Okay, so maybe Renee and Kenny didn’t make it, and you might not want to bet the farm on the lasting unions of other high-profile Hollywood husbands-and-wives like Demi and Ashton or Britney and Kevin, but there is at least one celebrity couple who looks poised to go the distance, as I learned at the incredibly sweet 30th birthday party hunky actor David Boreanaz, star of this season’s hit crime drama Bones, threw for his babe-alicious blonde bride Jaime Bergman, the onetime Playboy Playmate and former star of Howard Stern’s Son of the Beach.
The party took place at David and Jaime’s warm, cozy and tres chic home a short drive up into the hills above the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood—I liked to think of it as The House That ‘Ange’ Built (“It’s a work in progress that I’ve done pretty much over the past five years,” David told me). About 40 guests came and went—David ’s Bones co-star Emily Deschanel brought her sister Zooey (Elf), Aron Eckhart held court at a nearby table and Boston Legal’s Mark Valley was introduced to David and Jaime‘s parents.
The back patio was aglow with candles as the guests mingled, and the pool over the backyard was covered with a floorboard and white carpeting to create an impromptu dance floor and there was a DJ spinning current and retro dance music on the side, as well as a full bar serving drinks—mohitos, rum and cokes and fruity Flamingos made with 10 Cane rum, a high-end new liquor favored by the Hollywood elite.
“She just turned 30 and it’s a big surprise for her,” David told me, pointing out that he’d managed to catch his wife off-guard by flying in his folks and her mom. “I’m just excited that she can just kick back and enjoy herself. It’s good to be around people who want to enjoy themselves, so we’re having fun.” He said the night was only the kickoff of their ongoing celebration. “It’s just the beginning. I think hitting 30 is a great time in your life, and it’s a new beginning for her. I think it’s just the start.”
David’s youthful Bones costar Eric Millegan, a recent transplant to LA from NYC, got lost trying to find the house and stopped me to ask directions as I drove up, following me to the house to make it in time for David’s big birthday toast to his wife.
[PAGEBREAK]David called for all of the guests’ attention: “I’m holding a cake, I’m standing on a pool that is covered with white rugs and there’s all these fu-fu drinks—but I don’t eat quiche,” he began, drawing a laugh from the crowd. “But I am so glad that I can stand here with a cake, with these people and family and friends. We’re very fortunate that we can stand here all together and enjoy a moment of love and humor…I love my wife. Last night she was telling me ‘I think I found my first wrinkle.’ And it’s not the wrinkle that’s there – it’s what’s inside, and her heart that’s important to me.”
Jaime was thrilled to be presented with a birthday cake with a high-tech icing picture of a rodeo cowgirl on it–she used to ride seriously—and the couple danced together to Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven.” When the music turned funkier, After presenting his wife with her cake, David hit the dance floor (he’s actually quite the smooth dancer) and he beckoned Jaime to join him, but she made him suffer for a while, giggling with her girlfriends until she finally relented and joined him. Nearby Eric boogied on the dance floor throughout the night in his shiny silver pants.
“I’m having the time of my life!” Jaime told me, showing off the 18 karat gold heart necklace her hubby gifted her with—and she revealed that the party wasn’t quite the surprise David originally intended. “It was SUPPOSED to be a surprise. And David had a breakdown. He couldn’t handle it. He said ‘Honey, I wanted to surprise you, but I can’t handle the pressure. I have to tell you I’m throwing a birthday party for you.’ It worked out great because I had to have a little control over it.”
Does he try to surprise her a lot? “Always.” Does he break down a lot beforehand? “Always.” She laughed. “He can’t handle the pressure.”
Jaime, whose put her acting and modeling career on a back burner to raise their three-year-old son Jaden, said she wasn’t too traumatized by reaching the milestone of her third decade. “If I wasn’t married and I didn’t have a baby, I might be a little turned off by it, but I had a baby and was married at 25 so I feel like ‘Okay. It’s no big deal.’ I’m embracing it. I woke up with a wrinkle and I’m embracing it. I said ‘Hello, it’s my 30th birthday present.”
It was hard to spot a line on Jaime’s face, but if one did indeed exist, it must have been from smiling so much.
