Mick Jagger’s tragic news was earth-shattering

Weeks don’t get much stranger even here in Hollywood, the home of the odd.

The earthquake early on Monday morning gave everyone a bit of a fright.

It only registered as 4.4 on the Richter scale, which is nothing too serious but it was enough to give everyone a wee shake.

It wasn’t long before we were all having a good laugh about it.

I especially enjoyed the footage of my old colleagues at Los Angeles news station KTLA.

You might have seen the clip online of the two news anchors diving under a table.

When I was there we were taught to dive under the desk at the first sign of an earthquake you don’t want those studio lights falling on your head.

But the smiles disappeared when the tragic news started filtering through about celebrated fashion designer, L’Wren Scott, girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

Her suicide stunned the media world, and understandably so.

As well as being Jagger’s partner, she was a well respected and much-loved designer.

Nicole Kidman was reportedly too distraught to make a statement.

I’ve often asked Nicole what she’s wearing on the red carpet.

Usually a celebrity will tell you it’s a Tom Ford or Ralph Lauren.

Nicole would always say something like: “Oh, it’s my best friend, L’Wren Scott.”

Make no mistake this sent shock waves throughout the celebrity world.

Mariah Carey described L’Wren as a genius.

Madonna added in a statement: “This is a horrible and tragic loss. I’m so upset.

“I loved L’Wren’s work, and she was always so generous with me.”

Her work was later described by one US magazine as “the world’s best, on the world’s best dressed”.

Mad Men star Christina Hendricks summed up her work she said it was “for how women want to look and for what men want to look at”.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell added: “L’Wren was someone I always loved.

“She was the epitome of elegance and femininity yet still had a girlish quality.

“I will miss her honesty and I will miss her friendship. My heart goes out to Mick and all who loved her and were loved by her.”

Obviously, L’Wren’s family will be feeling her loss to an infinitely more painful degree. And none more so than her partner.

As is usual, the news was full of speculation about L’Wren’s death.

I think it’s fair enough for the media to be interested in something like this, but there’s no denying some take things much too far.

The last thing Mick Jagger needs is somebody questioning whether he could have supported his partner even more.

I think it’s a symptom of rolling 24-hour news, which has been both a blessing and a curse.

Never before have we had so many channels, and each trying to find a unique angle for the story.

Reporters are desperate for fresh content so resort to concocting wild theories based on very little.

The old trick by reporters is to say: “I don’t wish to speculate, but” before going on to speculate.

Most of the time it’s harmless, but it’s classless in news like this.

You can see it with reporting on stories like the missing Malaysian airliner.

It wasn’t long before outlandish theories about hijacks, ransoms and North Korean missiles were flying around forgetting of course that there are more than 200 people missing and presumably dead.

As for The Rolling Stones, they have cancelled the first dates of their tour in Australia, which is no surprise.

As for L’Wren herself, all I can say is that it goes to show that the A-list lifestyle isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything.

Who knows what goes on behind closed doors?

We’ve seen someone look happy on the outside until it was far, far too late.

Sometimes what you see with someone turns out to be smoke and mirrors and I’m not just talking about celebrities.