Gina Gershon Canoodling with Bill Clinton?

According to the July issue of Vanity Fair President Clinton has an unsavory and sexual relationship with actress Gina Gershon. Both have denied these allegations, and are publicly outraged at the unprofessional manner in which Vanity Fair has created these rumors from their lack of fact checking. Apparently, according to Gershon's lawyer, she has never been alone with the president - Vanity Fair is trying to work their angle to gain publicity. Shame on them!

These rumors can not only be damaging to the personal lives of President Clinton and Gina Gershon, but they are not good for the career. Especially since former president Clinton has had issues in the past of the womanly kind. They are both enraged by the blatantly false rumors, and apparently have not met in crowds of less than a hundred people.

In the industry in which I work I am exposed to idle gossip more than ten times daily. Sometimes, I am even part of this chain of gossip which seems to reach into the heights of the company, to the mailroom. Being close to the top of this chain has taught me that I must co-exist with the gossip - even when it revolves around my personal life, and develop techniques to cope with it accordingly.

The first step to stopping rumors of unfounded romance is to set the record straight. During a conversation it is important to directly speak and relay that the rumors are untrue. It is important to recognize the rumors, and make it look as if you have nothing to hide - most often I don't!

When the rumors come to the top of the chain, or are exposed to many people in the case of Bill Clinton they can be damaging to not only personal lives but professional careers. It is important to relay these rumors as false, but sometimes this becomes impossible. In the case of people in the public eye such as Bill Clinton it could be important to hire some sort of publicist to deal with these rumors appropriately.

Sometimes, the situation needs to be diffused before the rumors are able to be quelled. This could involve something as simple as seeing the party that one is supposedly involved with on a limited basis or keeping the meetings to public areas, and the conversations to a minimum. This may seem like an unnecessary precaution but I say it with the basis of people having nothing to talk about will make them stop talking! Eventually, rumors subside and one can get back to their friendship.

Rumors occur, and there is nothing that we can do about them but remain calm, deal with the situation, and diffuse anything that may come of these rumors. It is a fact of life, people gossip - you gossip, I gossip - and sometimes this gossip is about us. When it comes to celebrities, avid denial and quick responses are key in protecting a good reputation, these tasks could be used in real life too when dealing with your own idle gossip situation.