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February 2, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 6:10pm

Maximum Impact 03.02.06

By Press Gazette

The massive insecurity and huge egos of many stars take them ever
further away from the reality and truth. The bigger they get, then
often the more people there are – managers, agents, PRs and journalists
– who, for their own ends, tell them what they want to hear and thereby
help them on their journey away from the real world.

Some stars, however, start out like that and don’t need help from anyone.

I
don’t imagine it came as a real surprise to any journalist that – after
several months of deliberation and consultation with lawyers, clients
and friends – Kate Moss revealed virtually nothing to police during her
flying visit and 90-minute interview with them on Tuesday.

Apparently
she refused to comment on whether she had snorted cocaine, denied
supplying it to others and made no admissions. A police spokesman
commented: “On legal advice she exercised her option to deny certain
things and refused to answer other questions.”

So although we
learnt absolutely nothing that we didn’t already know before, it has,
of course, achieved a certain amount of good PR for both Kate and the
police.

Kate’s support team will tell the world that she did all
she could to help the police and has acted in a responsible manner. The
police achieved their PR aims by fulfilling their much lauded claim of
bringing Kate back to face the music. Of course, nothing emerged which
in any way would cause embarrassment or damage for the fashion
industry, from which Kate continues to make vast amounts of money.

Kate may have got out of the mire, but I fear that Pete Doherty – who doesn’t have her support – may be going ever deeper in.

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Another
celebrity who has been economical with his statements about a criminal
matter is Michael Barrymore, whose current PR campaign – with the help
of Celebrity Big Brother and The Sun – is apparently winning over the
hearts and minds of the British public.

Speaking personally, how
his acting performance on CBB could have convinced anyone watching that
he needed anything but psychiatric care is beyond me! Sue Carroll
summed up the man brilliantly in her Daily Mirror column on Wednesday:
“Barrymore is a control freak and master of manipulation who sucks in
the weak and vulnerable.”

He told Stuart Lubbock’s father: “I’ve
wanted to meet you for a long time” as they posed for pictures. Funny
that. In the past he refused every opportunity – and there were many –
to talk to him. Ditto Claire Wicks, the mother of Stuart’s children.

I
remember Barrymore’s wife, Cheryl, talking to me just a few weeks
before her death from cancer, when she made it very clear that she
didn’t want him to come to her funeral: “That man doesn’t know the
truth, can’t tell the truth and has never ever been able to. All he
cares about is himself and his career, and he will cleverly lie and
manipulate anyone and anything for his own ends. The only truth for
Michael is what he wants to believe.”

On the night of Stuart
Lubbock’s tragic death, Michael’s reaction was to run away and make a
phone call. Did he phone the police? Or the ambulance? No – his PR man.
Now apparently he’s desperate for the truth to come out. If so, he
could start by answering all the questions he refused to answer at the
inquest.

I read Michael Barrymore’s account of his marriage to
Cheryl in The Sun on Wednesday, but I remember only too well Cheryl
telling me a shockingly different version of events. I know who I
believe. He might be cunning and conniving enough to fool some of the
public, but I sincerely hope he doesn’t fool the media.

The fee for this column is donated to the Rhys Daniels Trust

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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