Quinn finds her own magic
WASHINGTON Post exec editor Ben Bradlee’s widow Sally Quinn. TV reporter, DC monitor, knower of every pol’s every secret. Military child in 22 schools, student of the occult, voodoo, magic, astrology, tarot, palmistry, Ouija, etc., her new HarperOne book’s “Finding Magic: A Spiritual Memoir.”
So about surviving after 36 years married?
“Ben was 20 years older than I. The huge void left a bubble of grief. I’d lie on the floor of his crypt and just cry. I still talk to him. What happens is then you have people over. Sit, talk, go out with friends.”
So about surviving a learning-dis- ability child?
“Quinn [ Bradlee] nearly died. He had heart surgery at 3 months old. Later on, he had no friends. I had such desperation I couldn’t get out of bed. On a leave of absence, I once meditated in a grove of huge oak trees and, believing in Quinn, I came to understand he’s more beautiful than those trees.
“Look, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. Can’t think, ‘Why me?’ You have to think, ‘Why not me?’
“I looked into transcendentalism and started writing spiritual things. I didn’t even know what I was praying to. And then Ben got sick.”
So, now, any companion? Washington mouths say she’s seen with former Secretary of State John Kerry, whose wife, Teresa, has had health issues. She answered: “I’m not dating. But I would love to meet someone. As for John, he and his wife, Teresa, are longtime friends. I see them from time to time.” REESE Witherspoon on her coming project with Jennifer Aniston: “It has no name yet and no network yet” . . . EDIE Falco, who went to the same drama school as Parker Posey and
Wesley Snipes: “Other ladies were more beautiful. I got to play the 90-year-olds with blackened teeth” . . . EVERYTHING older’s younger again. Nicolas Cage to star in the indie “Primal” . . . AND back on track’s Jamie Lee
Curtis. Doing another in the “Halloween” series.
MIDDLEWEIGHT champ Jake LaMotta’s passing brought back a night at Gallagher’s. Having added 30 extra pounds at that time, my friend said: “If I packed on all this fat 30 years ago, I’d have been heavyweight champ.” Once, in a nightclub, he felt like reciting Shakespeare. When customers booed he answered: “Listen, I didn’t write this crap.”
EVEN the nonpious love Ann and Andrew Tisch’s annual Rosh Hashanah lunch. They say the food’s great. Which it is. They say the apartment’s great. Which it is. They say the guest list’s great. Which it is. They tell everyone they look great. Which they don’t. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.