Bruce Helander (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

West Palm Beach collage and pop artist Bruce Helander, a darling among Palm Beach’s art collectors and a popular figure on the society circuit, may soon lose his beloved classic home.

The bowler hat-wearing artist and his wife, Claudia, were notified last week that the U.S. Bank National Association filed a notice to have the home sold on the proverbial courthouse steps unless the couple comes up with $945,033.

That includes the principal on an $882,970 mortgage in 2006, and more than $2,060 in late fees.

Helander bought in 1998 for $195,000 but, according to court records, routinely borrowed against it. The digs are well-known for being the stage for some of the best parties in town and its second-to-none lush backyard.

Helander, whose art has been shown nationally, was the first hipster to buy a home in one of the downtown’s most neglected and blighted areas. He was soon followed by dozens of others, and Grandview Heights became livable again.

Helander listed the house in 2005 for $1.2 million.

“We didn’t know the bank was filing,” Helander said. “We were negotiating a new traditional mortgage. But this is a classic case of being upside down. The house appraised at less than $500,000.”

It wasn’t so long ago, Miami resident Cynthia Rodriguez only had to look across the breakfast table for her daily dose of eye candy. She was married to New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.

The good old days (Courtesy Sports Illustrated)

But then, along came Madonna, and the SoFla lovebirds were divorced. Both A-Rod and C-Rod have moved on. Alex is playing house with starlet Kate Hudson. And Cynthia took out her new main man, whose id is still unknown, for a stroll in Miami Beach the other day. Did she upgrade? Look below to find out and vote, or click (Read more…)

This picture would be cute, sorta, if the guy on the right weren’t Scott Rothstein, and the guy on the left, Gov. Charlie Crist, weren’t trying to distance himself from his former friend. The photo, courtesy of wedding shutterbug Stephan Maloman, was taken Jan. 28, 2008 inside the old Versace Mansion in Miami Beach, at a reception before Rothstein’s wedding to the lady in the middle, Kim. Scott Rothstein is allegedly responsible for one of the largest financial swindle in SoFla history, after Bernie Madoff. And the guv has been monotone and short in his answers about his relationship with Rothstein.

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Kimberly Roden and Tim Mahoney (Courtesy Stuart News)

– One of several women who caused the spectacular fall of area U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, Martin County operations manager Kimberly Roden, is walking away from her $73,000-a-year gig in a buyout effort by the county. A comely blue-eyed blonde who was credited for getting the U.S. government to pay for hurricane cleanup that it didn’t pay in neighboring counties, Roden was disciplined (sorta!) three days without pay earlier this year for not telling her superiors that she and the very married Mahoney were an item. The Democrat lost his reelection bid to Republican Tom Rooney last year after he admitted to several affairs, including one with an employee. His wife, Terry, filed for divorce within days. Roden took several tax-funded trips to Washington, D.C., while Mahoney was in office. Roden’s departure comes as the county offered to pay longtime employees for up to 16 weeks if they leave. “The program is absolutely voluntary,” said county administrative services boss Gary Gierlicz. “No one is being pushed out.”

Alex Rodriguez

– Major Leaguer Alex Rodriguez, who just won the World Series with the New York Yankees, has discounted his Coral Gables mansion. It was on the market for $14.8 million. Now, it can be yours for $10 million, according to realestalker Web site. Wouldn’t hurt so much if A-Rod didn’t buy the six-bedroomer for $12 million five years ago. The house is also on the auction site billionaireexchange.com. Rodriguez is said to be getting ready to play house on the Left Coast with Hollywood actress Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold, Almost Famous). Tour A-Rod’s digs by clicking here.

Chris Evert in a red dress Saturday night at the Boca Raton Resort (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Just a month after tennis legend Chris Evert said she was “fine” with her split from her husband of 18 months, Aussie golfer Greg Norman, Evert told Page2Live that she misses the Great White Shark.

Looking elegant in a red dress, Evert made the startling admission Saturday night at the Boca Raton Resort, as she walked into the gala of her fund-raising tennis tournament.

She was asked: “Are you a happy woman?”

“I’m happy with this event,” Evert first said. Then, after a brief silence, she added: “Greg is missed. I miss him. He was always a big part of this.”

She didn’t discuss what the future holds for her and Norman, whom she married in June 2008 after both divorced their long-time spouses. They announced in early October that they were splitsville.

A dozen celebrities, meanwhile, put on their best outfits and dancing shoes for the gala, which marked the 20th anniversary of the event. Songbird Natalie Cole sang for the 500-plus who paid $750-a-pop to get in. Among other celebrities: Burn Notice hunk Jeffrey Donovan, tennis great Martina Navratilova, Navratilova’s old doubles partner Pam Shriver, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Justin Gimelstob and Vince Spadea, TV and the movies’ Elisabeth Shue, comic Jon Lovitz and soap opera star Maeve Quinlan. Most of them will be playing tennis at the Delray Tennis Center on Sunday.

Greg Norman and Chris Evert at last year's event (Alan Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post)

Aussie golf legend Greg Norman’s name was quietly dropped from the list of the stars scheduled to appear at the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic next week.

As Evert’s husband of a little more than a year, the Great White Shark was a lock for the 20th annual Delray Beach/Boca Raton fundraiser. But now that Norman and Evert are splitsville, the lineup for the Nov. 7-8 tournament was altered.

With Norman out, the prettier, and younger, actor Jeffrey Donovan is in. He’ll play tennis at the Delray Beach Tennis Center and should walk the red carpet at the black-tie gala at the Boca Raton Resort.

Jeffrey Donovan, on the set of Burn Notice (Courtesy USA Network)

It’ll be a first appearance at Evert’s wingding for Donovan, the star of USA Network’s Miami-based Burn Notice. His previous first appearance was in a Miami court in July. DUI!

The pros, ex-pros and wannabe pros enrolled: former tennis great Martina Navratilova, Navratilova’s doubles partner Pam Shriver, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Justin Gimelstob and Vince Spadea. The show biz celebs: actress Elisabeth Shue; comic Jon Lovitz; reality TV stars Bruce and Kris Jenner (Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian’s mom and her Olympic hero husband); rocker Gavin Rossdale; and Today host Matt Lauer.

The popular Norman, after all, may not be missed.

“It’s one of the freshest lineups in years,” said event publicist Tip Nunn. “Among the tennis players, you have four former women’s No. 1 players. And there are several new names on the entertainers’ side. Donovan and the Jenners have never been here before. And it’s been years since we saw Matt Lauer.”

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– More Bernie Madoff jailhouse news. The Palm Beach swindler is now living in a cell with a drug offender, according to new court papers, and the poor thing Madoff has been relegated to the lower bunk. He’s reduced to eating pizza cooked up by a sex offender. A big change from Chez Jean Pierre, non? As for recreation, Madoff is allowed to use the North Carolina federal prison’s running track after dark, but he’s apparently just walking. As for his buds, he’s spending quality time with the aging Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico and traitor Jonathan Pollard, who was convicted of spying on the United States for the Israeli government. The info comes through a new filing in a class-action lawsuit brought by investors and cited in today’s New York Post. Also juicy: The papers tell how Madoff, back in the 1970s, would dispatch an employee to fetch cocaine for him and workers at his firm. The office eventually was given the nickname North Pole, in reference to the mounts of coke used.

– SoFla wrestler Hulk Hogan considered suicide in 2007, when his gilded life of media superstar took a nasty turn. His wife, Linda, had just filed for divorce and his son Nick was looking at jail time for his role in a car crash. “There were times when I thought that a whole bottle of pills would go down easy,” Hulk writes in his soon-to-be-released book, Life Outside the Ring. “Then I noticed the gun in my hand. I was careless with it . . . I kept my finger pressed right to that trigger . . . and if I moved that finger an inch in the right direction . . . I would have blown my brains out.” The tome comes out next week.

Todd English and Erica Wang in happier times (Courtesy New York Post)

– Celebrity chef Todd English won’t let a minor inconvenience like his ex-fiancee’s arrest stand in the way of his empire’s expansion in South Florida. Suddenly BFFs English and food entrepreneur Lirim Jacobi (founder of the Taverna Opa party chain) are opening a branch of Olives, English’s signature restaurant, at the old Opus 5 in Boca Raton, according to the local foodie Web site jannorris.com. The new Olives should be open in Boca Center by the end of November. Jacobi and English are also working on Wild Olives, another new joint located at CityPlace in West Palm Beach. The gossip rags, however, is where the particularly photogenic English, 49, has been dwelling recently. He was to have married employee Erica Wang at the St. Regis in NYC. But the runaway groom called her from an appearance at the CityPlace Taverna Opa to tell her it just didn’t feel right. They called it off. Last week, Wang was arrested for throwing a watch at the chef in a fight.

Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant in Wellington (The Palm Beach Post)

– The divorce of part-time Palm Beachers Stephanie Seymour, the former super model, and her newsprint mogul polo-playing hubby, Peter Brant, is getting more venomous by the day. The two, who co-own a $5.5 million weekend home on Dunbar Road, have been duking it out since May in a Connecticut court. Now, Brant is claiming in paperwork obtained by the New York Post that Seymour secretly traveled to Palm Beach on a day she was supposed to be with their kids last week, and “broke into” their home. She supposedly took $700,000 worth of stuff. Broke in? According to county records, Seymour’s name is on the deed.

Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade and his mistress, C-list actress Gabrielle Union, have tried desperately to keep their relationship a secret, but this week has been a coming out party of sorts for them.

Either that, or they’re getting careless.

First, the lovebirds were spotted in full on canoodles in a private club level suite at Land Shark Stadium during Monday Night Football, and missed long stretches of an epic game.

Then last night, although she sneaked in through the back door, Wade took Union to the yearly Miami Children’s Hospital gala — one of Miami’s biggest social rendez-vous of the year.

Wade and Union at Friday's Miami Children's Hospital gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Wade and Union, who has a recurring role in the ABC scifi series FlashForward, giggled like school kids at the table of Miami philanthropist Juan Carlos Mas. They held hands under the table, when Wade didn’t rest his left paw on her lap or sneak an occasional peck.

Wade later in the evening pronounced himself honored to be inducted in the famed hospital’s hall of fame.

Who gets in?

Wade and Union at Friday's Miami Children's Hospital gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

“People who have gone above and beyond for children,” said the hospital’s VP for marketing, Jamie Holt.

Wade joins in the hall the likes of songbird Beyonce, legendary University of Miami QB Jim Kelly and actress Kelly Preston (John Travolta’s missus).

Holt tells me Wade, who obviously forgot his dinner jacket on his way to the black-tie, first came on the fund-raisers’ radars two years ago. As Wade nursed a serious injury, he quietly spent hours watching Heat basketball on television with ill children treated at the facility. Holt also cited Wade’s own charity for at-risk children, Wade’s World, as another reason for his induction.

“I was floored when I was picked,” Wade said. “A lot of people helped me when I was growing up. Helping children is in my DNA.”

Wade’s nasty divorce from wife Shiovaughn, by the way, is still pending in a court in the couple’s native Chicago. Allegations in the case include that last season’s top scorer hasn’t been seeing much of his own three young boys and repeatedly cheated on Shiovaughn. Wade is also entangled in a legal battle with a business partner who claims he rented a pad in Miami Beach for Wade where sex parties took place.

Wade's publicist, Lisa Joseph, try to hide what the world knows (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

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