Who

Possibly the most powerful gossip columnist in America, Johnson is the longtime editor of Page Six.

Backstory

While his debonair appearance might suggest a life of privilege, Richard Johnson didn't spend his youth mingling with the rich and famous. After dropping out of the University of Colorado (he eventually finished up at Empire State College), Johnson worked as a carpenter, construction worker, and New York City cab driver before beginning a career in journalism with a reporting job at the Chelsea Clinton News. In 1978, he joined Rupert Murdoch's New York Post as a general assignment reporter; he moved to the paper's "Page Six" gossip column several years later, working alongside George Rush and Joanna Molloy. In 1990, Johnson left the Post to pursue a short-lived TV gig and later ended up working briefly at Mort Zuckerman's Daily News. He returned to his former home after Rupert Murdoch re-acquired the paper and he's been churning out tawdry bits of gossip—and trading favors with the high and mighty—ever since.

Of note

Despite competition from other media outlets, the advent of the internet, and any number of seamy scandals, Page Six remains the sine qua non of the gossip trade. Media honchos still jockey for space on the page, clubs and restaurants still lavish freebies on Johnson and his minions in the hopes of a mention, and a nasty item can still inflict an inordinate amount of pain. Overseeing Page Six—and ruining the occasional reputation—comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Johnson's position has made him one of the city's most influential powerbrokers as well as a major social player (he's a fixture at A-list parties and galas), but it's earned him plenty of ire, too: he's suffered the indignity of having more than a few drinks thrown in his face (Al Pacino's girlfriend; super-agent Ed Limato) and he's been threatened with beat-downs by the likes of Mickey Rourke and Alec Baldwin. (A feud with journalist Joe Conason actually ended up in blows—Johnson ended up decking Conason outside the offices of the Village Voice.) But Page Six's propensity to infuriate is also what's made the column such a valuable franchise, which the paper has attempted to exploit with a glossy magazine and new website, PageSix.com—although Johnson's role at the magazine is limited, and the website was ignominiously shut down after just three months.

Keeping score

Johnson is believed to be the paper's highest-paid editor, save for editor-in-chief Col Allan. He reportedly collects $300,000 a year for his services.

Drama

That Page Six protects friends and metes out punishment to its enemies is nothing new. But the hush-hush system of favor-trading earned the column some unwanted attention in 2006 when Page Six staffer Jared Paul Stern was accused of shaking down supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle. (Burkle accused Stern of guaranteeing favorable treatment in exchange for monthly cash payments.) Stern was never charged with a crime in connection with the case, but it opened the door to a handful of other salacious claims. Johnson was later accused of having had a $50,000 bachelor party at porn mogul Joe Francis's $25 million estate in Mexico, where a girl may or may not have been raped. In 2007, former Page Sixer Ian Spielgelman accused Johnson of taking a cash bribe from Nello Balan, which the Post editor, Col Allan, later confirmed. (Allan added that Johnson was "reprimanded" for the "ethical lapse.") The revelations didn't do much to damage Johnson's reputation. He continues to keep a firm grasp on the column where he oversees a staff that includes Paula Froelich, Bill Hoffmann, and Corynne Steindler.

Crime file

Johnson was arrested for DUI in 2006 after an evening spent at Soho House. He initially retained Eddie Hayes as his attorney before later handing over the case to Stacey Richman, Murray Richman's daughter. It wasn't Johnson's first brush with such charges: He was booked for DUI in 1997, too.

Personal

Johnson married his third wife, Sessa von Richthofen, in 2005; they had a daughter named Alessandra Renee in 2007. For much of the 1990s, Johnson was married to power publicist Nadine Johnson and the couple had a son together named Jack. He has one other son, Damon, from his first marriage. Johnson and von Richthofen live in the 80s on York Avenue.