Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg have canceled the lavish picnic they traditionally throw the Saturday before the Oscars, due to a downpour in their native Southern California.
‘We can confirm that the picnic is indeed canceled,’ a spokesperson for the 76-year-old media executive and 71-year-old fashion designer told Page Six on Friday.
The celebrity couple was expected to hold an intimate gathering of family and friends instead, a source told the paper.
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Change of plans: Barry Diller, 76, and Diane von Furstenberg, 71, have canceled the lavish picnic they traditionally throw the Saturday of Oscars weekend due to a downpour in their native Southern California. They were snapped in 2016 in LA
Von Furstenberg chat with The Hollywood Reporter Thursday about the annual gathering, prior to the grim weather forecast forcing an adjustment. She said that ‘the picnic is the nicest because there are no photographers, people bring their kids and put their blankets on the lawn.’
She said that one of the party’s best attributes is the co-mingling of ‘friends in the industry from many different generations who come,’ naming off A-listers such as Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, David O. Russell and Bradley Cooper.
A huge draw for the most powerful people in show business, other past guests including media bigwigs such as Oprah Winfrey, Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa; executives such as Jeff Bezos, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen and Ron Meyer; and Tinseltown stalwarts including George Hamilton, Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins.
‘What makes a successful party,’ von Furstenberg told the publication, ‘is if you as the hostess manage to have fun and behave as a guest, and I do. You want to put people at ease, and also have enough food and drink. We always have healthy things.’
Fashionista: von Furstenberg was snapped at an event in LA last month
Busy slate: This week, von Furstenberg continued in her tradition of tossing a luncheon for women up for Academy Awards this year
Von Furstenberg looked back on the growth of the power couple’s annual bash.
‘When we first had our annual pre-Oscars Saturday picnic it was like 10 people in Malibu,’ she said. ‘Then we started hosting the party with Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter at our house in Beverly Hills – he invited all his advertisers and it got big, too big.’
She continued, ‘This year there’s no more Graydon’ – referring to the editor’s retirement late last year – ‘but we decided to have it anyway,’ as ‘Barry’s office organizes it.’