Still trying to regain her balance after stumbling over American customs, carefree ex-gymnast Nadia Comaneci is ready to tie the knot-but not to her married roofer friend. The real love of Nadia`s life is Mihai Vasilescu, 30, a computer programmer she left behind in Romania. ”He is tall, and he is quite handsome. . . . We will get married when he arrives” in Los Angeles this spring, cooed Comaneci in Tokyo, where she is on a TV-talk tour. Meanwhile, Constantine Panait remains close by-to help her through Japanese customs, of course.
THE ROYAL WORD? NO PG Prince Charles was in Charleston, namely to urge South Carolina`s business leaders to consider ”a new deal” for capitalism-i.e., to be more humane. Sensing an impossible dream at work, newsies promptly began badgering royal flack Philip Mackie about reports of Princess Di`s pregnancy. Mackie stated flatly that Di is not going roundly. ”There is no truth to that,”
said Mackie for the prince, who presumably would be among the first to know.
BARR PONDERS AN EARLY OUT Possibly you`ll put this one in the ”good news” category: Roseanne Barr is talking of retiring from television. A spate of bad press is burrowing beneath her seemingly thick skin, conceded Barr, who was nicked Monday by the National Organization for Men, which conferred upon her its annual
”grousers” award for fostering a ”destructive image of men.” Barr, who has heard worse lately, said: ”It can hurt me, and it has hurt me. I can take anything if it`s true. . . . they don`t need to be making up stuff. But they do. It`s humiliating and hurtful, and that is why they do it.” As for retiring, Barr insists that she is serious-if you can wait awhile. ”I have five more years on my contract. Then I`d like to move away from here and go live on a farm and not be in show business anymore.”
HEY, IT`S JUST A GAME How taxing are America`s tax laws? Plenty, says Money magazine, which created a hypothetical Jane and John Doe and asked 50 tax accountants to figure their taxes. The bottom line invites an audit. ”Our test stumped all but two of the 50 tax pros who were willing to grapple with it,” says Money. Indeed, for fees ranging from $271 to $4,000, the pros calculated that John and Jane owed federal taxes ranging from $9,806 to $21,315 (the correct answer was $12,038) on a combined income of $132,000. Many experts were stumped by routine computations of Social Security taxes for a self-employed person and figuring credit for child-care expenses. Asked Money`s editors: ”If our insanely complicated tax code can trip up even highly trained CPAs, what hope can a mere layman have. . . ?” Well now, that`s a question for which everyone has the right answer. Gulp.
ROCKWELL`S NUDE PORTRAIT With all the junk that passes for art these days, it`s a wonder that Norman Rockwell`s only known nude portrait sold so cheaply. ”I`m surprised I got it for that price,” said an ecstatic Tom Sullivan, of Bloomfield, Mich., after paying $50,000 at a Detroit auction for Rockwell`s 1958 portrait, titled ”The Manapessa” (it`s also known as the ”Portrait of Miss Jackie Wells”). Bidding began at $60,000. The subject of the painting, Detroit secretary Jackie Wells, 61, posed for Rockwell while a student at Wayne State University. Afterward, the artist her the painting.
MORE WASABI, SENOR? Hot stuff: Vogue magazine reports that the trendiest of L.A.`s trendy restaurants, Matsuhisa, serves Japanese-Peruvian food.
COSTNER WINS A PUDDING POT. It was a field of dreams for Kevin Costner, who accepted Harvard University`s Hasty Pudding award with more sincerity than typically attends a merry roasting.
”This is one of my first awards,” Costner said Tuesday in Cambridge, Mass. ”I treat it with more reverence than you might think.”
The star of ”Field of Dreams,” ”Bull Durham,” and ”The Untouchables” was named man of the year by Hasty Pudding Theatricals for other reasons, too.
”What first attracted our eye was the soul-searching in such films as
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`Night Shift` and `Sizzle Beach U.S.A.,` ” joked organizer Sharon Owyang. And ”we kept hearing these voices. . . . `If you give it, he will come.` ”
As part of the tradition, Costner, 34, donned a red-sequinned bra over his tux and was kissed by men in drag after accepting the ceremonial pudding pot.
”My father was terribly concerned that this kind of thing would happen as a result of acting,” grinned Costner, who began his career as a stage janitor while going to night school.