Ivanka Trump, who's either written a new book or paid someone to write it for her, was on "Nightline" last week, and she said this about her own meteoric rise:

"You can be born into privilege, or you can not be born into privilege. You can be born into the opposite extreme and into poverty. I think from there on, though, you really do have to make your luck."

Huh? You can be born into a crack house or a penthouse, but after that, life is what you make it?

Is she kidding?

Ivanka is a smart, hard-working young woman, but if she had been born in a trailer park or a tenement, the notion that she would be vice president of a real-estate empire is preposterous. One of the many reasons that the rich stay rich is because they go to the best schools, make the best contacts, trade favors, go to the right clubs, parties and museum openings, and then marry well. (Ivanka went to Wharton and is now engaged to another New York real-estate mogul.)

"I believe that, of course, nepotism got me in the door; it would be silly to say otherwise," Ivanka acknowledged. But "if I was not performing in a way that was satisfactory . . . I could not stay within the organization."

That could be true, and this is not to say that Ivanka is bad at her job - quite the contrary - but success depends on opportunity and there are plenty of great young people out there who have no opportunity or have to fight like hell for the smallest opportunity.

Ivanka has had every opportunity.

To think that her only break was getting a foot in the door is demeaning to everyone working their behinds off to rise up from nothing and break the cycle of poverty.

Tattbits

* A robe worn by Barbra Streisand in "The Way We Were" sold for nearly $6,000, and an outfit from "Meet the Fockers" went for $3,500 at an auction of hundreds of Barbra's personal items.

More than 400 of Barbra's dresses and suits, books, designer furniture, paintings and vintage collectibles were on the block at the weekend sale conducted by Julien's Auctions.

All proceeds go to Streisand's favorite charities - including City Year, the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and the Cedars-Sinai Women's Heart Health Center.

* Def Leppard has canceled the final leg of its North American tour.

The band said in a statement on its Web site that it "agonized over this decision" and canceled 23 shows in the U.S. and Canada "due to unforeseen personal matters."

* Karen George lives above Madonna in a building on Central Park.

Madonna, it seems, is a noisy neighbor.

Karen said in a lawsuit filed Friday against the building's co-op board that Madonna is using her apartment as a rehearsal studio, forcing neighbors to endure "blaring music, stomping and shaking walls," for up to three hours each day.

Karen complained about "unreasonably high-decibel, amplified music" and vibrations pouring through walls, ceilings and radiators.

The building's board says that it has already threatened to evict Madonna.

Can you believe these people? They get daily free tickets to a Madonna show and they're complaining.

* There is nothing like a dame . . .

Michael Brunner, a stage manager on the Broadway production of "South Pacific" has been charged with secretly recording an actress in her dressing room.

He was arraigned late Friday in New York City on a charge of unlawful surveillance.

The New York Post reports that Brunner turned himself in for questioning after the actress found a camera phone recording her as she changed.

* In July, Rebecca White told "Extra" that Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe was only interested in getting money from the Jacksons and wasn't interested in gaining custody of her two children.

Debbie sued her.

In a filing last week, Debbie's attorneys said that she should be awarded $490,000 in general and punitive damages.

White hasn't responded to the suit and Rowe is seeking a default judgment against her.

* Nicolas Cage sued his former business manager, Samuel J. Levin, for $20 million on Friday, claiming that bad advice and mismanagement led him toward financial ruin.

"Instead of protecting and preserving Cage's wealth during one of the greatest economic periods in the country's history, Levin placed Cage in numerous highly speculative and risky real-estate investments, resulting in Cage suffering catastrophic losses," the lawsuit states.

Levin served as Cage's business manager from 2001 to 2008 and collected millions of dollars in management fees, court documents state.

Public records show that Levin has been a licensed CPA in California for nearly 25 years and has no public record of disciplinary actions.

* Jesse Metcalfe, Eva Longoria's "Desperate Housewives" boytoy, told 106.5 FM in Sacramento that he would occasionally get aroused during their love scenes.

"It happens," he said. "It doesn't happen that frequently because there are a lot of people on set, and it can be very technical, but it happens from time to time."

"As a matter of fact, in the first scene we ever had, where Gabriella and John first had sex, we were rehearsing and then the director was like, 'OK, get out of bed, we have to reset the set', and I was like, 'I need a minute.' "

Take that you Internet haters who claim that Tattle doesn't report hard news.

BANG Showbiz and Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com