PEOPLE

By Belinda Luscombe

THIS MARRIAGE IS A BUST

Marriage tattoos, like vows, are not to be taken lightly, lest they outlive the unions they celebrate. Consider those worn on the ring fingers of rocker TOMMY LEE and his pneumatic spouse PAMELA ANDERSON. The Baywatch staple is divorcing the man she wed on a beach 21 months ago, after a relationship that had stood the test of five days' time. Their marriage produced one son Brandon and a slew of photographs of the happy couple kissing. The two had recently been in court trying to stop distribution of a video of their more intimate activities, which they say was stolen from their home. The reason for the split: those darn "irreconcilable differences" again.

SEEN & HEARD

"I'm sure everyone there thinks I'm a nut," says actress Sherry Stringfield of her decision to leave the hit show ER.With it she leaves a reported $70,000 a week, 16-hour workdays and a spotlight she has never enjoyed. The actress is moving back to New York City, where she hopes to spend more time with her boyfriend, and in the theater.

Another scion of the Douglas clan is in hot water. A car driven by Cameron Douglas, 17, Michael and Diandra's son, got into an accident with a Secret Service agent's car. The agent was then dragged by the teen's car when he reached in to grab the keys. "Anybody who's a parent knows how difficult and painful [this] is," said a family statement.

TINY COUNTRIES, BIG SHOTS

Maybe religion isn't just the opiate of the masses. Supreme socialist FIDEL CASTRO certainly seemed dazzled by his visit to POPE JOHN PAUL II last week. Reporters weren't invited to a meeting that incensed many Cuban exiles, so we can only speculate what the atheist and the anti-Marxist talked about. The Catholic teachers that schooled each of them back in the '30s? Why Castro expelled all those priests? How the Pope helped bring about the demise of Marxist Europe? More likely, they touched on the trade embargoes against Cuba, which both oppose, and the possibility of a papal visit to Castro's island, the only Latin American country His Holiness has never set foot on. It's also a safe bet the notoriously prolix Castro did most of the talking. "The Pope," Castro said afterward, "moved me."

THEY TOO GET RIPPED OFF

U2 always wanted to be pioneers in the music business, but not this way. Two clips from the album the band is currently recording have been smuggled onto the Internet. A fan in Hungary got hold of some private videotapes and uploaded 30-sec. audio clips from cuts called Discotheque and Wake Up Dead Man to his U2 Website. In cyberseconds, the clips were on sites worldwide and, despite their iffy quality, were playing on radio and mtv and selling on the streets of London for $10. U2 won't comment, but its label, Island Records, has asked that the songs not be aired anymore--and has refuted speculation that it engineered the stunt to create an early buzz for the album. Ironically, U2 has invested in software to make it easier to download music from the Net; they may be thankful they haven't yet used it.