Names and faces
The drummer for the band Phish is trying to raise lead poisoning awareness after an alarming experience with his young son at their home in Maine. Jon Fishman and his wife, Briar, learned in 2014 that their toddler son had elevated levels of lead in his system. The couple says they had asked a contractor to test their 200-yearold Lincolnville farmhouse for lead when they moved in after relocating from Vermont in 2006 and were assured that it was fine. But, when a doctor told them they had work to do, “We were terrified,” Briar Fishman told the Bangor Daily News. “‘He said: ‘You have lead paint in your environment. Figure it out.’” The couple temporarily moved back to Vermont and spent $30,000 to replace any surface — including old doors, windows, mantles and siding — in their Maine house that might have lead paint before returning to Maine. Lead can cause serious cognitive disabilities in children. The Fishmans say they so far haven’t noticed any symptoms in their son. The drummer, who said in 2015 that he’s “trying to parlay the little celebrity I have to raise awareness,” recently donated funds to help a documentary called MisLEAD: America’s Secret Epidemic.
Designer Georgina Chapman, one of the two women behind the luxury fashion brand Marchesa, responded to the onslaught of sexual-abuse claims against Chapman’s husband, Harvey Weinstein, by telling People magazine that she will divorce the film mogul she married in 2007. Chapman, 41, who along with Keren Craig in 2004 founded the company, which creates red-carpet gowns for A-list stars, took what some believed was her only brand-saving leap. The divorce revelation, after Weinstein’s remarks last week that Chapman was standing by her man, came as some on social media called for a Marchesa boycott. “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time,” Chapman said in a statement. Weinstein and Chapman have two small children, ages 7 and 4. After their marriage, they presided as a Hollywood power couple as Marchesa feasted on the fruits of Weinstein’s celebrity connections to dress stars appearing at movie premieres and award shows. Marketing researcher Robert Passikoff, president of the New York-based consultancy Brand Keys, said only time will tell exactly how Marchesa does in the Weinstein fallout, especially among nonfamous consumers as opposed to red-carpet stars. “When the house is still burning, people comment about the flames and the smoke,” he said. “A month later, when people are just looking at the ashes, they tend to forget about these things.”