Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Heidi Klum is saddened by the recent confrontation between paparazzi who were swarming her and her young children in a New York City park — and other parents on the scene who took matters into their own hands and started pelting the offending photogs with water balloons.

"It sounds like fun when you read it maybe in a newspaper somewhere, but in reality it's not so much fun when there are children involved," she tells us. "My children are screaming, 'What's going on?!" I don't think that people should start fighting over it. I don't want people to get hurt. You don't know how the paparazzi are going to react when they get hit with balloons and they start yelling back and forth. I'm always worried that something might happen."

The "Project Runway" hostess, who is expecting her and husband Seal's fourth child in October, says she left the scene quickly. "I'm like, 'Let's just go away.'

"It's something that you just deal with, unfortunately," she goes on. "I wish there was some sort of a law that maybe they have to be at a certain distance, or there can't be more than two … I wish there could be something done. I know people say, 'They're celebrities, and why shouldn't we get photos of them all the time?' But people forget about the person being shot all day long and their children."

MEANWHILE: The super-achieving supermodel-cum-producer-TV personality-entrepreneur and her family will be heading off on a vacation next week. She's just completed shooting of her latest season of "Project Runway" and done a round of promotional chores trumpeting the intensely popular, Peabody Award-winning show's return to the tube. The airing of "Runway's" sixth season, you may recall, was delayed nine months due to the legal wrangling over its move from Bravo to its new home on Lifetime. Festivities begin Aug. 20 with a two-hour "Project Runway: All Star Challenge" special featuring eight favorite contestants from past "Runway" seasons competing for a $100,000 prize, followed by the new season's first episode. And in addition to the regular "Project Runway," there will now be a companion series called "Models of the Runway," showing the action from the models' points of view.

"I appreciate all the designers that came back for the challenge because once you've kind of done the show and gone on with your life, to come back and then maybe not be the winner again, for example, is not so good," Heidi observes. "Or maybe you're the winner and then not the winner. There are all these possibilities for how it might end up. You don't want the big L for loser on your forehead, again."

MAN OF THE HOUSE: "We've heard from a lot of people who have said that they had no idea we were even a couple," says Darryl M. Bell, star of "A Different World," who is the longtime partner of "The Cosby Show's" Tempestt Bledsoe.

The two have opened up their lives for Fox Reality Channel's newest show "Househusbands of Hollywood," which follows the lives of five men and their high-powered wives, or in Bell's case, girlfriend. "Before now, we've never really spoken publicly about our relationship in the media, although we haven't been hiding it," he notes. "As far as our pedigree in television, there's a certain expectation of what people think they will see from us. There's nothing salacious. It's just a sweet and comical relationship on many levels, and hopefully that's what we convey."

Despite the show's premise of showing men who are stay-at-home dads while the women are the breadwinners, Bell's situation is different. "In our case, Tempestt and I are not married, nor do we have kids, and she's not the breadwinner in our relationship. We're both working actors, so in that sense our lives are a little different." However, Bell thinks those men's storylines are very important for today's society. "With the epidemic of single-parent families in this country and the absence of mentoring for young men, I think seeing men who are raising their children and made them priorities is important, and that's what you see in this show."

When asked if he and Tempestt have any plans for marriage and a family of their own, Bell responds, "If I could predict the future that well, I'd be at the Powerball station right now. I generally just try to talk about where we're at today, and where we're at today is happy and content, so we'll see what the future brings."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Infomercial king Kevin Harrington tells us that it's the real deal on ABC's Aug. 9-premiering "Shark Tank." In other words, he and his self-made millionaire fellow judges/potential investors on the show have actually been interested in some of the products and services contestants will be seen pitching to them. "I have to be careful with confidentiality, I can't disclose what projects I looked at and what are the specific deals I may have made," he says. "But I can say there definitely was some buying activity, some investing activity in the first rounds." That's good to know, because there is clearly some funny business as well.

"If you watch the trailer, some of that is going on. There are crazy, zany things none of us took too seriously," says Harrington. For instance, "a surgically implanted Bluetooth device." Harrington notes that the contestant putting forth that idea told the judges (aka "sharks") "You may be laughing now, but 10 years from now, it may be a reality." However, he points out that 10 years is too long to interest him. "Some companies expect five-year waiting periods. The pharmaceutical industry, for instance, builds time for clinical trials and FDA approval into their plans. That's not for me. I'm in the business of taking a gadget and within 90 days to six months being able to bring it to market and start generating revenue."

Harrington notes, "There are so many ideas out there, and to be honest with you, if you look at a thousand, 950 of them are going to be very tough to bring to market."

With reports by Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM