Celebrity obsession brings success to Garden City entrepreneur's

At the Sweeney family's home in Garden City, everyone is up by 7 a.m. Dad Bill gets breakfast for six-month-old Liam and two-and-a- half-year-old Natalie, while Mom Vera attends to others, people with one word names such as Heath, Britney, Madonna, Brad and Angelina.

Author, editor and owner of I'm Not Obsessed, a gossip Web site attracting 5.5 million hits a month, Vera Sweeney, formerly a business consultant, started her business out of her home three years ago.

Business? Lifelong passion is more like it, with the name of her business the height of irony. Want to know what J-Lo will be wearing in the delivery room when her twins hit the spotlight? I'm Not Obsessed had the news as quickly as everyone else, and in some cases scooped other gossip dispensers. (It's a "Lucy" designer hospital gown with a coordinated robe and swaddling blankets. Retail, about $65. I'm not obsessed has a picture.)

I'm Not Obsessed is a going concern, an attractive, bright, sharply written site with plenty of pictures of celebrities. Sweeney gets her information through an arrangement with women's magazines such as Self and Essence, and men's magazines that send stories her way to be broken online. She also has sources overseas at British publications.

Wes Ferguson, news editor of ETonline.com and TheInsiderOnline.com said he contacts Sweeney "with exclusive content. We offer her a first look at our in-depth interviews and send out ... breaking news."

Ferguson added that Sweeney "stands out because of her unique features, such as 'Fashion Finds,' where she dissects a celebrity's wardrobe. It's a very cute feature that I haven't seen anywhere else."

The popularity of the site has drawn advertising, especially ads for clothes and cosmetics, both fashionable companies and more down market. Sweeney recently signed with Gorrilla Nation, one of the largest online ad sales representatives with more than 500 Web publishers under contract.

Ask her when she was bitten by the gossip bug, and Sweeney, 30, responds, "Oh, please. When I was four? How's that?"

She believes the majority of gossip fans are women.

"Some women are born with it," she said. "Some men are color blind and some women are absolutely obsessed with gossip, so I have the trait, unfortunately."

Growing up in Astoria, she was an addict of the fanzines because "it was fun to look at your heartthrob, the guy you're pining for. It was a quick fix, lasted a week and you could look at them every other day."

When she wanted to go into business for herself, gossip was the way to go, she thought.

"If my husband walks in and sees me reading about David Beckham, he knows it's my job and won't tell me, 'C'mon, it's time to unload the dishwasher.' That's a big plus."

With the birth of Liam, and the growing success of the site, Sweeney has brought on two writers and only posts for a few hours in the morning and then is with her children. Her daily round is supervising and editing her writers' work, spending about 90 minutes on the nuts and bolts of the business and working a short time in the evening.

When Anna Nicole Smith died she worked 72 hours straight, but when Heath Ledger died, with the writers on board, she worked her regular routine. (According to the gossip industry, Heath Ledger is still dead.)

Times have changed since little Vera Sweeney curled up with Tiger Beat to ogle the cute boys. The industry of gossip "has exploded," she said. And not all for the better, she added.

"It's too much; there's no lines any more to be crossed," she said. "There's no more privacy left."

She said her site "is work and kid-friendly," meaning you don't have to be ashamed of anyone looking over your shoulder when you're indulging in pleasures guilty or not. Although she said she respects privacy, on I'm Not Obsessed you can check out Liv Tyler's family beach vacation via telephoto lens, including shots of Tyler in a bikini.

The future seems bright, with Sweeney set to make more moves out of the house and into he bright lights. She's in negotiations to bring on a public relations firm and will be a guest at an upcoming Lenny Kravitz concert.

"With two children it's hard to get out, but my New Year's resolution is to say yes to more things," she said.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, while you're checking out Leelee Sobieski in a "See-Through Dress of the Day," remember Oscar Wilde, who reminds us that, "Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality."

Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires
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