NEW YORK ENTERTAINMENT QUEEN FLO ANTHONY PASSES AWAY AT 74 FROM CANCER

 

Jean Shafiroff With Flo Anthony

Michael Spinks And Flo Anthony Spinks

Veteran entertainment insider Flo Anthony has passed away from cancer late on Wednesday August 5th. She was 74.

 Flo and I go back many many years. In the 80's and 90's I used to give her many items when she was with NY Post Page Six. We used to do many Television shows together Including the Joan Rivers Show at CBS Studios in NYC. Flo was the on air gossip queen and I was the set photographer.  

Flo became the first woman to work in the sports department of the New York Post and this skyrocketed her to New York's famous Page Six. Flo made history as the first African American woman to write a column for a supermarket tabloid, writing the gossip column  “Eye on the Stars” for the National Examiner. 

 Over the years we both did many TV shows together, Flo was the celebrity expert and I was always brought in to talk about my adventures with one celebrity or another.  

Later in life Flo Anthony because best friends with Philanthropist and TV Personality Jean Shafiroff.  They did everything together and Flo used to say to me Jean Shafiroff was her sister from another mother. 

 

Old Friend Charles Oakley With Flo Anthony

Jean Shafiroff With Suzette Charles And Flo Anthony

Flo also wrote a weekly syndicated column “Go With The Flo” which appeared in many publications including the New York Amsterdam News and Philadelphia Sunday Sun. Flo has been seen over the years on so many television shows and huge networks with shows including Geraldo, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, TV One's Life After, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, HLN and E! Entertainment TV.  

In the 1990s, Anthony became a gossip girl on "The Ricky Lake Show", "The Rolonda Watts Show", "The Joan Rivers Show", "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show", "The Tempestt Bledsoe Show", "The Gordon Elliott Show", and "Forgive or Forget". She also appeared on "The Leeza Gibbons Show", "The Danny Bonaduce Show", "The Bertice Berry Show", "The Mark Walberg Show", "The Vicki Lawrence Show", and "The Maury Povich Show". She was also a guest on "Court TV". 

 

Jean Shafiroff With Flo Anthony At A Charity Event

For six seasons, she was the celebrity expert and later she became the co‑host on E! Entertainment Television’s “The Gossip Show,” 

In the 1990's we both did a pilot gossip show called "Scoop" at CBS Studios in New York With Richard Johnson, Cindy Adams and many other celebrity experts. We did such a great job that the show was picked up for syndication but the producers decided they wanted to film in California and none of us wanted to move there. Sure enough without us, the show flopped. 

 

Jean Shafiroff With Mickael Spinks And Flo ANthony Spinks

Flo Anthony At One Of Her Book Signings 

She became the first African-American reporter to work on the gossip column of the New York Post, as well as the first African-American to pen a column in The National Examiner. An expert on everyone from Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson to Whitney Houston and Donald Trump, Anthony was a contributor on news magazine shows like Inside Edition, The Insider, and Entertainment Tonight. Flo was also the author of four novels: “Keeping Secrets, Telling Lies,” “Deadly Stuff Players,” “One Last Deadly Play,” and “Last Call for a Deadly Diva.” 

 Flo Anthony married Michael Spinks on January 6, 2026, at the courthouse in New York City after dating him since 1987. She told me that for many years they dated on and off and finally decided to tie the knot. 

The will never be another like Flo Anthony.  

Photos Courtesy Of Jean Shafiroff / Lawlor Media Group 

Patrick McMullan / James Edstrom