WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) – Paris Hilton and her mother, Kathy, will be grand marshals for the annual gay pride parade, one of the city’s biggest celebrations.

They will greet tens of thousands of people expected Sunday at the Los Angeles Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual & Transgender Pride Parade.

Paris Hilton, the 24-year-old star of television’s “The Simple Life” reality show, provoked controversy recently by appearing scantily clad in a Carl’s Jr. burger commercial.

The hotel heiress is engaged to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis, a grandson of John Latsis, the last of Greece’s shipping billionaires from the postwar boom years, who died in 2003 at 93.

Kathy Hilton stars in NBC’s “I Want to Be a Hilton,” in which she guides 14 young contestants through a variety of weekly challenges in the New York social scene, ranging from art and culture to beauty and fashion. The winner of the show, which premieres June 21, will receive a $200,000 trust fund.

Holmes playing it cool

NEW YORK (AP) – Katie Holmes took the indirect approach with David Letterman when the talk-show host asked if she and beau Tom Cruise have talked about getting hitched.

“I’m smiling, aren’t I?” answered Holmes, who was Letterman’s guest Thursday night on CBS’ “Late Show.”

“The wonderful thing is that when we met, it was just like, “Hi,”‘ Holmes said giddily of Cruise. “It was instant.”

Holmes wasn’t nearly so effusive when it came to responding to other queries – like the ones about her man being so much older and shorter than she is.

“That’s never crossed my mind,” she told Letterman tersely when he asked about the age difference. Cruise is 42 and Holmes is 26.

The height question was met with puzzled expressions before Holmes finally told the comedian that she didn’t know what he was talking about.

The stars’ publicists announced the romance in April. Tabloid newspapers and celebrity gossip columnists have speculated the coupling may have been fabricated to promote their upcoming movies – Holmes’ “Batman Begins” and Cruise’s “War of the Worlds” both open this month.

Cruise became the butt of jokes last month after an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where he repeatedly jumped on the talk-show host’s couch, saying his love for Holmes was “beyond cool.”