• Billy Ray Cyrus knows you're worried about Miley Cyrus dancing on an ice cream cart while holding a pole, and he has this to say:

"You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people… I always tell her to love what you're doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion," In other words: Keep on poledancin', honey! [Access Hollywood]

• Miley Cyrus has a new man, her Last Song costar Liam Hemsworth, 18. A quick Google search finds him fairly cute. Or, you know, hot. [Gatecrasher]
• Gerard Butler threw Jennifer Aniston into the trunk of a car yesterday… on the set of The Bounty. [NY Post]
• Madonna — recently seen kissing Jesus Luz in Portofino, Italy while on a break from touring — is happy to have Luz around. And her kids "see Jesus as 'Mommy's friend.'" [MSNBC Scoop]
• Ugh: Stomach-churning details from the Jasmine Fiore murder. Cops claim that the murdered model's teeth and fingers were removed, probably to keep authorities from ID'ing the body. Suspect Ryan Jenkins (Jasmine's ex-husband), who taped Megan Wants A Millionaire in March, is still at large. [AP]
• The producers of Megan Wants A Millionaire say: "[The production company] was not aware of Ryan Jenkins' record when it cast him… Obviously, if the company had been given a full picture of his background, he would never have been allowed on the show. The company did have in place what it thought was a thorough vetting process that involved complete background checks by an outside company for all contestants on its shows. Clearly, the process did not work properly in this case." Jenkins was convicted of assaulting a girlfriend in 2005. [TMZ]
• Robert Hasman, a former boyfriend of Jasmine Fiore, was texting with Jasmine right before she died. She texted Hasman, saying she was going to Las Vegas to see him. TMZ claims: "It appears [Ryan] Jenkins may have seen the text because Hasman received a text shortly after saying 'suck it.'" Did the text set Jenkins off and send him into a murderous rage? [TMZ]
• Hmm. Jasmine Fiore never told her "mother figure" she married Ryan Jenkins. [CNN]
• A woman charged with snooping at Britney Spears' home in April has been sentenced to three years probation and 240 hours of community service. [Contact Music]
• Lindsay Lohan and Michael Lohan are NOT distant and are always happy to see each other. Says Michael Lohan. [Radar Online]
• Lindsay Lohan Tweeted that she'd be shopping at a store in downtown Manhattan yesterday afternoon, and then complained to friends, "Why are there all these people here?" when she arrived and found a pack of paparazzi outside the store. [Page Six]
• Let's just pretend this Heidi Montag workout website and fitness e-book is not happening, mmmkay? [Perez]
• Maybe we can also pretend that Spencer Pratt isn't talking about his new book How To Be Famous and saying stuff like "If I weren't me, I'd hate me. When you're the villain, you don't have to worry about how your enemy feels." [Gatecrasher]
• "Battle of the busty blonde singers: Heidi Montag and Kim Zolciak face off on the airwaves." [NY Daily News]
• BREAKING: Tyra Banks and rumored boyfriend John Utendahl had dinner. [Page Six]
• Katy Perry weighs in on the Lady Gaga-has-a-penis rumor: "Oh please, it's all very calculated. She knows what she's doing." As calculated as a former Christian singer warbling about a same-sex kiss? [LA Times]
• Hayden Panettiere, 20, is now dating Pink Taco owner Harry Morton, son of Hard Rock mogul Peter Morton. This column notes: "Harry, 28, is only slightly more age-appropriate for Panetierre than her 32-year-old ex, Milo Ventimiglia." [Page Six]
• Claire Danes looks smoking hot wearing platforms and fishnets in this photo shoot. [BlackBook]
• Some idiot threw a dildo at American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert during a show, and "Glambert" kicked it right back into the crowd. [Perez]
• Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon was on the Wendy Williams show when she let it slip that Jamie Foxx had a new baby. Apparently this had been a secret, but the baby girl's mother is a real-estate agent, described as "tall, muscular, pretty, brunette and white." [Mirror]
• Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster wrote a blog entry for the Huffington Post called "She's Pretty For A Dark-Skinned Girl." Author Aisha Curry wrote the book Pretty For A Black Girl in 2007 and says: "I cannot and will not say she stole my idea, because you never should assume. However, I will say that It seemed like one heck of a coincidence and everything I touched on she did." [ONTD]
• Here's an interview with Michael Jackson's personal artist, David Nordahl, who created mythical and fantastical paintings for the King Of Pop. He created a work called Field of Dreams, in which MJ leads children of all nationalities (plus sister Janet, AIDS activist Ryan White and actor Macaulay Culkin) on a sunlit path. Click through for a different painting of MJ surrounded by cherubs. [USA Today]
• "A chubby clinic worker has claimed he had a LOVE AFFAIR with Michael Jackson." [The Sun]
• Tickets for the Michael Jackson movie go on sale September 27. [CNN]
• If you take pictures of Kenny Chesney during his concert, he will jump down and steal your memory card. [UPI]
• The divorce between Kelis and Nas is getting down to the dirty details: Who should get how much money. Apparently Nas makes about $244,000 a month; Kelis makes a mere $13,000 a month. She's asking for child support, spousal support, retro child support and retro spousal support. Maybe she should sing a song that's like, "Hey, hubby, baby I want your money…" Oh. Wait. [TMZ]
• Real Housewife Of Orange County Lynne Curtin was supposed to be evicted from her home but the papers were served to her daughter, who's a minor. [TMZ]
• Ladies love Salman Rushdie. [Page Six]
• Nelly and Ashanti: Splitsville. [Gatecrasher]
• Barbra Streisand's ex-boyfriend is auctioning off tapes he made of her earliest performances, in case you have $1 million lying around. [Page Six]
• Kids In The Hall reunion! [Variety]
• Billy Bob Thornton will star in a boxing flick called Pound for Pound, based on a novel by F.X. Toole, the author of the book that became Million Dollar Baby. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• "I don't think I have ever changed a diaper." — newly pregnant Kourtney Kardashian. [E!]
• "I wish my dad was here, but I know that he is here with us [in spirit], and I feel like this is definitely a blessing from him. It's bittersweet, and that's how I feel about getting married, too. I almost don't want to get married because I don't want him to not be there." — Kourtney Kardashian, on being pregnant without being able to talk to her late father, famed attorney Robert Kardashian. [People]
• "People come up to me in airports, and they're asking for my autograph not because I'm the drummer for the Chili Peppers. They really think I'm Will Ferrell. [I say] 'No, I'm not.' But they're still like, 'I loved you in 'Old School.' You're so funny.'" — Chad Smith. And really, the side by side pictures show an uncanny resemblance. [Gatecrasher]
• "He's such a cutie patootie. Sometimes I forget just how good-looking he is. While relationships are work, this just didn't feel like it. It's the kind of work that feels energizing rather than enervating. There's that pledge, and people talk about it being claustrophobic but I find it the opposite. I find it very freeing to know that, okay, it takes constant nurturing and attention, but I can also stop looking for the one-that's established. I can apply myself in other ways now. I have more time and energy to get shit done." — Claire Danes on recognizing fiancée Hugh Dancy is "the one." [BlackBook]
• "The fun thing about surgery is that they always have new things and you can always try things. I'm not sure what's on that list right now, but I'm sure as I get older, I'll want to keep up with maintenance as most Hollywood does." — Heidi Montag. [Perez]

• Miley Cyrus, America's favorite daughter of a once-mulleted country singer, has—gasp!—pierced her nose. Shock me shock me shock me with that actually pretty typical and normal for a sixteen year old behavior! [People]

• "I'll let people think what they will," Miley says about her new piercing. "I hope no one is upset at me for doing it. I think it's lame for it to be such a big deal because ... it's just temporary. You can take it out." [USWeekly]
• Who could have put such rebellious thoughts into young Hannah Montana's brain? "I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan," Cyrus says, "And I loved when she had her nose pierced." So our first American Idol has inspired our latest teen idol to put a tiny stud in her nose? You know what that means, people. End of civilization. Will someone please think of the children?!?![USWeekly]
• And speaking of teen pop sensations, here's a video of the New Kids On The Block hangin' tough with their fans at a Waffle House. [TMZ]
• Uh, Happy 10th Anniversary, Jon and Kate Gosselin? Woo? Congrats? And many more? [People]
• "I was arrested - what is the big deal? I haven't gotten as much as a traffic ticket in all these years."- Danielle Staub of the Real Housewives Of New Jersey on her scandalous past. [People]
• Travis McCoy is denying tabloid reports that he was seen leaving a club with two "buxom beauties" by his side and that his relationship with Katy Perry is in trouble as a result: "I was not familiar with that story," McCoy says, "It sounds really out of character." [DailyExpress]
• Meanwhile, Katy Perry's bus was vandalized by a would-be robber who was caught in the act. Katy didn't seem to upset by it, as she posted on her Twitter page: "some1 just broke into our bus, they got caught. Luckily all there is is glitter, catsuit outfits, fruit & a box set of Ab Fab. Sux fer them." Hello?! Someone tried to steal your AbFab box set! If you're not upset by that then you seriously don't deserve to own it, sweetie darling. [PerezHilton]
• Drea de Matteo became engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Shooter Jennings, during one of Shooter's recent concerts. According to a source, "[Drea] was dancing on the side of the stage holding [the couple's 18-month-old daughter] Alabama when [Shooter] called her on stage. She was so surprised by the proposal." [People]
• Chace Crawford reportedly auditioned shirtless to win the lead role in the upcoming remake of Footloose: "He took off his shirt, he was in his T-shirt and jeans, and hit it. And that's the kind of man I wanted for this role," says director Kenny Ortega. At least he got to keep his Sunday shoes on, I guess? [MTV]
• Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Sheryl Crow spent last night supporting a good cause: a night devoted to "Stamp Out Violence Against Women and Girls of the Congo." Says Cox: "We can do something about this. I want to bring awareness to this." [People]
• Shania Twain has checked in with fans after taking some time off to deal with her divorce, which took place one year ago. "I'm enjoying my child, friends and family like I haven't in years, and it's great," Twain says, "I've been experiencing and seeing new things every day, living life with a different and more optimistic attitude." Also? She's still not impressed much by your car or the fact that you're Brad Pitt. [People]
• Usher is still expected to file for divorce from his wife, Tameka Foster Raymond, but sources say that Foster Raymond is still committed to the relationship: "She's been in his life for so long. She's very loyal to him. Tameka is the type of woman to stick it out." [People]
• Joy Behar says she wants to book Sarah Palin on The Joy Behar Show: "She would do very well with me, because I'm not out to get Sarah Palin," Behar says, "I want to hear from her, she has things to say." [HuffingtonPost]
• Whoops! A tabloid mistakenly (shock) reported that Kristen Chenoweth had rekindled an old romance with Lane Garrison by writing the former Prison Break star prison pen pal letters. Not true, says Chenoweth's rep: "Kristin Chenoweth and Lane Garrison have not rekindled a relationship, nor was there any pen pal correspondence throughout his incarceration." [People]
• Is Prince William finally going to marry Kate Middleton? A source says yes: "He has to. Been seeing her too long not to. It would be another embarrassment for the Palace." [NYPost]
• Samantha Ronson won't be doing a reality show anytime soon, according to her Twitter: "Why are people asking me if I'm doing a reality tv show? That's the most absurd rumour ever. I'd rather stick needles in my eyes." [Samantha Ronson's Twitter]
• Meanwhile, Trent Reznor has had it with your crap and is quitting Twitter "because at the end of the day it's now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule." [NYObserver]
• Ashanti is ready to take on her role as Dorothy in the upcoming Broadway revival of The Wiz, and says her bond with her cast mates makes things easier: "Everyone is gelling really well, we're laughing and joking and it just feels really good. Because it's like teamwork: Everyone wants everyone to do well, and they're fully supportive. Any questions that I have they're like, `I got you!'"[Yahoo]
• Nia Vardalos and John Corbett, who starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding together, are teaming up once again to star in a film titled (sigh) I Hate Valentine's Day. [People]
• Stephen Baldwin's foreclosed home is set to be auctioned off. [Yahoo]
• Is Lauren Conrad engaged to boyfriend Kyle Howard? Star magazine says yes. [NYDN]
• But wait! "A source close to Lauren's camp" says that the engagement rumor is "100% false." [Hollyscoop]
• Bret Michaels is still talking about his Tonys mishap, and says he was "bummed that I did not get to attend the after parties, cuz rumor has it Anne Hathaway was going to be there and she is hot." Oh yeah right. Like Princess Mia would be caught dead on the Rock of Love Bus. She doesn't want to rock your world, Bret. And don't even try to hitch a Rock Of Love Plane to Genovia. Queen Clarisse won't allow it. Your tour ends here, buddy. [PerezHilton]

• Madonna and Jesus Luz are reportedly planning a "commitment ceremony" in front of a rabbi at the Kabbalah Center in New York. Oooh, and a source says:

"Lourdes mocks him by calling him The Babysitter, because he is so young. She likes him, but also likes winding him up." Hee hee, "get off the babysitter!" [Mirror]

• Robin Wright Penn talked to Gotham magazine for the June issue — obviously before Sean filed for divorce — and said: marriage is "real work, but that's what you sign up for. And it pays off beautifully, it really does. The outcome, the reward is so great because then your love grows out of those hard times." Now Sean Penn is allegedly seeing Natalie Portman. So. [Page Six]
• Oprah! At Duke! Doing a commencement speech! And getting an honorary degree! She told students to "stand proudly in your own shoes while you help others stand in theirs." And! "One of the best ways to enhance your own life is to enhance somebody else's." [Breitbart]
• Oprah sent a film crew over to Blackburn, Scotland, to Susan Boyle's house. In the interview, which will be broadcast today, Boyle says: "I am not lonely. Everyone has been so nice. I've got millions of new friends now." [Telegraph]
• Paris Hilton spent a romantic week in Anguilla with boyfriend Doug Reinhardt, and updated her Twitter page constantly, with messages like "Love being in Love :) Best feeling in the world" and "Playing some golf together :) Golfing is fun" and "Loving life with my love" and "Lovers in paradise" and "My smooches from a secret island." Lots of pix of her kissing the dude, too. [Daily Mail]
• Christian Bale's part in Terminator Salvation was originally much smaller; the film's main character is not actually John Conner, played by Bale, but Marcus Wright, played by Sam Worthington. Director McG said the script had to be adjusted to "integrate" Bale more. [Hollywood Reporter]
• When Jennifer Lopez's daughter Emme was about three weeks old, she discovered a lump on the child's head. "We both got very nervous, very very nervous, and I just remember my heart sinking to my feet," Lopez says. "I looked at [Marc] and I said, 'You know if anything happens, I'm not going to be okay, you know that right?'" Emme was fine but Lopez was inspired to work with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to help medical services to the less fortunate. "I started to wonder," Lopez said, "what if I couldn't afford a doctor, or receive the medicines, the procedures?" [Yahoo News via E!]
• Who were the stars at the White House Correspondents Dinner? Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria Parker, Owen Wilson, Donatella Versace, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Kerry Washington, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick, Kenneth Cole, Jason Wu and "a smattering of mayors, diplomats and ambassadors." Donatella went in 2008 and says ths year "was much better." Then she told everyone to "get ooooout." [WWD]
• More from the WHCD! Rahm Emanuel seated next to Barbara Walters! Jon Hamm was there! Donatella Versace was hanging out with Jonathan Rhys Meyers! Political pundit Craig Crawford asked Jason Bateman a question! Ludacris had a "long talk" with Bill O'Reilly! [Politico]
• According to this report, at the WHCD, "No matter who's in the room, the Obamas outshine all challengers." [MSNBC]
• Noted political junkie Ben Affleck missed the WHCD! He was sick. [mediabistro.com]
• New York Mag: How did you deal with everyone in the room eating steak?
  Kate Hudson: Oh, I ate it.
  Stella McCartney: If you just give up meat one day a week, it has, like, the biggest impact environmentally.
  Kate: Well, I'm interested in change.
  Stella: You can do that! Unless you're like some kind of caveman carnivore...Or are you a cavewoman?
  Kate: Uh, me? I don't eat meat every day! Are you out of your mind? I'd have a heart attack!
  Stella: Jolly. So she's fine. She's good. [NY Mag]
• Re: Rihanna nude pix: This paper points out that she has many tattoos, none of which are see in the images purported to be her. [NY Daily News]
• Chris Brown says he didn't leak the Rihanna pix. [The Sun]
• All that cardio pays off between the sheets! A stripper says Michael Phelps "should get another Olympic gold for marathon love-making!" because "the sex lasted for about three hours." [NY Post]
• Miss California Carrie Prejean's lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to the website hosting her underwear pix saying she was underage and that one shot is a Photoshop manipulation; the site has responded: "Your client's publicity rights are substantially inferior to the right of the public to consider, discuss, agree and/or disagree with Ms. Prejean's actions and views. This is not conduct for which your client's consent is required." Oh snap. [TMZ]
• By the by, Carrie Prejean has recorded a phone message for National Organization for Marriage, asking people to donate money and sign a petition against gay marriage. [TMZ]
• And! Those "topless" pix? Taken well-after Carrie Prejean turned 18, not when she was 17, as she claims. [TMZ]
• Amy Winehouse had a crappy performance at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, but the tourism minister says: "It's a shame it did not go better but we will bring her back in the future. We fully support her and hope she can get well. We have a lot of admiration for her." [The Sun]
• Swine flu be damned! Hugh Jackman will head to Mexico to promote Wolverine. [Mirror]
• Quentin Tarantino talks Inglourious Basterds, 70% of which is in French or German. "When you see the Germans speaking English with a German accent or sounding like British thespians, it just seems very quaint," he says. "That's one thing I don't want this film to have." Execs at the studio are not worried about the heavy use of subtitles: "Tarantino is a universal language," said one. [NY Times]
• Rachel McAdams has an environmental website, green is sexy, and says: "It's funny because when people come to my house they think everything is broken because I don't have anything plugged in. Guests are always saying things like: 'You need a new light bulb here' and I go around to the lamp and say: 'You've got to just plug it in!"' [Sydney Morning Herald]
• "WARNING: This may hurt your eyes... Beth Ditto strips down to her Spanx." Eh, fuck you, Daily Fail. [Daily Mail]
• Kim Kardashian is getting married! Eventually. "So many people rush into it and it's all this pressure because they see we've been together for a while," she says of beau Reggie Bush, whom she has been dating since 2007. "But, we're heading there. When we're ready, we'll know." [People]
• Boy George has been released from jail — early — and lost a few pounds during the four months he was in the slammer. [Daily Mail]
• This report says Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell are secretly engaged but don't want to make a formal announcement lest Heather Mills make some kind of scene; McCartney's rep is quoted about the rumor, saying, "There is no truth in it whatsoever. They have not become engaged in any shape or form. It is utter nonsense." [Daily Express]
• Jerry Hall was writing an autobiography — being called an "explosive, tell-all account" of her life with Mick Jagger — but the book has been abandoned. Apparently the publishers were "disappointed" with the lack of Jagger dirt. In JERRY'S autobiography. There was, however, a lot of gossip about Carla Bruni… [Daily Mail]
• Bjork sang with the Dirty Projectors at "her smallest gig of the year" Friday night in a bookstore in NYC, in front of 300 people. [NY Times]
• "Serial dater Geri Halliwell's relationship gets serious as she meets aristocrat lover's parents." [Daily Mail]
• Nineteen year old JoJo Simmons, son of Rev Run Simmons of Run-DMC, was caught rolling a joint in his BMW and has been arrested and charged with a bunch of stuff. [UPI]
• Awww, on Mother's Day, Florence Henderson, aka Carol Brady, says, "I get mail from all over the world, 122 countries." [UPI]
• Shirley Jones, 75, who was the mom on The Partridge Family, may pose nude for Playboy. Her husband/manager says, "Mature women are relevant." [Page Six]
• Is Kylie Minogue gonna get hitched to her hot hot Spanish boyfriend? [Daily Mail]
• Nia Vardalos talks about becoming a mom of a toddler — overnight. She adopted a 3-year-old from a foster family agency and says her daughter "arrived without an instruction manual. I didn't know if she had a sleep schedule, food allergies – there wasn't even a note pinned to her shirt. She just walked in and looked up at me, like "got lunch?" [People]
• Barbra Streisand's personal assistant: Busted on drug charges in Malibu on Wednesday. Cops found cocaine, methamphetamines and a weapon in her car. Sometimes people who help people who need people need a bump. [LA Times]
• Label exec Irv Gotti says he is dropping Ashanti from The Inc. They haven't been on speaking terms for some time; in 2007 Gotti told Wendy Williams he and Ashanti had sex even though he was a married man. [MTV]
• Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell tore his calf muscle during the first song in a concert in Atlanta. He finished the show and then took an ambulance to the hospital; doctors are telling him to stay off the leg for a few days. [AP]
• If you have £500,000, you can buy David Beckham's "modest" childhood home in east London. [BBC News]
• Blind item! "Which married TV actor used the Correspondents Dinner as an excuse to meet up with his occasional mistress?" [Gatecrasher]
• "I wasn't familiar with rugby league beforehand and I don't profess to be an expert now. But everything I do know about rugby league, I know from Russell Crowe." — Rachel McAdams, who became friends with the Aussie while shooting State Of Play and even watched a game with him via satellite at three in the morning. [Sydney Morning Herald]
• "I wanted audiences to think, ‘This guy could easily rip someone's head off', so I worked hard to achieve that physique. I ran and had to lift very heavy weights. Every morning I'd get up and there was a part of me that just wanted to collapse, but you just have to keep going, it's full-on testosterone. When I'm training, I'm fairly obnoxious, I really make a big thing of it and there is a lot of noise. I play driving music like Metallica that I would never otherwise listen to. I consulted a bodybuilder and what I realized is that how you look is 30% how you train and 70% how you eat. No carbs after lunch. Six to eight chicken breasts a day, two at each sitting, 4,000 calories in total. I really enjoyed eating pizza at the end of the movie, trust me, and I had half a dozen beers on the final day of shooting." — Hugh Jackman, on achieving the look of Wolverine. [Mirror]
• "I knew I had to build a body, and I ate a lot of wheat and chain-smoked. That will do it! The woman had to feel like she really had been drinking for 25 years. Now, I have not been drinking for 25 years. I'm a relatively healthy individual, so the first thing I had to do was make myself look like I was super-wrecked, which took a bit of time." — Tilda Switon, on playing a "ferociously dedicated alcoholic" in Julia. [USA Today]
• "I see Amelia as that fast-talking, Katharine Hepburn type of woman. She's powerful and authoritative with some chutzpah. I am much more cautious, I don't take as many physical risks as her. I see her as a woman who's ahead of her time but also having fun, embracing that sense of adventure; it's about believing in yourself and your passions and making the most of the time that you have in life." — Amy Adams, on playing Amelia Earhart in Night A The Museum 2. [Daily Mail]
• "Jack is gun crazy. Over here you can buy real guns. I have this horrible thing: I can see this movie in my head where he's messing around and shoots himself in the foot. Sharon goes to me, ‘Oh darling, he's been surrounded by guns all his life.' But there is a difference between an air rifle and a 45-calibre pistol. I said to Jack, ‘If someone got into your house would you be willing to use the gun?' He said, ‘Sure.'" — Ozzy Osbourne. [Daily Express]
• "We visited Panzi Hospital where IMC is training doctors and which has become world-renowned because of its incredible work with thousands of women who are in need of surgical repair for a condition called 'fistula,' a severe gynecologic rupture. It's a frighteningly common condition in eastern DRC because of lack of obstetric care, and the epidemic of rape. Panzi Hospital's Founder and Director is Dr. Denis Mukwege, often referred to as "the savior of women " and was named by a prestigious Nigerian newspaper as African of the Year in 2008. He shared some of his experiences with us and as you can imagine, they are horrific. The youngest rape victim he has had to treat was a three year old girl." — Sienna Miller, who is in the Congo, working with International Medical Corps. [Huffington Post]

[Image by Steven Klein via W Magazine]

(Oz was his only film and Carroll often appeared at charitable, retail and Oz-related events, saying:)

"It's not me; it's the movie. When they see me, they think of their childhood, and it makes them smile."

While Carroll — born Michael Finocchiaro on July 8, 1919 — was being wonderfully humble, it is true that The Wizard Of Oz taps into something magical. Something about the story of a girl on an adventure with her dog — aided by sparkly! shoes! — gets a fierce grip on the imagination and just won't let go. Why else do you think The Wiz might be returning to Broadway? Orlando Jones of Mad TV and those Make 7 Up Yours commercials — as well as numerous films — has been cast as the Wiz. LaChanze, who won a Tony for The Color Purple, will play Glinda; R&B singer Ashanti will play Dorothy, and the the Encores! Summer Stars production of the musical will run in New York June 12 through July 5 as sort of a Broadway tryout. As a fan, I'm hoping this new version of The Wiz doesn't suck. With any luck, it'll make it to Broadway, where new audiences will fall in love with Dorothy — and her little dog, too.

Mickey Carroll, An ‘Oz' Munchkin, Dies At 89 [NY Times]
Casting Completed For ‘The Wiz' [NY Times]

Earlier: The Power Of Ruby Slippers
Ruby Slipper Party: Celebrities, Booze & Shoes, Oh My

• In 2007 Sean Penn and wife Robin Wright said they were divorcing, but then reconciled. On Friday Penn filed for "legal separation with minor children," three days before their thirteenth wedding anniversary. [Extra]

• People has released its 100 Most Beautiful People issue and Christina Applegate took the cover, which Perez Hilton thinks Robert Pattinson deserved. Isn't beating cancer just a bit more impressive than starring in a vampire movie? [Perez Hilton]
• In the cover story, Christina Applegate says that she's trying to embrace her body after having a double mastectomy. "You have to get through the physical transformations then buck up, go to work and try to be the normal, happy Christina for everyone around you," she says, adding that her boyfriend helped her through it. "I'm very grateful to Martyn [Lenoble] for coming along at a time that he did because he's been my rock through all of this," Applegate says. "He gave me something to really want to live for and something to smile about." [People]
• Also among People's Most Beautiful People: Michelle Obama, Dev Patel, and Nick and Joe Jonas. [People, Reuters]
• Director of Robert Pattinson's new film How to Be says, "He was thinking about giving up acting and maybe doing music solely when this role [in How To Be] came along ... He wanted to play the roles he wasn't getting." [People]
• A judge ruled the the $1.4 million jewels Rihanna was wearing the night of the beating can be released from evidence and returned to their owner. [TMZ]
• Tyra Banks testified today against her accused stalker, Brady Green, saying: "I fear my safety. I feel extremely vulnerable. I fear the safety of my staff. My family." She said her staff doesn't tell her about fans, but "They said this person threatened one of my staffers. At that moment that was it. The first thing is there's this person who's more than a fan." [People]
• Tyra Banks says that Brady Green is "more aggressive" than a regular fan and she has been forced to hire security. Green sent Tyra love letters and flowers and was arrested when he snuck into her studio. If convicted he faces 90 days in jail. [TMZ]
• Jon Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus Eight responded to the photos of him leaving a nightclub with a woman who was not Kate, saying, "Like most people, I have male and female friends and I'm not going to end my friendships just because I'm on TV. However, being out...late at night showed poor judgment on my part. What makes me sick is that my careless behavior has put my family in this uncomfortable position. My family is the most important thing in my life and it kills me that these allegations have hurt them." [Entertainment Weekly]
• Liev Schreiber missed the L.A. premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine because his 21-month-old son, Sasha was sick. His rep said, "Sasha got home today and is feeling much better after being hospitalized on Tuesday night with respiratory problems." [People, TMZ]
• When Hugh Jackman heard that 800 people lined up a day early for the X-Men Origins: Wolverine premiere in Tempe, Arizona, he personally called a local cafe and treated everyone to a breakfast of coffee and pastries. [The Daily Express]
• TMZ has a copy of the police report from Casey Aldridge's truck crash. The report says "for some unknown reason" Aldridge's truck went off the road and ran into a ditch. Then he "overcorrected and lost control" of the truck. It went back on to the road and then rolled over. A passenger says Aldridge wasn't drinking. [TMZ]
• Al Roker will appear on The Weather Channel in a new show called Wake Up With Al. THe show will air from 6 am to 7 am so Al can continue working on The Today Show. [AP]
• Kate Walsh's soon-to-be ex, Alex Young, demanded to know how much money he deserved from his half of the home they purchased together. They bought it for $4.95 million and now it is worth $3.6 million, so it doesn't look like he'll be getting that much, especially since Walsh paid most of the down payment and he left her with the mortgage. [TMZ]
• Shauna Sand has obtained a restraining order against estranged husband Romain Chavent. She claims, he held her down, bit her lips, and tried to suffocate her. [TMZ]
• 71-year-old Jane Fonda slipped into her 1980s workout leotard for a skit at a New York charity event. [The Daily Mail]
• Susan Boyle says reports that she is leaving Britain's Got Talent are totally untrue. "There is no way I am quitting the show - the only way I'd leave the show is if Simon Cowell kicked me out!" she said. [The Independent]
• In 2004 Sharon Stone became a mail-order minister so she could marry restaurateur Michael Bourseau and stylist Brenda Swanson, but now the couple has filed for divorce. [TMZ]
• Ashanti will star as Dorothy in The Wiz this summer at the New York City Center. [NY Times]
• Toby Keith, who has had several celebrity feuds over the years, said, "if you're gonna tell a lie about me, and then back it up like it's the truth to try to make your star brighter ... yeah, I've got a problem with that ... If you can't do as well as I'm doing, then the only thing you can do is take shots at me, but that's expected." [AP]
• Christian Bale says of his leaked tirade at a technician on set, "I did what I did, I'm not hiding from that - I went overboard." He continued, "But there is an essential trust and it's not a tacit one, it's a verbal one, a spoken one, which is every sound guy says, 'We are not only not recording, we are not listening.' So, well, there goes that." [The Star]
• The Good Morning America anchors pranked Matthew McConaughey this morning by letting him show up to an empty studio in New York while they were all in D.C. celebrating Obama's first 100 days. There's video of McConaughey wandering around the set, as the anchors cackle here: [VideoGum]
• Tony Bennett donated a watercolor painted of friend Duke Ellington to the Smithsonian museum today in honor of the 110th anniversary of Ellington's birth. [AP]
• Usher says his 17-month-old son, Usher Raymond V, has "got my name and it seems to me he has my personality," but Usher doesn't want him to be a performer necessarily. "I hope whatever he chooses to do in his life, he goes after it with passion and dedication," he says. [People]
• At least one Jonas brother doesn't plan to be making music with his brothers forever. Joe Jonas says, "I guess personally I would love to do more acting, maybe movies – that would be really cool." Either that or he may, "write a book one day, because I love to read. The Alchemist is my favorite book of all time." [People]
• Joe Jonas also says of "Forever and Always" the song Taylor Swift wrote about their breakup, "It's flattering ... It's always nice to hear their side of the story."[ONTD]
• Grace Jones is known for being late, but she showed up last night to a performance attended by many celebrities less than 30 minutes before the end of the party. When she finally did arrive, she descended to the dance floor in a clear glass elevator, wearing a cape and a mask in the shape of a butterfly. [WWD]
• Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field says of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick having twins, "It's going to be interesting, ... I think that she could have fierce daughters. Fierce daughters!" [People]

• Is Ashley Olsen getting married? The National Enquirer thinks so. It'll happen on the French Riviera next summer; she wants Karl Lagerfeld to make the dress and Annie Leibovitz to take the pix. Oh, the hubs-to-be is boyfriend Justin Bartha. [Daily Express]
• Ryan Reynolds ran the NYC marathon! His time? 3 hours and 50 minutes, faster than he anticipated. "It was an incredible experience," he says. He was asked how he'd celebrate and claimed: "I'll probably celebrate by eating my own body weight in raw dough." [People]
• Heh, things were "frosty" between Tina Fey and John McCain on Saturday Night Live. [MSNBC]
• A "crazed" Madonna fan stormed on to the set of Guy Ritchie's new movie and threatened to kill him. The teenager had a knife and was shouting, "I love Madonna." He was arrested, though if he were cast in Guy Ritchie's movie, that would be believable. [Mirror]
• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's kids went trick-or-treating in Malibu on Friday. Maddox was a Marine; Zahara was a Jolly Green Giant; Shiloh was a sheriff. Need pix!!! [Star Magazine]

• Ooh, check out Angelina's eyes on the cover of British Harper's Bazaar. [ONTD]
• The head of rap label Def Jam died Saturday: Shakir Stewart, who succeeded Jay-Z as VP in June, committed suicide. [Reuters]
• Daniel Craig talks about his arm: "I tore my shoulder when we were making Casino Royale and it started to ache during Quantum Of Solace. I went to see a surgeon and had reconstructive surgery - I had six pins put in. So now I can't really move my arm and it's a little painful, but I'm having physio every day, and it's healing well." [Daily Mail]
• Lindsay Lohan will have her deposition videotaped in Samantha Ronson's ongoing lawsuit against her former attorney. She has a lot of conditions, though, and wants the transcripts to be destroyed when the case is over. [E!]
• Lindsay was supposed to host the World Music Awards in Monaco next weekend, but she's been replaced by, um, Denise Richards. Downgrade! [Mirror]
• Simon Cowell and girlfriend Terri Seymour: Dunzo. She ended it after 6 years. Want to guess who doesn't believe in marriage? [Newser.com]
• After Terri broke up with him, Simon allegedly said "Thank God! " [Daily Mail]
• Terri wanted kids, Simon did not. [Mirror]
• Simon also says: "You know, the most incredible thing I’ve seen on TV for absolutely ages was the Sarah Palin/Joe Biden debate. I watched it for an hour and there wasn’t one second I wasn’t completely riveted. I would love to bring the concept of the American presidential debate to Britain. I know I could engage the audience, get people involved." [Daily Mail]
• Peaches Geldof walked out of a London store with an item of clothing draped over her arm and didn't pay for it. A shopkeeper ran out and confronted Peaches, who said it was an accident. Apparently this is the fourth time she's walked out of a store without paying for clothes, although it seems like she always has a good excuse. [Mirror]
• Joaquin Phoenix, who is retiring from acting, might be back on drugs: He was "out of it" at a tribute to Paul Newman last week in San Francisco. Grief-stricken, maybe? [Page Six]
• Peaches' husband's band has a new single, "She Loves Everybody," about a controlling, insecure girl who craves affection. [Mirror]
• Amy Winehouse has gained weight and is trying to stop smoking. She's still hooked on sugar, however. [Mirror]
• Oh, wait, Amy Winehouse is back in the hospital. It seems to be related to the chest infection she had last week. Or her emphysema. [People]
• A New Zealand TV journalist is being investigated and might lose her job after a "trainwreck" interview with Pink; it seems the woman's sister used to be Pink's assistant and the reporter ambushed the pop star with questions about why she'd fired her sister. [News.com.au]
• More weird New Zealand news: A pizza chain used a Halloween ad which featured skeletal animations of the Queen Mother, Sir Edmund Hillary and Heath Ledger dancing on gravestones. The company has apologized. [Times of London]
• In case you couldn't already guess, Tyra is endorsing Barack Obama. [Yahoo News]
• Usher is taking a year off from music to travel the world and find "inspiration." Good luck! [Mirror]
• Jessica Simpson's BFF, stylist Ken Paves, had his face bloodied during a paparazzi crush outside of an L.A. restaurant. There were so many cameras swarming that some guy accidentally hit Ken near his eye with a camera. Jess and Ken made it to the car, and went directly to the hospital. [TMZ]
• Bruno, aka Sacha Baron Cohen, crashed a rally banning gay marriage in California. [Yahoo New]
• There was a memorial for Jennifer Hudson's family members, including nephew Julian King, on Sunday. His second-grade teacher read from journals written by his classmates. [AP]
• Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown is renewing her vows in Egypt, but Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham doesn't plan to attend. Snubby spice? [The Sun]
• It appears to be really and truly on between Criss Angel and Holly Madison. If you have a strong stomach, gaze upon this image of them kissing. [TMZ]
• Mindy McCready is out of jail. [E!]
• Here's a video in which Senator John McCain meets Anna Nicole Smith, one of her "biggest fans." [Politico]
• Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio have Oscar buzz for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Revolutionary Road, but Oscar voters tend to like it when actors play real people. [Reuters]
• Nigella Lawson once made her kids give their Christmas gifts to charity. "I wanted them to think about how lucky they are," she explains. Hmm, could work, could make them harbor resentment. [The Sun]
• Bon Jovi's being sued for £250,000 after one of the rock group's entourage allegedly deliberately ran over a woman with a golf cart at a concert. [Telegraph]
• Viggo Mortensen is in a film adaptation of a play about about an ordinary man in 1930s Germany being slowly co-opted by the Nazis. He says the story has relevance today; "You don't need to be some kind of bookworm or political activist; little and big decisions that individuals make in society on a daily basis are what any country is." [LA Times]
• LL Cool J has been inducted into the Long Island, NY Music Hall Of Fame. Didn't know there was such a thing, but, congrats? [UPI]
• Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones have made a very important election-related video you simply must watch. [Funny Or Die]
• Is Sienna Miller's relationship with Balthazar Getty fizzling out? [Mirror, Daily Mail]
• In an op-ed about paparazzi and papers vs. celebrities — especially Sienna Miller, who's gone to court seeking damages for a "campaign of harassment" by photographers, this writer states: "We have no right to invade people's privacy, but we do have a time honoured journalistic tradition of doing so that I would hate to see disappear." [Independent]
• Kylie Minogue would love to be an actress: "I’d love to do a comedy." [The Sun]
• It's weird to think about Dakota Fanning as 14-year-old sophomore and varsity cheerleader in real life, but that is what she is. [USA Today]
• Elle UK asked Kelly Osbourne to be part of a photography portfolio celebrating friendship and love; she decided to do it with her boyfriend. "My boyfriend is my best friend," she says. "We always go shopping together, we like going to music festivals and we chat on the phone a thousand times a day." [Elle UK]
• Haven't heard about these two in a while, but Nelly says he and Ashanti are "serious." They've been on and off since 2003. [People]
• Here's a piece about how stars change shape for films. A former Royal Marine who has worked on the last five James Bond films, has also been training with Jake Gyllenhaal for Prince Of Persia. He says: "Most actors are athletes nowadays. Their fitness is a big factor in whether they get cast or not. Jake has to look like a warrior capable of sword-fighting, not like he's been hitting the gym. He is working out twice, sometimes three times a day, six days a week, for three to four months on top of stunt rehearsals before filming begins." Ready to go back to bed? [Times of London]
• Did Paris Hilton steal Benji Madden from Sophie Monk? This was 8 months ago, if you care. [News.com.au]
• Johnny Carson's former lawyer is calling the Tonight Show host a sad, depressed man who cheated on his wives and was tormented by his mother. Tears of a clown? [Page Six]
• Whoa: Mickey Rourke once planned to kill a man and then commit suicide, because the guy had raped a woman he knew. [The Sun]
• The Pet Shop Boys will be presented with an outstanding contribution to music award at next year's Brit Awards, which means Simon Cowell won't get it. What have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this? [BBC News, Mirror]
• The Communist Party of St. Petersburg must not have much to do, because they're pissed at "Bond girl" Olga Kurylenko for "sleeping with the West." [UPI]
• Jean-Claude Van Damme canceled promotional appearances for a film because one of his dogs is in a coma. Tragic! [Page Six]
• "Kate Winslet is always naked, sitting on a toilet, running buck-naked. She's free. I want to be the kind of actress who can really be comfortable with my body like that" — Halle Berry in Elle. [Page Six]
• "I've kept in touch with William — he's really good looking. But I prefer Harry, he's more my type." — Paris Hilton on the Princes. [Mirrror]
• "I need you to make the best sub you have ever made because it's for Snoop Dogg," A "handler" to a Subway employee in Australia. [News.com.au]
• "I've always been a slow starter. My first date was with a girl called Cessi. We had a beautiful relationship over the phone all summer and then when we met I couldn't look her in the eye." — Leonardo DiCaprio. [Guardian]
• "I don't know if seniors like me at all. I think they're a little sick of me. I think they say, 'Get off! We just want to rest.' I thought I was wonderful. Then I saw a replay. I couldn't believe I was just one, two, three, turn. I didn't have the spunk I thought I had." — Cloris Leachman, on her final Dancing With The Stars performance. [Newsweek]
• "Owen Wilson is so divine in this film. I've never seen him play a part like this. He was a man; he was a husband; he was a father. And I feel like, how brave of him, to walk through the year that he walked through." — Jennifer Aniston on her Marley And Me costar. [LA Times]
• "It's a different part of my life. I try and look back on it with fondness but when I'm reminded of it I'm really embarrassed… Honestly, I really hoped my daughter wouldn't see it, otherwise she'd never listen to a thing I say again. I thought I was the coolest guy in the world but really I was just a jackass." — Mark Wahlberg on his "Marky Mark" music career. [Telegraph]
• "If someone starts talking to me negatively about something they've never actually studied that actual text of, I don't really admire them very much because it shows they don't have much integrity, so I just kind of ignore them. I'm not going to listen to gossip and hearsay about something that's affected my life so tremendously in such a tremendously positive way. It's a new religion. Historically every new religion has been [dismissed]. People were hanged, fed to the lions for their beliefs so this is just a modern day evolution of what happens when something new comes into our culture. It is not fully understood yet. I've seen drug addicts completely rehabilitated, I've seen the illiterate become literate, I've seen people that were so depressed and hopeless completely rehabilitate their goals in life, become happier, find partners. It's beautiful." — Jenna Elfman on Scientology. [Perez Hilton]
• "Every other guy I've been out with has used me for money or sex — but in most cases they just want fame. It made it hard to trust people… I loved this guy for three years but he betrayed me. Rick’s a scumbag and I hate him. It was just the most horrible thing that’s ever happened to me. So humiliating and embarrassing. But at the end of the day, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve found someone who loves me for me. Benji’s my best friend and I know he’d never hurt me." — Paris Hilton. [News Of The World]
• "To go on about acting as art is ridiculous. You don’t have to be gifted just to hit a mark and a line. As far as I’m concerned, that’s 90 per cent of the job. Anyone who finds acting difficult just shouldn’t be doing it." — Kurt Russell. [Daily Express]
• "I'm thinking, 'If this guy (Jesus) can die for mankind, the least I can do is quit smoking. I really felt an epiphany was happening. I even thought I saw a light around me. Four hours later, I bought a packet of Marlboro Reds. Who am I kidding? I need a cigarette." — Gerard Butler, on his religious experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Israel. [ONTD]
• "I shaved my back just in case. I went fully bare, like a two year old. I was ready. I didn't want to be too real for the world. I don't think the world is too ready for a hairy back in a love scene. Has there ever been a sex scene with Robin Williams? People don't want to see that. That would border on bestiality." — Seth Rogen, on preparing himself for Zack And Miri Make A Porno. [Daily Express]

• Matthew Broderick: Cheating on Sarah Jessica Parker? Having "sex in the city" with a gorgeous redhead half his age? More on this in Midweek Madness. [Star]
• Brad Pitt "pulled a Britney" and drove with Shiloh on his lap. But he was in a golf cart. In France. (Yes, there are pix.) [This Is London]
• Christian Bale's family is complicated. Did the so-called "assault" involve pushing? [LA Times]
• Bale's been released. [Telegraph]
• And he denies the assault. [LA Times]
• Christian Bale "went ballistic" on the set of Terminator 4 last week, screaming "I will kick your ass" and other stuff in a situation called "intense." Apparently he was "extremely tired and having a bad day." [TMZ]

• This report says that Christian Bale is "depressed" over Heath Ledger's death. A source says: "He has stresses in his marriage. He can have a terrible temper. Instead of lashing out at his wife, he sometimes lashes out at people around him. Without Ledger around he's found it more and more difficult to communicate with those around him, especially his family." [News.com.au]
• This headline reads: "If Batman's truly gone bad, has Christian Bale doomed his Oscar hopes?" [LA Times]
• Miley Cyrus admits that the Vanity Fair pictures were probably not a good idea. "I think I was just in a stage where I was just trying to get things done, and maybe look for an older audience. I was working with a big magazine just trying to go with what they were saying." [People]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal think Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker deserves an Oscar. "I would vote for him," she says. "To be that incredible in a movie that's this huge, that's about so many things, is really an accomplishment. In a way I feel funny thinking about the Oscars when he isn't alive, but at the same time I'm a member of the Academy and I would vote for him." [People]
• Matthew McConaughey, girlfriend Camila Alves and son Levi landed the cover of OK! magazine. Which is now "the baby magazine." He makes the birth sound like a drum circle: "Contractions started kicking in, and we found a great rhythm. We had a 14-hour session, her and I did. I sat there with her, right between her legs. We got tribal on it. We danced to it. I was DJing this native Brazilian music." [MSNBC]
• Jay McInerney making a cameo on Gossip Girl makes me so so so happy. I read him when I was in high school and his glittery druggy version of New York fits right into the GG aesthetic. Bright lights, big city, indeed. [NY Mag]
• Amy Winehouse on her husband's sentence: "Why Blakey? They said he was coming out." [The Sun]
• This is also Amy: "Blake and I can't wait to have kids. I want at least five kids. I want twins. Blake is gonna be the most amazing dad. When Blake was about we talked about it all the time. To be honest, I think kids have got a lot more going on than adults. They've got their heads screwed on a lot better." [Telegraph]
• Amy probably wasn't at court when Blake was sentenced because she hired a cleaning team to scrub the house, thinking he was coming home. Apparently the house was a mess and the team was armed with mops, dusters and bottles of concentrated bleach, which they used for five hours to get things sparkly. [Mirror]
• Amy's wax figure at Madame Tussauds in London has been unveiled. Her dad says: Father Mitch joked: "We're going to take this one home with us and take the real one back. This one does what she's told and doesn't move." [Mirror]
• Post-breakup Sarah Silverman is "doing great." [UPI]
• The overdose story involving 19-year-old Peaches Geldof may have been "exaggerated," but now comes the news that she's entered a phase of "competitive dieting" with her younger sister Pixie, 17. Get it together, kids. [Daily Mail]
• This report says she collapsed due to dieting. [News.com.au]
• Oh look! Peaches' handwritten drug shopping list. Weed, coke, Diazepam and Viagra. Lovely. [The Sun]
• Cameron Diaz went to Drew Barrymore's psychic, Mrs. Grace. Apparently Cammie will have "marriage and kids" and a "beautiful future" with her boyfriend Paul Sculfor, that model who dated Jen Aniston. [MSNBC]
• Courtney Love's business managers are suing her, because she doesn't have enough problems. Apparently they didn't get their 5% of the sale of a portion of the Nirvana publishing catalog, which would be $975,000. [TMZ]
• Katie Price, the "glamour model" known as Jordan, admits that she does not write her bestselling novels. "I'm not going to lie, I don't sit there with a typewriter and write it, of course I don't," she says. "I don't have time to do that. I say how I want the storyline to be, each chapter is done, I read through it change it and then it goes away to be written. So I'm not going to sit here and say I write it word by word because I'd be lying. I actually say how I want the story and that's how it happens." [Daily Mail]
• Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are "adjusting" to life with a newborn: Starbucks runs and mattress shopping. Yawn. [People]
• The sequel to The Simpsons Movie will be out in like four years. [The Sun]
• Ashanti is now the tourism ambassador for Nassau County on Long Island. Uh, congrats? [AP]
• Freddy Krueger is coming back to the big screen! The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is being relaunched. Wouldn't it be cool if Johnny Depp would make a cameo appearance? [Reuters]
• Daisy Fuentes, 41, says: "I don't want to compete with the way I was at 21 – I love looking like a woman." She's on the cover of Fitness magazine looking amazing. [People]
• For an MTV special, Kanye West visited with a trio of soldiers who have returned home from Iraq. "There are hundreds of veterans out there who are falling through the cracks," says Kanye. "They make the ultimate sacrifices for us by laying down their lives, but it seems like a lot of them just get forgotten about." [Guardian]
• Heather Locklear is out of the treatment center she was in for anxiety and depression. She's most excited about being home with Ava, her daughter by Richie Sambora. [People]
• Sean Connery says his ex-wife is an "insane woman" who spreads "vicious lies." Connery claims he never told his son he would cut him out of his will. Messy family business. [Daily Mail]
• Richard Simmons has ideas for getting schoolkids more active. Sweatin' with the Youngies? [USA Today]
• "She's a phony. As long as she continues to be a fake and a phony, she won't be successful." — Omarosa on Wendy Williams. [AP]
• Coldplay was "snubbed" by Mercury Prize judges. In the running: Estelle, Adele, Elbow, Radiohead, The Last Shadow Puppets, British Sea Power. Have I mentioned I love Adele's voice? [The Sun]
• A source says Lauren Conrad "seems to have lost a grip on reality and thinks she is A-list material." This comes after she was paid to host a party and showed up 2 hours late. [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which reality TV has-been can't even go to paid appearances anymore? His manager is too worried about how trashed he gets when he's on the payroll." [Rush & Molloy]
• There may be video of the incident in Shreveport, LA involving Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright getting tasered and pepper sprayed by cops. Sorta hoping it gets released. [Rush & Molloy]
• Supermodel-turned-designer Kelly Bensimon joins The Real Housewives of New York City next season. "Several of the housewives are nervous," a snitch says. "She's too blond and beautiful and energetic. They don't want to be outdone." [Rush & Molloy]
• Love this: Luke Russert made such a good impression on TV viewers (or producers?) after his father's funeral, NBC is recruiting him for its election coverage team. [Page Six]
• "I mean, what's my illness? I guess I could say I have a terrible case of I-wanna-smoke-weed-all-day." — Seth Rogen, explaining in Elle why he won't get a medical marijuana card. [Page Six]

New Ashanti Viral Video Pushes Limits of Good Taste, Logic [Rolling Stone]

[New York, June 3. Image via INFDaily.]

• Lovers' spat! At a Barack Obama party, the DJ started playing "Crazy In Love" and Jay-Z grabbed the mic and said, "Sorry Bey but fuck that — let's play something else." B was pissed! Later the couple kissed and made up, though. [Mirror]
  
• This should not come as a surprise and hardly qualifies as news, but Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt of The Hills want their own show. They've been in NYC pitching it to execs; it would be about them (gag) planning their wedding. Listen, if we all concentrate, maybe we can prevent this from happening: Every time Spencer gets what he wants, an angel loses its wings. [Page Six]
  
• Amy Winehouse has taken up painting watercolors. I want to hang one in my apartment so badly. [Mirror]

• Rob Lowe's former castmembers have got his back! West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin says Rob is a "gentleman who cares first and most for his family." Actor Dulé Hill agrees: "I've known him strictly as a family man." As for the nanny allegations? "It doesn't seem like the Rob I know. It doesn't add up," says Hill. [People]
• Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were seen in the stands at a hockey game in Nashville. Doesn't that just seem odd? [ET]
• Oh, Nicole Kidman wants her kids out of the Church of Scientology. Good luck with that. [Page Six]
• Lindsay Lohan will be coming to New York tomorrow to see "pal" DJ Samantha Ronson spin, and not to visit her ailing grandparents. Cold! Oh, they've reportedly "never been kind to her." [Page Six]
• Lindsay's dad Michael is not happy that his daughter's rep says she won't be doing missionary work in India. "I think we can all see that her present so-called friends and management have her focused on the wrong projects and things. If Lindsay would just listen to me and follow my guidance, like she did when her life was on the right path, and before the people you see now that are in her life, I guarantee that her life would straighten out and she'd be back to being the gifted actress everyone knew and loved." [Gatecrasher]
• This may shock you, but 30 Rock's Judah Friedlander, known for wearing trucker hats with wacky sayings on them, makes the hats himself. "They are intricate, I sew things on too," he says. "I have over 100 of them and come up with the sayings myself. Fans e-mail me suggestions all the time. So far, I've used one." [Page Six]
• Posh and Becks are having a joint birthday party this weekend and hired a company to get swag from high-end brands for the gift bags. The guest list is fairly exclusive: Only 25 people were invited. Did your invitation get lost in the mail? [Page Six]
• Kate Hudson's birthday is Saturday and some lady got her a "weird" cake in the shape of a "woman/snake/lizard kneeling," with Kate's head on it. Kate did not eat it and it was found in the garbage later, LOL. [Gatecrasher]
• Jennifer Aniston will be the "surprise" guest on the season finale of Oprah's Big Give, pass it on. [Gatecrasher]
• Blind item! "Which actress on a canceled show was "doing her body weight" in cocaine at a beachy magazine shoot over the weekend?" [Gatecrasher]
• Blind item! "Which recently rehabbed rocker got clean through a week-long induced coma? He couldn't bear to sweat out the booze on his own." [Rush & Molloy]
• A court-appointed lawyer, a co-conservator and two other attorneys in the Britney Spears conservator case all have bills — and the commissioner says Brit must pay. Ouch. [TMZ]
• No, seriously: It's $400,000 in legal fees. [People]
• Foxy Brown gets out of prison today! The Department of Corrections says fan or press gatherings will not be allowed, so cancel your trip to Rikers Island. [TMZ]
• This is a headline from People.com: "Jessica Alba in Frantic Nesting Mode." Try to care. [People]
• Cute cutie Bradley Cooper (he was in Wedding Crashers, Alias and the short-lived show Kitchen Confidential) has a new love: Actress Rhona Mitra, who's been on Nip/Tuck and Boston Legal. Foxy couple. [E!]
• Baywatch better stay in reruns forever: David Hasslehoff has agreed to pay $25,000 a month to support his ex-wife and children. [AP]
• Here's a great headline: "Doherty's Pals Flog His Gear." Apparently Pete's friends have been selling some of his stuff for cash — like the "horrible" paintings he did using his own blood — while he's in jail. [The Sun]
• Meanwhile, Pete is in an isolated area of the prison because fellow inmates were planning an attack on him. [Mirror]
• Madonna is in negotiations to play two gigs in Dubai for a whopping £12.5 million. If each show is 90 minutes it comes out to something like $167,000 a minute, for the love of Christmas. [The Sun]
• Hahaha, Gwyneth has stopped working out with Madge because her "grueling" two-and-half-hour workouts are too much for Ms. Paltrow. Madonna is so fucking hardcore. [Mirror]
• Ashanti's new video portrays her wielding a knife and getting revenge on a cheating ex, but she swears it's not about boyfriend Nelly, whom she does not even admit is her boyfriend but her really really good friend. [People]
• RIP, Danny Federici from the E Street band. [USA Today]
• Dita Von Teese is suing a dude who built her a 10-foot high swan with a fountainhead in the beak for her act. The fountain malfunctioned during the debut of her show in Toronto and that will just not do. [TMZ]
• "I never go suntanning. My worst fear is looking down and seeing brown, wrinkly cleavage. It'll get white and wrinkly, but no need to rush it." —Dita Von Teese. [Rush & Molloy]

• Owen Wilson attempted suicide because he "had been depressed for several months," reports Extra. [People]
  
• Samuel L. Jackson visited Owen Wilson in the hospital. For some reason this makes us feel a lot better. Seriously. Somehow, Sam just soothes the soul. [TMZ]
  
• Madonna's adoption of David Banda is moving forward: a social worker was given permission to visit the family. [People]
  
• This summer, singer Ashanti "gained so much weight she refused to be photographed." Sigh. Some of us know how she feels. [Page Six]

• The Teen Choice Awards was going to have a category called "Newsmakers of the Year" with nominees like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, but the category was nixed. Good call. [Page Six]
• Neighbors and community leaders are unhappy with The Box, a downtown NYC club with Jude Law, Josh Lucas and Rachel Weisz on its board. The nightspot was supposed to be a theater and a "cultural institution," instead it's just a club. "They lied," says a resident. Shady celebs? What a surprise. [Gatecrasher]
• Blind item! "Which adult video star is bragging he has pix of a certain hip-hop big asleep in bed after a tryst?" [Gatecrasher, last item]
• Former bodyguards have a book in the works that will detail "the darker side" of Siegfried and Roy — including smuggling jewelry in tiger cages, drug and alcohol abuse and illegal "secret disposal of animals, including an elephant buried under a housing development." Scandalous! [Rush & Molloy, 2nd item]
• About the "abuse investigation" into Britney Spears and her two young boys: it's not physical abuse — the complaint lodged dealt with poor dental hygiene, poor eating and sleeping habits. [TMZ]
• Amy Winehouse's in-laws staged an intervention on the radio. They say that Amy and Blake think they're under control, but that's not the case. Also: "We are concerned that if one of them dies, the other will die. They are a very close couple, and if one dies through substance abuse, the other may commit suicide." [Guardian]
• Lily Allen was so drunk at a festival she interrupted a reggae singer's set and pushed him off the stage — he retaliated by pouring beer over her head. Fun! [The Sun]
• Jude Law: Dating German model. [The Sun]