Claudia Cohen, 56; N.Y. gossip columnist reversed roles as a rich socialite

Claudia Cohen, 56, a New York gossip columnist who became the subject of much gossip herself when she married into the city’s elite, died Friday at a Manhattan hospital of ovarian cancer, said Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for her ex-husband, billionaire Ronald Perelman.

By the time of her death, Cohen was a millionaire socialite renowned for her contacts and East Hampton parties, but the New Jersey native started as one of the first reporters for the New York Post’s Page Six in the late 1970s, dishing on the sort of people she would later invite to her parties.

In the early 1980s, while penning her “I, Claudia” gossip column for the New York Daily News, Cohen began dating Perelman and became the second of his four wives. When they divorced years later, she left with an $80-million settlement and a permanent place in New York’s socialite circles.

After her divorce, she briefly dated former New York Republican Sen. Alfonse D’Amato.

Most recently, Cohen was an entertainment correspondent for television’s “Live With Regis and Kelly” and “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.”