art, and fashion. [The Daily, Wireimage, NYO]

2) Last night Interview celebrated their September issue (and new look) with a party at the still-under-construction Standard Hotel. Andre Balazs and his daughter Alessandra, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, Glenn O'Brien, Fabien Baron and his daughter Arielle, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg, Patrick McMullan, Tory Burch, Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Magnus Berger, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Tara Subkoff, Lydia Hearst, Lauren Hutton, Lara Stone, Jessica Stam, Hope Atherton, Gavin Brown, Genevieve Jones, Taylor Momsen, Lily Donaldson, Angela Lindvall, and Sam and Kathryn Shaffer ate Nobu sushi and dodged exposed wires and electrical tape. [The Daily/PMc]More

• John Edwards probably won't be invited to speak at the Democratic national convention unless he addresses those nagging rumors that he had a love child with Rielle Hunter. [Page Six]
• Rumor has it Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr. are engaged. [Us]
• Mariah Carey is paying $125,000 to rent Stone Meadow Farm in East Hampton for one week this month. Is that where she and Nick Cannon are throwing the big wedding they've been talking about for months? [Page Six]
• Georgina Bloomberg would be heading to the Olympics in Beijing right now if her horse hadn't gotten injured right before the Olympic trials. But she'll compete for a spot in 2012! [R&M]

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Spottings | Parker Posey walking her dog through the Village ... Katie Holmes leaving another day of rehearsals and walking to a playground with Suri a few hours later ... Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, and Luke Perry shooting a scene for Law & Order in the meatpacking district ... Kelly Ripa outside the David Letterman show ... Blake Lively and Taylor Momsen showing up to the Gossip Girl set in Chinatown ... and Lydia Hearst and Aubrey O'Day posing for a Tara Subkoff "photo shoot" downtown.

• Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo were supposed to have two weddings coming up—one in Mustique and one at The Plaza—but now they're having none because the whole wedding has been called off. The Post's suggestion: "Maybe he should rethink his hairpiece." [Page Six]
• Lydia Hearst and Aubrey O'Day weren't actually making out in front of Butter on Monday night. They were filming a scene for the film that Tara Subkoff is making to promote her new collection. [Page Six] 
• Heather Graham and Star Room co-owner Charles Ferri have broken up after two years of dating. [Page Six]
• Is Katie Holmes pregnant again? Probably not! [Mirror]

Spottings | Kate Hudson and son Ryder crossing a street in the Village ... America's Next Top Model's Jay Manuel leaving the ABC studios ... Madonna and Lourdes leaving the Kabbalah center ... Seth Rogen playing outside Late Night with David Letterman ... Bernadette Peters walking into a Midtown office buidling ... Lindsay Price taking a stroll downtown with her mom ... David Cross and Amber Tamblyn walking David's dog through the East Village ... the cast of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants outside TRL ... Shaquille O'Neal leaving his hotel in Midtown ... Leighton Meester getting in a limo at JFK ... and Aubrey O'Day and Lydia Hearst holding hands on their way out of Butter and kissing in the limo waiting outside.

• Do you have $300 million burning a hole in your pocket and a yen to see Tory Burch's company get even bigger? You're in luck: a stake in the popular-with-Upper East Siders label is up for grabs. [WWD]
• Stockholm Syndrome scion Lydia Hearst is doing the family name proud: She's the new face (body?) of lingerie line Myla. [NYDN]
• Diane von Furstenberg has been inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame, where she'll join other honored rag-trade luminaries like Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Anne Klein and Oscar de la Renta. [The Daily]
• So it was only to be expected that DVF would be unanimously re-elected as president of the CFDA today; the board also ratified new members including Thakoon Panichgul, Holly Dunlap, and Dana Foley and Anna Corinna Sellinger. [WWD]