NEWS LITE : FRANK GIFFORD SEES IMPROVED MARRIAGE.

Frank Gifford says his cheating on wife Kathie Lee probably made their marriage stronger. This he said with a straight face.

Gifford went public on ``Larry King Live'' this week with his thoughts on the scandal that humiliated the perky Kathie Lee, who had bragged that their marriage was near-perfect. Gifford said he and his wife now ``have a love affair.''

The relationship with former flight attendant Suzen Johnson was ``the most stupid thing I got involved in in my life,'' he lamented. In a quavering voice, he said he nearly lost ``a woman I love very much and my two kids.'' Their marriage, he says, ``is probably much stronger because of what happened.''

Gifford said he made her a promise: ``Kathie, I will spend the rest of my life trying to be the man you thought I was.''

Italian heartthrob pursuing placidity

Sophia Loren is taking walks and ``ruthlessly'' trying to avoid stress as she deals with a recently diagnosed heart condition.

The 64-year-old actress fell ill on an Aug. 10 flight from Geneva to New York.

Doctors found an irregular heartbeat. Now she is back home in Geneva, and has been spotted taking a walk in a botanical garden.

Loren told Rome's La Repubblica daily that the doctor had ordered her to take brisk walks - ``every day making a little bigger effort.''

Some truths best left unrevealed

David Duchovny confesses that he shares a real-life interest with ``X-Files'' character Fox Mulder - a fondness for X-rated films. ``I think porn is fine,'' the actor says in a December Playboy interview. ``I like to watch people (have sex).''

Duchovny says he took in a lot of dirty movies in the '80s and even gives a list of his favorite porno stars. ``Alicia Monet was my favorite,'' says Duchovny. ``If she only knew (how) many lonely periods she got me through. I don't think porn stars know how weirdly important they are in people's lives.''

The actor notes that his routine involved renting three movies at once, then doing ``reconnaissance work'' by fast-forwarding through the tapes and marking his favorite scenes. Then he'd go back and concentrate on those scenes. He recalls once finding himself watching - and enjoying - a scene featuring a man and ``thinking, oh, my God, I'm questioning my sexuality because that wasn't half bad.''

Now wed to Tea Leoni, who expects their first kid in the spring, Duchovny muses: ``If anything good can happen from this interview, it's that Alicia Monet would contact me and we could have lunch.''

Will stars turn out for Glenn's space trip?

Will Leonardo DeCaprio, the heartthrob of millions, be on hand to see John Glenn's launch?

How about Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Published reports say ``Titanic'' star DiCaprio, Willis and frequent shuttle watcher Hanks, who made ``Apollo 13'' and the HBO series ``From the Earth to the Moon,'' will be among the VIPs for Glenn's return to space.

But the actors are not listed in NASA's 22-page list of celebrities.

Actor Bruce Boxleitner is. So is his wife, Melissa Gilbert, star of ``Little House on the Prairie.''

Will John F. Kennedy's children - Caroline Kennedy and John Kennedy Jr. - be present for this moment of history?

Some say yes, some say no. The official VIP list has but one member of the Kennedy clan, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

And then there's Jimmy Buffett.

The singer is writing a story about the launch for Rolling Stone magazine.

``I love a great show. This is a great show. This is the circus coming to town and it's great to see him do that,'' Buffett said.

Miffed mom Mia defends home life

Mia Farrow, responding to Woody Allen's accusations that she keeps her kids confined to a ``cultish compound'' and ``compulsively'' engages in ``manic adoptions,'' has invited an ``Inside Edition'' TV crew to tour her 78-acre Connecticut spread.

The actress says only seven of her kids live with her now, not the 14 Allen claims in a Marie Claire magazine interview. ``I come from a household of seven children,'' Farrow said. ``This was my home when I was growing up.''

Movie mitzvah; `Titanic' splash into adulthood

A 13-year-old girl obsessed with ``Titanic'' got the bat mitzvah of her dreams when a hotel ballroom was transformed into the luxury liner, with 12-foot steaming smokestacks at the buffet table, phosphorescent artificial icebergs and a ``steerage'' section for the children.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the celebration Saturday for Lisa Niren was rumored to cost as much as a half-million dollars. Her father, Dr. Neil Niren, would not confirm the price tag, but Bonnie Chirigos, who spent a year planning the gala, said ``it was nowhere near that.''

Noting that his own parents survived the Holocaust, Niren said: ``Anyone can go down at any time. We didn't want to wait to show how much we love one another.''

Three hundred people came from as far as Canada, Mexico and Argentina to fete Lisa, who is ``obsessed'' with the Oscar-winning movie, according to her 15-year-old sister, Leslie.

The piece de resistance was a gigantic photo, 10 feet above the floor, featuring Lisa's face superimposed over actress Kate Winslet's body in a famous ``Titanic'' scene on the prow of the ocean liner. Lisa appeared to have teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio smiling over her shoulder.

The movie played over and over again on a 12-foot screen above a balcony at the Westin William Penn, one of Pittsburgh's fanciest hotels.

``Isn't this awesome?'' Lisa said, mugging for snapshots with her family. ``I just love the movie. I got the video the day it came out, and I watch it all the time. This is just amazing!''

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1) Lisa Niren, 13, celebrates her bat mitzvah Saturday in Pittsburgh at a William Penn Hotel ballroom made over in a ``Titanic'' theme.

(2) Loren

(3) Duchovny