Pick of the week’s Gossip

The Getty family has had its share of bad luck – including kidnappings, drugs and divorce – but Balthazar Getty is bucking the trend. The 41-year-old scion of the oil dynasty, interviewed in The Sunday Times last week, described a life of untroubled luxury in LA. “Some people are gonna hate me for this, but I never wake up before 11,” he confessed. “I have the same breakfast every day, brought to me in bed by the maid.” After porridge and a boiled egg, he goes for a cycle ride. “Then it’s an hour on the treadmill and a shower. It might sound silly, but I’ve got a six-stage procedure for my face, with toners, exfoliators, moisturisers and serums.” Yet he still finds time to throw parties – “and I’m not going to lie; anyone who is anyone has been. Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson… It’s fun.”

Gene Wilder, who died this week, could be as lovable off-screen as on. In the comments section of The Guardian this week, one contributer (posting as Iamdelti) described meeting the actor in the 1990s, on a visit to the Tate in London. “He was strikingly shy, but as polite as could be.” One gallery attendant, called Catherine, asked for an autograph: Wilder gladly obliged, before moving off to explore. “Since the attendants rotate their positions, he unexpectedly saw Catherine again up ahead,” said Iamdelti. “Whereupon, shyness banished and now in performance mode, to the astonishment of visitors nearby, he yelled: ‘Catherine!! How are you?? You don’t write, you don’t phone…’ She was thrilled – wouldn’t you be?”