Missing man Patrick McDermott was on Olivia Newton-John's payroll

Still no proof-of-life photo of Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend Patrick Kim McDermott, but Tabloid Baby pal Dylan Howard, the international investigative reporter who’s broken a lot of news in the case that we kept alive, has new details from the official Coast Guard report into his disappearance at sea five years ago-- including the fact that McDermott was on the singer’s payroll.

Among the other new information that was published in Australia's New Idea magazine and around the world:

* McDermott purchased a .357 magnum three months before he disappeared

* Someone tried to access his computer between the time he vanished and when it was seized;

* A file from his computer contained information on how to fake an identity;

* He attempted suicide by pills at 17;

* He was drowning in debt and failing to meet child support;

* He had $755.01 in savings and $19,004.56 in credit card debt and was $8,000 behind in child support payments;

* He'd destroyed all his emails, including correspondence from Newtown-John;

* Started a company called Twice Alive Productions in 2003.


The investigation focuses on McDermott's nine-year relationship with the Newton-John, who never reported him missing after he vanished from a fishing boat on June 30, 2005. Newton-John failed to alert the media, whoch could have helped in a missing persons search, and it was seven weeks before a reporter noticed the name and Newton-John connection and broke the news.

Was Newton-John aware of his scheme? The report says she told investigators she wasn't aware of McDermott's financial straits, and that the last time she saw him was in mid-June, before she left on a trip to Australia (where she was when he disappeared). She said he'd come to her home to end their on-off relationship once again.

The report notes "official sightings" of McDermott in Malibu, Long Beach and San Luis Obispo, California, Calgary Canada, and Todos Santo, La Paz, Sayulita and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The report says the US Coast Guard has labelled the McDermott probe a "deadbeat parent” case, which means the US State Department “remains on the lookout, but not actively searching for someone who has absconded from life’s responsibilities.”

Last month, a private eye working for NBC's tabloid show Dateline claimed to have "proof" that McDermott is alive and well in Baja Mexico (the destination of his fishing charter), but asked everyone to take his word for it until he writes a book.

"Proof of life"? It's time to produce a photo of Patrick McDermott to prove he's alive

We've been investigating the case of missing Hollywood outcast Patrick McDermott for five years, since the day it was announced he'd vanished from a fishing boat off San Pedro and that his supposed lover of nine years, Olivia Newton-John hadn't bothered to report him missing or make a public plea to help find him in seven long weeks. The story, and subsequent revelations that he may have faked his death over finances (why would he need money if he was Newton-John's partner?), was either too challenging or not interesting enough to most journos, especially the Hollywood types who weren't about to topple the longstanding industry "beard" facade (see Jesse James), but we beat the drum loud and long enough for other tabloid outlets, including NBC's Dateline, to investigate.

And now Dateline's hired P.I. says he's tracked down McDermott in Baja Mexico, that he has "proof of life," "voice recordings," and a deal with McDermott's lawyer to back off, leave the guy alone and go write a book.

And people are taking his word for it...


Sorry, but we don't trust the folks at Dateline. It's time to back it up.

Here's the latest:

* McDermott is living in the Mexican village of Sayulita and working as a ship's mate on a tourist yacht;

* Residents of the Pacific coast town say they know the 'tranquil man' as Pat Kim;

* Shown a photograph of Mr McDermott, they confirmed he had been living in the town for several years;

* Local hotelier Mark Rubio said most folks knew his true identity but "nobody was bothered. This is a pretty relaxed place";

* The captain of Sayula 1, the ship Mr McDermott has worked on, said he had not seen him in some time;

* P.I. Klein received 'proof of life' by a representative of McDermott, including a voice recording and an instructions that McDermott "did not want to be hounded";

* Klein agreed;

* Mainstream news outlets are reporting his announcements without investigating for themselves. WTF??!

We believe Patrick McDermott is alive. We've spoken to witnesses and dug up important information. But if Philip Klein has the goods, we'd figure he'd come back with a video statement from McDermott or, at the very least, a photo.


Sayulita, Mexico: a fishing village about 25 miles north of downtown Puerto Vallarta in the state of Nayarit, Mexico, with a population of approximately 4,000. Hailed as a popular off-the-beaten-path travel destination, Sayulita offers a variety of activities such as horseback riding, hiking, jungle canopy tours, snorkeling and fishing. Still a mecca for beginner surfers of all ages, the quaint town attracts upscale tourists with its numerous art galleries and restaurants as well. The most well-established restaurant, Don Pedro's (since 1994), has attracted an international clientele for years, many of whom have vacation villas in the picturesque village. Sayulita has a curious eclectic quality, frequented by native Cora and Huichol peoples, travelling craftsmen as well as international tourists. Sayulita is the crown jewel in the newly designated "Riviera Nayarit," the coastal corridor from Litibu to San Blas. Its stunning natural beauty and easy access to Puerto Vallarta have made Sayulita real estate some of the most sought after in all of Mexico. With a growing ecological awareness and stricter zoning enforcement, development is being regulated to help safeguard the environment and quality of life of the community.

Set off, journos. Bring back some real "proof of life."

P.I. claims "proof" Patrick McDermott lives

A private eye searching for Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John's former boyfriend who vanished five years ago, says his hunt is over after he received "conclusive proof" he's alive.

McDermott was 48 when he disappeared from a fishing boat that set off from San Pedro on June 30, 2005. He was believed to have fallen overboard but his body was never recovered, and it wasn't long before it was revealed he had financial troubles and may have faked his death and was hiding out on Mexico's Baja coast.

Texas-based P.I. Philip Klein worked on the case for NBC''s tabloid show Dateline. He said yesterday that he had "concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. McDermott is alive."

He said his team was checking documents and voice recordings of McDermott that he and his lawyer had provided in return for detectives agreeing to leave him alone.

Said Klein: "Mr. McDermott's wishes, according to his counsel, is not to be 'hounded' any longer by investigators or the media."

He alleged that McDermott faked his death to escape mounting debts and to enable his teenage son to benefit from a $100,000 US life insurance policy.

McDermott's disappearance wasn't made pubic for seven weeks, when a reporter linked his name to Newton-John. The Aussie songbird never reported him missing, despite claims they'd been involved in a nine-year romance. Newton-John later gave conflicting responses for the oversight, and finally said that she'd broken up with McDermott. The Coast Guard kept the case open. In 2008, Newton-John married someone else.


Tabloid Baby was the only news organization to remain on the story since 2005. Our reports kept the story alive, and led to reports of McDermott sightings and Klein's involvement last year.

Klein reported contact with McDermott in 2009, though he has not shown any concrete "proof of life" which he claims to have in possession. We do know he is writing a book about his search.

We'll withhold huzzahs until he produces the live McDermott.

Shocking details behind the message from Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend Patrick McDermott

There’s a book's worth of shocking, jaw-dropping, facade-smashing evidence and allegations behind today's claim from a private eye that friends of Olivia Newton-John’s missing ex-boyfriend Patrick McDermott have reached out to say he’s alive and well in Mexico-- and wants to be left alone.

Reporter Dylan Howard, who broke the story in today's edition of The News of The World, has a far more detailed article in the new issue of Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine that contradicts much of the official version coming from newton-John's camp over the past four years and adds new detail to the story Tabloid Baby has kept alive from the day McDermott's disappearance was announced-- when our contributors were in San Pedro, California to hear a Coast Guard spokesman tell us the case was “still open.”


Howard's article, based on unseen Coast Guard interviews and other reportage, disputes two major assertions made by Newton-John's camp-- that the singer had been in Australia when McDermott vanished-- and that their relationship had broken off weeks, perhaps months earlier.

Howard contends that McDermott, who did not live with Newton-John after nine-years, visited her at her Malibu compound 24 to 72 hours before he vanished to break up the relationship. After leaving Newton-John “huddled on the couch, crying,” he returned to give his keys to the singer's personal assistant, saying, “It's too tumultuous around here.”

The article quotes private eye Philip Klein as saying he has evidence McDermott had been planning his getaway for as long as six months, and that he'd taken at least six fishing trips on the Freedom charter boat, in effect “casing" it before disappearing from it.

The article also places suspicion on McDermott's estranged wife, the actress Yvette Nipur, who allegedly made a claim on his $250,000 insurance policy 90 days after his disappearance, while striking up a close friendship with Newton-John-- “with Olivia as ambassador for Yvette's t-shirt line Be So Do So."

A scan of Tabloid Baby's archives will show there have been reported sightings of McDermott and many unanswered questions in the four years since his disappearance. The coming weeks will be crucial.

First posting on the Tabloid Baby blogsite:

Mystery message from missing McDermott?

Olivia Newton-John's missing lover Patrick McDermott is alive, hiding out in Baja Mexico, and has come forward to tell investigators to leave him alone. So reports the News of The World in the latest update to a story Tabloid Baby alone has kept in the public eye for the four years since the cameraman and public companion vanished from fishing charter boat that docked in San Pedro. Private eye Philip Klein, who's been on the McDermott case for months, tells the British tabloid that he received a fax from a friend of McDermott, asking him to call off the search. The fax, dated February 10, describes how McDermott fled the United States at a time he was suspected to have been having major financial problems. "You may assume Pat is alive and very well. Pat asked that I portray to you his innocence in the crimes you have accused him of. Pat has committed no crime He simply has gone to a new life without the hassles of California or the spot light to which he has lived for years. Pat has no ill will to anyone. Pat simply wishes to be left alone. Let him live his life in peace and harmony. He is safe and has started anew again in a new place both mentally and physically." Klein says he's received three phone calls from McDermott pals since February. According to his story, the 52-year-old has dyed his silver hair black and works as a deckhand in the small Mexican fishing town of Sayulita. When he's not on the move he stays at a £20-a-night beachside motel, always in room 10. The Coast Guard investigators in 2008 concluded that McDermott probably drowned, but there was speculation from the start that he'd staged his disappearance to escape debts and provide insurance money for his son. Klein says he evidence McDermott spent six months planning his getaway, got a second passport in his birth name Patrick Kim and withdrew his life savings from two bank accounts before skipping. McDermott was Newton-John's companion for nine years. Eyebrows were raised when it was realized she'd never reported him missing nor gone to the media for help finding him. McDermott left on the fishing charter on June 30, 2005. His ex-wife reported him missing on July 6th. Newton-John acknowledged the loss seven weeks later, after a reporter brought it up. She married a rich guy last year.

Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend who was lost at sea, did indeed fake his death and is alive and on the run, say investigators

We’re getting a lot of web traffic and hits from people looking for information on Patrick McDermott.

This is the place . For years, and up against great criticism and ridicule, Tabloid Baby was the sole news organization that kept alive the story of the boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John who disappeared after boarding a charter fishing boat in San Pedro, California in 2005.

Earlier this week NBC’s tabloid show Dateline picked up the story, reporting on claims that did indeed stage his own disappearance to avoid debts and enable his teenage son to cash in on a $151,000 insurance policy.

Dateline gave it a cute title, Beyond The Sea and put the comic, perpetually amused correspondent Keith Morrison on the story and filled the report and related stories with question marks, but despite the disclaimer, the bottom line, as picked up internationally (and thanks to the UK Daily Mail for the quotes below), is that another team of private investigators says McDermott is travelling along the Mexican and South America coastline under an alias.

Beard?

The U.S. Coast Guard concluded that the cameraman, who was 48 when he went missing, had most likely drowned. But suspicion remained over McDermott's disappearance after it emerged he’d filed for bankruptcy, owed thousands of dollars in child support to his ex-wife— and that Newton-John never reported him missing.

Dateline picked up our lead in March 2007, and hired PIs to find McDermott, months after we reported that the infotainment show Extra took evidence from a local reporter in Baja Mexico, promised to have it analyzed, but did not.

Investigator Philip Klein told Dateline: “He's alive-- there's no doubt in my mind, this guy's alive. Maybe in his mind if he stages his death, the insurance policy will pay off his debts and he can leave his child a gift by pretending he's dead.”

Klein claimed McDermott's life insurance policy “is in full force and effect. The premiums have been paid every month. There has also been an inquiry by a person or persons in an attempt to possibly file a claim on the insurance money.”

Employee?

Klein's agency set up a website called findpatrickmcdermott.com, a ruse to find McDermott by showing investigators the locations of people logging on to the site.

Klein said he began tracking hits from what he believes was a boat travelling along the Mexican coastline as far as South America.

"Sayulita, Mexico, is where many of the hits were coming from. We got to Sayulita, we began to show his picture around to witnesses in the area, and we found people who said, ‘Yeah, I know him, he comes here all the time.’ We have witnesses, including five Americans, willing to give us signed affidavits that they've seen him.

“He asked waiters to put him in corners, he had changed his appearance once or twice. He's moving as a lone wolf."

“The rule of thumb is always this-- when you're running you are always looking over your shoulder and we're going to catch him looking at us.

"We fully anticipate he's going to go underground for a while. But when he raises his head, he's not just going to have 20 eyes looking for him, he's going to have a million eyes looking for him."

Really Her Boyfriend?

Shamus Klein said that Newton-John apparently was also accessing the site on a regular basis for updates on efforts to find McDermott.

“The most unusual hits we've gotten were Olivia Newton-John when she was on tour in Asia. Every hotel she was registered at and staying at there were hits from that hotel on that night where she was staying.”

He claimed his team had “confirmed" sightings of McDermott from at least 17 witnesses across Mexico.

Newton-John refused to be interviewed for the Dateline show. Last year, she married John Easterling, founder and president of natural remedy firm, Amazon Herb Company.

URGENT UPDATE: Our Man Elli says IBL execs are in meeting over issues that could end plans for Israel Baseball League's 2008 mini-season

Will the new and improved Israel Baseball League return on July 27th for a four-team, 20-game, three week, momentum-keeping second season? Well, it could go either way, because right now there's a big meeting going on among the IBL brass, while those long-awaited paychecks to the players have either gone missing in the mail service-- or bounced! the news is big and breaking, and we found out when the phone rang in our Los Angeles office and Jerusalem was on the line!

Tabloid Baby: Hello?

Our Man Elli in Israel: You near a keyboard?

Whoa. You're calling us?

I don't have time. This is big news.

Then shoot.

As we speak, there is a decision-making meeting going on right now among the top IBL executives, including Baras, Solomont, Berger, Rootenberg and maybe Baran as well.

All in the same room?

Some in person, some on the conference call.

What’s on the agenda?

Are you kidding me? You’re not following this story? What, are you too busy posting about a has-been like Olivia Newton-John?

It's a great mystery, the story about her missing boyfriend. And hey, we're not Baseball Baby. Today we got 20,000 hits alone for Lara Logan's swimsuit photos. So why the big meeting?

Pay attention. I’ll say it slowly: M-O-N-E-Y.

Let me guess: They don't have any.

They don’t have enough, and it doesn’t look like they will. At this point they've got too many problems raising money, and Solomont hasn't been willing to put in much of his own. The impression is that he's acting more as a promoter trying to raise most of the money from others. And remember those six LLCs (limited liability companies) we wrote about way back when that were formed as entities in Delaware? Well, you can now add a seventh.

It seems that Solomont and (IBL founder) Larry Baras formed a new one on May 29 called New Israel Baseball Partners, and it's that corporation that's trying to raise money for the new season.

And that’s probably why Solomont was humming to himself on Twitter the next day:

Humming "Take me out to the ball game", and soon you will know why :)
06:27 PM May 30, 2008

A seventh LLC? Good place for a plug for The Seventh Python!


Why the seventh LLC?

Apparently it’s to prevent IBL creditors from being able to sue if the debts to them aren't paid. And it does suggest that they dont intend to pay off all the IBL's debts. Meanwhile, Solomont has apparently been distributing some sort of investment proposal summary designed to attract investors. And it’s not clear if it contains full disclosure of the IBL's problems.

What they think they can hide all that’s happened in the last year? Investors are gonna pony up without due diligence?

That or just blame me for all their problems.

So that’s it? Season’s over-- before it began... as we'd reported?

Not yet. But we might know before Shabbat rolls in tomorrow afternoon.

C'mon! We all want baseball in Israel this summer! Don't we, guys?

(holds up phone to office)

TB office workers: "Israel baseball, Oy! Oy! Oy!"

Something, or someone's got to save them!

Hey, it's still conceivable that Solomont could decide to write the check himself for this season. He probably could afford to front the money it would cost to operate this year, probably a few hundred thousand, take the risk he can raise the money between this year and next.

It could come down to whether he truly believes in the idea of professional baseball in Israel, in which case he'd write the check. Or he could be approaching things more as a promoter, hoping to put together a deal with mother people’s money, and then be able to control the league himself without a great deal of financial risk.

Sounds like the perfect guy to head that outfit. What's your considerable gut tell you?

We’ll know after the meeting, when Rootenberg gets back to me on the 20 questions I sent him last week.

Update: Hero or Puppet?

They're trying to make him the puppet. They're stalling him.

Are Solomont and Baras Jesse Jackson to his Obama, ready to rip his nuts off?

Look, if they don't open their books to him and give him access to information a president ought to have, he’ll walk. And then what will they say?

I don't know.

There is a lot of money owed, and a lot of people getting ripped off. But if Rootenberg walks-- oy gut! The black eye the IBL will receive would probably be too enormous to overcome. Even if Solomont does put up the money, how would they explain Rootenberg leaving? Because he'll tell the truth about not being shown the books, and then the IBL will be hammered for perpetuating the fraud.

Dude, this is Doomsday scenario. But go on, please.

Then Baras/Berger/Solomont will probably announce that time was too short to start up a league on the professional level they would want in 2008, and that they're actively at work on plans for a full season in 2009 and thereafter. They’ll make enough promises to enough people-- creditors, the IAB-- to keep open the possibility that they could return in 2009.

That's a longshot, but it would be their attempt to "freeze" the IAB from working with anyone else, and give them time to raise enough money to demonstrate "progress," although probably not enough to really operate a league.

Then the scenario repeats itself next year.

'Oy' is right. What about the players?

You ready for this? Sources tell me that some players haven't received the checks. And others have bounced. It doesn't seem as if payment was deliberately stopped on any of them, but more a case in which those who cashed them first were lucky.

Are you saying it’s all a fraudulent operation?

I report, you decide.

Nice.

Now go post this.

But--

Click. Brrrr....

Olivia Newton-John remarries; leaves behind disappearance of boyfriend Patrick McDermott, whom she never reported missing

Olivia Newton-John has put the mysterious 2005 disappearance of her longtime boyfriend Patrick McDermott behind her for good.

The 59-year-old singer married a 49-year-old Australian entrepreneur named John Easterling in a surprise ceremony at her home in Malibu.

Guests thought they were attending a Fourth of July Independence Day barbecue. Newton-John was almost forced to cancel the big day when a brush fire broke out in a nearby canyon, but she insisted that the vows take place.

McDermott disappeared from a fishing boat that set off from San Pedro, California on June 30, 2005.

The public didn't find out about the disappearance for seven weeks, until a reporter connected the names.

Newton-John never reported him missing and later gave conflicting stories for the oversight.

In the weeks to follow, it was reported that McDermott had financial problems and could have faked his death. The US Coast Guard kept the case open.

In 2006, there were McDermott "sightings" in Mexico's Baja peninsula.

Deeper inside Anna Nicole

Paris Hilton may be this week's famous-for-being famous celebutard tragedy, and Lindsay Lohan was last week's movie star trainwreck-- but when it comes to absolute staying power, real bombshell status and saturation coverage, no one in decades has topped Anna Nicole Smith.

So what's another three hours?

E! isn't kidding when it brags it's unleashing "the most in-depth documentary ever" on Anna Nicole-- ever! -- with a three-hour special event premiering tonight at 8 pm. The Life & Death of Anna Nicole rounds up more than 25 family members, friends, colleagues and lovers to take us through the troubled tabloid sex siren's life one mo' time, stopping along the way at liaisons, centerfolds, buffets, orgies and reality TV cameras--but lingering longest in that final year and final hours in that Everglades hotel room.

Even if you've had your fill of Anna Nicole, tune in or record this one if only to see how real long-form tabloid television documentaries are supposed to look. Producer Michael Lynn, who helmed this behemoth, is the top producer in the field. The E! True Hollywood Babylon bio king of television has focused his unblinking noirish lens on the secrets of everyone from Kathie Lee Gifford to Bill Clinton to Andy of Mayberry to Halle Berry-- and Olivia Newton-John. Anna Nicole is his epic subject. We'd say Moby Dick but that's not quite right.

He'll at least put the mainstream slugs at 20/20 and Dateline in their place. And it's almost enough to forgive E! for killing Dr. Ruehl in Sunset Tan!

1,000,000

Tabloidbaby.com passed more than a million page views this morning. It's about time! We've got to thank Antonella Barba, Heather Mills, Olivia Newton-John, Our Man Elli in Israel and that bizarre Tabloidrabies "tribute" site, among others, for putting us over the top. And you, of course. Bookmark us, subscribe, and tell your friends, read us at Tvgasm and Anorak, buy the book, tell your friends and stay tuned for the Tabloid Baby TV show.

Newton-John heads to prime time

Our coverage of the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Newton-John's alleged boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, has gotten international attention—and stirred up rival factions in various Olivia Newton-John fan clubs, which, for some reason, are using our comment sections to duke it out. It’s bizarre, it’s wild, it's totally off point-- and fascinating. For accusations of perversions, molestions and stalkings and more— click here or here, or pick any Olivia Newton-John story, and look at the comments. There are hundreds. Now to the latest: Shiva and memorials are officially history, now that Olivia Newton-John, star of the 1978 blockbuster movie Grease, will be hitting prime time as guest-star in NBC's Grease Broadway talent search. Olivia, who's spent much of the past year spinning the mysterious disappearance (and subsequent sightings) of her alleged boyfriend into fodder for an album and concert act, will provide "commentary" for the first two episodes of Grease: You're The One that I Want, which premieres January 7th. In a shocking parallel to another popular talent show on the Fox network (whose new season premieres nine days later and in which Newton-John will show up as a celebrity judge), the initial episodes will focus on auditions around the country, leading to audience votes that will choose the actors to play Sandy and Danny in a Broadway revival (the idea was used successfully in the UK to choose West End leads for The Sound of Music; next they're doing Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat-- doesn't that sound like a winner...) Newton-John, who successfully slipped out of scandal regarding her behaviour during the first seven weeks her supposed lover, Patrick McDermott, was missing from a fishing boat expedition last year, seems to have a love-hate relationship with the musical. Earlier this month, she sued the Universal Music Group, claiming she's been cheated out of more than a million dollars in royalties from the Grease movie soundtrack. There's been no indication that her Grease movie co-star, John Travolta, will be involved in the NBC show, but considering that he recently completed his cross-dressing role as Edna Turnblad in the movie version of Broadway's Hairspray, it's a distinct possibility. Him or Didi Conn.

'Extra' says it's got Heather Mills to say nothing

Hey, we've got to hand it to the tabloid television successors at the syndicated infotainment show, Extra. They got an interview with Heather Mills, the woman who's in the middle of the dirtiest divorce of this new century, a woman who accuses Paul McCartney of abuse, who's slandered the beloved aging Beatle, who allegedly bugged and recorded him-- and who allegedly has a past as a high-end prostitute.

We can't wait to hear-- oh, wait, this just in: Extra says the one-legged hardballer will discuss her vegan diet, her health-and-fitness regime — but not the divorce.

We don't believe it. This is a woman who spills her guts to Larry King! What's Extra doing, taking lessons from Entertainment Tonight? After its apparent complicity in the Patrick McDermott disappearance cover-up on behalf of Olivia-Newton John, the show would surely risk whatever credibility it has by agreeing to ignore the most obvious elephant in the room. No, the tabloid television vets behind the scenes would never allow themselves to be so blatantly inconsequential.

The interview airs next week. We'll see.

Great theme for Olivia Newton-John's concert tour

The Buffalo News
Concert Review

Olivia Newton-John
Friday night in Avalon Ballroom
Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort.
Another performance at 8:30 tonight

By Benjamin Siegel
11/11/2006

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Let's get it out of the way here.

It was on the mind of every concertgoer at Friday night's first of two appearances by Olivia Newton-John - the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend in 2005, which has plagued her in the press as well as in the hearts of fans worldwide.

The Australian-born singer who made a name for herself stateside with the hits "I Honestly Love You" and "Xanadu," and of course that little film starring John Travolta - "Grease" - has filled her career with soaring ballads of broken hearts, prevailing resurgence and heartfelt sisterhood. Whether it was her successful triumph over breast cancer or this latest tragedy, it has been an uphill climb - something audiences can surely relate to in their own ways.

Such was the feeling during the show, onstage and off. Subdued and almost too calm to be performing a sold-out show in the Niagara Fallsview Casino and resort, Newton-John was everything we know her to be on film: Petite and withheld, yet sexy and ferocious when unleashed.

Her latest release, "Grace and Gratitude," a disc full of the kind of inspirational melodies that have connected her to so many fans in every corner of the planet, opened and closed the show… It is full of fun, offers memories from eras past - and very pertinently - the life today of this very human star.


(This Tabloidbaby.com newsite debuted online on November 11, 2005. Our second post read: "Scandal: No justice for Patrick McDermott: Here we have a Hollywood mystery with more twists and clues than a Michael Connelly novel, all in plain sight. So why did the media drop the story?")

Newton-John muddles McDermott mystery

Two weeks ago, she said they'd broken up. Now she's carrying a torch? Time to get the story straight...

October 15, 2006 - OLIVIA Newton-John still carries a torch for her boyfriend Patrick McDermott, who vanished 15 months ago in what cops believe may have been a staged disappearance to dodge a court showdown with his ex-wife over child support. "It's still Patrick," Newton-John wistfully told Page Six when we asked if she's dating again. "There's still no news and we just don't know what happened." The '70s pop queen - who battled breast cancer after a string of hits including "Physical" and the movie "Grease" - has just launched the "Olivia" line of women's health and wellness products.

We're an American Tabloid

Tabloid Baby’s appreciation of Oasis as the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band, our more intimate British connections and nose for a good story with which to wrap tomorrow’s fish, is paying off in a big way as we officially find a home across the pond with the most legendary tabloid site around.

Starting now, you can find the best of Tabloid Baby on Anorak.

You know, Anorak, one of the UK’s original and best-loved web magazines, having gained fans and notoriety in the past decade for its irreverent style and sense of humour as it reviews the UK papers and showbiz magazines— as its slogan says: “keeping tabs on the tabloids.” (Anorak, named for the ubiquitous snorkel parka of UK geekdom, even has its own dictionary—which should soon be collected and put on the reference shelf next to our copy of the Viz Profanisaurus.

Anorak is required reading in the Tabloid Baby office. And now even more so, because Anorak is training its jaundiced eye on the American media—and running some of Tabloid Baby’s more incisive and less self-promoting posts (beginning with our dissection of People magazine and Olivia Newton-John) on its new American Tabloid page.

So link to Tabloid Baby from Anorak! Our staff is on notice to come up with the goods.

In keeping with the spirit:

Oasis rules!

And while we’re at it:

Jim Davidson’s a wanker!

Readers of Anorak-- and Tabloid Baby-- know what we mean…

People helps Newton-John spin McDermott story

Fifteen months after the mysterious disappearance of her alleged boyfriend Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John has finally laid out her official account in the new issue of People magazine. It’s an extraordinary collaborative work of revision and spin that includes a well-rehearsed interview, staged photographs and succinct explanations of Newton-John's behaviour throughout the scandal.

The star is crying by the end of the first paragraph and pushing a new album “to honor” McDermott by the second.

“Life After Loss,” beginning on page 77 of the October 9, 2006 issue of People, is a classic example of how the Hollywood machine cleans up after its celebrities and keeps the protective curtain pulled high around their private lives. All the questions that Newton-John’s actions raised after the mysterious disappearance of Patrick McDermott are glossed over, folded into the continuing saga of the diva’s tragic life, and ultimately used to promote a product.

And in an incredible twist, Newton-John's machine even brings McDermott’s ex-wife into the fold.

Actress Yvette Nipar, who’d brought McDermott into court, accused him of violent tendencies, fought him for child custody and support, and who'd maintained a steely silence through fifteen months of accusations that her pressures may have led him to fake his death, now tells People: "Never in a million years would I put my son's father in jail."

Then again, People reveals that Nipar “has become close friends with Newton-John during the ordeal,” and “now talks to Newton-John almost every day.”

Vanity Fair, Entertainment Tonight and The Black Dahlia have nothing on this: an article that deserves study in every journalism school as an example of the devil’s bargain that’s struck when magazines and celebrities make deals that trade control for exclusivity, and how every deal, no matter whose lives are involved, are used in the end, to sell something.

Readers of this site know the basics. Patrick McDermott, who has publically been identified as Olivia-Newton John’s lover since 1996 (the year she split from her much-younger husband) disappeared from a fishing boat on June 30, 2005. But his disappearance didn’t make headlines for seven weeks, until an intrepid tabloid journalist attached the name to the celebrity.

From Day One, there was confusion and uproar over why Newton-John had never reported him missing, nor gone to the media in case he was walking around with amnesia (in fact, she’d carried on with happy public appeaarances). Within days, it was discovered that McDermott was in a nasty custody dispute with his ex-wife, that he owed child support, had declared bankruptcy, and may have faked his death.

Newton-John’s silence quickly led many to suspect that McDermott may have been a “beard” or employee, hired to accompany her in public (she had been the target of dangerous stalkers in the past). It was also theorized that Newton-John may have belped McDermott disappear because of his financial troubles or other problems.

Within weeks, Newton-John resumed her public concert schedule and McDermott was all but forgotten-- but not by Tabloid Baby, which broke the news in March that the US Coast Guard was pursuing reports that McDermott was alive, and that he’d been sighted in a remote region of the Baja Peninsula.

In July, Australian journalist Nick Papp followed the lead to the area and found witnesses claiming to have seen McDermott. The chase's momentum was foiled by the celebutainment show, Extra (a Time-Warner product-- like People & Newton-John), which was handed a visor believed to be McDermott's, made a great show of promising to conduct DNA tests-- yet mysteriously returned the hat, untested to the Baja, possibly contaminating the evidence in the process.

The People story takes a different tack.

Newton-John on the nature of the relationship:

“He was the most romantic person I have ever known.”

Why Newton-John never reported him missing, and carried on a seven-week public schedule while he was gone:

“We were on a break, but we had been on breaks before and we got back together. We had a wonderful relationship.”

Why McDermott lived in blue-collar Van Nuys, and why Newton-John didn’t help her “soulmate” of nine years wih his financial problems:

“He had a lot of pride. So I didn’t know the extent of it.”

On the weeks and months after McDermott’s disappearance was announced, when Newton-John went on with a planned album promotion tour and concert tour:

People: “In any event, the first six months of McDermott’s disapperance were almost unbearable for Newton John.”

Newton-John: “I took antidepressants. I had to.”

On why Newton-John did not report her lover missing, and went on about her business for seven weeks while the Coast Guard searched for his body:

People: “She was in Australia visiting a critically injured goddaughter.”

Of the mysteries regarding McDermott’s disappearance, and suspicion from the start that he had faked his own death:

People turns then into conspiracy theories-- “a more bizarre alternative” that arose “earlier this year.”

The article continues with a continuation of its decade-long Newton-John tragedy saga, bringing in her 1992 bout with breast cancer and divorce. It does not bring up the homicidal stalkers that led her to seek help from Hollywood security consultant Gavin de Becker, nor does it mention de Becker’s involvement in this case.

Instead, the article focuses on “another crazy confirmation that good comes out of bad”: Newton-John’s new CD.

Yet, midway through the article is a reminder: a boxed sidebar story: “THE CASE IS STILL OPEN.”

The Patrick McDermott story continues...

Prosecutors drop McDermott probe-- but we won't!

Federal prosecutors have dropped their investigation into the disappearance of Olivia Newton-John's alleged boyfriend of nine years, Patrick McDermott.

But investigations by the US Coast Guard and the Tabloid Baby team remain open. And McDermott is believed to remain on the run.

Six months after Tabloid Baby revealed evidence that McDermott faked his own death and was in Mexico, prosecutors have failed to turn up any clues into his disappearance on an overnight fishing trip off the coast of California last year. The US Attorney's office had been investigating the crew and owners of the fishing boat Freedom over the disappearance, but failed to find any evidence they were responsible.

The case rose to the surface in June, when Australian reporter Nick Papps followed Tabloid Baby's lead and found more evidence that McDermott was alive and seen in an around the town of Todos Santos on the Baja peninsula.

The chase was muddied when the celebutainment show Extra jumped on the bandwagon and promised to perform DNA tests on a possible McDermott its investigator had discovered in the region. After the show and its ancillary website Tmz.com generated worldwide publicity for the find and tests, it was revealed that the hat had actually been handed to Extra by a local reporter in Todos Santos-- and that Extra had returned the hat-- untested and contaminated. The cruel and cynical ratings ploy led some to speculate that the Warner Bros. show was involved in the coverup of McDermott's disappearance.

Prosecutors had been using a grand jury to quiz crew members of the Freedom over a galley tab that showed McDermott's food and drink bill had been paid just hours before the Freedom came to shore in San Pedro. The investigators had been trying to determine whether McDermott had paid the bill himself or someone had paid it to cover up his disappearance.

The prosecutor's letter noted it "may reopen this investigation at any time should it receive additional pertinent evidence relating to this matter," but for now, the owners of the Freedom sportfishing boat are very relieved to be off the hook. Just two days ago, Tabloid Baby received an email inviting us on a September fishing expedition in the same area where McDermott had last fished.

When McDermott disappeared, he was in debt and facing possible jail time over unpaid child support.

Again, the case remains open here.

200,000

We figure we'll keep you posted every 100,000 visits or so.

So here's the latest: As of this weekend, Tabloidbaby.com has welcomed more than two hundred and three thousand visitors (that's a hundred thousand in the past two months ), while we're closing in on half a million page views. Thanks especially to Storm Large, Mel Gibson, Heather Mills, Olivia Newton-John's fan clubs, Patrick McDermott, Fab Forever, Geraldo, John & Ken-- and you.

Spread the word.

Malibu, Mel, McDermott & de Becker

There are two major celebrity scandals playing out in Malibu, and now Gavin de Becker is connected to both of them.

We’ve always liked Gavin, ever since the days almost twenty years ago when we and our mates bumped heads with him during the first tabloid television incursions into Hollywood celebrity world. We’d send producers and reporters to ring buzzers at mansion gates or walk up to patios on in the Malibu colony, an effort to treat Hollywood heavyweights like everyday folk. He was a Hollywood kid turned celebrity security consultant, and would call to warn us off.

We were learning our lessons, and Gavin was, too.

Through the years, his security business has grown in scope and importance, while he’s branched out with books like “The Gift of Fear” and become a noted expert in an era when genuine threats seem to come from any and all directions.

And Tabloid Baby friends like Neil Innes were very grateful that Gavin helped George Harrision die in peace and privacy in Coldwater Canyon, while more than a few of our colleagues were looking to find that long-lens view of his road to reincarnation.

About a year ago, de Becker was hired by Olivia Newton-John’s team when it was revealed the Malibu songbird had gone about her business for seven weeks at a time when her alleged boyfriend Patrick McDermott was missing from a fishing boat. While McDermott could have been a victim of amnesia, wandering the waterfront, Newton-John maintained a smiling public schedule without once using her celebrity to aid in the search.

Today, a letter from Gavin de Becker took up a two-page ad in the Hollywood Reporter to defend, or at least plead for a reasonable understanding of self-professed Malibu owner Mel Gibson and his anti-Semitic rant during his drunk driving arrest.

This time, he apparently got involved on his own.

Two of Malibu’s biggest scandals-- and Gavin de Becker is in the middle of both…

McDermott Search: Back to Square One?

The media is obsessed with sad Mel Gibson, whose alleged anti-Semitism was ingrained by a demented father who moved his family from America to Australia after winning on Jeopardy.

But the bigger story evolved in the Malibu compound of another Australian entertainer, just down the PCH from where he was arrested…

What happened to the search for Patrick McDermott?

The mysteries beyond the walls of Mel Gibson’s Malibu neighbor have only deepened since an Australian news reporter used our clues to search for Olivia Newton-John’s alleged boyfriend, and the syndicated infotainment show Extra apparently played a cruel trick on viewers and fans by using the momentum of the case to violate their trust with a cynical publicity stunt.

It’s been thirteen months since McDermott disappeared from an overnight fishing trip, and approaching a year since the journalists who created Tabloidbaby.com returned from the Coast Guard station in San Pedro, California to produce the first television reports on the case and the bizarre fact that Newton-John had neither reported her alleged lover missing nor acknowledged the possibility that he could be alive and in peril.

It’s been six months since Tabloid Baby reported exclusively that McDermott was believed to be alive and had been seen in an around the remote town of Todos Santos in the Baja region of Mexico.

It’s been two months since Australian reporter Nick Papps followed our lead and reported from Todos Santos that McDermott had been spotted with a female companion and may still be in the area.

It’s been six weeks since the syndicated infotainment show Extra piggybacked on Papps’ scoop by sending a private investigator and “PI cam” (instead of a journalist) to Todos Santos to retrieve a visor reportedly worn by McDermott, trumpeted an “exclusive” ingvestigation and promised its viewers that it would send the hat out for DNA testing.

It’s been four weeks since Tabloid Baby reported that Extra had not done any reporting all, but had been handed the hat and interviews by intrepid local reporter Kathy Aviles, who kept a detailed journal of the McDermott timeline on her newspaper’s website.

It’s been three and half weeks since we reported that Extra’s McDermott “investigation” was merely a ratings-seeeking stunt, and that its producers had returned the McDermott visor to Todos Santos—without DNA testing and quite possibly contaminating the evidence.

It’s been a week and a half since Kathy Aviles’ McDermott journal was removed from the El Mirador website.

So it appears the search for Patrick McDermott is at a dead end. Or is it?

Extra’s top producers have refused to respond to Tabloid Baby’s requests for an explanation about the show’s actions in the McDermott case, or whether the show is part of a cover-up (Extra is a Time-Warner property; Newton-John records for Time-Warner).

Nick Papps has moved on.

Kathy Aviles will not say why her McDermott journal has been removed from the Internet. But she has offered it on request.

The U.S. Coast Guard considers McDermott’s case to be “open” and is keeping at least one investigator on the case. However it is unlikely to expend much manpower to bring him back to face comparatively minor “deadbeat” charges (though in wake of the life insurance policy reportedly left to his son, fraud could be a possibility).

Throughout this period, the only other journalist who did a full, unbiased search for the truth in this case was veteran producer and writer Michael Lynn, whose E! True Hollywood Story on Newton-John got him as close to an answer as lawyers would allow.

Who will pick up the pieces and find the truth about what happened to Patrick McDermott. The Tabloid Baby has at least one award-winning journalist and producer who is champing at the bit for a chance to do it (and he’s not Tabloid Baby’s author or our man in Israel, but another veteran newsman whose instincts and abilities hold our editor in awe).

Mr. Murdoch? Think of the cross-promotional possibilities.

Extra? Why not hire him as a freelancer? He’ll even bring along the Extra PI cam.