Dick Ebersol of NBC Sports paid $50,000 for Carly Simon's 'Vain' secret

NEW YORK (NBC Sports) - Carly Simon will tell the secret about her song "You're So Vain" to Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, who paid $50,000 for the information. As a way of raising money for charity, Simon decided to auction off the name of the person her 1972 hit, "You're So Vain," was all about.

In about two weeks, Ebersol will join Carly at her Martha's Vineyard home for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch, which will be followed by a private performance of "You're So Vain." Finally, after he signs an agreement NEVER to repeat her secret, she'll reveal to Ebersol what she's never told anyone before--just who was so vain she wrote a song about it.

On Tuesday morning's (August 5) Today show, Ebersol, who is an old friend of Carly's, said, "It won't be hard to keep a secret." He added that she gave him one hint--the person who inspired her to write "You're So Vain" has an "e" in their name. The clue isn't much help, since all of the people who fans have suspected all these years - Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, Cat Stevens and her ex-husband, James Taylor, have that letter in their name. Ebersol said he made the highest bid "to make sure Carly didn't have to tell her secret to a total stranger."

Simon came up with the idea of auctioning off her long-kept secret at the Possible Dreams Auction as a way of raising funds for Martha's Vineyard Community Services. She's been a longtime supporter of the organization which provides child care, counseling, substance abuse treatment services and visiting nurses in the Martha's Vineyard area.