People: Steinem says she still looks ahead at 80
Nobody can really believe that Gloria Steinem has just turned 80 years old – and that includes Steinem herself.
“I don’t believe it for a minute,” quipped Steinem, the venerated women’s rights activist, on Friday night at the annual DVF awards, where she was honored with a Lifetime Leadership Award.
Steinem said she spent her March 25 birthday in Botswana, riding elephants. “I had done it before, and I knew that on my birthday I wanted to be riding elephants,” she said. But was it the best day of her life? No, because she says the best day of her life is yet to come.
“I live in the future,” she said. And besides, she added: “I have to live for another 20 years, because I can’t finish my writing deadlines! So I have to at least make it to 100.”
The DVF Awards were created in 2010 by designer Diane von Furstenberg and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to recognize and support “women who are using their resources, commitment and visibility to transform the lives of other women.” Six women were honored Friday for their contributions.
Also honored Friday night at the ceremony at the United Nations headquarters was singer Alicia Keys, who received the Inspiration Award.
Each award winner receives $50,000 for her chosen cause.
Stern on ‘Late Show’: ‘My plate is full’
Howard Stern is just one of the names industry spectators are floating around as a possible replacement for David Letterman.
At least for now, however, the longtime radio personality says his plate’s already full.
Stern addressed the late-night TV talk show host’s retirement announcement while arriving in New York on Friday to judge auditions for NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
The 60-year-old stressed Letterman’s impact on late-night TV, saying he’s sad to see Letterman go.
Letterman announced Thursday he plans to retire next year.
Simon, Belafonte celebrate Masekela
South African trumpeter and vocalist Hugh Masekela celebrated his 75th birthday with a little help from some old friends – Paul Simon and Harry Belafonte – in the city where he began what turned out to be a 30-year exile from his homeland.
Introducing Simon near the end of Friday night’s concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, Masekela noted that millions of people “who had never heard of South Africa before were just charmed and turned around by the album he made” in 1986 – “Graceland,” which won Grammys for Album and Record of the Year.
Birthday bunch
Country singer Merle Haggard is 77. Actress Marilu Henner is 62. Rock musician Warren Haynes is 54. Actor Paul Rudd is 45. Actress Candace Cameron Bure is 38. Actor Charlie McDermott is 24.