Some choice quotes from the issue, out Wednesday:

Losing weight to play a terminally ill woman who falls for her doctor has been rough, because Kate can't have cocktails: "And I love my glass of wine. I love tequila. To be in New York for two weeks and not have one beverage! I'm not sure I've ever done that."

The interviewer asks her what she weighs, which is kind of rude, but Kate says: "I'm pretty solid, actually. I'm not, like, 110lbs. But I'm probably heading towards that." (The Elle writer notes that her arms are very toned and "Her jeans are tight and she looks amazing from behind.")

Moving from the body to her skin: It's her face and she'll freeze it if she wants to:

"I was in a press conference once, and someone says, 'So, I can tell you've never had Botox!' Is that a compliment? Or are you trying to say I'm starting to get wrinkles? I literally was like, 'What?' Everyone's so obsessed with who gets Botox, but it's great! Are you kidding? The fact that women can avoid going under the knife, and get a little Botox treat and not have to worry about it? I'm glad it's there for when it's time."

On boys:

"I sometimes feel like when you're talking to boys, they just hear certain keywords… But if you had a bubble above their head, they'd be thinking about game scores, masturbation and food."

And:

"I love boys… but I believe they're really simple. Every guy likes to say that they're complicated, but they're so easy to figure out. What did that Dr Laura say? Something like, 'All men want is sex and for you to make them a sandwich.' I thought that was really funny – and not entirely untrue."

On being a female:

"I love being a girl. I love clothes and I love the rituals of facials and body treatments, all the stuff girls get, make-up, scarves, hats. And we're like a tribe. That's just our nature. You get a group of women together and, somehow, we keep it together. I love that we can be that powerful, as a group. Men, you know, it's survival of the fittest."

Lastly, she says of bloggers talking shit:

"It's like having a girl talk badly about you in high school. It's so juvenile and base. Not liking an outfit, OK, I get that. OK, let's all laugh at somebody's outfit. OK, you don't like it; you can make a funny joke about it. And if you have a good sense of humor, you can take it. It's happened to me; I got panned at the Oscars one year. But a lot of my [Hollywood] peers are really beautiful people. Really, really nice. And everyone's doing the best they can. It's not a negative world; it's quite positive. And for people to want to switch it and make it negative, because it makes them feel better, that's really bizarre."

Elle UK [Official Site]

[Images by David Slijper courtesy of Elle Magazine.]

Says the New York Post</em, "These days, cheek and chin implants are blatant, and who wants a natural-looking boob job anymore? Hoist 'em high, sisters." There's no challenge for those of us (?) who apparently make sport of guessing who's had work done and accusing them of it like those undermining friends in the Glade commercials!

But we have a new weapon in our arsenal: bunny lines, "the crinkly wrinkles on both sides of the nose that often appear as a direct result and telltale sign of Botox-related paralysis" and which battle scars are apparently borne by Nicole Kidman, Mickey Rourke and Sly Stallone. Which is good, because otherwise there's no way we'd guess that any of those people had had work done! Apparently the furrows arise because your few non-paralyzed muscles go into overdrive, thus wrinkling where nature never intended. So what's the cure? Well, says one plastic surgeon, "When people find these lines objectionable, Botox is the best way to eradicate them."

Bunny Lines [NY Post]

• A Texas judge has ruled that a same-sex couple should be able to get a divorce in Texas, even though the state does not recognize gay marriage. Although it is too early to tell what this will mean for human rights in Texas, the couple is "ecstatic" at the news. •  Allergan Inc., makers of Botox, have filed a lawsuit against federal health officials, which alleges that the government violated their free-speech rights by barring them from distributing information about the antiwrinkle injections. •  Grab your babies, because Today is the Synchronized Worldwide Breastfeed. The event started in the Philippines, with breastfeeding advocate Elvira Henares-Esguerra. •  Lauren Book, a survivor of sexual abuse, once lobbied for stricter laws governing paroled sex offenders. However, she recently realized that the laws she worked so hard to have passed may have backfired, leaving hundreds of sex offenders in such deplorable living conditions that they might just get "desperate" enough to offend again. •  French PM Francois Fillon said today that he is considering enforced chemical castration for sex offenders. France currently allows the use of chemical castration, but only with the consent of the prisoner. •  Patriza D'Addario went on Italian television to tell her side of the whole Silvio Berlusconi sex scandal story. She says Berlusconi knew she was an escort when he slept with her, and that his Rome residence "seemed like a harem." • 

• Leighton Meester made the September cover of Harper's Bazaar, and inside the magazine printed digitally-altered photos of the actress, intended to show how she will age. At 23, Meester is already a supporter of Botox. [WWD]

• Three little words: Rodarte for Target. This December. Fashionistas all over this country are going to be wetting themselves and there aren't even any pictures yet. [WWD]
• In terms of irrepressibly stupid shit, $450 Louis Vuitton chopsticks pretty much takes the sushi. [FWD]
• Nicole Richie, on her new maternity line for A Pea In The Pod: "You really feel like you have to change your whole wardrobe. And that's the last thing a woman wants to go through. So I really tried to make this line to get women excited about wearing clothes." [People]
• Somebody put photos of Alexander McQueen's former London home on the Internet. Creepy. [SB]
• Add this to the mounting pile of reasons to give London Fashion Week a look this season: a photographic exhibition dedicated to Twiggy will open on September 19, the same day as the shows, at the National Portrait Gallery. Twiggy turns 60 this year. [Telegraph]
• 18-year-old American model Ali Stephens, who still dreams of being a marine biologist, struggles to balance her education with her work schedule. "Being in school got hard because I was never there. I switched to online schooling, but that didn't work either because I never had time to do it. When I was working I couldn't do it, and when I wasn't working, I just wanted to relax. It was hard to motivate. So right now I'm studying for my GED. I'm going to take it before fashion week." [W]
• Milla Jovovich, on life's greatest pleasure, reading: "Recently I read all Edith Wharton's classics and I re-read all of Dickens. I love books about turn-of-the-century New York. I just finished Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets by Stephen Crane. I had a phase of reading books about 'new physics' and I love to read Scientific American and New Scientist magazines. I read so much I am like a zombie in the morning." [Daily Mail]
• Princess Grace of Monaco and Cartier are getting stars on the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style. [WWD]
• Roberto Cavalli, you tease! The Italian designer, who for most of this year has toyed with the idea of selling a stake in his fashion house, and released many contradictory statements on the subject, finally committed to sell — but he has now allowed talks to break down with Clessidra SpA. The private equity firm that had wanted to buy a 30% stake in his company was apparently disappointed by the designer's reluctance to negotiate on his high price. [WWD]
• Tommy and Dee Hilfiger are now parents to a baby boy, Sebastian Thomas, born yesterday. Congratulations to them. [WWD]
• Katie Grand's second issue of Love magazine features Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. What? [Fashionologie]
• Kanye West is in New York today to fête Casio G-shock watches. The brand is launching new timepieces designed by Redman, Mister Cartoon, and Todd Jordan — but none from Kanye, yet. [WWD]
• Although the African Growth and Opportunity Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 2000, was intended to offer certain sub-Saharan African companies a break on U.S. trade tariffs to encourage African countries to diversify their economies and manufacturing bases, nearly a decade on, 92% of trade done under the act is in petroleum products. And in Kenya, where apparel manufacture had been a growth industry until this recession began, most of the factories that produce clothing for export under the act are owned by American and Chinese companies. Kenya's apparel sector still employs 26,000 people, and their working conditions are governed by the act, which sets limits on work hours, mandates overtime payments, and bans child labor. [LATimes]
• Urban Outfitters' $24 knockoff of the 3 Moon Wolf tee is imported — but we'll wager not from Kenya. Which means that the t-shirt makers, New Hampshire company The Mountain, and the original artist, Antonia Neshev, probably aren't being paid for their work. Urban Outfitters rips off pretty much everyone, but it's sad to see them kicking around a company that uses environmentally-friendly inks and provides on-site daycare for its employees. Strangely, Urban Outfitters seems to be banking both on the shirt's notoriety, and on its customers not being able to use a computer to navigate to the Amazon sales page, where the original 3 Wolf Moon tee is for sale starting at just $11. [FishbowlLA]
• Iconix Brand Group, which owns everything from Candie's to Badgley Mischka, reports a 32% rise in second quarter profit, to $19.3 million. [Crains]
• Polo Ralph Lauren's first quarter profit dropped 19%. [WSJ]
• Gucci is going to open a traveling pop-up store, to hopefully sell some sneakers Mark Ronson designed at Art Basel Miami and other wealthy world hotspots. [WWD]
• Torrid's holding a model search — so if you or someone you know is a size 12-26 and really, really, ridiculously good-looking, send in some pictures! Deadline's Friday, so act quick. [Torrid]

Earlier: Doctors Warn Botox May Cause Birth Defects

• Saudi Arabia's first female cabinet member, Noura al-Faiz, was recently quoted in a Saudi paper saying that she does not plan on appearing on TV unless she is granted permission. "I don't take my veil off and I will not appear on television unless it is allowed for us to do so," she said. • Annie Lobert, ex-sex worker and founder of the "Hookers for Jesus" organization, just married Oz Fox from the Christian heavy metal band Stryper. Congrats! • A recent government survey found that 1 in 3 Indian women have been abused by their spouses or partners. According to Reuters, even the women of the upper crust are not immune to the dangers of intimate partner violence, and rich husbands often use their wealth and influence to make divorce almost impossible. • It appears that Botox may not be such a bad thing after all: scientists say that the face-freezing drug may be useful in the fight against cancer. • Sydney Dupree, a male-to-female transsexual from Memphis, founded the Transgender Job Fair in Los Angeles in efforts to help herself and other transpeople find work in the rough economy. The fair includes 17 public and private employers willing to reach out to the trans community. • Over the weekend, NPR interviewed Sussan Tahmasebi, the leading women's rights activist in Iran, who believes that the upcoming elections "promise some sort of change" for women in Iran. Tahmasebi is the founding member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, which seeks to change gender-biased laws through gathering signatures. • Croatian nutritionist Dr Lejla Kazinic Kreho has discovered that sauerkraut is a powerful aphrodisiac — for men. The problem, naturally, comes in finding sex partners still interested after one consumers Kreho's recommended two servings a day. • A 93-year-old man wed an 89-year-old woman in Florida this weekend, stating that she'd had her eye on him for 20 years. After the ceremony, technicians used nail polish remover to remove the adhesive from her eye and returned it to her. • Sarah Palin will, indeed, be having dinner with the Republicans she's been so coy with for months, proving to herself that she can treat them poorly and still maintain their undying affection. Now, onto 2012! • Palin also renews her love with Sean Hannity, joining him on-air tonight to reprise her accusations that Obama is a Super Sekret Socialist. Now, if we'd only elected her, I mean, John McCain, the economy would be as peachy-keen as her spring suits!

P.S. We now have a new word for "vagina" — "chucky." Although Danielle, as we learned last night, still says "pussy."

P.P.S. I have to read this book now.

Friends, you cannot stop aging. The second hand clicks by, time is a immovable force. We are aging constantly. And women who indulge in Botox and plastic surgery do not look as though they have stopped the hands of time; they generally look as though they have had a procedure done. In a piece for the Guardian, Kira Cochran calls out the celebrities who seem not to age:

Over the last 10 years, the public face of ageing seems to have changed completely, and many of the world's most prominent women hardly seem to grow older at all. It's not so much that they always look young, exactly, or that they have the tightly pulled skin of traditional facelifts. But they do look completely different to their non-famous peers. Where other women's lips recede, theirs stay mysteriously plump. Where others have laughter lines, they remain undimpled. And when describing how they stay so taut, the explanation is generally this. They moisturise. They drink water. They work out. They eat well. They avoid the sun. They don't smoke. Which is enough to make the average healthy-living woman wince while inspecting her own wrinkles.

While Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox have admitted "trying" Botox, Nicole Kidman has said: "To be honest, I am completely natural. I have nothing in my face or anything. I wear sunscreen, and I don't smoke. I take care of myself. And I'm very proud to say that." Uh-huh.

Now, of course, it's understandable why a woman — especially in Hollywood — wouldn't want to age. The roles dry up, you get neglected, etc. As it is, actresses get asked to play the mothers of actors younger than they are. Cochrane includes this quote from Madonna: "Once you reach a certain age you're not allowed to be adventurous, you're not allowed to be sexual. I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die?" No, you're not "supposed" to die. You're supposed to buy into the fact that wrinkles = ugly; lines = hideous and gray hair = abomination.

It could be argued that celebrities are different; their careers and appearances are linked, so they should be forgiven for the injections and surgery. But what about the average woman, living in a society where she is inundated with images of these women who do not seem to age? Cochrane writes:

What does this culture mean for ordinary women? Well, for one, the beauty standard we're expected to live up to is, specifically, a surgical one - which is complicated by the fact that this is so rarely acknowledged. The result is that we are presented with image after image of women (and, increasingly, men) who are astoundingly unlined, and are forced to compare ourselves with them.

And we are forced to endure ads like this one:



If you don't use their product, you're clearly rushing to your 40th birthday, which, due to a wrinkle (heh) in time, will arrive sooner than if you do use their product, the dubiously titled "Youth Surge." But when it comes down to it, should women have to feel afraid of aging? Of looking old? Is there no room for reverence of the wisdom and experience that wrinkles and white hair signify? Cochrane believes that trying to look as young as possible for as long as possible means that as women, "we're bending to a viciously sexist and ageist ideal." "And, let's face it," she writes. "Obedience is never a good look." But what if women were not afraid to grow old? What if women were allowed to age as they wished? What if brands were shilled by Carmen Dell'Orefice, what if wrinkles were something to be proud of, what if a leading, A-list actress had a lined face and gray hair? What would the world be like? How much time and money otherwise spent on creams, potions and unnecessary procedures would be available for other pursuits?

Age Shall Not Wither Them [Guardian]

Well, she asked the plastic surgeon for his opinion, as part of an exposé for Vanity Fair. Since Americans spent $13 billion on 11.7 million cosmetic procedures (both surgical and nonsurgical) in 2007, and it seems that patients getting elective cosmetic surgery are younger and younger. Berliet actually visited three physicians for her article, asking them what she "needed" and, as the piece notes, "The answers were as different as the doctors themselves." Berliet writes:

When I began this project, I was relatively certain that I didn't need plastic surgery. I also suspected that plastic surgeons might tell me otherwise. To test my hypothesis, I went undercover. In the process, I hoped to learn something about what happens inside examination rooms across New York City and, by extension, the United States. Are teenybopper idols and those who emulate them freely choosing plastic surgery? Or is plastic surgery choosing them?

The first surgeon, Dr. Rapaport, wanted to lipo Berliet's "waist wads," even though they were "borderline." (He said: "I've done supermodels with much less than this. To them it was important. To each his own.") He also wanted to suck the fat out of her outer thighs and "banana rolls" — that is, the part of her butt that peeks out of her underwear. ("As a Caucasian woman, you probably…would want this brought down," he explained.) Add a C-cup, some Restylane, and a nose job, and you've got $33,000 worth of procedures. Dr. Rapaport also suggested Berliet do something with her hair.

The next two doctors Berliet visited weren't nearly as aggressive. "Botox? You don't need it. You look good," Dr. Heller insisted. Dr. Racanelli was more even-handed: "The way it works is: you tell me if something specifically bothers you, and I'll tell you if I can address it. But I'm not here to sell you services or goods."

But one has to wonder if the eager Dr. Rapaport is the exception or the rule. Are cosmetic surgeons more salesmen than doctors? Remember the 26 year old who was told she needs Botox? Or what about the doctor who suggested Tracie get lipo on her vagina? And what are the chances that a young woman or teenage girl is going to see a Dr. Racanelli type instead of a Dr. Rapaport type?

Plastic Surgery Confidential [Vanity Fair]
Earlier: New York Doctors Tell 26-Year-Old She Needs Botox
Pimp My Vadge
Paying Someone To Cut You Is Growing In Popularity

We knew the implant industry had taken a hit, but brace yourself: according to the New York Times, Botox, which analysts thought could weather any storm, is down. "The company reported that sales of Botox - both for wrinkle-smoothing and for medical problems like eyelid spasms - fell about 3 percent, to about $329 million in the fourth quarter, compared with the corresponding quarter in 2007." Also hurting: the face-plumping racket (which, in fairness, probably the same industry.)

As such, Allergan, the maker of Botox, is bring forced to lay off five percent of its workforce and use all sorts of incentives to entice people. "These include a $50 coupon on a Botox treatment and a $100 rebate if a customer buys two syringes of Juvéderm, a facial filler. The company has also just introduced Latisse, a $120 eyelash growth drug, which could help drive cosmetic consumers into doctors' offices." And sales are only expected to drop further.

What we'll be curious to see is how the industry rebounds. Sure, any hardcore Botox junkies aren't going to deny themselves, and as the Times points out, the bulk of Allergan's revenue comes from insurance-funded medical procedures. But as we know, cosmetic procedures can be addictive: what will happen to those people who have been forced to abstain from Botox and other such procedures and are forced to deal with their faces in their natural form, perhaps for the first time in years? Will they be appalled by the normal affects of living and time? Or will they, perhaps, come to deal with it - and even like it? We're hoping the latter. The Times calls this drop "Vanity's Downturn," but we're guessing the Seven Deadlies don't go that easy. More realistically, we're anticipating a major upswing in the "surgery-alternative" cream market.

Vanity's Downturn [New York Times]

I site [sic] Roe v. Wade because it serves as a marker of people accepting (maybe not respecting) a woman’s right to choose. Although abortion is still an issue at the forefront, it’s notable the Supreme Court recognized women should be able to do what they feel is right for themselves. Cosmetic procedures should be viewed in the same light.

Not to mention the procedures are in no way effecting [sic] another human being, so the severity of the issue is considerably less.

In my opinion, and very close friends concurred, the wrinkles in my forehead and between my eyebrows were continuing to deepen as the years passed....Friends and family agreed that [Botox] was a luxury, but I should seriously think about it. So I took a good look in the mirror. My face below my eyebrows looked 24 (in my opinion), but my forehead was at least 35.

Friends don’t encourage a 26-year-old woman to get cosmetic surgery. They just don’t. They tell you you’re gorgeous and wonderful, even if you look like a shar pei.

Before the passing of Roe Vs. Wade, women were having back alley abortions—unsanitary, dangerous procedures that could result in severe illness . the ability to conceive again, and even death. The passing of Roe Vs. Wade also was a step in the direction of women attaining control of what the government dictates one can and cannot do with one’s own body—access to birth control and quality sex education, to name just two. Women fought for the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.

Yesterday the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia (CPSA) urged its members not to administer Botox to pregnant women following reports linking a woman's use of the toxin during her pregnancy in 2005 to her child being born deaf and blind. The woman did not use Botox, but a rival botulinum type A toxin called Dysport during her first trimester according to information obtained through Freedom of Information laws. The birth defect was among 46 different adverse reactions to the toxin reported to Australian authorities since 1994. The CPSA said that though "botulinum toxin has a long history of efficacy and a robust safety profile," it should not be administered during pregnancy and breastfeeding, or when the patient has glaucoma or neuromuscular disease. [The Sydney Morning Herald]

• An anti-Scientology protester smeared Vaseline all over his body, covered himself in pubic hair, and video-taped the whole thing. Whatever happened to sit ins? • Deirdre Dare, senior lawyer and author of erotic fiction novel Magic circle, has been forbidden by her firm from publishing any new erotica on her personal website. • Click Here for a video of a Canadian sketch comedy group mocking our beloved, much coveted Snuggie. • A quick-thinking woman from Iowa managed to take several pictures of the man who flashed her while he was still unzipped. • A diamond ring is up for auction that could potentially prove the existence of Charles Dickens' secret love child. • American Apparel has come under criticism from a Canadian mother, who found a copy of their magazine "BUTT" tucked into a display. • Florida police say an elderly woman was arrested after she fled the scene of a car accident to make it to a hair appointment. • Eagles in Homer, Alaska are in trouble after their long-time feeder, Jean Keene, died at 85. • A new survey indicates that baby boomer men are pleased with the way their wives are aging, while the wives are not so happy about their husbands' looks. • Ozrah Jafari has become Afghanistan's first female mayor. • The Mauckingbird Theater Company has produced a lesbian interpretation of Ibsen's classic play Hedda Gabler. • The average Briton swears 14 times a day, according to a recent survey. Bloody hell, that's a lot of cussing! •  Research shows that simply talking to other mothers may lessen the risk of developing postpartum depression. • A female gorilla at the Budapest Zoo has recently undergone a rare (for gorillas) gynecological operation. Doctors expect a full recovery. • Botox is becoming increasingly popular among men, who apparently have not yet learned that pain is the price of "beauty:" doctors report that men are more likely to complain about the procedure than women. • A Middlesex County prosecutor has been disbarred after lying on stand about her own domestic abuse. • Two abortion rights groups are suing the U.S. government over the Bush administration's rule that protects worker's "right to conscience." •

Though the number of men getting Botox injections has increased, it still only amounts to 300,000 men, or 7% of the total Botoxed population. But, as with the terms "manorexia" and "manscaping," now that the media has noticed that practices once exclusively thought of as female actually aren't, a new term has been created for guys. According to a Time article on the trend, though both sexes use the injections to smooth out wrinkles in the forehead, men use Botox differently than women because they want to get rid of vertical lines between their eyebrows, but don't worry about crow's feet. Also, according to anecdotal evidence, "boytoxers" are different from "girltoxers" because, "They get so jacked up worrying that it will hurt," says nine-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz, spokesman for Allergan, a company that produces Botox. "Maybe that's why women have babies and we don't." [Time]

• Two year old Nigel Mutemagau is currently being held in a maximum security prison in Zimbabwe. He was abducted with his parents, and is now reportedly in solitary confinement. • Chico, a love-sick parrot, has been put on Prozac to combat her possessive obsession with her owner. • According to government health officials, STD rates are on the rise for the first time in years, with reported cases of chlamydia at an all time high. • In attempts to widen its audience beyond the bride-to-be demographic and capture the elusive currently-breastfeeding-women group, The Knot Inc. has purchased Breastfeeding.com. • A Chicago salon formerly named "Ossama's" has just changed its name to "Obama's." Click through for a pointless slide show featuring pictures of Osama bin Laden and the back of Obama's head. • New research has found that oestrogen hormone therapy, a treatment for symptoms of menopause, causes the female brain to shrink. • Companies in Britain are now offering their employees "Botox leave." Seriously? • In an incredibly tasteless move, an Austrian theater company has announced that they plan to stage a satiric soap opera about Joseph Fritzl, titled "Fritzl's Bed and Breakfast." • An anti-litter campaign is asking McDonald's to help deliver the anti-litter message at the point of sale. • Is chocolate keeping you up at night? Maybe, says the National Sleep Foundation. • In other candy news, the famous Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bar will now feature the warning "CONTAINS: MILK" on its label for those customers confused by the misleading name. • One in four women report having unprotected sex after running out of the Pill. • Lucy Newmann, 22, was out with her friends at a bar in Scotland when she was punched in the face in an alleged anti-England attack. • The wife of Richard Batista, the man who sued for the return of his kidney, has spoken out against Batista, calling him "hyper-suspicious" and insanely jealous. • In a depressingly ironic twist of fate, Alec Ahsoak, a 53-year-old sex offender, recently won $350,000 in a lottery sponsored by an advocacy group for sex abuse victims. •

• Does Daniel Craig have a tattoo on his magic stick? He told Jay Leno: "I have a couple of tattoos where you’d see them. There’s another where you wouldn’t. It’s hidden away."

Jay said, "Is it one of those where it says OK and then it says Oklahoma?" And Craig answered, "Yeah, it says 'Welcome to Oklahoma.'" [The Sun]

• Speaking of tattoos, Amy Winehouse wants to get Blake's name removed from her chest. Love is a losing game. [Mirror]
• Holy crap, what will happen if Peaches Geldof checks into the same hotel in St. Lucia where Amy Winehouse is vacationing? [The Sun]
• Boo, Amy's "friend" is leaving the Caribbean. Amy's dad will fly to St. Lucia to comfort her. Oh! Amy allegedly told one paper: "When I’m with Josh I don’t need drugs to feel good because he makes me feel so amazing. I’ve finally escaped from hell. I’m in love again. Look at me, I’m glowing! We just had sex... can’t you tell?" [The Sun, News Of The World]
• Is Blake Fielder-Civil filing for divorce? [Daily Mail]
• Was Angelina Jolie's face pumped full of Botox at the Golden Globes last night? [Gatecrasher]
• Heath Ledger's father says the whole family is thrilled that the late actor won a Golden Globe: "We are overjoyed for him. It's wonderful." [People]
• Sean Penn refused to attend the Golden Globes because Milk was snubbed. [Fox 411]
• Hmm, Angelina and Brad were supposed to open the show and somehow Jennifer Lopez was their replacement? [MSNBC Scoop]
• Uh-oh: The male nanny who was caring for Jett Travolta is a Scientologist photographer with no known childcare qualifications. [The Sun]
• This video supposedly shows a man falling off of a balcony and Pete Doherty fleeing the scene. [Daily Express]
• Prince Harry has apologized for the racist remarks he made on video 3 years ago; in the picture accompanying this story he certainly looks contrite. [USA Today]
• A Muslim leader calls Prince Harry's slur "sickening." [Daily Express]
• Lindsay Lohan says the tabloids and paparazzi create false information about her becuase they're into head games. "Head Games" happens to be a song by Foreigner, and Sam Ronson's dad Mick Jones founded that band. Get it? [People]
• Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are "worming" their way into an inauguration event in DC, even though they didn't support or endorse the Obama campaign. [Page Six]
• Obama on 30 Rock?!?! [Extra]
• Madonna was spotted out with friend and photographer Steven Klein, yawn. [The Sun]
• Madonna hasn't been paying any attention to her special "friend," Alex Rodriguez, which is maybe why he took Kate Hudson out to dinner. [TMZ]
• David Beckham has started his stint playing for AC Milan: He was in the game for 89 minutes on Sunday. The AS Roma crowd booed him. [AP]
• Charlie O'Connell has flashed a picture of his new nieces, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip, on his iPhone. Click and see! (They look like babies.) [E!]
• Lily Allen, 23, was hanging out with art dealer Jay Jopling, 45, but has split up with him because of his age. By the by, Jopling is worth £100 million. [The Sun]
• Wow: Faye Dunaway is guest-starring on Grey's Anatomy! [EW]
• Glenn Close, who has never committed to a TV series before, has signed on for 6 seasons of Damages: "Keep thinking of Angela Lansbury," she says. "I'll be doing my version of Murder, She Wrote." [CBS News]
• Blind items! #1: "Which pop star/reality-TV hostess and her husband tried to lure a hottie publicist into their Atlantic City hotel suite for a threesome? When the singer suddenly stripped naked and got into bed, the terrified flack made her excuses and fled." #2: "Which petite screen actress isn't as intelligent as her college degree would imply? She refuses to read the scripts her agents send her and then throws a fit when plum roles go to her harder-working peers." [Page Six]
• Blind item! #3: "Which TV and big-screen funnyman has a little too much porn on his phone? He’s reluctant to let his cell out of sight for fear someone will discover his cache of naked women." [Gatecrasher]
• The author of this piece about Cate Blanchett writes: "Cate is curious-looking, like an incredibly beautiful sea anemone, sloe-eyed, with straight, chic teeth. If I were going to be terribly picky, they’re a bit bloodless, perhaps." WTF. [Times of London]
• Roman Polanski has lost his bid to have his unlawful sex case dismissed in L.A. [Reuters]
• Michael Phelps is back in China, making commercials for Mazda. They're paying him more than $1 million to endorse the brand in China, which is the single largest sponsorship deal for a foreign celebrity in the country. [AP]
• Sheree Whitfield, one of the Real Housewives Of Atlanta, is showing at Fashion Week. No, really. [Page Six]
• High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens scooped up "overflowing" bags of freebies in the Golden Globes swag suites while talking about the "huge house" she just bought. Tacky! [Gatecrasher]
• Has Sienna Miller been dropped from Ridley Scott's Robin Hood flick for her "partying lifestyle"? Her rep says she dropped out. Her love interest in the film would have been Russell Crowe, do with that what you will. [Telegraph, Mirror]
• Keeping Up With The Kardashians returns in March, and inquiring minds want to know if Reggie Bush will propose to Kim Kardashian on the show. Plus: Will Khloe's NBA boyfriend Rashad McCants appear on screen this season? [E!, UPI]
• Cutiepie Amanda Seyfriend is dating her hunky Mamma Mia costar Dominic Cooper! Lay all your love on me, for real. [Perez]
• Gossip about Jennifer Love Hewitt's "neediness" and "coming on too strong" sounds fishy. [Sun Times]
• Fantasia: Not homeless. [Perez]
• Kylie Minogue and her "Spanish hunk" are still going strong. Who cares if he's the "spitting image" of Olivier Martinez? [Mirror]
• Congrats to singer Jill Scott, who is pregnant for the first time. She spent her first trimester shooting HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana. "That was one of the biggest challenges of my life," she claims. "First trimester! You're sick every morning. It was seven hours time difference, the heat, the bugs, the 14-hour days." Scott is engaged to a drummer named Lil' John Roberts. [UPI]
• None of his costars seem to know what will become of Balthazar Getty on Brothers & Sisters. [E!]
• Dustin Hoffman steals from hotels, tsk tsk. [The Sun]
• Jamie Oliver wants to save your bacon. He thinks that people are "ignorant" about the ways that pigs are raised: "How many people outside of the industry know the difference between outdoor-bred and outdoor-reared, for example? Not many." [Guardian]
• Absolutely Fabulous' Joanna Lumley is also concerned about the piggies. [UPI]
• Sadie Frost is too busy to date, unless you are a handsome Russian billionaire. [Mirror]
• Uber-bronzed George Hamilton loves talking about himself. "It’s my favorite subject." [NY Times]
• Boy George let a DJ named Fat Tony stay at his house while Fat Tony was awaiting trial for raping a 12-year-old boy in a public restroom. Bad idea? [The Sun]
• Singer Charlotte Church gave birth to her second child yesterday, a boy. [The Sun]
• A Tito Jackson paternity suit? And the offspring in question is 25 years old? Wanna be startin' something. [UPI]
• Have you seen Lil' Kim's uh, corny new hairdo? [The Life Files]
• "It is difficult to live up to the level of expectation that directors or other actors or the public and most of all the people you work with have. It is frightening." — Catherine Deneuve. [Mirror]
• "Those were blissful days, I must say. We couldn't even imagine a life in Hollywood back then. Hollywood was as distant and impossible as El Dorado. It was all about fun. Watching Emma was like watching the sun or wind or some other elemental force. Her talent even then was inescapable." — Hugh Laurie, who dated Emma Thompson back in the day. [Page Six]
• "I'm driving down the road, I'm having a drink. It's 4 o'clock; I'm supposed to have a drink. But one day I went, 'I don't see anybody else in their car with a plastic takeout container filled with ice and wine.'" — Alec Baldwin on his alcohol abuse epiphany. [UPI]
• "There are lots of nice things about British men. For instance, they can be very funny and very self-deprecating. In Britain, you very rarely get the sort of macho self-confidence of the Latin man who is soooo out there and sort of 'Yes! Of course! I'm lovely!' I like that about them. But, on the other hand, when it comes to emotions, they can also be... Well, let's face it, they can be just fantastically retarded, can't they? Almost to the point of lower case autism, really." —Emma Thompson. [Daily Mail]

Sadly, this makes for a rather mundane story. Where are the histrionic broken love affairs and the drug addiction? Pfft, come on Cate, you've got to give us something!. The Annie Leibovitz photos that accompany the feature sure are pretty though!


Here are some excerpts from the interview, including a screenshot of a paragraph that was obviously mangled by Vanity Fair's tech staff, because initially Cate appears to be talking about running the Sydney Theatre Company with her husband, and then the next second she's discussing boob jobs and injectibles without a segue. Anyway. Onward!

Cate on her dislike of the Hollywood lifestyle:

I don’t exist in that world…I observe it, but there’s so much else to be thinking about. Maybe it’s because I’m with someone who’s not with me because of that; I’m not a trophy. He likes the vessel, but he also wants to make sure the vessel is full. The world of film can be so noisy, but the other aspects of my life are actually the noisiest parts of my life. My best friends are a social worker and a visual artist.

Cate on her father dying when she was a teen:

The night of the day he died, I thought, Wow—I’m up so late, and I haven’t eaten all day. It’s hard to compute something so massive. I just sort of rolled with it. You sort of see it from other people’s perspective. I could see that my sister was so young, and I felt it was tragic that she might not remember him. I could see how it affected my brother, who was 11 or 12. I saw what a struggle it was for my mother. I think about my father and how sad it was that he never had grandchildren.

Cate on meeting her husband, Australian playwright, screenwriter, and director Andrew Upton:

It was kind of animosity at first. It was a bit like Beatrice and Benedict.

Cate on being a private person:

We’re very private people, but we’ve entered into running a large state theater company. It’s a public position, so when there are certain cultural debates, one can’t just hold a personal position; you’re expected to participate in that debate. It’s quite exposing. I get sick of the sound of my own voice, to tell you the truth. I don’t want to ram my opinion down other people’s throats. I think I was a bit of a loudmouth in my time at university; I was that cliché, opinionated but not very interesting, ultimately.

Vanity Fair's Web Snafu:

A Hollywood Elusive [Vanity Fair]
Reigning Cate [Vanity Fair]

"For someone like you, who at your young age is already developing those lines, I think Botox would be reasonable," said Dr. Heidi Waldorf, director of laser and cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai, referring to the area between my brows. "Clearly you are a squinter or a squisher."

See, ladies? These days, we're washed up old hags before we hit 30! But that's nothing compared to the poor teens who are obsessed with getting labiaplasties because they think their junk is weird or inadequate. Time reports that, on the sex ed website Scarleteen, teens are "commiserating" about their labia, writing things like "i REALLY h8 mine! They hang really REALLY low and r SO long!" According to Time, the women of the New View Campaign, who protested Monday in New York outside the New York City's Manhattan Center for Vaginal Surgery, want those teens to know that genitals are like snowflakes: each one is different and beautiful! They're protesting labiaplasties and other vaginal cosmetic surgeries by wearing giant cloth vulva costumes because as NYU sexologist and New View leader Leonore Tiefer says, "Promoting a very narrow definition of what women's genitals ought to look like — even for those women who don't want surgery, it harms them."

Botox - At Age 26? New York Doctors Weigh In [NYDN]
Plastic Surgery Below the Belt [Time]