ROBIN LEACH

There is this image of a guy in a hot tub, drinking champagne with two buxom blondes. But that is not the real me. I am a father, and I am a grandfather, too.

Whoever would have guessed that in the land of cheap sausages and mashed potatoes there could be such a change which would actually bring the French from Paris every weekend to invade Britain en masse to eat great food and drink great wine.

Celebrities are nowhere as rich as some people think they are.

I built the ideal house down in the Caribbean. All Englishmen dream of leaving the rain of England and getting a place in the sun - out in the grounds with separate guest houses; that is the ideal scenario.

If it weren't for Liberace, there would be no Madonna or Lady Gaga, Elton John, Bette Midler, or Elvis because it was Liberace who helped the King glitz up his act.

I've known Emeril for more than 20 years from when I featured him on 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' from his days at Commander's Palace in New Orleans and from when I helped start the Food Network where he subsequently hosted an amazing 2,000-plus shows.

I try to tell the story, always. I do not want to be part of it.

Travel is very subjective. What one person loves, another loathes.

I developed the pilot for 'Entertainment Tonight' with Jack Haley, Jr. and Al Masini, who became my business partner in 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,' 'Runaway' and several other shows and specials.

We began our 'Luxe Life' and 'Vegas DeLuxe daily columns' not long after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and we've spent a decade bringing you showbiz stories and star scoops. I hope it continues for a long time to come because I honestly feel that all the late nights and around-the-clock hours to be first and fast keep me young.

I have met some very strange people and some very strange cats - and I'm not talking about jazz greats. I'm talking about animals that people claim have come from outer space, and boy, they're weird!

Back on Nov. 23, 1963, I sailed into Manhattan Harbor onboard the Queen Mary and landed with no job and contacts and just $135 in my pocket. My first lodging was in a rundown hotel for $27 a week with the bathroom down the end of a corridor of beds.

In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine.

I like to see things start, grow, and then move on to better things.

I wanted no other job than to work in newspapers. I was fascinated by the process of collecting information, talking to people and having the story appear in a paper that would be delivered in your letterbox.

I am a creator of TV shows. 'Lifestyle' ran for 14 years... that was pleasurable. We also had 'Runaway' for eight years. We did two years of a show called 'The Start of Something Big', and we did a network series called 'Fame, Fortune and Romance.'

When I interview people, and they give me an immediate answer, they're often not thinking. So I'm silent. I wait. Because they think they have to keep answering. And it's the second train of thought that's the better answer.

Burnout comes easy in the high-pressure world of television, and when the opportunity arose to move to Las Vegas and bring my friends and star chefs to open their restaurants at the Venetian, I made the move here.

No other entertainer in the world ever took the risks that Liberace took.

Emeril is a one-in-a-million Renaissance man. In 2002, he established his foundation to support children's educational programs to inspire and mentor young people through culinary arts, school food and nutrition.

It is usually people in the money business, finance, and international trade that are really rich.

Tatiana Alvarez, who also became a queen of the wheels of steel in L.A., has now sold her incredible cross-dressing, reverse 'Tootsie' story to Warner Bros. in Hollywood, and hotshot producers Mike Medavoy, Brian Medavoy and Erwin More have reunited to turn it into a movie.

I have no limo. In cities, I usually hail a taxi like everyone else.

I've made it a habit not to burn any bridges.

I don't follow English soccer because it's become a game for hooligans.