A Top Model Makes It By the Seat of His Pants
Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Page C03
So you're staring at a billboard for Armani Jeans and say, "Gee, that butt looks familiar." The new . . . er, face of Armani's spring collection is hometown boy Jay Bulger , a 2000 grad of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
The 6-3 polymath (writer, director, businessman, model -- depends on which day you catch him) stumbled into modeling after a friend photographed him boxing in the 2001 New York Golden Gloves tournament. "My nose bled a lot, so the pictures looked really cool," says the 24-year-old.
 Now that's the ticket. Meet Jay Bulger, Armani's newest model. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase local wanted to travel the world and now finds himself on runways around the world. (IMG) |
The Fordham University marketing major was looking for a way to travel the world on someone else's dime, and modeling was just the ticket. He landed on the runways of Milan, the cover of Paris Vogue, and now as a heartthrob of designer denim. Yes, he's written his first novel, and of course he's blogging.
"I've sort of branded myself as an intelligent guy," he says. "I would make a lot more money if I shut up and pretended to be dumb."
Hinckley's Old Flame Has a Job to Do -- for D.C.
Leslie deVeau -- once the most famous resident of St. Elizabeths Hospital, next to her former longtime boyfriend, John Hinckley -- has been working quietly as an inspector for the D.C. Department of Mental Health, city records show.
DeVeau's name appeared last month on a record, distributed at a public hearing, of department visits to a troubled group home in Northwest Washington. But court records indicate she has been employed since at least 2002 by the agency, which oversees the psychiatric hospital where she once lived and where Hinckley still resides.
Reached at her office, deVeau declined to comment. An agency spokeswoman also declined to comment, citing employee privacy.
DeVeau, 62, was a wife, mother and teacher from a socially prominent Washington family when she shot and killed her 10-year-old daughter in 1982, then attempted to kill herself. She was ruled mentally incompetent and sent to St. Elizabeths. The same year, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a shooting attack on President Ronald Reagan and three others.
In the mid-'80s, the two struck up a relationship and were reported to be engaged. In 1990, deVeau was released unconditionally from the hospital after a judge agreed with doctors she had regained her sanity. But as Hinckley pushed for more opportunities to leave the hospital on occasional visits to his parents, their relationship suffered -- deVeau was uncomfortable with the scrutiny from doctors, lawyers and Secret Service agents -- and they broke up.
In late December, a federal judge granted Hinckley, 50, permission to leave the hospital on overnight trips to his parents' home near Williamsburg.
UPDATE
At an NSO pops concert back in December, an older gentleman stood up and popped the question to his lady love in front of the audience. Lots of oohs and ahhs, and Marvin Hamlisch promised to play at their wedding. The couple slipped into the crowd before anyone got their names, but we expected to identify the musical Romeo and Juliet after we wrote about the proposal.
Two months later, though, not a peep from the mysterious duo. They haven't contacted the symphony or Hamlisch, says spokeswoman Patricia O'Kelly, who searched through subscription lists and ticket sales to no avail. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
THIS JUST IN . . .
· Just in time for the big summer movie season . . . Paramount Pictures announced yesterday it purchased rights to distribute Al Gore 's Sundance smash documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," starring Gore and his slide show on global warming. Coming to a multiplex near you May 26, providing mighty competition for the weekend's other big opener, "X-Men 3."
· Actor Chris Penn 's death has been ruled accidental by the Los Angeles coroner's office. The 40-year-old brother of Sean Penn died from a combination of an enlarged heart and various prescription medications.
· If there was any lingering doubt, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta weighed in on Britney Spears 's now-infamous drive through Malibu last week with her baby on her lap: It was a very bad thing, he says. "Her actions still send the wrong message to millions of her fans," Mineta said at a Philadelphia event yesterday marking Child Passenger Safety Week. About time we heard from the administration on this!