US News

CLIMATE OF LUST

Here’s the pair that celeb-watchers have been buzzing about – a shirtless hunk and the greener-than-thou Hollywood wife of “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David.

Bart Thorpe, 44, of Martha’s Vineyard, and environmental activist Laurie David, 49 – who filed for divorce from her husband on July 13 – appeared inseparable on the Massachusetts island last week, darting down to the dock together several times for trips on Thorpe’s 17-foot boat.

Thorpe’s friends say he is behaving like he’s under her spell.

Laurie David filed divorce papers citing “irreconcilable differences” with the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” TV comic. But there was speculation that her sudden rise to fame from producing the Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” had strained the 14-year marriage and caused the split.

Spies have noticed activity at the Davids’ sprawling 76-acre compound in the island’s Chilmark neighborhood – which they call “Camp David.”

“She creeps over at 11 p.m.” to her barn where Thorpe is living, said one resident. Thorpe arrived at Camp David in March after moving out of the home he kept with his wife, Julie Flanders-Thorpe, a Chilmark resident told The Post.

Laurie David and Thorpe have been spotted holding hands, and last week were seen taking dawn boat cruises and on an afternoon water-skiing spin. Giggling and laughing, Laurie David slipped her feet into Thorpe’s shoes after climbing out of his boat.

Meanwhile, friends say Larry is bunking in the guesthouse of close friends Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, who also summer in Chilmark. He’s regularly seen sulking with friends at the Chilmark General Store.

Chilmark residents said it all started when Thorpe and his now-estranged wife began hanging around with the Davids last summer. Thorpe and his father-in-law David Flanders had leased an additional parcel of land to the Davids. At the time, Thorpe was on the Davids’ payroll to help develop the property.

The foursome ceased to spend time together when Larry, 59, returned home to Los Angeles at the end of the summer and Laurie stayed on the Vineyard. Residents began noticing burgeoning closeness between Laurie and Thorpe.

“I remember thinking that it was odd that they were together in their swimsuits in the middle of a work day,” one resident said.

Throughout the winter, Laurie David made regular trips to the Vineyard to check on building projects, even as the Davids’ aggressive building and construction to rearrange their environment upset Chilmark residents, said neighbor Jackie Mendez-Diez.

By March, Thorpe was out of his home and living in the Davids’ barn, said another resident who did not want to be named.

“Thorpe’s father-in-law probably wants to take a fire ax to him,” said the neighbor. “If it was my daughter that he fooled around on in this tiny community and made a jackass of himself, I’d have him committed.”

Meanwhile, Thorpe, a Republican, is lately driving a hybrid car.

“Bart is so besotted he doesn’t know which end is up,” said a Chilmark resident, who did not want to be named. “He thinks Laurie David is the greatest person in the world. He says: ‘She’s single-handedly saving the planet.’ It’s like he’s another person. It’s sad. He had the greatest wife and a wonderful daughter.”

Laurie David referred calls to her spokesman, who did not return messages seeking comment. The Thorpes could not be reached.

jculora@nypost.com