The Foxlight: Controversy 'Blooms' for Star Jones
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Controversy is blooming over Star Jones (search) and her rooftop gardener.
Seems the plucky freebie queen takes a dim "view" to paying her bills — at least where one man is concerned.
A New York gardener says Jones owes him over $7,000 for work he did on her Manhattan rooftop garden.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He says Jones promised him a mention in a magazine article. When that didn't take seed, he sent a bill — and she offered an autographed picture as payment, he says.
That's right, an 8-by-10-inch glossy. No signature on a check, mind you, just on a publicity still.
The gardener says he's not running a diner. He wants to be paid in something besides photographs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We'd just like to see our bill paid," says gardener Dimitri Gatanas (search). "That's what we asked for a very long time ago. We don't see why we have to get into a whole rigmarole about getting paid."
"It's a very simple thing," he adds. "We didn't get the credit. Pay us."
Jones claims in a counter-lawsuit that the work he did caused a leak in her apartment. Her lawyer says the gardener has no business billing for this because he's not licensed to build rooftop gardens.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On the "The View" Wednesday, the woman who got most of her lavish wedding paid for by corporate sponsors was quiet — or should I say "mum" — on the topic.