PEOPLE

By Belinda Luscombe

A CHANGE IN THE WIND, MARIAH

If Whitney Houston can do it, why can't MARIAH CAREY? The diva of deep record sales is dipping her toes into the waters of acting. The video for her new song, Honey, which debuts this week, opens with a comedy sketch, after which she scampers around like a Bond girl (read: lots of changes into different, but equally skimpy, outfits). She's also in discussions about doing a movie. "It's a great way to release different creative energy," Carey says of acting. Her music is also changing--away from touchy-feely ballads to more collaborations with hip-hop artists. And her lyrics are more personal, perhaps because her separation from Sony honcho Tommy Mottola has given her more to write about. She also finds she's more written about. "Every time I meet someone now or just talk to them at a party," she says, "people speculate."

FAREWELL TO A FLAMBOYANT FRIEND

GIANNI VERSACE had one of the most colorful, vibrant palettes in the fashion business, but at his memorial Mass, few could bring themselves to wear anything but sober black. More than 2,000 mourners, from family and fashion-industry friends to some of the world's most celebrated clotheshorses, including PRINCESS DIANA and CAROLYN BESSETTE KENNEDY, gathered in the Duomo in Milan, where ELTON JOHN and STING (who wore Versace to his wedding to TRUDIE STYLER) performed an a cappella rendition of Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd. The designer's sister DONATELLA and brother SANTO wept profusely, as did NAOMI CAMPBELL. John too was particularly overcome. Before the service he broke down in tears in front of the urn containing Versace's ashes. Earlier in the week, a British newspaper editor had borne the brunt of the singer's wrath when he called to remonstrate about a less than flattering obituary. Better not tell him that at least three Versace book projects are already under way, including a quickie true-crime novel.

CELEBRITY COURT SHUFFLE

COPPERFIELD V. PARIS MATCH

Here's a new trick DAVID COPPERFIELD's learning: if you can't make something disappear, sue the people who created it. Paris Match says Copperfield's long engagement to CLAUDIA SCHIFFER is an illusion--something millions of males would dearly love to believe. The mag published a contract between Copperfield's German promoter and Schiffer that showed she was paid $20,000 for attending the 1993 show where the two met. The suit states that Paris Match added that the supermodel now gets paid for pretending to be Copperfield's fiance and doesn't even like him. Copperfield isn't denying the first deal, but he's so incensed at the second that he's suing for $30 million.

STATE V. AUTUMN JACKSON

Stupidity and naivete, it seems, are no excuse under the law. Autumn Jackson faces as much as 12 years in prison and $750,000 in fines because of a clumsy attempt she made to extort money from the man she says she thought was her father. (In case you've managed to miss this one, BILL COSBY claims that he had a one-night stand with Jackson's mother many years ago and that he's been paying her to keep quiet about it--but that Autumn is not his child.) If she is a Cosby, she certainly didn't inherit his sense of timing. She faxed his attorneys her threat to sell a story to the Globe if Cosby didn't pay her $40 million on the very day his son Ennis was murdered. While her lawyers insisted she was merely a desperate woman trying to negotiate with her father, prosecutors claimed she had been warned she was committing extortion and proceeded anyway. The jury went with Cos.

PERZIGIAN V. O'CONNOR

Usually, celebrities go to court to defend their name. But CARROLL O'CONNOR went because songwriter Harry Perzigian claimed the actor was doing some slandering of his own. After his cocaine-addicted son Hugh shot himself, O'Connor went on a campaign against drug dealers. Perzigian, who spent a year in jail for supplying cocaine to his friend Hugh, sued O'Connor for saying such things about him on TV as "He's a partner in murder, not an accessory." But the jury sided with O'Connor. "It shows L.A. loves celebrities," said Perzigian. Or maybe the city just doesn't care for folks who supply drugs.

MOORE, WILLIS V. MANY

You can call their movies lousy, you can say they gave their daughters weird names, but don't say anything disparaging about their marriage. DEMI MOORE and BRUCE WILLIS have sued the supermarket tabloid the Star for suggesting that their union was over and that Moore had spent a wild night with Johnny Depp. (The National Enquirer said she was with Leonardo DiCaprio, which for some reason didn't offend the couple enough to sue.) Moore and Willis have also taken action against an Australian magazine called New Idea, which said Demi's obsession with fitness and an eating disorder were rupturing their happy home. "We are not filing this for financial gain," says Willis about the $5 million suit, "but to protect our reputation."