As far as years go, from PS's point of view, 2016 will definitely go down as a truly vintage one.
Indeed the gossip was so good over the past year that the column practically wrote itself, from hook ups and bust ups to triumphs and meltdowns, the cast of characters who feature on these pages certainly delivered in spades.
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Packer eyes better fortunes
It was a scatter-gun approach for Cupid's Arrow in 2016, a year that kicked off with Mariah Carey publicly gushing over her new boyfriend James Packer on stage at his Crown Casino in Melbourne for a special New Year's Eve performance as the pair planned their wedding day.
Mariah and her cleavage's whirlwind tour of James' home country even included a blink-and-you'd-have-missed her trip to the Packer country estate Ellerston in Scone, which PS hears was a little too much outback for the diva to bear, especially when she found herself swatting flies walking across the scorching tarmac at Tamworth Airport wearing stripper heels and without any phone reception.
Mariah Carey and James Packer in happier days. Photo: Kin Cheung
By March PS was reporting on whispers that trouble was brewing in "Jamiah's" paradise, with their much anticipated wedding "delayed indefinitely" as rumours swirled that billionaire James was tiring of his fiancee's diva antics while family matriarch Ros Packer had apparently harboured her own concerns about the pending union.
Packer even called PS directly on one evening in August – a first in 20 years of writing about him – to declare his undying love for Mariah and to assure me that all those rumours were simply not true.
Well, just weeks after the bizarre phone call their engagement came to an abrupt end amid claims and counter claims between the pair as Mariah called in the lawyers and demanded a multimillion-dollar settlement, including an "inconvenience" payment for up-rooting her life to fit in with the casino mogul's hectic schedule.
Then James' other world came crashing down around him, with 18 of his employees arrested in China and plans for his global casino empire abruptly derailed.
No doubt Packer will be looking forward to improved fortunes in 2017, as will his great mate Karl Stefanovic, who also saw his 21-year marriage to Cassandra Thorburn, the mother of his three children, implode in full public view.
Karl Stefanovic and Cassandra Thorburn pictured in 2012. Photo: Getty Images
Stefanovic has attempted to maintained a dignified silence, quietly informing PS he would not be speaking on the marriage breakdown for the sake of the children.
However his refusal to discuss the topic has only fuelled speculation and rumour-mongering around him, with wild claims about what led to the marriage breakdown when it all appeared to be so peachy perfect right up to the day they split.
Campbell rises to top
The meteoric rise of Jesinta Campbell from beauty pageant runner upper to fully-fledged A-list celebrity was completed in 2016.
Campbell and her $10 million footballer husband, Lance Buddy Franklin, managed to pull off the biggest celebrity wedding of the year without anyone noticing in November.
Jesinta Campbell and Buddy Franklin. Photo: Harpers Bazaar Australia
Well that was until she uploaded a single shot on her Instagram account.
The lovebirds appear to have conquered many of the demons that have plagued their relationship over the years, including Franklin's battles with mental illness.
Here's hoping they continue to do so for a long time yet.
Murdoch's starry nuptials
Rupert Murdoch had much better luck in the romance stakes when he married his fourth wife Jerry Hall in March.
While many observers were still in disbelief that the relationship was actually happening, the pair tied the knot in March at London's historic St Bride's Church on Fleet Street.
The entire extended Murdoch Hall clan featured in the wedding party, including Murdoch's two youngest daughters, Grace and Chloe, to his third ex-wife Wendi Deng.
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall Photo: Gareth Cattermole
Among the celebrity guests were composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, musician Bob Geldof and actors Richard E. Grant and Michael Caine.
Hall and Murdoch have made regular red carpet appearances throughout the year, the former supermodel sporting flats these days lest she tower over her media mogul hubby.
Not that Rupert seems to mind too much, having focussed his attentions firmly on his new bride, he stopped Tweeting the day they got married.
Rinehart working public image
Mining mogul turned Beef Queen, Gina Rinehart, took a much more proactive role when it came to cultivating her public image in 2016, though with mixed results.
Hiring former Liberal front bencher Sophie Mirabella, things appeared to be going rather well with Gina dropping several dress sizes and appearing much happier than she has in years after her immediate family ripped itself apart over the family fortune.
Gina even made a rare appearance in the marquees of Flemington at the Melbourne Cup, with Mirabella and a mystery man by her side.
However that man turned out to be an "old friend" of Rinehart's named Tony Bellia, formerly of Monaco, who has been accompanying the billionaire at various events and gatherings since the death of his previous partner, Australian cosmetics mogul Francine Shearmen.
Gina Rinehart in the Emirates marquee at Flemington, with Tony Bellia by her side. Photo: Penny Stephens
Bellia went to great lengths to state he was not romantically involved with Rinehart.
While PS's hopes for Gina's romantic life were dealt a blow, so too were her ambitions to cultivate a more complimentary public image, especially when she fell on her backside leaving the Emirates marquee at Flemington, with Mirabella demanding professional media photographers "delete" any photos of the moment as she scrambled to get her new boss back on her feet.
Apparently not all the snappers heard her.
Thorpe feels strain
It wasn't such a happy Mardi Gras for Ian Thorpe in 2016, the swimmer retaining a team of lawyers as the out and proud gay role model was splashed across Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph front page featuring photos of him refusing the offer of a "white pill-like object" during the gay and lesbian community's night of celebrations.
The coverage added more strain on the swimmer's relationship with his family and came just months after he was widely praised for coming out as a gay man in 2014.
Indeed the same paper had championed him just days before for tackling schoolyard bullies.
Thorpe's manager, James Erskine, a friend of the Murdochs fumed to PS at the time: "I have known Lachlan Murdoch for years and I intend to raise this with him ... it is an absolute disgrace how they have treated an Australian legend. I think the paper is waiting for us to take legal action. But really, what would they expect? The whole front page of the paper was dedicated to a story about Ian Thorpe not taking a pill, which turned out to be a mint."
Ian Thorpe. Photo: James Alcock
Meanwhile Thorpe's relationship with underwear model/paralegal Ryan Channing appears to have survived relatively intact, the pair becoming firm fixtures on the Sydney cocktail circuit and with the mintiest breath imaginable.
Fighting back from turns for worse
It has been a year television identity Kerri-Anne Kennerley would love to forget, having spent months by her husband John's side as he fought for his life following fall on a Coffs Harbour golf course that resulted in a broken neck and leaving him wheelchair-bound and dependent on around the clock care.
But John fought on valiantly with KAK by his side, ending nine months in hospital by returning to the couple's Woollahra home just in time for Christmas.
John has made extraordinary progress but both he and KAK know only too well their charmed life has taken a very different direction from the one they had anticipated at the start of the year.
Kerrianne Kennerley and John Kennerley. Photo: Instagram @kerriannekennerley
In November it was Maria Venuti's life that took an unexpected turn for the worse when she suffered a massive stroke brought on when a stalker came to her quiet suburban home demanding she let him in.
Police arrived and had to taser the stalker to subdue him.
He was later taken away for psychiatric assessment.
But it was Venuti who had paid the greatest price that day, having collapsed following the massive stroke inside her home.
She was placed in an induced coma and was semi conscious fighting for her life for weeks at Royal North Shore Hospital.
Doctors expected the worse and told the entertainer's loved ones to prepare themselves to bid farewell to their beloved 75-year-old Goddess of Gladesville.
Maria Venuti. Photo: Janie Barrett
But like Kennerley, Maria fought on and just before Christmas had reached a point where she could be moved into a specialist rehab clinic.
While her journey remains long and uncertain, if anyone can do it, Maria can.
Jacenko blurs lines of reality
It became clear that tireless self-promoter Roxy Jacenko's social media virtual life is a vastly different reality than her actual existence, though telling the facts from the fiction was certainly challenging throughout 2016, which is just how Roxy wants it.
While she fronted up to court with bodyguards and a fresh blow wave each morning during her inside trading husband Oliver Curtis' high-profile court case, Jacenko's addiction to status updates showed no sign of waning.
Indeed her daily fashion updates showcasing her various designer gowns, shoes, jewels, handbags and blow dries was getting just as much media time as her husband's ill-fated defence.
Oliver Curtis and Roxy Jacenko. Photo: James Alcock
Then, as her beloved husband was sentenced to jail, Jacenko revealed to the world, via yet another media interview, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The announcement, though before any actual diagnosis was made, ensured yet more media attention and resulted in her extraordinary appearance on 60 Minutes and yet more outings on the Daily Mail's parade of poseurs, telling the august organ that she drew strength from the couple's two children, her inspiration to carry on.
Roxy declared she simply had to get on with things for the sake of her children, and quickly updated a new round of selfies in her latest Louis Vuitton frock.
However, less frequent have been Jacenko status updates on her trips, via private plane, to the Cooma jail where her hubby currently resides.
nstead, Roxy has been spending quality time with her ex-boyfriend, the millionaire property developer Nabil Gazal Jnr, the pair spending the Christmas lead-up together at Otto, though somewhat uncharacteristically, she has not posted any photos with him on Instagram either.
Celebrities come unstuck
Where would we be without a few good celebrity meltdowns?
Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage has been most vocal throughout 2016 over her apparent mistreatment at the hands of various media outlets that seem obsessed with her love life, dress size and "granny panties".
Samantha Armytage.
However, while Armytage managed to claim a few rare victories against the likes of the Daily Mail in 2016, comedian Rebel Wilson wasn't getting many laughs when she attempted to shame freelance Australian journalist Lizzie Wilson, labelling the reporter "total scum" after she had phoned her octogenarian grandmother, Betty, while researching a profile piece.
Reporter Wilson said her exchanges with the comic's grandmother were "absolutely pleasant" and that she was "more than willing to talk about her granddaughter who she is very proud of".
But Rebel didn't see it that way, launching an unseemly attack on social media against the reporter, claiming her gran had been "harassed" and prompting many of her 2.4 million Twitter followers to go after the reporter.
She's one of Australia's greatest comic actors, currently ruling Hollywood's comedic scene, but there's a side to Rebel Wilson that wants to be taken seriously. Photo: Steven Chee
Only problem was she had identified the wrong person, resulting in celebrity Wilson offering an awkward apology.
Celebrity fat fighter Michelle Bridges also came unstuck when she took on Sydney paparazzo Liam Mendes.
Between shifts working as an intern at accounting firm Ernst & Young, Mendes was spending his days following celebrities around Sydney with his cameras.
When Mendes filmed Bridges in her local supermarket just days after she gave birth to her first child, the fitness fanatic hit the roof, telling Mendes: "You're actually breaking the law."
Not quite.
Bridges' attempt to have Mendes restrained backfired spectacularly, her cross examination alone causing untold damage to her "brand image".
Michelle Bridges. Photo: Christopher Pearce
Her court case failed, while Mendes is now a full time paparazzo and was the same photographer who took the "granny panties" shots of Armytage.
And that dear reader was just a taste of 2016.
So it's a big shout-out to Roxy Jacenko, James Packer, Mariah Carey, Rupert Murdoch, Gina Rinehart, Jerry Hall, Rebel Wilson, T'zporah Malkah (the socialite formerly known as Kate Fischer), Karl Stefanovic, Jesinta Campbell, Buddy Franklin, Samantha Armytage and a whole lot more, I couldn't have done any of it without you!