People, Oct. 2, 1995

I-I-I WON’T ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Trying to dispel reports that pop diva WHITNEY HOUSTON and BOBBY BROWN are divorcing, Houston’s spokeswoman has announced that the singers are merely “having marital difficulties.” She added that they are attempting to work things out and would appreciate some privacy, thereby guaranteeing that scads of tabloid photographers will now be following the couple’s every move. A marriage on the rocks isn’t the sum total of Brown’s problems. He has been arrested twice this year for battery and also awaits a court date for allegedly kicking a security guard in West Hollywood.

SEEN & HEARD

Add Bob Hope to the long list of celebrities who are being sued by ex-employees. Jeffrey Branum, who was Hope’s butler for two weeks last year (not long enough, apparently, to pen a lucrative tell-all), has filed a wrongful-termination suit. Branum claims the comedian fired him because Branum refused to shave his beard off. “The Hopes have no comment,” says their allegedly bearded spokesman.

Perhaps nobody will be happier about the wane of the English tourist season than Prince William. The heir to the British throne just began his first year at Eton, long a side attraction to Windsor Castle. But now, according to British papers, double-decker bus tours slow when they pass the school and local entrepreneurs sell T shirts reading where there’s a will.

MS. BARRYMORE, SUPER GROUPIE

They’ve both posed for Playboy. They’ve both dated rock stars, and they both have tattoos. So perhaps it’s inevitable that when ex-“super groupie” Pamela Des Barres’ memoir I’m with the Band gets made into a movie, DREW BARRYMORE will be the one to play her. “I’ve known her half her life,” says Des Barres. “We used to dance together in clubs when she was 13.” In other words, Drew walks the walk. As for her recent penchant for baring her breasts publicly, including on late-night TV, Des Barres loves it. Says she: “I would have done the same thing.”

NEXT: I.P. DALY ON NIGHTLINE

Some people are born into fame, others attain it, and still others are picked out almost at random by DAVID LETTERMAN. When DICK ASSMAN sold his Saskatchewan gas station and went to work for the one across the street, it was noted in a modest ad in the local paper. Somehow, the ad–and Assman’s snicker-inducing name–was brought to Letterman’s attention. An appearance on the Late Show ensued–as did an agent, some commercials, a couple of marriage proposals and a name-recognition factor in Canada of 49%, according to a local polling concern, which means that Assman is better known to his fellow Canadians than many of their own politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps. Says the soft-spoken Assman: “No one’s ever really noticed my name before.” Unfortunately, so many aspiring wags have now caught on that the 61-year-old had to get an unlisted number in order to cut down on crank calls from people who aren’t talk-show hosts. Ah, fame.