Jemima Khan, Kit Harington, Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman set the scene at TIFF events in Toronto

It’s not often that I’m really impressed by the stars – after all these years of being in the celebrity trenches – but it happened on Saturday.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jemima Khan.

I mean, there are stars – and then there are witnesses to history, not to mention the truest kind of ambassador of the Beautiful world.

“You’ve been writing this film for 10 years?” I opened up and met her at an after-party held for the delightful gala film What’s Love Got to Do With It, which she both produced and wrote. (with Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, Shabana Azmi, among others, photographed by “Elizabeth” director Shekhar Kapur).

“It feels like 300!” exclaimed Jemima, all doe-eyed charm and luscious curls as ever. Like a Ghost by Tatler Magazine spreads over! Looking good in a well-tailored Roland Mouret dress – “from 15 years ago!” she impressed – her journey had obviously come to an end. The Working Title production, which has just debuted at Roy Thomson Hall and has already garnered acclaim (“a lively multicultural rom-com,” explained the Hollywood Reporter), is a deeply personal project.

“All of the characters in the film are based on characters that I’ve met in my life,” she told me at that celebration at RBC House, as Diageo cocktails circulated.

And what a life it was. Jemima was one of Princess Diana’s closest confidants and most loyal friends. Her mother, the hostess of the party, Lady Annabel Goldsmith – the woman after whom Annabel’s, London’s exclusive watering hole, became so famous. Her father, swashbuckling financier James Goldsmith (the man I always remember for spinning one of the most succinct quotes of all time: “If you marry your lover, you create a vacancy”). This girl of Jewish descent, who then married Pakistan’s most famous man in 1995 and left the predictable maelstrom of Serpentine gallery parties and Harrods retail therapy to live in Lahore of all places with legendary cricketer Imran Khan (they would have had two sons , this marriage would eventually go flat, he would become Prime Minister of Pakistan).

Tatler, who actually ranked her 42nd on her 100 Most Invited list a few years ago, summed up her social powers like this: “Any party is made better by a goldsmith – but if Jemima, 42, is there, you hit the jackpot cracked. She’s a magnet for all the funny, smart people who are attracted to her absurd charisma. Oh, and she’s a terrific host, mixing thinkers and rock stars at Kiddington Hall, her Oxfordshire paradise where her generosity knows no bounds.”

But as much as she was early characterized as an It girl, and as much as the dreaded S-word (Socialite! eeks!) often lags behind her, Jemima has always been a different kind of heir. Rather cerebral. more puzzling. Fewer cookie cutters! She recently transitioned into content development, producing documentaries and even collaborating with mega showrunner Ryan Murphy on Impeachment. the Clinton-centric sequel to FX’s American Crime Story.

the latter? It came about when she happened to strike up a friendship with Monica Lewinsky after they met at a Vanity Fair Dinner in 2015. They immediately felt a connection; Jemima explained in an interview with the Times that she felt as hounded by the Pakistani press as Lewinsky did in America. “When we met, we both flowed upstream against old, false narratives being constructed about us, trying to define ourselves as women in our 40s[sic]who had something to contribute.”

Chatting with her for a bit and feeling the buzz at the party – Jemima’s two sons, Sulaimain and Kasim, both now in their 20s, were also there to support mom – it certainly seems she is. And on their own terms. While she recently made headlines by shedding her name as a consultant on The Crown (she disliked the portrayal of Diana), another project that appears to be still in development is one with Julian Fellowes. It’s called “Five Arrows” and it’s a drama about the Rothschild family and their influence across Europe in the 19th century. The goldsmiths and the Rothschilds go way back, by the way… so the lady supposedly knows something on the subject.

Write what you know… right?

Scene! Heard!

Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman make the scene at the annual Sony Classics Dinner hosted by Chiefs Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, held at Morton’s on Avenue Road on Saturday.

Tilda Swinton relaxes while getting some back-and-shoulders TLC in Soluna on Queen West – courtesy of posture expert Liza Egbogah, who is on-call during TIFF at the Deadline Hollywood Lounge housed there.

Kit Harington wears a sort of Gene Kelly look in flared trousers and a knitted short-sleeve shirt – while mentioning he’s watching House of the Dragon – at a party celebrating his TIFF film Ruby Baby at the Supper Suite in Marbl the other night.

Oprah! Oprah! Oprah! The big O was seen toasting ‘Sidney’, the Poitier documentary she produced, at a weekend reception at the Apple Cocoon in the Clio on King West.

CORRECTION — SEPT. 12/12/2022: This story has been edited from a previous version where Kit Harington’s last name was misspelled.

Shinan Govani is a Toronto-based freelance culture and society columnist. Follow him on Twitter: @shinangovani

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