There was a clash of the titans over the People’s Princess.
Princess Diana not only captivated the public, but she apparently made Hollywood heavyweights weak in the knees. In his new book, “Dianaworld: An Obsession,” author Edward White explores how the late Princess of Wales not only rocked the monarchy but also impacted pop culture decades after her death in 1997 at age 36.
One story White shared in his book about the “Diana Effect” claims Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere nearly went toe-to-toe over the British royal at Elton John’s house in the ’90s. The account in the book came from John’s husband, David Furnish.
Fox News Digital reached out to Stallone, 78, and Gere, 75, for comment. When a fan previously asked Stallone about the alleged incident in an old Instagram post, the actor responded, “Complete fabrication,” Biography.com reported.
“It’s a story that [also] comes from Elton’s autobiography,” White told Fox News Digital. “He invited Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere to a house party that Diana was also at. I mean, it’s Elton John, so probably everyone in the room was like an A-list celebrity or a member of some grand European royal family.”
“So they turned up,” White shared. “According to Elton John, Sylvester Stallone turned up with the intention of picking up Diana, which is wishful thinking in several ways… But he did that.”
“Sylvester Stallone walked in and saw Diana in deep conversation with Richard Gere,” White claimed. “He felt that Stallone got angrier and angrier as the evening wore on, because Richard Gere was just dominating. That’s how he felt – that he was dominating the conversation with Diana.”
“At some point, from what Elton John says, Sylvester Stallone’s emotions got the better of him,” White continued. “He then squared up to Richard Gere, and they had to be separated… It was these two alpha males squabbling over a woman who neither probably had a chance with, to be honest.”
John originally shared his account in his 2019 book, “Me.” According to the singer, Gere and Diana were deep in conversation in front of the fireplace at his pad, which caused the mood of the party to change.
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“As the rest of us chatted, I couldn’t help but notice a strange atmosphere in the room,” John recalled, as quoted by Biography.com.
“Judging by the kind of looks he kept shooting them, Diana and Richard Gere’s newly blossoming friendship was not going down well with Sylvester Stallone at all. I think he may have turned up to the party with the express intention of picking Diana up, only to find his plans for the evening ruined.”
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John wrote, “Straight away, Richard Gere and Diana seemed very taken with each other.”
According to John, the guests headed over to the dining room to eat. However, Gere and Stallone were noticeably missing. John said he then sent Furnish to find the men.
“He came back with both of them, but he was wearing a fairly ashen expression,” John wrote, noting that Furnish said there was “a situation.”
“It transpired that he’d discovered Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere in the corridor, squaring up to each other, apparently about to settle their differences over Diana by having a fistfight,” wrote John, as quoted by the outlet.
The outlet shared that Furnish managed to break up the situation in time for dinner.
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John, 78, wrote that Diana “seemed completely unruffled” by it all.
Tessa Baring of the Barnardo’s children’s charity claimed that on another occasion, it was clear that Stallone was, like many others, eager to be in Diana’s presence.
According to Edward’s book, Baring described that, during a lunch in London, Stallone “really, really wanted to come and sit next to the Princess of Wales.”
“We didn’t let him do that, but we did let him sit next to a child who was sitting next to the Princess of Wales,” said Baring, as quoted by White’s book.
“Baring remembered the occasion because she thought Diana hit upon an effective way of placating the film star, making the child feel included, and indulging her own desire to find out the latest gossip, by leaning over and asking Stallone questions about his love life as though she were asking them on Tracy’s behalf: ‘Tracy and I want to know if you’re married,’” wrote White.
Stallone and Gere weren’t the only stars who were reportedly eager to spend a night with the princess.
White’s book also described how Freddie Mercury, frontman of Queen, managed to get Diana to sneak out of the palace in disguise and head to “one of London’s most famous gay bars.”
“There are these stories of royals slipping out among the commoners in disguise, and they have this magical experience because they’re living just like one of us,” White told Fox News Digital. “By dressing up in male drag and going out, she felt embraced by a marginalized community. She felt an affinity with them because, rightly or wrongly, she felt like an outsider, and they were very accepting of her.”
“I also think she took huge pleasure in taking risks,” White continued. “It was a huge part of her identity that came back time and time again as I was researching the book. She just took the most incredibly audacious risks. She didn’t stop to think twice about things very often… But I think she also felt that she was a rolling stone without a real home. And I also think she felt like she wasn’t living life properly unless she was taking risks.”
“You could argue that getting engaged to Prince Charles at age 19, having only met him a few times and not really knowing very much about what was expected of her, was a pretty gigantic gamble,” said White. “Maybe one that didn’t pay off.”
In his book, White cited the memoirs of Cleo Rocos, who claimed she spent an evening with Mercury, Diana and Kenny Everett after the princess persuaded her to take her to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Everett warned the princess that the venue was “not for you… full of hairy gay men.”
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“Diana was insistent, however, so Everett helped her disguise herself in male drag: a camouflage army jacket, hair tucked up into a leather cap and dark aviator sunglasses,” Rocos recalled, as quoted by White’s book.
“Scrutinizing her in the half-light, we decided that the most famous icon of the modern world might just…. JUST pass for a rather eccentrically dressed gay male model.”
White wrote that the disguise worked.
“It was fabulously outrageous and so bizarrely exciting… no one, absolutely no one, recognized Diana.”
White wrote that the group reportedly stayed for one drink and left. Diana quietly returned to Kensington Palace and sent back Everett’s clothes the next day.
