Just how close ‘friends’ are Madonna, A-Rod?

New York – A-Rod and the Material Girl? That’s a lot of hits.

Reports that Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and Madonna have become close just as their marriages are disintegrating have both the celebrity gossip industry and the sporting world – each a chatty bunch – buzzing with questions about the two “friends.”

A third boldface name was added to the saga when Rodriguez’s wife fled from New York to the Paris home of rocker Lenny Kravitz, who denied anything improper had happened with the slugger’s wife.

Rodriguez remained mum. He signed a couple of autographs before Thursday night’s game at Yankee Stadium against Boston, but didn’t take questions from a pack of reporters.

The whole story began last week amid tabloid stories that Madonna, who is married to the British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, had consulted a high-profile London divorce attorney. On Tuesday her publicist issued a statement saying Madonna’s marriage was not in jeopardy. Then Us Weekly magazine reported that Rodriguez, 32, has been making late-night visits to the Manhattan apartment of Madonna, 49.

On Thursday, the New York Daily News reported that Rodriguez and wife Cynthia have separated, citing an anonymous source. They were married in 2002 and have two children, Natasha Alexander and Ella Alexander.

Brinkley: Husband’s affair ‘shattered’ my life

Central Islip, N.Y. – A tearful Christie Brinkley testified at her divorce trial Thursday that she was devastated by her husband’s affair with a teenager and his attempts to find other paramours through pornographic Web sites.

“My world was completely shattered,” the former Sports Illustrated model said. “My life as I knew it had vanished.”

Brinkley took the stand in state Supreme Court a day after the trial opened with testimony from her architect-husband, Peter Cook, and his former mistress, Diana Bianchi, who was 18 when she began seeing him. Brinkley and Cook are mainly arguing over custody of their children, ages 10 and 13.

Brinkley said she learned about the betrayal when Bianchi’s stepfather tapped her on the shoulder after she spoke at a Southampton High School graduation in June 2006.

“That husband of yours won’t knock it off. He’s having an affair with my teenage daughter,” said the stepfather, Brian Platt, a Southampton Village police officer who testified to the same thing Wednesday.

Brinkley, 54, and Cook, 49, wed in 1996. She filed for divorce a decade later after his affair with Bianchi became a tabloid scandal.

Kylie Minogue honored at Buckingham Palace

London – Britain has honored Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her services to music.

The 40-year-old pop star received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, from Prince Charles during a ceremony Thursday at Buckingham Palace in London.

She was lauded for a career that spans more than two decades.

Minogue first appeared on British television in the mid-1980s soap opera “Neighbors.” She has since sold millions of albums. Her hits include “I Should Be So Lucky” and “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi.”

Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dies

Los Angeles – Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.

His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.

Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.

“You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA,” Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.

Ex-Rachael Ray worker claims anorexia bias

New York – A former accountant for Rachael Ray’s TV cooking show has filed a $1 million lawsuit saying he was forced out of his job because he has an eating disorder.

Aaron Ferguson says in papers filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court that he has suffered from anorexia for about six years. He says his supervisor repeatedly exhibited “hostile behavior” and made “vile,” discriminatory and hurtful comments.

The comments included, “Anorexics are sick in the head,” and, “Anorexics should not be able to work,” his court papers say. Ferguson says that he repeatedly complained but that superiors did nothing that improved his situation.

Ray is not named as a defendant.

Show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell said she could not comment on pending litigation.