Theo Wenner, son of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, may only be 26 years old, but he’s seasoned at picking up Hollywood hotties.
His ex-girlfriend is rock royalty Liv Tyler, and now Wenner is being chased by none other than foam-finger aficionado Miley Cyrus. “I would say he was definitely a ladies’ man [in high school],” says 27-year-old Nick Clifford, a former classmate of Wenner’s at the all-boys Collegiate School on the Upper West Side.
“He had a bit of a persona to keep up, which was following in his dad’s footsteps and being a rock star . . . there was definitely a model mentality for him.”
Now that Wenner’s a bona fide “It” celeb photographer at his pop’s magazine, he has a whole Rolodex of leggy young things to choose from.
Including Miley Cyrus.
Sparks reportedly flew when Wenner photographed the singer (mainly topless) for an October Rolling Stone cover story.
Sources say she’s been after the magazine heir ever since — ducking out of the “Saturday Night Live” after-party a few weeks ago to get some QT with her shutterbug.
So just who is this pouty-lipped, shaggy-haired guy making some of the most famous girls in the world weak in the knees?
Just your typical mildly aloof but kind-hearted, tennis-loving hipster — that is, one born into a rock-’n’-roll institution.
Wenner can be spotted tooling around town with other relatives of the rich and famous, including Anna Wintour’s son Charlie Shaffer, artist Julian Schnabel’s son Vito Schnabel and socialite/actress Annabelle Dexter-Jones, who is the half-sister of music guru Mark Ronson.
Just last weekend, he jetted down to Mexico with 27-year-old art curator Schnabel and Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman to party at La Calaca Festival, a four-day celebration for El Dia de los Muertos — a k a the Day of the Dead.
(Wenner’s soon-to-be home base will be on Canal Street, where he plunked down $2.35 million in 2011 for a four-story building that he’s converting into his very own live/work townhouse.)
The precocious Wenner has been making a name for himself ever since 2008, when he shot Robert Pattinson for Rolling Stone — the first major job for the then-22-year-old Bard undergrad studying photography.
Since then, Wenner, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, has photographed a trove of A-list celebs such as Jennifer Lawrence and Bruno Mars for Rolling Stone and non-family magazines including Purple, W and Harper’s Bazaar.
Some critics say Wenner’s success is due to nepotism.
One former Rolling Stone employee who overlapped with Wenner when he interned for the magazine in 2006 recalls a staff keen on keeping a young Wenner happy. (After all, his younger brother, Gus, 23, is now in charge of Rolling Stone’s entire Web operation.)
“There was definitely a sense that he could bigfoot a story,” says the former Rolling Stone employee. “If he worked on something, he would probably get more space. He was often late on his deadlines. He was not a terror or anything, but he definitely had some power and exercised it.”
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But others say Wenner’s made a name for himself all on his own.
“Of course doors have been opened for him. And he’s very fortunate in his background,” says Karen Langley, a stylist who has worked on multiple shoots with an “incredibly charming” Wenner.
“But I think that almost makes his job harder in a way because people are quick to judge him,” she says.
Luckily for Wenner, the judgments thus far have been pretty positive.
“There’s a charge of realness to his photos,” says Wenner’s Bard professor Stephen Shore. (Wenner graduated from Bard in 2009.)
Langley says Wenner “really has to be connected to the subject on a level that makes him quite unique.”
No surprise, then, that he and Liv Tyler (who is 10 years his senior) supposedly got serious after Wenner photographed her for Purple magazine in 2011.
“It was a really intimate shoot,” says makeup artist Stevie Huynh of the Bahamas pictorial. “It was just me, Theo, Liv and the stylist. It was almost like being on a trip with some friends.”
“You know, [I enjoy working with Theo] because he’s never in a rush . . . he loves to take hundreds of shots,” says 22-year-old French model Constance Jablonski, whom Wenner photographed for Purple at his family’s home in Idaho. “He really lets a model decide whatever she wants to do. I feel like we can really be our own character.”
Before Wenner was photographing beautiful people across the world (and being photographed himself — he had some early gigs as a model), he was skateboarding around the Upper West Side.
He was raised uptown with his older brother, Alexander, 27, who works at Brooklyn Homebrew, and his younger brother, Gus.
In 1995, at the age of 8, his parents, Jann and Jane Wenner, announced their separation after Jann came out of the closet. Jann’s been with his partner, fashion designer Matt Nye, ever since.
Friends say that both Wenner households were always happy ones and that their middle son was loyal and popular growing up.
“I had come [to Collegiate] from outside of New York City and he really took me in,” says Clifford.
“He was really friendly. He had a good group of friends at school.”
But Wenner has always acted a little bit older than his years.
At one high school birthday bash, Wenner had David Blaine perform magic tricks for pals including designer Zac Posen. He often invited friends to come along to coveted “Saturday Night Live” tapings.
“In high school, we were going to a house party and Theo was on his way to the Grammy after-party. It was like, he was already past that,” says one friend who asked to remain nameless.
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Friends say Wenner’s life isn’t all celebrity and flash, though.
“We go out for Italian or Japanese food, followed by a game of pool,” says Langley of her nights out with Wenner (and often his brother Gus) that frequently start with pizza at East Village spot Lil’ Frankie’s.
“He’s very passionate about food, but he kind of eats like a child,” she adds with a laugh.
“When we’re going for Italian, he always just orders spaghetti with tomato sauce.”
Wenner’s pleasures may be simple — even if his social circle is anything but. Clifford especially remembers the time he and Wenner visited a friend, who’s also the son of a Hollywood elite.
“We went over to Malcolm Ford’s house and walked into his room and there’s Harrison Ford standing there telling him he needs to do his homework,” says Clifford.
“And I’m like, ‘OK, this is a little different than what I’m used to.’ ”