Ben Widdicombe, New York Daily News Gossip Columnist, Calls It Quits

Ben Widdicombe, who has been writing the "Gatecrasher" gossip column for the New York Daily News for the last four years, is leaving the gossip business. Widdicombe broke the news in his column today (though Gawker reported it yesterday as well):

Oh no! After four years (which is 28 in liver years) Gatecrasher has crashed its last gate for the Daily News. I hope you've had as much fun reading the column as I have had writing it, but today I am leaving to pursue my ambition of becoming the world's first plus-size hand supermodel. Wish me luck!

Widdicombe is known for injecting humor into his gossip reports, as New York Magazine's Chris Rovzar explains: "As anyone who read 'Gatecrasher' knows, it's really the only column in the city that is as funny as it is dishy. (It also had the best daily blind items.)"

Over the weekend, Widdicombe explained his reasons for leaving to Gawker's Ian Spiegelman:

"I have been a gossip columnist for all my 10 years in New York--first with the online fashion column 'Chic Happens,' and six years full-time with the Daily News. But for a writer New York is like a fairground, and I think it's time to go on some of the other rides. Also lately I've developed a peculiar attitude towards scandal--with some of the items that have crossed my desk I've thought, 'This really isn't any of my business.' Which is problematic for a professional gossip columnist.

"I approached Gatecrasher as essentially a humor column that happened to be about gossip. But now for me it's time to Leave Britney Alone. Two weeks ago I went down to Palm Beach for Ivana Trump's wedding, which was a hoot. Around midnight, as the reception was winding down, I found Kathy Hilton alone in a corridor. She was in front of a full-length mirror, holding her dress and dancing with her own reflection like a happy teenager. Something about that moment struck me as the perfect image to leave Gossip with."

Comments

[observing]

I never read you but hope things work out for ya.

[ghostofgrrrl]

will miss you, Ben!
Thanks for the snark!

p.s. if you're heading over to Gawker, could you slap some sense into Denton?