Toledo native Katie Holmes is dating, but NOT engaged to American Pie actor Chris Klein.
Rumors have flown hither and yon about the possibility of wedding plans, but the actress' mom says pay them no mind.
“I just talked to her a few minutes ago and she didn't say a word about any engagement, so it's strictly a rumor,” Katie's mother, Kathy Holmes, said yesterday. “They're just boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Klein, 22, has played pretty-boy jock roles in several movies since his debut as a dim but sweet high school football player in 1999's Election. His newest is American Pie 2, a sequel to last year's hormone-fueled teen flick about a group of sexually frustrated high school seniors. Klein, who grew up in Chicago and Nebraska, has a substantial role in next year's action/fantasy Rollerball.
The pair was photographed hand-in-hand at the Aug. 6 premiere of Klein's American Pie 2.
Holmes, 22, also has appeared in several movies. Her day job is the WB's hit teen drama, Dawson's Creek, in which she plays the angst-driven Joey Potter.
THINKING BIG: It's hard to find a celebrity who wasn't planning to be at Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary concert last night.
The first of two heavily hyped concerts in Madison Square Garden was to feature appearances or performances by 'N Sync, Gladys Knight, Eminem, Destiny's Child, Yoko Ono, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Tucker, Samuel Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marlon Brando - just to name some.
“Michael doesn't do nothing small,” said superproducer Rodney Jerkins, who produced much of Jackson's upcoming album, “Invincible.”
“Any time a person has Disney World in their backyard, you know they're thinking big.”
The concerts last night and Monday night are part of Jackson's attempt to reclaim his “King of Pop” title after a six-year absence between albums. “Invincible” is due out at the end of October; last week, he released the first single, “You Rock My World.”
HOTTEST OF THE HOT: Aaliyah fans showed their appreciation for the late singer in the record stores, pushing her record to No. 1 on the Hot 100 Billboard chart.
Aaliyah's self-titled third album sold 306,000 copies in the week after her death, according to Soundscan, which monitors record sales nationwide.
The album was already certified gold, but had sold only 62,000 copies in the week before she died, Soundscan said.
The 22-year-old singer and actress was killed Aug. 25 when a small plane carrying her and eight others plunged shortly after takeoff. There were no survivors.
ANOTHER PRETTY FACE: American supermodel Carolyn Murphy will be the newest face of Estee Lauder, joining British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley who has represented the cosmetics giant for seven years, the company said.
“Estee Lauder has the best of both worlds in bringing Carolyn and Elizabeth together - a winning mix between two stunning women with international fashion authority and glamorous allure,” Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, group president of Estee Lauder Cos., Inc., said in a statement.
Murphy, 26, has appeared on the covers of Vogue, W, Harper's Bazaar, and other magazines. In 1998, she was named model of the year at the VH1 Fashion Awards, and recently appeared in the Barry Levinson film, Liberty Heights.
Her first advertising campaign for Estee Lauder will appear in the January, 2002, issues of beauty, fashion, and lifestyle magazines.
GOLDEN LION: Eric Rohmer, who has been a fixture in French cinema for nearly 50 years, is this year's recipient of the Golden Lion career achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.
The 81-year-old director's most recent film, L'Anglaise et le Duc (The Lady and the Duke), is the story of a Scottish aristocrat in Paris during the French Revolution. It was among the films being screened at the festival, which ends today.
HOME COOKING: Chef Emeril Lagasse likes to man the stove - both on and off the set of his television shows.
“I do 98 percent of the cooking at home,” says Lagasse, who has apartments in New York, Las Vegas, and Orlando, Fla., but calls New Orleans his home.
The family meals he prepares are very simple, such as meatballs and barbecue ribs. And when he goes out to a restaurant, he's more likely to be at a neighborhood joint “owned by the little guys” than a fancy four-star restaurant owned by his food-industry friends.
First Published September 8, 2001, 12:36 p.m.
