Liz Smith Out of the
Tabloid Business

Gossip icon Liz Smith has been dropped from her New York Post column, it was announced on Tuesday.

New York Post editor Col Allen confirmed Tuesday that the newspaper will not renew her contract due to budgetary reasons, according to the New York Times ' City Room blog. Allen told Smith in a letter on February 9 that "like so many other newspapers around the nation, we are buffeted by unprecedented economic gales."

Tensions have allegedly been flying high between Allen and Smith for months. In a column last year on the women's site she helped to found, wowOwow.com , Smith called Allen an "absolute shit."

Reports have indicated that Smith and Allen have not seen eye to eye for months.

Smith is a staple of New York society and is often credited with creating what has become the modern-day gossip column.

In her 2000 memoir Natural Blonde , Smith acknowledged that she'd had relationships with women. She sat down with The Advocate a few weeks after the book was released for her first interview with a gay publication.

"I just don't want to label myself, because I have never gotten my act together," she said in that interview. "It's just not accurate for me to label myself. I don't care what other people say; other people have said such terrible things."

Prior to working at the Post, Smith held down gigs at the New York Daily News , Cosmo, and Sports Illustrated .

Smith's final column will appear in the Post on Thursday, after having run for 33 years. Smith, who turned 86 earlier this month, is co-owner of wowOwow.com . (Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)