Kidman aide rubbishes Sun 'exclusive'
Julia Day THE GUARDIAN

Eva Simpson, the former Daily Mirror 3am girl turned Los Angeles correspondent for the Sun, has been branded "dishonest" and "annoying" by Nicole Kidman's publicist.

Simpson's first piece in her new role at the Sun - an interview with the Hollywood actor - was published in the newspaper yesterday with an exclusive tag.

But the article has enraged Catherine Olim, Kidman's publicist in LA, who said Simpson was merely part of a pack of 50 journalists who attended a press conference with Kidman.

And Ms Olim has emailed senior executives at Paramount, the film studio behind Kidman's new film, The Hours, assuring them Simpson was not given exclusive access to the star.

"I assure you the SUN did not get any such exclusive!" Ms Olim wrote in her email to Paramount executives in both LA and New York.

"I believe the journalist may have been in attendance at a large (about 50 journalists based in Los Angeles) press conference with the HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS last week, here in Los Angeles, in support of the film THE HOURS.

"HARDLY 'exclusive' AND CERTAINLY not a 'one on one'! This is an extremely annoying, typical, and - above all - dishonest tactic exploited on numerous occasions by the paper in question," she raged.

Simpson wrote the piece, headlined "I cannot bear to see myself acting on the screen", to sound as if Kidman was talking to her alone. She wrote: "But I detect a faint trace of regret in her voice when she [Kidman] tells me..."

Ms Olim's action is reminiscent of a move by British actor Kate Winslet, who threatened to sue the Mirror a year ago, denying she gave an interview, "exclusive or otherwise", to the paper.

Freelancer John Hiscock wrote a piece that was flagged as an "exclusive first interview" for the Mirror about the break-up of the actor's marriage.

But the report was based on an interview the actor gave to a pool of journalists when she was promoting the film Iris.

The Mirror's reaction was to turn on Winslet as part of its anti-celebrity drive, with an article headlined "Kate Winslet disappears up her a***".