Meeowww! Palm Beach socialites in feud over Red Cross Ball
Tags: Club Colette, Diana Ecclestone, Historical Society of Palm Beach, Llwyd Ecclestone, Michele Kessler, Red Cross, Simon Fireman, Steven Stollman
| Thursday 17 December 2009 5:14 pm
Michele Kessler (left) and Diana Ecclestone
Right on time for Christmas, here comes a good, old-fashioned Palm Beach society cat fight.
Several sources tell Page2Live that Diana Ecclestone, who climbed the social ladder through her marriage to aging PGA National developer Llwyd Ecclestone, and her former BFF, Michele Kessler, are experiencing a serious chill.
Just last week at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s gala at Club Colette, staffers assigning dinner seats — always a science on The Island — were told that gala chairwoman Ecclestone didn’t want the comely Kessler, wife of credit card mogul Howard Kessler, “in her sight.”
“We had to sit Michele at one of the head tables, but we tried to make sure Diana couldn’t see her,” the staffer said. “They always used to sit together. Michele did complain a little that she couldn’t see the dance floor.”
What’s their beef? Find out below or click
Believe it or not, Ecclestone is still sore that, in 2005, the local chapter of the American Red Cross picked pool-toy mogul Simon Fireman instead of her to chair its yearly wingding. Ecclestone, who still chokes up today when asked about it, swore off the non-profit and had many of her friends turn their backs on Palm Beach’s highest profile fund-raiser.
Kessler, meanwhile, was just named co-chair of the Jan. 30 Red Cross Ball. Ecclestone, I’m told, didn’t appreciate.
What’s the big deal with being a gala chair?
In Palm Beach, it makes, or breaks, someone’s social season. It also makes, or breaks, charities because donations roll in through a chairperson’s network of acquaintances. And chairing a top-10 gala is considered the last step for social climbers.
“The two ladies still respect and love each other,” said Patrick Park, society’s voice of reason. “But I know that Diana is still saddened by what happened with the Red Cross. And Michele will do some great things with the Red Cross ball. It’ll be O.K.”
In an e-mail to Page2Live, Michele Kessler wrote: “Don’t believe everything you hear!” She declined to comment further.
Said Ecclestone, denying bad blood between them: “Who says these things? I’m surprised. Michele’s involvement with the Red Cross is nothing new. We’ve discussed it, and she knows how I feel.”
Ecclestone denied influencing the Historical Society’s seating assignments.
Fashionista Steven Stollman, who designed the Historical Society’s gala, didn’t comment at first about last week’s affair, but then said: “Both Diana and Michele are two wonderful, elegant ladies who have done so much for so many worthy causes. I can’t imagine anything that high schoolish took place.”
(Yep, socialites are also on Page2Live’s new celebrity map. Click here)
Thats what charity is all about, improving your social status! How proud you must be! Rich idiots
Up yours AMF!!!!!!
The article described Kesser as “comely?” You’ve got to be kidding. Her face is the size of a horse and that mouth - well, let’s just say she looks like she could chomp straight through a chain link fence on the first try.
you need a proofreader~
Ladies, you both do so much for others, please put aside the differences for the betterment of humanity. Tit for Tat. The children are our future, please keep that in mind. You certainly don’t want them to behave this way, so please set a positive example. That goes for all of us…especially the comments prefacing mine.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT NEWS ?????
Sounds like the tribal disputes in Afghanistan. Hide the knives.
Kessler as attractive? LOL! Kessler looks like she’s been to Sweden and had a sex change - didn’t she used to be a man? Michele used to be Michael Kessler!
Have worked around these types for over 25 years. They really have no interest in these charities–just the gowns and jewels that they will wear at these balls to go with their social status. Can’t stand to look at the society mags anymore-at these fakes and phonies! Shame on them!
Could there be a less interesting, more ego-centric person than Diana Ecclestone? She married rich and thinks she made the money. One of island’s nastier people.
It’s no exaggeration that Diana Eccelstone is trailer trash. Llwyd married her when she was young but she quickly grew a five-acre ass. She can accurately be described as a shrew. No matter the organization she becomes involved with, she looks to pick fights and enjoys creating confrontations and turmoil.
I believe Llwyd keeps her around because she makes the conniving, selfish little bastard look good. If he ever dumps her she’ll have the fanciest doublewide in the neighborhood.
Both women are dreadfully passe, Stollman is overfed and unpleaant, the entire matter is little more than a cliche in the bucket which has become Palm Beach these days. Down the tubes! Afterall; when Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are considered “society” there, one can clearly pronounce Palm Beach, FINISHED, RUINED, the Wal-Mart of vacation destinations. CHEERS!
This article and these comments are disgraceful. Michele Kessler is a beautiful woman inside and out. She is kind, generous, and an asset to any organization she is involved in. She gives tirelessly of herself to raise money for important organizations and charities. Fundraisers and balls are the conduit to getting people to open their wallets and give money that some otherwise would not give. There is no feud between the two women. Diana holds a grudge against the Red Cross for replacing her has chairperson. They have apologized profusely since, she refuses to accept the apology after several years. For the sake of the charity and all the good the red cross does, it would be nice to see a side of her that can welcome the apology and do all that she can to help others since she is so fortunate in her own life. It’s a shame that this is news worth reporting, how about focusing on all the good the money raised for the charity does.
People with too much money and too much time on their hands who are bored and need to create their own problems.
The Red Cross is a Joke; the president of the Red Cross Gail J. McGovern make over $550k a year. I don’t mind charity’s paying exes $100-250k a year… but $565k… ridiculus.
Donate to local charities that have lower admin costs.
JOSE LAMBIET is just like a whining, gossiping yapping woman. What a fag.
Yep, you’re right. Diana was trailer trash with a drunken mom!!! Went to school with her.
On Diana’s first date Llwyd he answered the door naked. He has tons of mistresses but she puts up with it to stay in “high society”. Michelle is no better and is in a similar circumstance. She is so over done with plastic surgery, and her husband still looks 20 years younger than her. All this crap in Palm Beach is BULL$^%#. If these people really cared about these charities they would forget these over the top expensive “chartity galas”, and write a bigger check. I read that only $150 of a $1000 ticket even goes to the cause. These people are all insecure and just look to glorify themselves and get in the Shiney Sheet. Look what happened to Bob and Mia Matthews. Last year they were writing out million checks to be the “social darlings” in town, and now they are bankrupt and losing their house. The same will happen to others also.
The Palm Beachers spend much more than the cost of the charity gala tickets hiring lobbyists and buying politicians to fight the taxes and programs that will really help the problems their phony “non-profits” fake to help.
She was ok when she worked as County Commissioner Ken Foster’s aid. He was lazy and spent little time doing his job and she was actually our commissioner during his term. But she was not known for being intelligent. She mostly took directions from lobbyists such as Hugo Unruh and developers such as Eccelstone.
After marrying Eccelstone, she became a wide-bodied, mean spirited bitch. In her insecure mind, his money authorized her to attempt to abuse others. She deserves the selfish weasal.
Clearly there is enough ugliness and fake, social climbing folks to go around. One need only look at Ann Coulter, Mark Foley, Trash Limbaugh and the Pannills to see that Palm Beach is finished. It now resembles one of those islands used as a trash dump. The disgarded, over-used, worn-out, dreadful greedy pigs, (both financially and pseudo-socially) have taken over, wearing ill-fitting clothes, donning poorly executed facial surgery and ridiculously fake boobs, tacky cars and horrible, faux-Tuscan-Mediterranen-French-Crap filled homes…When will it end? Those in the know have long moved on and left the pigs in the dust. If Rush Limbaugh is a Palm Beacher, then the place is now the white-trash capitol of Florida. CHEERS!
Well said #21. Don’t forget to add George and Tiffany Cloutier to the bunch. He had to mortgage his house to have his 2 million $ wedding last year. He’s another circus act who will be broke soon also.
Back to Stolman. “Fashionista” Steven Stolman? The guy who didn’t pay rent on his Worth Avenue shop for some time (way before the recession) and was given five chances to pay over months and months and was finally FORCED to close it after the landlord got taken for tens of thousands because he did what all landlords do…believe a swindler isn’t a swindler and hey if I just wait for a while, he will come up with it and won’t file bankruptcy. Nope and nope. All the while the Town turned a blind eye about him operating a sweat shop in his apartment with no-green-card young ladies sewing everything to be ‘hand-made’? That Steven Stolman? The guy who destroyed the lovely Sheila William’s shop on the island with his “put these 50 people on the list comp” parties, and then all of his guests drank the most, ate the most, and talked the loudest? The man who showed up on the scene about 7 years ago out of nowhere and looks down his nose at you, quite literally, including those who were the nicest to him when he knew NO ONE? The man who adores, just ADORES!!!, Dame Celia, Diana, Michele and a long list of women but then does everything possible behind their backs to stir up trouble and gossip and drama? Oh yeah. You mean that Steven Stolman.
Does anyone have an update on the Matthew’s downfall? Come on Jose, get on this story. Haven’t seen Mia’s over botoxed face in the latest society pics. Is the house on the market? Was Palm House auctioned off yet? Does Mia have to go back to work? I wonder if they will be at the Red Cross Ball? Yeah - probably as waiters. LOL
A Little Fact Verification Please, YOU IGNORANT SLUT!
Get your facts verified. Stolman, whether you could cram your fat ass into his skirts or not, left his business many years ago- well before his ex-partners defaulted on their lease. Sweat shop? Hardly. Same legitimate Miami factory that made lots of stuff for nice stores selling nice clothes to nice people. Not that you would know.
All the Palm Beach people need to be sent to Iraq for a while. See what happens when RUSH is sent to the front lines. The Island people are all the same. FAKE, PHONY, and, Horse-Faced. Rush lost all that weight how? RX RX RX, remember that little scenario.
Lake Worth Lady (Stolman) can dish it out but can’t take it
And what ever happened to that super tacky couple from Boynton Beach, Mr/Mrs Desmond Keough, the ones who knowingly sold their moldy, leaking, broken down home, (all patched up in disguise), then moved to another on Pt. Manalapan, then tried to weasel there way into PB societe??? They were super ticky tacky! CHEERS!
The article refers to Michelle Kessler as “comely’.
Who came up with that?
She looks like she should wrestle under the name ICE BITCH….
To Lake Worth Lady.
A real lady wouldn’t utter the word “slut”.
Obviously your not.
Slut!
Sounds like the staffers at local non-profits are dishing the dirt on their arrogant donors…many are in fact social climbers that don’t give two hoots about helping people. I used to work for one of the largest organizations — lots of back stabbing and cat fights — required the staffers to turn cartwheels to keep the event running smooth. By the way, they usually report GROSS numbers — ASK FOR THE NET! You will be surprised.
If these people cared at all about helping people, they would take off thier jewels and gowns and spend X-Mas dishing out turkey to the homeless in Riviera Beach. I personally would NEVER donate to these high profile causes in Palm Beach because I know at least half of my money will be going to decorating the dance floor so these old hags can show off their $10,000 dresses. There are lots of smaller non-profit charities out there that make much more of an impact on their causes. While the intention is there, many of these well known charities are no more than outlets for rich people to get tax breaks, and their wives to get a few pics of them in the paper. I’ll put $100 to the Salvation Army man ringing his bell before I would these people. At least that money would be put to good use.
To #25, Lake Worth Lady (or Lady Slut as “Pepper says”…)
Here is the funny part. Steven, you were just caught in your own lie.
1. You always told people that the items were made “right here on the island.”
2. You never told anyone you had “partners” of a financial sense.
3. You didn’t address anything else in the write-up!
Oops.
I’ll stop there.
Lay off the you-know what.
And lay low.
Or disappear.
You created a lot of havoc and no one who needs to know is ignorant to it. And your sister isn’t a “well-known chef” — she is a decent cook.
As tacky as the current crop of “faux societe social climbers” is, one must know that in days past, Palm Beach had some fine folks who really rolled up their sleeves and got to work! Their millions went to the charities and the parties, though not extravagant and tasteless, were elegant and memorable. Hannah Kamin is a fine woman and her charity work was always sincere. She put her money on the table AND was there to sign people in and chair the events! Also, Sue Rice donated quite a bit to charities whilst maintaining a dignified stance! The dreadfully boring fakers on the scene today are merely here today, GOONS tomorrow! The event photos of all those plumped up lips looks like a Darwin textbook of bamboon-ass pics. None of these women can even eat soup anymore. CHEERS!
Now THIS is the real deal gossip that I love to read, palm beach society showing that the “charities” are just reasons to social climb, increase botox sales and screaming cat fights. Is doesn’t get any better !!!!!
Diana lived next door to me before hooking up with Ecclestone.
She was a bitch 20 years ago. Full of herself then, too
PALM BEACH SOCIAL REGISTER PECKING ORDER
NEWLY RICH - most are couples in their 50’s and 60’s who sold their company and moved to the island to retire. In a year or so the 30 year marriage is over because of the hubbys affair’s, and diminishing bank account, then the wife gets a boob job and real estate license along with her divorce. These people are quite active in major league charities while they can still afford a ticket.
OLD MONEY RICH - these are mostly the 80 year old widows, who could care less about being in the Shiney Sheet or on a charity register. They have millions in the bank, but are more concerned about helping the island stray cats and visiting the grand kids. Can be seen shopping at the Church Mouse or at daily mass at St. Edwards.
PRETENDERS - These are the folks who are regulars at the Amici celebrity bartender events, at open house lunches, Worth Ave coctails, hanging out at the bar at The Palm Beach Grill, or and other venue that offers free booze and food with the hopes of meeting rich people. These people try to date others who will get them a ticket to the most exclusive charity events in town. Included here are the gigalo fake barons, model-call girls, and other opportunists. Age range 25 to 50.
NAPOLEAN COMPLEX MEN - These are they guys who manage to keep their millions after their divorce, and are still active in their companies. The have houses on South Ocean, a Mercedes or Bentley convertible, a Mar A Lago membership, and can be seen with a different youger woman at the charity balls. These are major womanizers who are sex and drug addicts. Most are under 5 ft 7 and very insecure.
Thanks! This was sooooo entertaining. I was getting bored between events so I thought I’d read the Post to relax. Talented comments about stuff nobody cares about, but it’s a laugh-riot, like Monty Python. Ciao!
Any idiot can tell the source of the story is that fat self-serving pig Stephen Stollman, who did the seating for the event with the “staffer” who isn’t named, and then fed this puffed up story to the paper. Jose (or is it Josephine) Lambert is so out-of touch with Palm Beach that the a$$hole fell for it. So Stollman gets some much wanted publicity and two charities get a black eye. Nice. Stollman is a failure as a party planner who almost drove Preservation Ball and the Coconuts into the ground with his freebies list and the wet paint on the guest’s designer clothes.
Any charity that hires this mean queen deserves what it will inevitably get…alienated supporters and red ink. Are you listening, PB opera? Yes, THAT Stephen Stollman.
Don,
you asked about the Matthews your comment was so mean spirited I was wondering if you may have missed your MEDS. CALL YOUR DOCTOR! I’M CONCERNED