C.J.: Word is, Humphries paid for the mega ring

"That's confidential," attorney Lee Hutton III said when asked for confirmation that NBA client Kris Humphries had personally paid for his 72 Day Wife's 20 1/2-carat diamond engagement ring.

I told Hutton, as you can see in a startribune.com/video, that all my information is that Humphries paid for the deeply discounted ring presented during his proposal to reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who filed for divorce on Halloween after 72 days. The marriage is widely being viewed as a reality TV sham by her fans and by the media, including Star magazine, which dubbed her the "Bogus Bride."

People with knowledge of the ring matter tell me that while Humphries' Midwestern values wouldn't preclude him from taking a discount, a man who's in love doesn't allow what US Weekly is reporting -- that Kardashian's production company paid for the ring, so she has every right to keep it.

If Kardashian is this calculating, rest assured that she laid claim to the ring in the pre-nup. My sources are not perfect, but I know them to be more interested in accuracy than some who might feed stories to national publications.

I caught up with Hutton in the Skyway near the IDS Center Friday, where our impromptu speed-walk was interrupted by an escalator ride.

Hutton confirmed that he had been retained to represent Humphries in the divorce and that Kardashian has not withdrawn her divorce papers, a move Humphries thought was possible as he hoped for a reconciliation.

Comments made Monday on "Good Morning America" by Kardashian's former PR guy, Jonathan Jaxson, have Kim in a legal lather, according to the Huffington Post. However, I hear that Humphries has no beef with Jaxson.

"I simply said that the wedding was staged, meaning that the wedding was planned out. She had a television show involved with it. It was a big production. There were endorsements. There was a multimillion-dollar thing that was going on," Jaxson -- who is writing a book about the "reality" of Hollywood -- told GMA in comments that allow him plenty of wiggle room.

Jaxson showed GMA what was purported to be a confidentiality agreement that he never signed. However, Kardashian reportedly has hired an attorney to attack Jaxson's story, seek $200,000 from him for violating a confidentiality agreement, and threaten to sue. Kardashian has so far not been as quick to file this breach-of-contract lawsuit as she was those divorce papers, which have everybody from Mariah Carey to musical milquetoast master Michael Bublé taking shots at Kim.

"I'm not going to put on a fake face for Hollywood," Carey snapped to talk show host Gayle King. "Sometimes we [she and husband Nick Cannon] make each other mad," but "I'm a real person. That's why we aren't divorced after four months."

During an NYC concert, Bublé dropped the B-word on Kim, dedicated Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" to Kris Humphries, and said, according to Huff Post, "She hurt him. I wish she had hurt me!"

Some touchy attireI'm told that WCCO's HR department had a heart-to-heart with an employee who attended a Halloween party with colleagues wearing a nametag that read "New Hire," along with a blonde wig and some strategic stuffing that made him look bodaciously busty.

Oh well, if it quacks like a duck or barks like a dog. ...

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be viewed Thursday mornings on FOX 9.