Scene in the Tropics

Alex Rodriguez sells Miami Beach manse to a mystery Palm Beach celeb for $30M

TMZ reports that ARod has left the building--that is, his 9 bedroom, 11 bathroom Miami Beach manse, which he just sold for $30 million. Though the Yankee slugger took an $8 million pay cut in the price of the home, originally listed at $38 mil, he bought it in 2010 for $7.4 million, raking in a pretty impressive profit nonetheless. The buyer, TMZ says, is a Palm Beach celeb. Rush Limbaugh? Rod Stewart? G-d forbid Donald Trump?  No one knows--yet. Says our real estate mole, "It's a couple from Palm Beach." The home is not so far from Matt Damon's, which is currently on the market for the bargain basement price of $20 million. True high rollers, however, may want to consider the Versace mansion, which just dropped its asking price today from $100 million to $75 million.

Nashville's Hayden Panettiere back with big tipper boxer beau is old news

As we reported back in January, Nashville star Hayden Panettiere and her 36-year-old heavyweight boxing champ Wladimir Klitschko have been back together since they were last spotted at Zuma, so it was no big deal or big surprise when the couple was seen together Monday at Hollywood's Taco Beach Shack.  It was no big deal that the couple was seen "laughing and getting quite intimate with arms around each other," according to a spy witness. What may have been the biggest deal was when Klitschko left a $20 tip on a $20 lunch.

[Photo/PacificCoastNews.com]

Mourning Foundation's Wings & Wine event with Bobby Deen & Jill Scott canceled

The Mourning Family Foundation's inaugural Wings & Wine event February 20 at The Raleigh in collaboration with TV chef and Paula's son Bobby Deen and featuring Grammy Award winning Jill Scott as entertainment has been canceled. And though you'd think it was ixnayed due to the recent DUI arrest of Tracy Mourning, wife of retired basketball player and philanthropist Alonzo, officials say the cancellation is unrelated. "The timing is really unfortunate, though," said a publicist.

The first look at Joanna Krupa's Maxim photo spread

Say what you will about The Real Housewives of Miami and what it did or didn't do for the reputations of the so-called 'wives', but for model Joanna Krupa, it led to a centerfold lovely feature in the March issue of Maxim, out on stands February 19. For those who only read Maxim for the articles, you'll have to wait and buy the mag yourself because we were too busy watching paint dry, though the former Dancing With the Stars contestant did wax philosophical on her reality TV hardships."I’d say DWTS was tougher—it was physically and mentally exhausting! When you’re out dancing with your friends, you think you’re cool. But then you get in the ballroom and it’s totally different," Krupa said. As for the threat possibility of a third season of Miami's Housewives, no news on that front, according to Bravo spokesman Ryan McCormick, who told us, "Nothing yet." 

"French Kim Kardashian" & rumored Chris Brown paramour frolicks in Miami

Dubiously known as the French Kim Kardashian, Nabilla Benattia is famous for her own personal exploits and, among other things, a sizeable tattoo just below her ass cheek that says "Everybody Dies but not Everybody Lives."

Benattia also has questionable taste in men, most recently linked to Chris Brown when she was seen leaving his hotel room at the W Opera in Paris in December. This wasn't the first time she's been linked to Brown, who first approached her on the beach in Miami and asked her to be in one of his music videos.

Benattia, who was last seen at South Beach hip hop hot spot Bamboo, is currently filming French reality show Angels of Reality around Miami. Kardashian qui? And to think, there once was a time when Jerry Lewis was France's most inexplicable American export.

(Photos/Shandrew PR)