PEOPLE

By Belinda Luscombe

SEEN & HEARD

It's not every day that the wife of a government leader is viewed as a sex object. So when Germans opened the January Penthouse, they must have been surprised to see a caricature of a scantily clad Hannelore Kohl, wife of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in the magazine's "Top 100 Beauties." The Kohls have sued Penthouse and stopped any further printing of the cartoon.

Did Strom Thurmond dream of Fay Wray in his youth? Wray, 89, who made 80 films before 1960, popped up on Capitol Hill last week sans King Kong but with Julius Epstein, who wrote Casablanca, to talk about copyright law. She and fellow Hollywood old-timers want Congress to award writers of pre-1960 films royalties each time their work is rerun.

MORE CLOUDS OVER CAMELOT

Will Kennedy-family scandals never end? Currently embroiled: MICHAEL KENNEDY, 39-year-old son of the late Senator Robert F. The Boston Globe reports that Michael, who separated two weeks ago from his wife Victoria (daughter of sportscaster Frank Gifford), allegedly kept up a five-year affair with his children's baby sitter, starting when she was 14. The young woman, daughter of a prominent Massachusetts entrepreneur, has not commented on the matter, but prosecutors are investigating the statutory-rape allegations. Meanwhile, the new flap won't help Michael's brother Joseph, who has his eye on the Massachusetts governorship. Joseph's reputation is already taking a beating, thanks to a tell-all book by ex-wife Sheila Rauch Kennedy.

WEALTHLESS WINNIE DISHES THE DIRT--OR TRIES TO

While her ex-husband attempts to negotiate a settlement between the rebels and the government in Zaire, WINNIE MANDELA is striking a few deals of her own. South Africa's former First Lady is in money trouble, and having failed to sell an interview to any British or South African news outlets (asking price: almost $800,000), she's cashing in on the cachet of the humble house in Soweto that she shared with Mandela in the 1950s. But now that Soweto is a tourist destination, the garage has become a curio shop where you can pick up a small bottle of soil from the garden ("Heroes' Acre," as the label calls it). Each bottle comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Mrs. Mandela, but at about $11 a bottle, it's a slow way to pay her debts.

LIKE ME, LIKE MY GIRLFRIEND

Got a new babe? Time to clean house! This seems to be the thinking of ANNE HECHE, who, with the ink still smudgeable on her contract to play the love interest of Harrison Ford in 6 Days/7 Nights, fired Endeavor, the agency that got her that job, as well as roles in movies (Volcano and Donnie Brasco) that made her this week's actress to moon over. Reason? Endeavor was opposed to her announcing in PEOPLE that she is gay and having a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, who only recently stepped out of the armoire herself. Heche has signed with more like-minded agents at CAA (which also represents DeGeneres) and has a new manager, who also happens to be DeGeneres'. Hey, the couple that has representation together ...