Russell Simmons Launches Sneak Attack at Grey Gardens!

Grey Gardens, the former estate of Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale—not to mention a multitude of ill-tended cats—played host to a small gathering in honor of the Humane Society of the U.S. last night. The East Hampton manse was a strangely fitting venue, given that the conditions those cats endured during the neglectful watch of the Beales thirty years ago comprise the same sort of cruel scenarios that the Humane Society battles to correct today. As if in atonement for the home's past sins, animal lover Frances Hayward opened up the house to Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society, along with several dozen other animal lovers, including David Lauren, First Niece Lauren Bush and record industry executive Russell Simmons, who makes a rather prominent appearance in the video below. Hayward rents Grey Gardens for eleven months out of the year from current owners Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn. Animal lovers themselves, they must thrill to the fact that this stunning home with the not-so-noble past can be used for such humane good.