PEOPLE

By Belinda Luscombe

HOLLY GOES LIGHTLY

JIM CARREY and LAUREN HOLLY's hillside wedding ceremony 10 months ago had the air of risky, throw-caution-to-the-wind impetuosity about it. The two hitched up on the set of Dumb and Dumber in 1994, split up and got back together again just before the nuptials. Alas, the risk didn't pay off. Holly filed for divorce from the spandex-faced comedian on June 25, citing--and this is the shocking part--irreconcilable differences. The split had long been rumored, partly because Holly and the director of her new movie Long Time, Nothing New, Ed Burns, seemed to be developing a particularly affectionate friendship. Carrey, for his part, did a sojourn at a local hotel. To show how modern and amicable it all is, their publicists released identical statements saying, "They wish only the best for one another."

SEEN & HEARD

Howard Stern's show was yanked off the air in Dallas, but he can take solace in being the King of All Czech Media. According to Variety, Soukrome Neresti (translation: Private Vices) tied for the Audience Award at the prestigious Karlovy Vary film festival. Its co-winner was a drama about a priest. At last, some positive images of Americans abroad.

Maybe they don't have a size 2 in Russia. Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, who was to be the next American to live on Mir, the Russian space station, won't be going because, at 5 ft. 3 in., she's too short to fit into the Russian space suits. Her place will be taken by David Wolf, who's 5 ft. 10 in.--tailor-made for the bulky suits in case he's called upon to take a walk outside.

SILVER, BUT STILL FOXY

While ELIZABETH TAYLOR's preference in jewelry has always been diamonds, it turns out that silver suits her quite nicely also. Especially when it's on her head. The actress-activist-marital artist, who is 65, showed off her new au naturel look in Istanbul, in a rare post-brain surgery appearance, at a fund raiser for the children of Chechnya. She spoke briefly in support of Survive: the International Children's Appeal, as a favor to Shahpari Khashoggi, the wife of billionaire Adnan. Although she looked tired and left right after her speech, her spokesperson says she has had no repercussions from the surgery. Next up for Taylor: the 10th anniversary of her Passion perfume.

BODICE RIP-OFF A Tale of Stolen Words

Chests were heaving in passionate disbelief at last week's Romance Writers of America convention when it emerged that one of the genre's most prolific and popular writers was a plagiarist. JANET DAILEY, right, who has written 93 novels, has 200 million books in print and even has an award named after her, has admitted lifting excerpts from the work of NORA ROBERTS (125 novels, 30 million in print). A fan happened to read Notorious by Dailey and Sweet Revenge by Roberts back to back and posted strikingly similar passages on the Internet. ("Like a rocket, the heat tore up her arm," in one; "Like a rocket, the heat tore down her fingertips," in the other.) Roberts, who once published 10 novels in a year, began to scan Dailey's work and says she found more examples. Dailey has publicly apologized, claiming that her actions were brought on by a stress-induced psychological disorder. But Roberts, who was friendly with Dailey before the discoveries, vows that the relationship is over. "It would be difficult to be friends with someone who has stolen from you."