This story comes via LaineyGossip, and it’s a great one. First, some backstory (full piece here): last May, Julia Roberts was promoting Duplicity, the film she did with Clive Owen. She was walking the red carpet for the NYC premiere, stopping and doing press with all of the outlets. When she got to Roger Friedman, then working for Fox News, she “turned cold” according to Friedman. He wrote an online article calling Julia out for being “rude, downright nasty, and dismissive. She snubbed me in front of other people to make her point, and later cut in between me and director Tony Gilroy to make her point. Her behavior was unexpected and chilling.” But why did Julia pull such a bitch move? Because, in her bitch-addled mind, Friedman was one of her harshest critics, and he had made nasty comments about her performance on stage in 2006. Except that he didn’t. Friedman pulled his old column and it was full of praise for Julia. So Julia was not only a raging bitch to this guy, she was totally wrong to be mad at him.

As far as we know, nothing really happened after that. No muffin baskets were sent, and Julia never had to address the incident publicly. Well, more than a year later and Friedman is back! He attended the NYC premiere of Eat, Pray, Love, and he somehow got into the after-party too. Oh, my! So guess what Friedman did? He detailed every move of Julia’s throughout the night in his column. And it’s awesome:

Julia Roberts went on a spiritual journey for the movie, “Eat Pray Love.” The journey ended at the swanky Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue last night where Columbia Pictures threw an invite only lavish after party for Roberts, director Ryan Murphy, the cast and miscellaneous celebrities.

And what did Julia learn from finding herself and communing with swami’s and gurus? While the guests partied downstairs in the famous club, Roberts threw herself a private gathering upstairs, in a room blocked by bodyguards. She took the whole cast hostage, as well as Julian Schnabel, Josh Brolin (who brought his 16 year old stepdaughter Eleanor–Diane Lane’s daughter with Christopher Lambert), and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

Call it “Eat Pray Love Hide.”

It was quite a scene watching various people trying to get past the guards and into the room. Former New York Times movie reviewer Elvis Mitchell was turned away, but eventually gained entry. Two young women had to send someone in to find actor co-star Billy Crudup, who finally came out to say hello. The movie’s main producer left his family outside the party and kept running in and out to be with them.

The most glaring snub: Elizabeth Gilbert, the best selling author of “Eat Pray Love” was left way downstairs and far away from Roberts’ soiree, with her own guests.

Roberts did spend about five minutes in the main party room. But as she and her posse–including husband Danny Moder–were hurried out and away from the dreadful real people, Roberts said, to no one in particular, “That’s so tacky.” A lot of the real people heard her say it.

Vedder and Brolin hung out longest in the main room, and each were funny and polite. Bardem and Schnabel would have stuck around longer, but they were summoned by publicists who arrived with Roberts’ invitation. Gilbert was totally excluded.

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Sony/Columbia is counting on the “Eat Love Pray” readers turning out at the box office. The studio is on the upswing right now with Will Ferrell’s big hit “The Other Guys” and “Salt,” “Grown Ups,” and “The Karate Kid.” It’s been a hell of a year so far. But “EPL” definitely cost a lot. With Roberts’ salary and the locations in Italy, Bali, and India, this is a $100 million movie. Gilbert told me she loved the adaptation. It’s more than likely that the book’s readers will, too.

The movie does suffer–at least for men–from a lack of purpose. When men want to “find themselves” we use GPS. Women may identify with Gilbert’s journey, which looks like it cost a million dollars. She suddenly has no interest in being married to her husband, played by Billy Crudup. So she ups and leaves. He’s not cheating on her or abusing her. He’s perfectly nice. But she dumps him, then traipses around the world complaining about it all. She doesn’t become altruistic, or charitable, or politically active. But she always looks great.

I really got a kick out of Julia Roberts on “Letterman” recently. She was charming. And often in “EPL” that charm comes through. But just as often Roberts seems to be fighting the demons of “Liz Gilbert” (as written, not the real person). Women may want to see that on screen, and join her on that trip. This is a movie we will be seeing on Lifetime, OWN or We for decades to come.

PS We’ve been at parties at the Metropolitan Club honoring Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, Diane Keaton, Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr–dozens of A list celebrities. This was the first time ever that a private party was given upstairs and the stars were isolated. Mark it down in your books. A first.

[From Showbiz 411]

I’m SHOCKED. Except not so much, isn’t this how everyone sees Julia? She’s the popular girl in high school who never grew up and away from her pettiness, her rudeness, her elitism. The only thing I’m actually shocked with is that Friedman didn’t recycle some of his favorite words to describe Julia: cold, rude, downright nasty, chilling, dismissive. Oh, and LaineyGossip pointed this out as well: Rotten Tomatoes is scoring Eat, Pray, Love at 11%. That’s pretty rotten.

Oh, and THAT’S SO TACKY is my new catchphrase.