Anna Gristina, the notorious soccer mom madam, does have a relationship with someone at the New York Post. It’s me.
Gristina has been a source on several stories I’ve written for the paper, most notably on Page Six.
This week, the New York Observer published a story claiming that the editor in chief of the New York Post, Col Allan, had a close friendship with Gristina and suggested that he had allowed that relationship to interfere with his professional responsibilities as the paper’s top editor.
This is untrue. I visited Anna Gristina at Rikers Island today and asked her about the Observer’s report.
“I don’t know who Col Allan is,” she said. “I have never met him. I have never heard his name until today.”
She recalled having a 2008 conversation with a friend, Ashley, a woman who was involved in the prosecution against madam Kristin Davis.
“She was very upset, and was being questioned in the Kristin Davis case, and was upset that bad things would be said about her if it got into the papers,” Gristina said.
“She had already been through a very bad custody battle and it didn’t make her look good. She was asking for help. She was afraid and thought it might hurt her custody situation.
“I told her I had a relationship with someone at The Post [meaning me, Jeane MacIntosh] who was a good friend, and that I had provided information to The Post in the past.”
Asked if she knew the conversation was being recorded, she said, “No, but apparently it was.”
Allan has vigorously denied the Observer’s story.
“My attorneys are today filing a formal demand of retraction from the Observer and its publisher,” Allan said. “The Observer’s report is nothing but a smear and a lie.”