Taking Names

Prenup challenged

David Gest, the estranged husband of Liza Minnelli, wants a judge to set aside his prenuptial agreement with the star, the latest development in their lengthy divorce battle.

Mr. Gest’s lawyers told State Supreme Court Judge Harold B. Beeler on Friday that Miss Minnelli hid the fact that she was infected with herpes, was an alcoholic and prone to violence. Had Mr. Gest known, the lawyers argued, he never would have entered into the prenuptial agreement.

Miss Minnelli’s lawyer, Israel Rubin, refused to comment on specific allegations. “This whole thing is ridiculous,” he said.

Mr. Gest’s lawyers asked Judge Beeler to order a trial to determine the validity of the prenuptial agreement.

Miss Minnelli and Mr. Gest married March 16, 2002, at a celebrity-studded ceremony with Michael Jackson as best man and Elizabeth Taylor as maid of honor. They separated in July 2003 and filed for divorce later that year.

The prenup request is the latest in a series of lawsuits and accusations between the former couple that have become tabloid fodder.

Most recently, Miss Minnelli argued in court papers that Mr. Gest and her former bodyguard, M’Hammed Soumayah, who claims she forced him to have sex with her to keep his job, joined forces to attack and embarrass her publicly. She claimed the bodyguard, 56, breached a confidentiality agreement by giving Mr. Gest information about her.

Mr. Soumayah filed a $100 million lawsuit against Miss Minnelli, claiming she assaulted him.

Mr. Gest, 52, has filed his own $10 million lawsuit against Miss Minnelli, saying that during the 15 months they lived together after they were married she repeatedly beat him so badly that he suffered nerve damage.

Miss Minnelli has denied the claims.

No wedding yet

Brad Pittsays he won’t marry Angelina Jolie until restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped.

“Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able,” the 42-year-old actor says in Esquire magazine’s October issue, on newsstands Sept. 19.

Although Shiloh, Mr. Pitt’s daughter with Miss Jolie, was in the spotlight when she was born in May, Mr. Pitt says he “cannot imagine life” without adopted children Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.

“They’re as much of my blood as any natural-born, and I’m theirs,” Mr. Pitt says. “That’s all I can say about it. I can’t live without them. So: Anyone considering [adoption], that’s my vote.”

New name needed

Rap superstar Sean Combs must change his name once again after losing the right to call himself Diddy in Britain to a disgruntled little-known music producer, newspapers reported Saturday.

Mr. Combs, 36, who used to call himself Puff Daddy, Puffy and P Diddy, agreed to pay more than $190,000 in legal costs plus $19,000 in damages as part of a settlement sealed last week at the High Court in London.

London-based Richard Dearlove, who has traded under the Diddy name since 1992, sued Mr. Combs after he dropped the P from his moniker, under laws designed to protect commercial interests from unfair competition.

“He changed his name to Diddy. I was gutted,” Mr. Dearlove told the Guardian newspaper.

“I started getting e-mails from Puerto Rican girls asking if they could be in my video, and people were asking me to look at their clothing line.”

Mr. Combs, who presides over a vast media empire and fashion lines, and whose hits include “I’ll Be Missing You,” will now have to rebrand himself in Britain, which could prove costly.

• Compiled by Kevin Chaffee from wire reports.