Britney Spears More Charitable Than Leonardo DiCaprio

Britney v. Leo | Candy Spelling | Julian Lennon

Britney More Charitable Than Leo

Britney Spears gave almost as much money in 2005 to the phony baloney Kabbalah Centre in Hollywood as Leonardo DiCaprio contributed in total to charitable causes.

Indeed, Spears — who just settled her expensive divorce from Kevin Federline — forked over $30,000 to Spirituality for Kids, a division of the Kabbalah Centre, the same group that Madonna also lavishes with tax-free cash gifts. This is according to the most recent federal tax filing of the Britney Spears Foundation.

In total, Britney gave away $590,000 in 2005, including $350,000 to relief programs related to Hurricane Katrina. Spears donated $175,000 alone to Habitat for Humanity.

On the other hand — and just by comparison for a celebrity of her generation and income — actor Leonardo DiCaprio only gave away $48,025 in 2005 to a handful of groups from his own registered tax-exempt foundation.

DiCaprio commands between $12 million and $15 million per film, at least, and famously made $10 million from "Titanic" in 1997.

Spears, on other hand, hasn’t worked in a long time and is certainly cash-depleted, thanks to the Federline situation.

Spears is also the target of the worst publicity in the world. But thanks to Nina Biggar, who runs the Britney Spears Foundation from her home in Cambridge, Mass., the pop star can count her charitable giving as a bright spot in her sketchy world.

The foundation also donated $25,000 to Spears’ summer camp; $50,000 each to Gilda’s Club and City of Hope; and $6,000 to the American Cancer Society.

Of course, foundation chief Biggar also kicked $50,000 to the private Inly School of Scituate, Mass. Maybe Spears is planning to send her kids there one day.

Spears’ 2005 giving was way up from the previous year — just $20,000 in 2005. But there’s also no annual pattern. She donated $110,820 in 2003. Last year was the first record of her ponying up any dough for Kabbalah, a group that thrives on receiving donations from celebrities.

As for DiCaprio, he recently announced that his foundation would be involved in launching a documentary about the environment. But records show that his giving has been quite limited in that area.

While he often acts as a spokesman for environmental causes, he hasn’t been that generous with his hard-earned money. And more than half of the money he gave away originated not from him, but from a $27,300 donation made to his foundation by Godiva.

DiCaprio’s largest recipients included the Library Foundation ($10,000); a charity for the U’wa people indigenous to Colombia and Amazon Watch ($17,000) and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s National Resources Defense Council ($3,000).

Candy Spelling: Sacrifices Boyfriend for Tori

We know from reading the supermarket tabs that Candy Spelling is reconciling with daughter Tori after one the worst public family feuds in history.

But how and why? Is it because Tori needs money from her father’s estate? Or is it because Candy wants to be close to her newborn grandson?

One thing’s for certain. Marc Nathanson, the “family friend” whom Tori accused Candy of spending too much time with while Aaron Spelling lay dying, is history.

Nathanson’s name is conveniently missing from the Us Weekly cover story about Tori and her new baby. It was just a few months ago that Nathanson was cited as the reason Tori hated her mother so much.

But now I’m told that Candy is selling the house and a piece of property she owned next door to Nathanson — this is apart from the zillion-square-foot mansion she and Spelling built.

“She’s gotten rid of him,” observes a source.

Nathanson might not have been the perfect next husband for wealthy widow Candy.

In 1993, when he was a California Coastal Commissioner, Nathanson pleaded guilty to tax evasion and racketeering. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and fined $200,000.

His crime was the solicitation of about a million dollars in bribes from celebrities including Sylvester Stallone, Barry Diller, Sandy Gallin, Jeffrey Katzenberg and director Blake Edwards.

Julian Cashes Out; Mike Wallace Returns

Julian Lennon, who had to fight stepmom Yoko Ono for his portion of his dead father’s estate, cashed out last week.

Lennon, who had hits in the early 1990s but abandoned the music business, must have needed the money. He sold off his rights to the songs John Lennon wrote with Paul McCartney for the Beatles.

The buyer was Primary Wave Music, owned by Larry Mestel, a respected former music label exec.

More and more, it seems, former execs from the music biz are buying up song catalogs and becoming publishers. It’s where the money is. …

Mike Wallace was back on “60 Minutes” last night for a piece about Don Imus. Wallace, who turns 89 on May 9, reported on Imus, mixing an old interview with new insights.

He looked and sounded great. …