McInerney: I Snogged Julia Roberts

WHO'S THE MAC? McInerney, Roberts (inset)

Count on professional name-dropper Jay McInerney to kiss and tell—especially if the kissee in question is as famous as Julia Roberts.

The Bright Lights, Big City author was one of several writers participating in a panel discussion about celebrity profiles held at an American Society of Magazine Editors workshop last week. (The others were Meryl Gordon, Vogue's Jonathan Van Meter, and New York's Adam Sternbergh.) When the subject of what not to do in an interview came up, McInerney dusted off an anecdote from 1995, when he profiled Roberts for Harper's Bazaar. Although married at the time, McInerney took the Pretty Woman star, fresh off her divorce from Lyle Lovett, out for a night of drinking and dancing that concluded with an illicit makeout session.

McInerney's wife at the time, Helen Bransford, has said that seeing how infatuated her husband had become with the actress drove her to get a face-lift. They divorced in 2000.

His charm seems to be intact: According to an eyewitness, at the event's conclusion, McInerney was hobbling out on his broken foot when Marie Claire editor Joanna Coles chased him down, shouting, "Jay! Jay! Wait a moment! Jay!"

Photo: Getty Images