Justice Michael Kirby and his partner Johan van Vloten. The bride-to-be has been described by sources as ''a real star f----r'' with her own celebrity ambitions. ''If I came out now, it would kill my career and I'm only just starting to get traction,'' one of the ''hunks'' confided in PS at a post Logies party last year. A senior network publicist told PS: ''Sadly in this country if you are a TV Week poster boy or girl, you are committing career suicide by coming out.'' At the recent AACTA awards, film director Stephan Elliott, creator of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, declared he was gay, not that anyone had doubted it. Back in 2008 PS reported on his London civil union ceremony to long-term male partner Wil Bevolley. After the story ran Elliott sent PS a blistering email complaining about being ''outed''. And yet for Justice Michael Kirby it was having an openly gay character on his beloved TV series Number 96 , shown above, which gave him and his partner Johan van Vloten positive role models as young men. Kirby has provided a commentary to mark the show's 40th anniversary on a commemorative DVD released this week.

Long-term relationship ... Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell. Credit:Paul Rovere But four decades later, celebrities who are outed still face a rocky road, as shown by the likes of the pop star Anthony Callea, inadvertently outed several years ago. Callea is now in a long-term relationship with another celeb, actor Tim Campbell, though it could be argued that neither's career has exactly blossomed since their romance went public. Little Joe empire in crisis mode AFTER tearing up the runways of Paris and Milan and gracing the covers of the world's style bibles, London-born supermodel turned fashion designer Gail Elliott and her dashing Australian husband Joe Coffey were bound to make an impact on Sydney's social radar when they relocated here from New York six years ago. Turning up at Sydney's smartest parties with matching Maltese terriers and co-ordinated designer outfits, they were soon feted as one of this city's most glamorous couples as their burgeoning Little Joe fashion empire grew around them.

But this week the dream came to end. The couple, introduced by mutual friend, the late Michael Hutchence, have gone to ground after their ''baby'', Little Joe, was placed in voluntary administration last Friday. The cracks began to appear in their glittering empire last December, having spent years slavishly building Little Joe and pouring millions of dollars into it. The couple were forced to sell their luxury Bondi Beach apartment two days before Christmas for $7.25 million, $775,000 less than they wanted. In January it emerged Elliott had shut down her Little Joe clothing store in Bondi Beach just six months after opening it. At the time Coffey confidently told reporters the business was in ''a recapitalisation mode''. Last Friday they closed another three stores, two in Melbourne and the other on the Gold Coast.

In a statement issued to PS dated Valentine's Day, Elliott and Coffey said they were ''fully committed to the brand, business and label'', which will continue to operate its flagship Woollahra store, and be stocked in David Jones. Just as other Sydney high-end fashion retailers have been doing it tough, they described the current retail climate as ''volatile''. Yesterday they received the backing of one of Australian fashion's most influential players, David Jones' womenswear buyer David Bush, who told PS: ''Little Joe Woman is a valued member of the David Jones fashion fraternity and we will continue to work with them as they trade through their current challenges. For us it's business as usual.'' The couple were a noticeable absence from Wednesday night's David Jones fashion launch, an event at which they had bathed in the flashbulbs for years, mingling confidently with television personalities, pop stars and Sydney's social glitterati, beguiling the locals with tales of partying at their home in the Hamptons with good mates, including Elliott's bridesmaids, the supermodels Yasmin Le Bon, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen. But little did they realise the Hamptons house had been on the market for three years, and had become a crushing financial burden for the couple. Creditors are believed to be owed tens of thousands of dollars. KAK fallout promises to add spice to Logies

KERRI-ANNE KENNERLEY'S extraordinary spray at her former employer Channel Nine last Sunday blew the lid on one of the uglier chapters in Australian commercial television history. KAK, in the business since she was 14 and who has always opted to manage her own career rather than hire an agent, declined to comment further on the controversy to PS this week beyond expressing her desire to ''move forward''. She has told friends her comments comparing Channel Nine with the ill-fated Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia were meant as a ''bit of a joke''. But there were few smiling faces around the corridors at Nine's Willoughby HQ this week. PS's request for a response from Nine to KAK's musings predictably fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, her portrait over the canteen miraculously disappeared this week. The bad blood between KAK and Nine has been bubbling away for years, culminating when management failed to inform the star her days on breakfast television were numbered. She discovered her fate via a newspaper reporter who called to gauge her thoughts on replacement Sonia Kruger.

KAK had been at loggerheads with Nine over various issues, from her ''stingy'' wardrobe budget to trying to convince Today executive producer Tom Malone to encourage her colleagues Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson to allow her on their couch each morning. Away from the cameras, KAK told her closest allies at Nine she ''felt like a leper'', even on her rumoured $800,000 salary. Those closest allies turned up at her Woollahra home last week where she threw her own farewell bash. She has been anything but a ''leper'' since arriving at Channel Seven this week, paraded around the network's Martin Place corridors of power and warmly welcomed by everyone from Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle to her former rivals, The Morning Show hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies. Indeed KAK's first glimpse of her successors Sonia Kruger and David Campbell, ironically sitting on the Today couch, occurred during a chat in Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell's Martin Place office. One thing is certain. This year's Logies promises to be intriguing.

Despallieres bail Frenchman Alexandre Despallieres, who has been sweating it out in a Paris prison for nearly a year while the judicial system determines if he should stand trial over the mysterious 2008 death of Sydney showbiz identity Peter Ikin, was released on bail last Tuesday. Despallieres's legal team secured his release and reports in the media this week claim his lawyers are confident the case will not proceed. Despallieres was indicted over suspicions of foul play, including forgery, having laid claim to Ikin's $20 million estate soon after his death, only to lose the fortune after he was challenged by Ikin's Sydney family in the British High Court, which set off investigations into the death in Paris. Designer dies

A little bit of ''old Sydney '' departed this mortal coil on Tuesday night when the renowned interior designer, celebrated arbiter of style, former Sun-Herald social diarist and much-loved bon vivant Leslie Walford passed away following a long illness. On Monday Walford, who had only recently celebrated his 85th birthday, will be farewelled at a funeral service at St Mark's Darling Point from 3pm. At her heels

PS's favourite ''First Lady'', Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and dedicated follower of luxury Australian fashion, has embarked on a public relations offensive since appearing in this column in recent weeks. Last Saturday, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters in Perth by Curtin University, which said it was in recognition of ''her dedication to education''. No word on what she wore to collect the degree, but readers will recall FLOM (First Lady of Malaysia) dropped nearly $100,000 ordering 61 garments from the chic Sydney boutique of Carl Kapp, who closed the deal in person by visiting the powerful Malaysian couple at the suite of the now controversial Darling Hotel at The Star casino on New Year's Eve. Following the report, FLOM denied all the garments were for her. She said they were intended for a Malaysian boutique. Her husband told the Malaysian press that PS's report Had been ''fabricated''. Er, don't think so.