1. Jennifer Aniston/2. Brad Pitt, Y2K: When this picture was taken in February of 2000, Pitt and Aniston had been dating for roughly two years. Just a few months later, the two were married, a union that lasted until 2005, when the couple split and Pitt moved on to Angelina Jolie. The story was a tabloid dream come true, with lurid tales of Pitt, Jolie, and Aniston creating a soap opera storyline that's still being played out, nearly 5 years later: just this week, Star Magazine ran a cover declaring that Jennifer Aniston was finally ready for baby..."with Brad's help!"


3. Angelina Jolie, Y2K: But the Brangelina storm hadn't swept through Jolie's life in 2000; at that point, she was married to Billy Bob Thornton, and delighting/horrifying the press with tales of their torrid love affair. Jolie claimed that she wore a vial of Thornton's blood around her neck, and the two weren't shy about discussing their sex life on the red carpet. By 2002, Jolie had adopted her first child, Maddox, and by 2003, Thornton and Jolie had divorced.


Jennifer Aniston, 2009: Aniston has spent the better part of the decade living in the tabloids; after Friends went off the air in 2004, she segued into a movie career, though the public seemed more interested in the scandal surrounding her divorce from Pitt. She has been painted as "lonely" and "desperate" by many a tabloid magazine, even though she's dated several famous men, including John Mayer and Vince Vaughn. Though the Brangelaniston blitz shows no signs of slowing, Aniston continues to make films and most likely hopes that the world moves past her 5-year-old divorce as we enter a new decade.


Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, 2009: Jolie and Pitt, arguably the world's most famous couple, have gone on to have three biological children together; Pitt has also adopted Jolie's adopted children, and all of their children share the surname "Jolie-Pitt." The couple have devoted much of their energy to charity work through their Jolie/Pitt Foundation. and, like Aniston, I assume, to trying to break out of the Brangelina media blitz. Jolie, who 10 years ago spent time discussing the vials of blood around her neck, has since become a UN Goodwill Ambassador and is well-known for her humanitarian efforts.


4. Britney Spears, Y2K: Britney was on top of the world in 2000, riding the success of her second album, Oops...I Did It Again. In 2001, she performed her now-infamous "I'm A Slave 4U" dance at the MTV Video Music Awards, snake, see-thru bodysuit, and all, but things started to come off the rails in 2002, when her relationship with Justin Timberlake came to an end. Timberlake's solo career skyrocketed with songs about how Britney did him wrong, and Spears' career, and carefully marketed sexy virgin image, began to crumble.


In 2004, Spears married Kevin Federline (it was technically her first marriage, after an ill-advised 24 hour marriage to a childhood friend in Vegas). The marriage would produce two sons for Spears, Sean Preston and Jayden James, but it would also produce a number of disturbing problems.


By 2008, Spears and Federline had divorced, and Spears' erratic behavior had cost her custody of her two children. She spent most of her time in court or driving around Los Angeles, wearing wigs and stopping at gas stations and Starbucks shops. Spears' behavior become increasingly bizarre, with the pop star shaving her head on camera and giving a disastrous performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. After she was hospitalized twice for psychiatric reasons, her father, Jamie Spears, won the right to a conservatorship over his daughter. Spears' career and personal life were then intensely monitored and controlled by her father.


Britney Spears, 2009: By 2009, Spears' personal life and career appear to be back on track; she embarked on a world tour behind her successful record, Circus, has extended visitation rights with her children, and her conservatorship may end soon, leaving her in control of her own destiny for the first time in years. Hopefully, the next decade will be a little easier for Britney than the last one was.


5. Beyonce Knowles, Y2K: Beyonce, circa Y2K, was still with her group, Destiny's Child, figure skating across America, recording hits like "Independent Woman, Part 1" for the Charlie's Angels soundtrack. After several successful Destiny's Child singles like "Bootylicious," (which she co-wrote) Beyonce decided that we were, in fact, ready for this jelly, and decided to strike out on her own with her 2003 album, "Dangerously In Love." Destiny's Child split in 2005, and Knowles' solo career has been going strong ever since.


Beyonce Knowles, 2009: By 2009, Knowles had established a wildly successful solo career, introduced the world to her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce, married long-time boyfriend Jay-Z in a private ceremony, and branched out into acting with roles in Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records. Her video for "Single Ladies" is perhaps one of the most memorable videos of 2009, if not the entire decade.


6. Tom Cruise & 7. Nicole Kidman, Y2K:Though it seems a bit hard to picture at this point, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman started the decade as a married couple; in 2001, they'd split after 11 years of marriage.


Nicole Kidman, 2009: Kidman's career skyrocketed after her divorce from Cruise; in 2003, she received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Kidman went on to marry country music star Keith Urban in 2006, and in 2008 the couple had a daughter together named Sunday Rose.


Tom Cruise, 2009: Tom Cruise's career hasn't fared as well as his ex-wife's this decade. His career tanked following an incredibly weird series of television appearance, such as a Today show appearance wherein he called Matt Lauer "glib" and accused him of not understanding the history of psychiatry like Cruise did, as well a now-infamous appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show during which Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch to declare his love for actress Katie Holmes, whom he married in 2006. The couple's marriage that year, as well as the birth of their daughter, Suri, has made them a tabloid favorite ever since, with Tom's association with Scientology often overshadowing both of their acting careers.


8. Whitney Houston, Y2K: Whitney started the decade with a Grammy Award for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance, but her career faltered as the decade went on. Accusations of drug use ("crack is wack") swirled around her marriage, which was documented for a depressing reality show called Being Bobby Brown, which showed a side of Houston the public had never seen before (and gave The Soup one of its favorite catchphrases). Houston divorced Brown in 2006, went to rehab for what she now admits was drug addiction, and began to get her career together.


Whitney Houston, 2009: In 2009, Houston returned with her album, I Look To You, discussed the difficulties of the past decade in a tell-all interview with Oprah and received a standing ovation at the American Music Awards following a performance of "I Didn't Know My Own Strength."


9. Lindsay Lohan, Y2K:, Lohan, shown here in 2001, began the decade under the Disney umbrella, starring in films like Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Her breakthrough came with 2004's Mean Girls and the release of her first album, Speak, though troubles in her personal life soon seemed to follow, with the actress being accused of having everything from an eating disorder to self-harming issues to drug addiction.


Lindsay Lohan, 2009: It has not been a great second half of the decade for Lohan; her last few years in the press have been dominated family troubles, her on again-off again relationship with Samantha Ronson, rumors of violent and erratic behavior, and film duds like I Know Who Killed Me and the straight-to-television Labor Pains. Yet Hollywood loves a comeback story, so we'll have to see what the next decade has in store for Lilo.


10. Joaquin Phoenix, Y2K: Phoenix started the decade by scoring an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Gladiator; a second nomination would come in 2005 for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk The Line. In 2008, he shifted gears and began focusing on his rap career, which confused pretty much everyone.


Joaquin Phoenix, 2009: By 2009, Phoenix claimed he was retiring from acting to work on his rap career full-time. He discussed his plans during a now-infamous appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, appearing completely out-of-it and nearly unrecognizable behind shades and a grizzled beard. Phoenix claims his rap career is "not a joke," and his transformation from actor to rapper is being filmed for an upcoming documentary by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck. Whether or not Phoenix's career change will be successful (or if it's all an elaborate hoax) is yet to be seen, but I suppose all will be revealed at some point during the next decade. After all, you never know what can happen in just 10 years.

• Actress Farrah Fawcett, 62, has been hospitalized since last Thursday in what People magazine is calling "her latest setback with cancer." Fawcett was first treated for cancer in 2006; the cancer reappeared in 2007. [People]

• Lindsay Lohan was reportedly refused entrance to a Charlotte Ronson fashion show where her girlfriend, Samantha Ronson was deejaying. Bodyguards at the door were allegedly told "not to let her in under any circumstances." [E!]
• Paris Hilton is totally in love with her boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt: "We're best friends. It's not like we just met. We've known each other over the past year. I was in a relationship before and we reconnected. I'm really in love and really happy. He's going to be my husband." [E!]
• Heidi Montag doesn't sound like she'll shed too many tears over Lauren Conrad leaving The Hills: ""We don't need her," Montag says, "We'll miss her. I just don't know if we need her." [USWeekly]
• Is Jessica Simpson going to be on Dancing With The Stars: "Jessica's fame skyrocketed when she was on Newlyweds, and no other project has been the same runaway hit," says a source, "She wants to be involved with something she's really good at, and people love Jess when she's just being herself. She never would have considered Dancing With The Stars before, but she's not ruling it out now. When she saw Jewel was going to do it, it made her look at the show in a different light."[ShowbizSpy]
• Here's a sneak peek of Gwen Stefani's Elle photo shoot. [JustJared]
• Angelina Jolie has reportedly been treated for the ol' exhaustion on her latest movie set: ""It all got too much for Angelina. She collapsed between takes, complaining of shortness of breath and dizzy spells. "To be fair, it was after she'd filmed a strenuous scene in which she ran around the set, but it was still shocking to see her crumble," says a source, "There was something very wrong with her fitness levels if she couldn't handle a couple of action scenes. She never eats properly when she's upset. Food is the last thing on her mind. She'll ignore breakfast, pick at lunch and skip dinner. Once in a while she'll grab a snack, but nothing substantial." [ShowbizSpy]
• Is Bill Hader the next big comedy star? Let's hope so. [Film.com]
• . "I would like to be like Liz Taylor. Just the way she breathes, everybody wants to give her diamonds because she goes, 'Oh my God. I just love it.' They give her bigger and bigger ones" -Kate Moss{PageSix]
• Is Anne Hathaway going to model for Marc Jacobs? "Marc and Anne have forged a fast but very intense friendship and they're going to start doing public appearances together soon," says a source, "Anne hasn't signed up to do any advertising yet but, by dressing her, Marc can infuse his line with a fresh but famous face and Anne can revamp her image. If it works well, Anne would be happy to model for some of Marc's campaigns." [ShowbizSpy]
• Oh no! Is Viggo Mortensen giving up acting? "No more movies," he says, "I haven't said yes to one in over a year. If it all dries up now, I've had a good run." [PageSix]
• Meanwhile, Lily Allen says she might quit making music: "After this album and tour I have a brand new business I am setting up, but I can't say what it is yet. I am definitely considering quitting music." [ShowbizSpy]
• Scientists are shooting down Gwyneth Paltrow's claims that everyday household items, such as shampoo, might be responsible for rising rates of autism, asthma, and cancer. [TheSun]
• "Sure, he's great. He's very musical obviously. He knows what he's doing. I'm not following his rap career but I'm sure his album, whenever it hits the stores, whenever it 'drops', I'm going to go pick it up." -Reese Witherspoon on Joaquin Phoenix's rap career. [TheSun]

• Gwyneth Paltrow has advice for Joaquin Phoenix, who's embarking on a new hip-hop career. She says, "Hmm ... maybe to go live in the projects for a few years to get some authenticity." [People]

• Britney Spears will perform a duet with Madonna for the Circus tour on Monday in New York. Brit's stylist says, "It will be ‘Get Together' and ‘Trouble.' So, together the song is called ‘Lose Control.'" [Just Jared]
• Celebrity bikini waxer Janea Padilha, who has tended to the nether regions of Gwyneth Paltrow, Lindsay Lohan, and Cameron Diaz, has sold a lifestyle book "on love, life, and being sexy." [The New York Observer]
• The warrant issued for Lindsay Lohan's arrest was recalled today after her lawyer met briefly with a judge. Apparently Linds was skipping out on her alcohol education program because of "personality conflicts," and has enrolled in a new class. [TMZ]
• Michael Lohan told a Canadian radio station that he was so concerned to hear his daughter Lindsay Lohan had another fight with girlfriend Samantha Ronson he "laid in bed all night reading his Bible." He also said that Lindsay showed up on Jack Nicholson's doorstep in the middle of the night this weekend because Jack was trying to help her. [Perez Hilton]
• As you probably don't recall, Paris Hilton's cell phone was stolen in 2005. It finally turned up on Craigslist. Hotel manager Marc Marrouche was arrested on March 5 after offering to sell an undercover cop the phone for $5,000. [Perez Hilton]
• A source says Rihanna is eager to move on with her life. "She's out and about now. She's not hiding at this point. She's trying to get her life back in order." The source adds, "She's trying to figure it all out. It's going to be hard." [People]
• Anna Nicole Smith's psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, one of the three people accused of conspiring to give Smith illegal drugs, was put in jail today. Her bail is set at $20,000. [TMZ]
• Kanye West says that his girlfriend Amber Rose used to be a stripper but he saved her. [Perez Hitlon]
• Jessica Simpson forgot the words to two songs at a concert on Saturday. [Perez Hilton]
• In this video, Pete Wentz drinks his own urine. We don't want to know why. [Perez Hilton]
• Producers of the next James Bond movie say they're considering Jennifer Aniston for a role, after she announced she wants to be a Bond girl. A source at the production company says: "We're always looking for the next Bond girl. She has to be beautiful but she also needs to have brains. It helps if she's athletic and able to keep up with the intense stunt work a Bond movie demands. Jennifer has all these qualities." [Mirror]
• Sacha Baron Cohen showed an audience 20 minutes of his upcoming movie Bruno. Here's a description of the scenes, including Bruno telling an African-American audience that the black child he adopts with his same-sex partner "has a traditional African name: O.J." [The Wrap]
• In this video Jackie Mason says he's not a racist for calling Barack Obama a "schwartza" which means "black" in Yiddish but may or may not be an ethnic slur. He adds, "white people have no freedom of speech." [TMZ]
• The 2009 MTV Movie Awards will be hosted by Andy Samberg. The show airs on May 31. [Entertainment Tonight]
• The midwife who delivered J.K. Rowling's two youngest children is being tried for misconduct after a baby died while under her care. [The Telegraph]
• Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, is planning to sue a production company over the rights to a proposed film about her son's life. [NY Times]
• Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips are engaged. [People]
• Mena Suvari is having her wedding gown customized to hide her tattoos to please the family of her fiance, Simone Sestito. "I think it would be considerate to [Sestito's] family to have my tattoos covered, since there are two nuns on his mother's side of the family." [The Daily Express]
• Rumors that Mariska Hargitay isn't returning to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit because of her collapsed lung aren't true. SVU boss Neal Baer says, "That [report] is so bizarre! Her publicist was saying that this is going around, but the answer is absolutely not true! She will be back shortly. I talk to her all the time. She's doing great, so you can be the first to announce that there is no truth to this. She is slated to come back, she's feeling really well and she will definitely be back. And she'll be back for the last four episodes." [E!]
• Aspiring America's Next Top Model contestant Jessica Paravati says the stampede at the audition this weekend broke out when she saw smoke at the back of the line and she heard people started screaming "bomb" and "guns." She adds, "As the stampede started girls were screaming for their life and people started crying as they were falling all over the ground and running on top of each other trying to jump over the barricades. I was screaming too. I was so scared. I've never seen anything like it. We were trapped." [People]
• Salma Hayek is on the cover of InStyle's April "color issue." She says of here daughter Valentina Paloma, "She's a little dictator! She is unique, magical–definitely the most colorful person I've ever met. I feel so connected to her, but at the same time, we are completely different. I discover something new about her every day." [Just Jared]
• Taylor Swift doesn't want to talk about sex. "It's fine to talk about love publicly," says Swift, "but I think when you talk about virginity and sex publicly, people just automatically picture you naked. And as much as I can prevent people picturing me naked, I'm going to." [People]
• Matt Damon says that he thinks the Oscars get it wrong more often than they get it right. "I think that the best way to judge movies is, like, 10 years after they're released," he says. "I think they should actually do the awards that way. I think they should have done the Academy Awards this year for movies from 1998." [The L.A. Times]
• George Harrison's 30-year-old son Dhani is now in a band, but he went to Brown University for design, not music, because he wanted to forge his own path. He says "I watched what happened to a lot of the other kids. Zak [Starkey, Ringo Starr's son], Sean [Lenno]), Stella [McCartney] have succeeded, but it's Stella who's the one who's not being compared to her father, because her father's not a fashion designer. Whereas Zak will always be compared to Ringo because he's a drummer. And Sean will be compared to John because he's a singer/songwriter. But my dad was never a designer." [The Daily Express]
• Kanye West has finally revealed THE SECRET METHOD TO HIS BLOGGING. He says: "I have two people that I hired and I tell them exactly what I want - it's just like how a designer would work. I tell them, you know, Surface magazine, Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Hypebeast, Bossip - go to these different blogs and keep on pulling information. And then they send it to me, and I get like 80 e-mails, and I have to check and go through them. And sometimes I'll have my own stuff where I'll just be in a cool place, like if I had my camera right now, I'd like photograph this stuff and go home and be really excited to blog it. You know, cause I'm in cool places all the time. So it's a great outlet, and I'm glad so many people are reacting to it. And it's another opportunity to present design and my opinion of the world and what I think is cool." [NY Mag]

• Total chaos broke out during a New York casting call for the next cycle of America's Next Top Model, with wannabe models fighting and causing a stampede that sent two people to the hospital. [E!]

• The insanity began with a fight between two contestants, and was made worse by the arrival of a broken-down BMW that began spewing smoke into the air, causing bomb rumors to sweep through the crowd, sending people into a panic. "The girls were running like it was 9/11 part two," said Jennifer Brown, "I feared for my life." [E!]
• Kate Bosworth may have broken up with her model boyfriend. [DailyMail]
• Lindsay Lohan's lawyer claims that the warrant for her arrest is based on a misunderstanding: "Since her case was resolved, Ms. Lohan has been in compliance with all the terms and conditions of her probation and all orders of the court," says Shawn Chapman Holley, "The warrant issued on Friday was, in our view, born out of a misunderstanding which I am confident I can clear up next week." [People]
• Meanwhile, Lindsay's dad, Michael, can't resist any opportunity to make sure everyone in the world knows that he doesn't like Lindsay's girlfriend, Samantha Ronson: "I'm always worried about Lindsay as long as she's involved in relationships that are harmful to her," Lohan says. [USWeekly]
• Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't quite buy Joaquin Phoenix's transition into a rap star: "I'm not a hundred percent sure that that's really going to be the case," Paltrow says, "I think that there might be some other explanation or something going on. I'm not quite sure what, but I can't believe that he's really going to quit forever to become a rapper. It seems odd." [DailyExpress]
• Gold medal winning gymnast Dominique Moceanu and her husband, Mike Canales, just had their second child together. [People]
• ""Some people are just born stars. You either have it or you haven't, and I was definitely born one.
  Even as a kid I always had eyes on me, like bees on honey. I was always outrageous and I was always very smart."-Lady GaGa [ShowbizSpy]
• Michael Jackson's comeback is starting strong: all 50 of Jackson's upcoming London concerts sold out within a matter of hours. [People]
• "I don't spend a lot of time thinking about what to change. There are things we all have that we would like to work on, and I have a list of things that I could do better in my life. But as for the physical attributes, or lack of, I think a lot about how to be a better person instead. Better wife, better mother, better friend. Those I work on."-Sarah Jessica Parker [DailyMail]
• When asked how she felt about sharing the SNL stage with Sarah Palin last October, Adele responded: "I think she's a fucking nutter, but she comes tottering over at the end, with her secret service people and she's like, 'Me and my daughters love you!' Of course she wasn't talking to me about abortion ..."[Guardian]
• "I went through a phase where I thought it was really funny to make pratfalls in very crowded places, and I jumped out of a moving car once for a laugh. That was a mistake."- Paul Rudd [NYTimes]
• Justin Long and Drew Barrymore are reportedly back together. "They sat at the sushi bar and ordered Sake and dinner. They were both in a great mood. They were smiling ear to ear the whole time, and laughing and looking they were so happy they were going to burst," says a source, "They looked in love. They finished their dinner with him springing for the tab, and walked out arm in arm."[JustJared]
• Kristen Stewart can't wait to play Joan Jett in the upcoming Runaways biopic:"Joan is such a remarkable role model for any young girl. She was the first female to start a record label, and so young, in her early 20s. She was an activist and feminist." [LATimes]
• Nadya Suleman allegedly spent over $1000 during a recent trip to a MAC cosmetics counter. [TMZ]
• Matt Damon is gearing up for the fourth installment of the Bourne series: "We're working on it," Damon says, "This time it would be from an original script rather than a book by Robert Ludlum, but the director Paul Greengrass is busy and I am too, so we'll see what happens." [IMDB]
• Prince Harry was photographed making a royal getaway...with pink fingernails. [DListed]
• "In high school, my husband and his friends used to say nerds instead of shit. Like, Ah, nerds, I forgot the keys."- Amy Poehler. Ah, nerds, Amy. We love you. [ONTD]

• Brad Pitt's mom was supposed to move into the Long Island estate where the posse is staying while Angelina Jolie films Salt, but Angelina has reportedly nixed the idea.

She thinks Brad should be able to handle the kids on his own, like she did when he was filming in Germany, according to a source. No word on what is up with the nanny, but that was a Star story and this is from a different source. [National Enquirer]

• Jen Aniston and John Mayer have indeed broken up. [Gatecrasher]
• It's official: Dancing With The Stars is a goddamn health hazard. Now Steve-O has pinched nerves. [ET]
• Injured Jewel will sing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on DWTS on Tuesday. [UPI]
• Bong boy Michael Phelps's interview with Matt Lauer will air on the Today show this morning and again Sunday on Dateline. [ET]
• Here's what you're gonna hear Michael Phelps say during the interview: "mistake," "bad judgment," "stupid mistake." Wait, do you regret it? [People]
• Last week, four of the celeb weeklies put Rihanna on the cover, and none of them saw an increase in sales. Life & Style had a picture of Jennifer Aniston on the cover, and sold more than sister mag In Touch. [NY Post]
• Chris Brown's image still appears on Sony Music's website. [NY Daily News]
• Details on Mandy Moore's wedding to Ryan Adams: The bride wore a "cream-colored, lacy tea-length dress and flat sandals" and the groom wore "tight skinny jeans, a T-shirt with sport coat and sneakers." The pastor "didn't know who they were." The ceremony took eight minutes. [People]
• The woman is dead but Anna Nicole Smith's legal issues live on: Now Howard K. Stern has turned himself in for providing ANS with prescription drugs. He was arrested and booked yesterday and the charge is a felony. [TMZ, People, Fox 411]
• This report begins, "Let's stop encouraging Joaquin Phoenix's miscreant behavior - the only thing real about this rap act is the beard." [MSNBC Scoop]
• Joaquin's "brawl": "It was a fake fight," says a witness. "Nobody threw a punch. They were just holding onto each other." [Page Six]
• Here's what Hayden Panettiere has to say about that "outburst" she had on the red carpet: "I have tremendous respect for the media and reporters – particularly the press who treat the people they are interviewing with dignity. While in Hawaii, one reporter grabbed me suddenly from behind and frightened me. It happens. Typically, the press has treated me with great respect." [Ok!]
  
• Will Slumdog's Freida Pinto be the new Bond girl? Signs point to yes. [The Sun]
• Kelly Killoren Bensimon may have "beaten up" her boyfriend to make sure she stays on Real Housewives. People are saying the attack was fake. [Gatecrasher]
• Someone is leaving House. Who, who? Also, Judy Greer is in an episode next week. She says: "[My character] works at a nursing home and there's a cat, and whoever's bed the cat sleeps on dies in the next couple of days. And then one day the cat snuggled up to my character and she totally freaks out and goes to see House..." [E!]
• Miley Cyrus wanted to meet Radiohead after the Grammys. She was told they "don't do that." She says: "I left 'cause I was so upset. I wasn't going to watch them. Stinkin' Radiohead! I'm going to ruin them. I'm going to tell everyone." Radiohead responds: "When Miley grows up, she'll learn not to have such a sense of entitlement." [Mirror]
• Feel like doing a *headdesk*? Peaches Geldof will be in a reality show about her "career" at Nylon magazine. [The Sun]
• No one wants you to forget that auction documents show that Michael Jackson's house was filled with sculptures of boys. [TMZ]
• Mischa Barton has a job! She's been cast in a CW show produced by Ashton Kutcher. "Ashton developed it about his life growing up as a model from Iowa, so it's about the whole fashion world that he was in, and obviously I have a lot of friends in the fashion world, so I'm used to being around a lot of people in that," Barton says. "[I play] a bitchy model-type character, like it's a totally different character for me." [People]
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson did an SNL skit about Hawaii's tourist industry and now the Governor of that state is pissed. [CBS News]
• Congrats to Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, who is now a U.S. citizen. [People]
• Hugh Hefner is selling his house. Not the Playboy Mansion — the one next door, where his wife was living. [WSJ]
• OutKast's André Benjamin says it's tough being a fashion designer because people think "hip-hop stars will just throw their names on anything." And: "I'm not a gay man." [Page Six]
• Set your DVR: Tracy Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is playing Natalee Holloway's mom in a Lifetime movie. [USA Today]
• Nicollette Sheridan could return to Desperate Housewives after she leaves this season. The show's creator says: "I wouldn't be surprised if that's just a nasty rumour and Nicollette has more Desperate Housewives episodes in her future." [Mirror]
• Vin Diesel says his life has changed in "an incredible way" since the birth of his daughter last year. [Mirror]
• Chris Cornell not only has a new Timbaland-produced album coming out, he has a second career as a restauranteur. In Paris. [Guardian]
• A screenwriter is suing the makers of the Jane Fonda/Jennifer Lopez flick Monster-In-Law, accusing them of stealing her plot. Sorta late, no? [E!]
• Researchers with too much time on their hands have "discovered" that if you listen to U2, you're smart, and if you listen to Lil Wayne, you're not. [The Sun]
• Whatever happened to Mary Stuart Masterson? She's in a new indie called The Cake Eaters. [LA Times]
• Least blind blind item ever? "Which rapper threatened a pal after the buddy mistreated his girlfriend? The icon got in his face, then froze him out on the group's private jet." [Gatecrasher]
• "I certainly try my best not to be a terrible interview subject. But I am tortured. If you've been acting all your life, you can just talk about yourself without ever thinking about what's going on inside the head of the person that's interviewing you. But for me it's different, because I'm constantly seeing it from both sides. I don't think there's any connection between my journalism career and my film career." — Greg Kinnear. [Independent]
• "I think that the best way to judge movies is, like, 10 years after they're released. I think they should actually do the awards that way. I think they should have done the Academy Awards this year for movies from 1998. I think it's better to look at a movie and then step back and look at it again. I don't think that the awards necessarily get it right. I think they get it wrong more often than they get it right." — Matt Damon, to Parade. [MSNBC]
• "For me this thing happened so long ago and I just really wish people could move on from it. I don't live in the past. When I read headlines about me saying 'When she was 15 her mother shot her father' it's very sensational for me.It happened 18 years ago. Since then I've had a complete, full life and, my God, if I've been living the past 18 years in the past because of one event that happened in my life someone should put a gun to my head and put me out of my misery because that's a waste of my life. I am 33 and I have had a much bigger life than that one event." — Charlize Theron. [Daily Mail]
• "I'm probably a lot more boring than I used to be and more tired at night. You can't fake it. It's like when it's bedtime, it's bedtime. I go to bed earlier and I get up earlier. I think being a parent changes everything about you in really little ways and in ways that you don't really understand unless you have kids. It's kind of like describing a guitar chord - it's not really a simple thing to do." — Matt Damon, to Parade. [Mirror]
• "Before we were married, my wife and I used to play a game called Let's Go Get Lost. We'd be driving, and she would just tell me to turn. 'Turn here, turn here, turn here.' I'd say, 'Baby, I know this town too well. I can't get lost.' And she'd say, "Turn, turn, turn." Until we were out in Indian country, and they were shooting at us." — Tom Waits. [GQ]
• "I'm kind of frightened of the red carpet. I really am. And, you know, it gets worse. At one time, you could just come down the line, meet the fans, see the film and hopefully a good night is had by all. It's changed. You have people checking out your dress from the minute you step onto the carpet and then, you know, it's a hit or miss. That can be more frightening than the premiere." — Julia Roberts. [CBS News]
• "I'm currently in the writing process. I'm learning how to play music and write song, but they're comedy songs. Because I can't write music or play very well - actually, I have quite a bit of musical aptitude when it comes to the guitar, but I don't know how to write music - I'm collaborating with different artists who are giving me the music while I provide the lyrics. Two of the people I'm collaborating with will be performing with me at SXSW - Patty Griffin and Amanda Palmer [of the Dresden Dolls]. [The songs] are all pretty dirty. The titles are things like, 'I'm In Love With Someone Else So Fuck You' and 'Eat Shit and Die.'" — Margaret Cho, who is performing at SXSW… as a musician. [Time]

• John Mayer did not, repeat did not buy an engagement ring for Jennifer Aniston. [Us Magazine]

• In fact: John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston may have broken up. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Brad Pitt: Considering public office? [Variety]
• Chris Brown pulled out of the Kids' Choice Awards of his own accord; Nickelodeon didn't make the decision. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Chris Brown is firing his manager and looking for a "whole new team." An insider claims he wanted to apologize for the beating earlier and was advised not to… [Page Six]
• Rihanna went out clubbing in West Hollywood Tuesday night. [Concrete Loop]
• "Julia was all smiles for fans and stopped to do a few autographs, but as soon as she stepped inside the cinema her mood changed. She shouted at photographers to leave her alone then asked staff to bring her a glass of champagne before she would answer any questions." — From a spywitness report on Julia Roberts' behavior at the Duplicty premiere in London. [The Sun]
• Here, Julia Roberts dishes on 10 of her favorite leading men. [EW]
• A French "society" magazine is reporting that Prince William will marry Kate Middleton this summer. ZOMG royal wedding askjdkfflasjdk!!! [Daily Mail]
• A hospital official inspected Nadya Suleman's new house yesterday, to insure that it is safe for the octuplets. The babies will be released, two at a time, any day now. [E!]
• Noted marijuana enthusiast Michael Phelps has been interviewed by Matt Lauer; look for footage on the Today show on Friday and Sunday on Dateline. [ET]
• Jesus Luz is back in Rio. He claims he has "always" been interested in kabbalah, before ever meeting Madonna. He's going to be in Brazil for a month while waiting for his work visa, then back to New York! [Made In Brazil]
• Madonna and Guy Ritchie have come to a custody agreement regarding the kids: Rocco and David will live with Madge but guy will get regular visits and see the children in the UK during the holidays. [The Sun]
• If you miss Project Runway, Heidi Klum thinks you should do something about it: "I think that people should be demonstrating outside of [company co-chairman] Harvey Weinstein's house. If it were up to me, it would be on by now." [MSNBC]
• Prince has decided that Prince will appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno four times, coinciding with the release of Prince's albums, LotUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND. Oh, and also coinciding with the last time Leno hosts. [ET]
• Ricky Gervais to appear on the finale episode of The Office? [Mirror]
• Early buzz on Sacha Baron Cohen's new flick, Bruno: "Shocking, jaw-dropping and TOTALLY FUCKING HILARIOUS." [Mother Jones]
• Joaquin Phoenix was rapping at a Miami Beach nightclub when someone in the audience started heckling him, so naturally he jumped into the crowd and had some sort of confrontation before being dragged away by security guards. Did Casey Affleck get the whole thing on video? Yes, yes he did. [Yahoo News via AP, Daily Mail]
• Mickey Rourke will be the Russian villain in Iron Man 2. [Deadline Hollywood]
• Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French spoofed Mamma Mia for Comic Relief and Sienna Miller played the Amanda Seyfried role. Click for the photo, which in itself is funny. [Daily Mail]
• Geri Halliwell dumped her fiancé, but he'd done an interview with an Italian magazine the same day — in which he talked about how much she's "changed his life." Awkward! [The Sun]
• The guy who owns the Beverly Hills mansion where MTV shot the Live From The Hills Season finale says the production company trashed his house. The damage? $158,250.07. Please don't forget the seven cents. [TMZ]
• Balthazar Getty, who recently left Brothers & Sisters, will guest star on an episode of Medium. At least he's working? [EW]
• Kiefer Sutherland used to babysit Gwyneth Paltrow. True story. [The Star]
• 50 Cent and Rick Ross are in a feud and Fiddy's latest move is to release a porn tape featuring Ross's former girlfriend. Classy! [TMZ]
• Lance Bass is a matchmaker. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Jada Pinkett Smith's school is now open, and accepting kids pre-K through sixth grade. Does it have ties with Scientology, you ask? Well, the "study technology" is that developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Pinkett Smith says the school stresses "100 per cent mastery," encouraging students to retake exams until they score 100 per cent. Fun? [Yahoo News via AP]
• Shannen Doherty will return to 90210 for the season finale, if you care. [E!]
• Ashley Jensen is definitely leaving Ugly Betty, because she just got cast as a regular on a new CBS show, Accidentally On Purpose. That's the one where Jenna Elfman plays a movie critic who finds herself "accidentally" knocked up after a fling with a younger man. [EW]
• Beck is playing a charity show tonight, with proceeds going to Educating Children International. Turns out that's a Scientology organization. If you feel icky inside, you're not the only one. [LA Times]
• Jack White of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs has a third band, the Dead Weather. The new group includes Alison Mosshart of The Kills, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Jack Lawrence of The Greenhornes. Album drops in June. [USA Today]
• Handsome devil Chris Cornell has a new album, produced by — wait for it — Timbaland. [Yahoo news via AP]
• Dr. Phil's wife promised some skin care company she'd get them on her husband's show. The company was so psyched, they spent $650,000 on stuff the public would surely be clamoring for. Except the products never made it to the show. So the company is suing. [TMZ]
• Kathy Griffin was booed off the stage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. [Village Voice]
• Al Reynolds is not getting a reality show, even though he wants one. [Extra]
• If you remember the '90s, then you may remember blond bro rockers Nelson. Well Matthew is getting divorced and asking his wife for spousal support. Yeah. [TMZ]
• Blind item: "Which newly engaged lesbian would be horrified to discover her main squeeze has been sleeping around ... with men?" [Gatecrasher]
• "I've come into my own head a little bit really, being a bit more honest and open, rather than hiding in a crack pipe or wherever and just not turning up most of the time." — Pete Doherty. [The Sun]
• "Artemis has a few really great lines because she plays everything – even the humor – very straight. The one that made me laugh out loud when I read it was when she tells Hippolyta that they shouldn't have let Diana go out into the outside world. Hippolyta asks, 'What could we have done to have stopped her?' And Artemis says, 'Well I could have shot her in the leg with an arrow. Not in an artery, of course.' It's just so deadpan – she wouldn't kill her, but she would've shot her. It's so dry, and it's so honest. And I love that." — Rosario Dawson, on her role in Wonder Woman. [Toon Zone News]
• "It's amazing to me that the tabloids such as the National Enquirer print such negative stories about me and my health when there are so many positive things going on in my life right now. I've started a new chemotherapy and, once again, I am one of the lucky ones with pancreatic cancer that is responding well to the treatment." — Patrick Swayze, who denies he has reached "the end." [People]
• "I'm not quite sure why, but the strongest female characters I've found have predominantly been in period films, more than in modern-day films. At least with the stuff that's been sent to me. I love watching period movies because I think that watching films is about escapism and about fantasy and I find it easier to dive into a fantasy that I don't know anything about, you know, that I don't live day to day. I love that feeling of escapism that period films give me, and that books about different times give me, or paintings give me. But I wasn't setting out to go, 'OK, I'm only going to do period films.' I work in a very instinctual way and I respond to certain things and I have no idea why, but for some reason the last couple of films have all been period." — Keira Knightley, whose new film, Edge Of Love, is set in the 1940s and depicts the poet Dylan Thomas. [Salon]
• "You know, the company that financed this film, they came to me about two weeks before we started filming and said watch out for Malkovich, he's a badass, he will fuck you - I don't know if I'm allowed to curse - he will really, you know, ride a director into the ground. And then he showed up and he was nice and cool and funny and sweet and I never had a single problem. Kind of disappointing; I almost wish that at some point he had really let me have it, but he never did." — Director Sean McGinley, on John Malkovich. [New York Mag]
• "I hate all that calorie counting. I eat what I want and then if my weight starts to go up, I cut back. Of course, I've aged a bit in the face, but not enough to worry about it. I have common sense enough to know that if I'm nearly 70, something has to happen." — Tina Turner. [Daily Mail]

• Rihanna is reportedly attempting to help boyfriend Chris Brown save his public image by bringing him along on animal rescue missions, tracking down stray dogs and cats and placing them in safe foster homes. [TheSun]

• "Diners and staff patrol the neighbourhood, looking for stray animals that need help," says a source, speaking about the program run by the LA restaurant Birds, "Rihanna has told managers she will be bringing Chris along to a rescue mission." [TheSun]
• Sean "Diddy" Combs apparently had no idea that Chris Brown was using his home to reconcile with Rihanna: "Chris called and said he needed to crash at Diddy's house while he was recording. He said it would just be him and his mom," says a source. "Chris is a dog," another source says,"He's always been so critical and nasty to Rihanna, making fun of her accent." [PageSix]
• Rihanna still isn't sure if she will testify against Brown or not. "It's very troubling to her family, her friends and her handlers," says a source, "Everybody's up in arms about her about-face. Some people think it could pose an obstacle to her career. Rihanna goes back and forth about whether she'll cooperate with the DA, or how much. There are days when she wakes up and says, 'I have to do this.' But, other days, she is willing to give Chris a break. Until she gets to court, I don't think anybody knows what she's going to do." [NYDN]
• Mischa Barton's parents apparently don't quite understand what their daughter actually does for a living: "My mom and dad are still a bit confused and cautious about what I do," Barton says. Uh, so are we? [ShowbizSpy]
• Turns out M.I.A. didn't name her baby "Ickitt" after all. According to her MySpace page: ""MY BABY IS NOT CALLED ICKITT, PICKIT OR LICKIT THANK YOU VERY MUCH. HES A BABY, HE DONT NEED PRESS! I DIDNT RELEASE THE BABY NAME BECAUSE I DIDNT THINK IT WAS NEWS!!!!" When there's any real news for her fans, she'll let them know. "TILL THEN," she writes, "GO PICK ON APPLE, SATCHEL AND MOON UNIT." [US Weekly]
• An N.W.A. biopic is in the works. Ice Cube, Dr.Dre and Tomica Wright, Eazy-E's widow, will produce. [EW]
• In more movie news, Tracy Morgan and Martin Lawrence have signed on to join Chris Rock in Neil LaBute's remake of Death at a Funeral. [HollywoodReporter]
• Blind item: "This former high profile TV Personality is so happy to have a man, she can't contain herself. When they appear at public events, she is often loud and boisterous. When friends make suggestions to her to tone it down, she just rolls her eyes and gets louder. She wants everyone to see her and her new man." [BlindGossip]
• "People say what they are going to say and there's nothing I can do about that. I've been doing this for so long and I've grown up really fast. I haven't got different responsibilities to other people my age, and it's taken me time to recognize that. I've gone through the phases that I have had to go through, now I am growing up."-Lindsay Lohan [ShowbizSpy]
• For a lovely start to your Saturday, you might want to check out these pictures of Ryan Gosling. [JustJared]
• Kelly Clarkson believes in the power of karma: "I don't think I'd fall in love easily - I had a boyfriend, who I discovered was only with me because he wanted to be famous," she says, "Oh, and he had a girlfriend the entire time we were together. I can spot a cheat a mile off these days. I was hurt but karma's a b***h and I'm sure he'll reap what he sowed." [ShowbizSpy]
• Meanwhile, Clarkson will be joined by Kanye West on an upcoming episode of American Idol. Clarkson will plug her new album, and Kanye will perform "Heartless." [NYTimes]
• Emma Watson was seen leaving a club with the words "Be Emma" scrawled on her chest. [DailyMail]
• Fergie has no plans to have children anytime soon: "I'm not going to be because I'm going on tour," she says, "I wouldn't want to do that to the poor child." [E!]
• Julia Roberts is a big fan of the Obama family: "I have such the White House crush happening right now for all four of the Obamas!" Roberts says, "[Michelle] seems to be a person who is really authentic and shows who she really is." [ShowbizSpy]
• 50 Cent has some words of wisdom for aspiring rapper Joaquin Phoenix: "He should write about the things that he has real interest in, the things he has been influenced by. Because, when an artist writes something that's totally away from their experience period, it can't be embraced. Like when you have a former correctional officer (Rick Ross) write from the biggest drug dealer in Miami's perspective, they don't get it," 50 says, "It's not necessary for you to be involved in criminal activity at any point in your life for you to be a part of hip-hop. You can come in and write from a totally positive perspective." [DailyExpress]
• Amy Winehouse dealt with her recent assault charges by partying pretty hard at a charity function: "She was clearly drunk," says a source, "She knocked candles off a display unit, then started climbing up a bookshelf." [TheSun]
• Vanilla Ice is sorry to the extreme for his most famous hit: "I'm sorry," Ice says on his YouTube page, "Even though Ice Ice Baby sold over 40million copies worldwide. I'm sorry for the hairdos, the baggy pants, the scandals and I'm sorry about the music. I was young, manipulated and I was a puppet." Well, you know what they say, Ice. Anything less than the best is a felony. And now I'm sorry for getting that song in your head. Whoops! [TheSun]

• At an Oscar party, Madonna congratulated ex-husband Sean Penn on his win. Penn reportedly gestured at Jesus Luz and said: "Thanks. Another kid already?" [The Sun]

• Sean Penn skipped the Milk party, by the way. Why wouldn't you go to the bash for your own damn flick? [Page Six]
• Was Ben Stiller's Joaquin impersonation the only amusing part of the Oscars? [NY Post]
• Kate Winslet was psyched at the Vanity Fair party: she "cradled" her statue and shouted "Wooo!" at all who congratulated her. [Gatecrasher]
• Since receiving it, Kate Winslet has not put her Oscar down. [Daily Mail]
• Jennifer Aniston wouldn't let John Mayer pose for a picture with "backstage beauties" at the Oscars. Or, you know, people want you to think she is keeping a tight grip on this one. [E!]
• Sienna Miller was at Montblanc's/UNICEF dinner in Hollywood and came out of the men's room followed by a "short, straggly haired gent whom she didn't speak to again that night." [Gatecrasher]
• Are Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson back on? She was seen with him right before the Oscars. [Page Six]
• Prince's Oscar party: A "disaster." [Page Six]
• Will Billy Crystal host the Oscars next? Fox's Roger Friedman thinks so, since Crystal isn't working on anything else. [Fox 411]
• Madonna who? Gwyneth Paltrow is becoming BFFs with Jay-Z and Beyoncé: Her kids call him "Uncle Jay." [Page Six]
• Eminem is suing Universal Music Group — the world's largest music company — over how much he is entitled to when his tunes are sold to third-party distributors. [The Wrap]
• There was a hearing in the Britney Spears restraining order case yesterday; Dad Jamie Spears claimed that Britney has been talking to Sam Lutfi and Adnan Ghalib on a pre-paid cell phone. Danger, danger! [TMZ]
• Victoria Beckham's carbon footprint? Huge. [Guardian]
• Three words: Kathy Griffin memoir. [NY Observer]
• Parker Posey is a big tipper. [Page Six]
• Lily Allen wants to star in Miss Marple. She also wants to sing for and appear in a Bond film. She's a lady with dreams! [The Star]
• Stevie Wonder is in Washington to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress; the ceremony will happen later this week at the White House and Barack Obama will present the award. Signed sealed delivered, it's his! [USA Today]
• Pix of the Slumdog cuties at Disneyland! [Extra]
• Here's a story about how the Slumdog kids are hometown heroes. "The whole country is happy about this. They are very happy that a boy from the slums is also now a star. I'm also very happy," said Mohammed Ismail, the father of a 10-year-old who appeared in the flick. [NY Post]
• A Tennessee teen who got raided last Fall for hacking Miley Cyrus's Gmail account also hacked other celebrity accounts and MySpaces for a spam scheme that earned him $110,000. [Wired]
• Jennifer Love Hewitt is so obsessed with Audrey Hepburn that she dressed up as the actress for her 30th birthday. Nice tiara. [E!, IDLYITW]
• Some dude in Seattle collects celebrity-autographed yarmulkes, and 32 of them will be displayed at the University Of Washington. [UPI]
• Charles Barkley was sentenced to 10 days in jail yesterday, stemming from a December DUI in which he told cops he was speeding because he was on his way to get a blow job. (Note: That excuse does not work.) [E!]
• Kate Beckinsale has some instant noodles named after her: Steak and BeckinsALE. What an honor? [The Sun]
• The author of gay comic book Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde says Adam Sandler ripped off his idea and turned it into You Don't Mess With The Zohan. No one should be claiming credit for Zohan, though. [NY Daily News]
• Is U2 getting £1million in free advertising from the BBC? [Daily Mail]
• Regis Philbin's son Danny tried to kill himself with a pill overdose after splitting with his wife. [Perez Hilton]
• New couple: Elle Macpherson and Brit designer Oswald Boateng. [Gatecrasher]
• A martial arts instructor is suing Tito Jackson over unpaid debt. Is that family a magnet for trouble? [Mirror]
• Blind item! " Which billionaire's son is a scary misogynist? When women balk at his less-than-gentlemanly pickup lines, he calls them bitches and shouts a threat or two." [Gatecrasher]
• More blind items! "Which actor snorted cocaine in the bathroom during an Oscar after-party, while a slimmed-down stoner actor smoked pot outside with his pals? Which morning cable TV show hostess took off a week recently to get her eyes done and her breasts enlarged? Which aviation honcho is trying to knock down rumors he shacked up with a young hottie who works for him while his pregnant wife was back home and clueless?" [Page Six]
• "It's not up to me, but I'm sure we would (have him on SNL) if he had another hit single. We don't care about scandal. We just care about what brings us ratings!" — Kenan Thompson on Chris Brown. [MSNBC]
• "Possession of pouty lips and carefully contrived tousled hairdos doesn't exempt them from associating with the reporters and fans who made them famous." — from a rant against Angelina and Brad snubbing interviewers on the red carpet. [NY Post]
• "It doesn't cost $500 to cut my hair. Have you seen my hair? I don't even have that many strands. If for some reason i decided that I was going to throw $500 away on a hair cut I would pay for it myself, however - I have a great exchange going with my hair dresser - I make him cds - he cuts my hair. Yay! cheap and cheerful!" —Samantha Ronson, shutting down a report that Lindsay Lohan pays for Sam's $500 hair cuts. [MSNBC]

[Los Angeles, February 19. Images via INF]

• "Life poet" Joaquin Phoenix on his rap career:

"I want it to be big. Not big like popular. I want it to really try and be, for me, the culmination of my life thus far. I realize it's going to be for public consumption, so there are songs that are about - there are dance songs. Most of it, I think, is an internal exploration." Like a rectal exam? [USA Today]

• James Gray, the director of Joaquin's latest film, Two Lovers, says of JP's hip-hop thing: "If it's an act, it's the most committed act I've ever seen in my life. I mean, he built a studio [in his house]." ABC News]
• If you want to talk to Joaquin Phoenix, prepare to sign a release, because it's gonna be filmed for his documentary. [Gatecrasher]
• A Friday gift: Video of Clive Owen, talking about The International. Why is the way he says "shootout" so sexy? [WSJ]
• Madonna went on a date with Jesus Luz in New York last night; they dined at a steakhouse and talked about Kabbalah. [Daily Mail]
• Before "baby" Jesus left Brazil to hang out with her Madgesty, he had two different girlfriends. [Page Six]
• Nicole Kidman has donated £230,000 to help victims of the Australian bushfires. She says: "As Australians, I think the biggest thing is that, no matter where you are in the world, we support each other and we rally." [The Sun]
• This report says that teen fashion designer Kira Plastinina may have been the cause of the Chris Brown/Rihanna fight. [Extra]
• Chris Brown has left Las Vegas and is on his way to meet his mom; she lives in Virginia but it's unclear if he is headed there or if they are meeting somewhere else. [E!]
• Reports persist that Chris and Rihanna's right started with a text from another woman; Leona Lewis, Paris Hilton and Keisha Chanté were all suspected of flirting with Chris, but all deny it. [E!]
• Roger Friedman from Fox seems to think Paris Hilton is involved. [Fox 411]
• When Rihanna wore an eyepatch in concert last year, was it because Chris Brown had injured her eye? [The Sun]
• Chris Brown is seeking a "crisis-management expert." [EW]
• Oh no: Details of how the surgery of Tameka Foster Raymond — Usher's wife — went terribly wrong: She went to Brazil to get lipo and right after she went under general anesthesia, she suffered cardiac arrest. Of course, Usher's rep issued a statement on February 8 which read: "Tameka Raymond is in stable condition after suffering complications from routine surgery in Brazil." Bold ours, obviously. This may be a case of surgery too soon after childbirth: Their second son is two months old. [People]
• Speaking of surgery, a doctor who does not treat him says Michael Jackson's nose "will collapse" after a staph infection he may have contracted after a nose job. [The Sun]
• Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes heard that T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl were leaving Grey's Anatomy and says: "That was a very interesting rumor. And it's not true." [People]
• Boooo: Victoria Beckham was considered to be a judge on American Idol, but she was too busy. Wouldn't you love to see Posh take on the wacky kids? [Mirror]
• Dina Lohan owes $11,485.74 in taxes on her Long Island home, and today is the deadline to pay. [TMZ]
• Oscar-nominated film-maker Stephen Daldry is pondering a remake of My Fair Lady, with Keira Knightley as Eliza Doolittle. Asks this reporter, Wouldn't it be luvverly? [Daily Mail]
• Who will score an interview with post-bong-pic Michael Phelps? [Page Six]
• Even though Hugh Grant is supposed to be with Jemima Khan, he was seen making out with two women in New York Tuesday night. [Gatecrasher]
• Monday night, Hugh Grant made out with Drew Barrymore. [Page Six]
• Sienna Miller is ShoWest 2009's supporting actress of the year. This summer she'll be in the giant GI Joe flick. [Hollywood Reporter]
• News you can't use: Kimora Lee Simmons prepared for Valentine's Day by getting her armpit hair lasered off. [Page Six]
• Eminem's new track, "Crack A Bottle," featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, set a new first-week record for download sales. [Reuters]
• What is going on over at Desperate Housewives? Eva Longoria and Teri Hatcher are going to kiss in an upcoming episode? Sounds like a desperate reach for ratings. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Did anyone know that Jennifer Hudson's fiancé is training with hopes to be a WWE wrestler? [Perez]
• Mira Sorvino is pregnant with baby number 3. [ET]
• Did Michael Stipe and his entourage once visit Mario Batali's restaurant after the kitchen was closed and keep the place open, ringing up a tab of $5,000? And then not tip or say thank you?!?!?! [Perez]
• Some dude bought a Blackberry on eBay and it had phone numbers for Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Kevin Spacey programmed into it, among others. [Telegraph]
• Kevin Costner's wife Christine gave birth to a baby boy, Hayes Logan Costner, on Thursday night. They have another son named Cayden who is almost 2. [ET]
• Living legend Jane Birkin has a new album, and she wrote all of the songs herself. You may know her as Serge Gainsbourg's love interest, as Charlotte Gainsbourg's mom, or as the inspiration for the Birkin bag. [Dazed Digital]
• The band Yes has canceled concert dates due to "unforeseen" medical reasons. [AP]
• Blind item: "Which disturbed loser is more of a cad than we thought? He's spilling the beans about his former flame's kinky sex habits to anyone who'll listen." [Gatecrasher]
• "[I wanted] to be named New York senator. I can't believe Paterson didn't ask. I even had a slogan: 'Make the switch, vote for the bitch.'" — Joy Behar. [Gatecrasher]
• "I realized partying is not what I am anymore." — Tara Reid, on her new sober life. [Daily Express]
• "I adored him, and I felt adored by him... he said to be a good parent, you never say no." — Emily Mortimer, on her father, who died in January. He was an author and created of a popular UK TV series. [Daily Mail]
• "It's one of those vampire movies. It's very funny. It's me with the beard." — Salma Hayek on her facial hair in her new flick, Cirque du Freak. [USA Today]
• "Toward the end of the shoot, he kept saying 'Oh I'm so tired, I'm so tired.' You hear that kind of thing and you think it's a joke. I just ignored it. I drove up to his house because his phone was disconnected. He said, 'I don't want to act anymore, I've been doing it for 30 years and if you did something for 30 years, you'd want to quit too.' That rap thing ... in the movie actually comes from something I played for him. I had an obsession with doing that sort of thing as a teenager. ... It turns out that Joaquin is imitating me in a lot of the movie. He said, 'I want to do that, I want to steal from that, I want to do the rap that you used to do.' I said, 'OK.' And now I'm seeing him do this thing, and I feel like I've ruined Joaquin Phoenix for the world. I don't want to be the guy that destroyed Joaquin Phoenix's acting career." — James Gray, the director of Two Lovers. [ABC News]
• "You drop some weight just by running after them." — Naomi Watts on her "body after baby." [People]
• "I'm 43 years old and I haven't ever really had a good relationship." — Moby. [NY Mag]
• "Seal always puts a smile on my face. We make each other laugh all the time. Laughing is good. I understand that life is not always just a smile all the time. But when you're facing problems, it doesn't make it better if you're kind of miserable. I always try to have a positive feeling. Every morning when I get up, I'm happy to be here. Even when I'm tired because the kids have been crying in the night, they come in and want mama and crawl into my bed. They look at you and they have that smile on their faces and life is good." — Heidi Klum. [The Star]
• "The pageantry of getting your hair curled and then all these beautiful clothes put on you — it was totally different. It was an escape. In Hollywood, you feel a responsibility to look less disheveled than you are. But I'm a mom and I'm not good at putting time into prepping. I tell my girlfriends — imagine if all the time you put into waxing and primping, you took all of that energy and put it into something useful." — Isla Fisher, on getting styled for Confessions Of A Shopaholic. [WSJ]

• OMG! Project Runway's Tim Gunn will host the red-carpet arrivals at the official Academy Awards pre-show? Genius. Good Morning America's Robin Roberts and Entertainment Weekly's Jess Cagle will join him. Excellent. Carry on! [Variety]

• Prince is having an late-night Oscar bash, and Prince has decided that Prince will perform. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Oh dear: An L.A. woman has filed a $4 billion class action lawsuit against Miley Cyrus, claiming the Disney teen knowingly mocked Asians in a recent photo. Shit, meet fan. [TMZ]
• Margaret Cho thinks Miley Cyrus is "a disgrace." [Perez]
• Did you see Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman last night? You'll find what happened in the dictionary under "trainwreck." (Or at the link here.) [Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood]
• Post-steroid-scandal, Alex Rodriguez "ran right home to [wife] Cynthia," which has pissed off Madonna. She's telling A-Rod that her dalliance with Jesus Luz is just a publicity stunt; Rodriguez says he needs to salvage his career. According to this piece, "Now that he's unable to focus all his attention on Madonna, she only wants him more." [Gatecrasher]
• Holy crap: Michael Jackson has some kind of MRSA-type skin infection, like a flesh-eating virus or a staph infection, and it is sad and horrifying. Plus, from the looks of this picture, it hurts. [The Sun]
• Prince Harry has been formally disciplined after being caught on video calling a fellow soldier a racial slur. He will attend an equality and diversity course, and the incident will go on his permanent record. [Mirror, Guardian]
• What is the deal with George Clooney and Benazir Bhutto's 26-year-old niece, Fatima? Pakistan is "besotted" by their "affair." [Independent]
• Clooney's rep says the rumor that Clooney is dating Fatima is false. [WowOwow]
• Lily Allen had a "secret show" last night in New York, and in addition to material from her new album — the bouncy "Fuck You" and stuff from her old CD ("Smile") she covered Britney's "Womanizer." While singing about blow jobs, she "gulped wine" on stage. [Rolling Stone]
• Nicolette Sheridan is packing up her stuff and leaving Wisteria Lane; she will no longer be on Desperate Housewives. [Extra]
• Mary-Kate Olsen looks high fashion freaky in her pictures for the March issue of Interview; she tells the mag about differentiating herself from her sister: "We've always been very different. And we've always had the same goals… At a certain point, we probably just started to vocalize it. When we decided to go to college, we figured we'd be able to take a break and just figure out what we wanted to do and what we loved… just by being able to step away from the work world." [ONTD]
• Queen Latifah was on a bus tour of Newark, N.J. yesterday to promote options that will help homeowners avoid foreclosures. [UPI]
• Had Rihanna been working on a song about murdering a cheating partner before she was attacked by Chris Brown? [The Sun]
• Chris Brown is currently holed up at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Except that this report says Chris Brown and Rhianna are both in L.A. Oh, and don't click this link unless you want to read a whole lot of bullshit speculation about how Rihanna maybe hit Chris first and "Lamborghini's [sic] have small cabins that are hard to maneuver in. Brown, who would have been driving, could have used his teeth as a weapon to defend himself against Rihanna's flailing." [Fox 411]
• Sigh, there is a delay in the Chris Brown case. The D.A spokesperson says: "It's our understanding the LAPD won't return the case to us this week. Once we get it, we will review it again to determine if there's a case." Wait, what? [People]
• Here's a better explanation of whether Chris should be charged with criminal threats or the lesser charge of domestic battery. [TMZ]
• Cops will reinterview Chris Brown and Rihanna again soon. [NY Daily News]
• Chris Brown's wardrobe stylist says: "Chris is all right. He's a good kid. He feels very bad that something like this has happened." Ugh! Passive talk. He feels bad "something happened" or he feels bad about what he did? [People]
• Leona Lewis denies involvement in the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation. [Daily Mail]
• When asked by paparazzi about Chris Brown, Terrence Howard said: "Chris is a great guy. He'll be all right." Now he says: "When they asked me about Chris Brown the other day, I was in no way aware of what he had been accused of. Had I known, I would have never had said something so insensitive." Seriously dude? Put down the baby wipes and pick up a newspaper or something. [E!]
• Clive Owen continues to promote his film and charm the underpants off of us. [CBS News]
• Drew Barrymore says Adam Sandler was her favorite on-screen kiss. "It was really innocent and unsalacious." [Mirror]
• Whoa: Nicolas Sarkozy proposed to Carla Bruni within two hours of meeting her. [Daily Mail]
• Groan: Sports Illustrated cover moddle Bar Refaeli ate cheeseburgers and ice cream before her shoot and did not work out. [Gatecrasher]
• Will Sean Penn be in a Three Stooges biopic? [Page Six]
• Balthazar Getty's exit from Brothers & Sisters will be "shocking." Spoilers all there if you click the link. [E!]
• Sam Shepard pled guilty to DUI and speeding from that bust last month in Illinois — he had a .175 blood alcohol level. Drunkety drunk drunk drunk. [TMZ]
• Kate Hudson has a stripper pole in her bathroom and a spy says: "She's so proud of it. She was laughing and giddy like a kid when the thing was installed! She holds on with both her arms and flips her legs into the air. It's kind of amazing and totally sexy." [MSNBC Scoop]
• Joe Francis is no longer on house arrest. He's free to go wild. [TMZ]
• Steven Seagal wants Costa Rica to have a filmmaking industry. "Costa Rica has everything — both rain forest and dry climate. What it lacks is an infrastructure to make movies," he said in a news conference. Send us plane tickets and let us judge for ourselves! [Reuters]
• Akon has a Chevron gas station in his backyard. [The Life Files]
• Blind item! "Which pro athlete's actress-girlfriend is going to be less than pleased when she discovers he's sleeping with college girls on the side?" [Gatecrasher]
• "Any actor who starts taking 'sex symbol' seriously or thinks of themselves as a sex symbol has got some serious problems. When I'm in my normal life I care very little about how I look. Sometimes I have to dress up when I'm making movies, but that's not me when I'm just hanging around. I don't mind looking like I need a good wash and a good meal. There's no vanity about my character and I think that's real. His absolute obsessive passion is trying to bring a bank down. He doesn't care how he looks. So I just stopped shaving and left it to the make-up people to make sure I looked bad in every scene." — Clive Owen. [Mirror]
• "I had to be chained to the ceiling with a hood over my head, in my boxer shorts, being hosed down by a soldier, with cold air fans blowing on me. I wouldn't recommend being tortured by Samuel L Jackson. He seems to enjoy it a little too much." — Michael Sheen, who filmed Unthinkable with Jackson. [Telegraph]
• "She's so different from me. She's so focused on the outside. She just loves clothes and she just loves life, and she wants to make the world more beautiful. How often do you read a comedy script with a woman in the lead, and she's actually a flawed, deluded character? And I was able to do physical comedy. It was a dream role." — Isla Fisher on Rebecca Bloomwood, her Shopaholic character. [USA Today]
• "The people who are the most beautiful are those who do what they love to do – who have love in their lives, and laugh a lot, go to good movies, read good books, and have great sex. A guy who's a chauvinist I'm not interested in. Any good man knows women are much smarter than men." — Carla Gugino, to Women's Health. [People]
• "We very rarely talk but when we do, it sure makes me laugh. She's one of the funniest ladies I know and I hold huge amounts of love and respect for her. She's my big sister. Things were wild during the years I was with her in the band and she's one of the wildest creatures I've ever met, but I have my own personal perception of her. There's nobody else like her. I feel like there should be a review of the great stuff that Hole and Courtney put out there. I would support that because I feel it's important to pass on to women of future generations." — Melissa Auf der Maur on Courtney Love. [ONTD via Spinner]
• "When you look at someone like Jessica [Simpson], I don't know if she gained weight, but it's all I've heard about. I'm looking for someone with a great voice, but if someone is 50 pounds overweight, I have to tell them the reality - that it might hold them back." — American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. [MSNBC]

[Los Angeles, February 10. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

• Updates on the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident:

He is holed up in a Hollywood hotel; she is perhaps more seriously injured that originally reported — she has bite marks on her skin. She's supposed to be playing Malaysia on Friday but may cancel and head to Barbados, where she was raised. [E!, USA Today]

• Rihanna is now out of the hospital and has postponed her concert in Malaysia. Also, the charges filed against Chris Brown — suspicion of making criminal threats — means the victim "is in fear for [his/her] life." [Yahoo News via E!]
• This report claims Rihanna suffered tow "huge contusions" on her forehead as well as a bloody lip and nose. [TMZ]
• A cop called the injuries "horrific." [NY Daily News]
• Oh no: Is it true that Rihanna will not file criminal charges against Chris Brown and is no longer assisting investigators? [Media Take Out]
• No, this report says she is cooperating with the LAPD. [UPI]
• When Chris Brown was on Tyra, he talked about his abusive stepfather and said, "I would never hurt a woman." [Perez]
• Chris Brown has pulled out of his scheduled appearance at Sunday's NBA All-Star Game. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Chris Brown's career may be over, since he was known for a squeaky-clean image. [AP]
• The LA Times is defending it decision to out Rihanna as the victim of Chris Brown's domestic violence case. A reporter explains: "The Times has a blanket policy when it comes to not naming victims of sexual assault. There isn't a set policy when it comes to physical assault or a criminal threat. In that case, there's a decision internally and on a case-by-case basis of whether to name somebody. In this case, obviously there was a discussion among the editors about this. The nature of this case - against the backdrop of the Grammy's, the delay in changing things, the explanations put out by both camps - the decision was made that this was fair game." [E&P]
• Wow. Britney Spears has rehired her former assistant, Felicia Culotta, who was with Britney for years and is a true friend. Good news. [Perez Hilton]
• Before the Baftas, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie didn't have dinner at one of London's "posh" restaurants but chose a 40-seat "local curry house" instead. Claudia Schiffer and Robert Downey Jr. were also there, and the group ate vegetable samosas, tandoori lamb chops and the house special, lamb passanda. [Telegraph]
• When Brad and Angie got home the kids were "running up and down the hallway" at the hotel and guests had complained about the noise. How much do you want to bet Maddox was the instigator? [The Sun]
• Tomorrow is the big day: Jennifer Aniston turns 40! [NY Daily News]
• Miley Cyrus has issued a real apology for that racially insensitive picture in which she was seen slanting her eyes. Unlike last time, she uses the word "sorry." [Perez]
• Lily Allen is in the U.S. to promote her album! She'll do Today, The Tonight Show and visit with Oprah and Ellen. Will she show off her third nipple? [Mirror]
• Why won't Gwyneth Paltrow walk the red carpet with Chris Martin or have their pictures taken as a couple? "It's cheesy," she says. "I mean, who wants to live like that?" [Fox 411]
• After the Grammys, Chris Martin stayed out partying and Gwyneth was nowhere to be found. [NY Daily News]
• Ben Affleck wants a son he can dress in Red Sox gear. [Mirror]
• Is Guy Ritchie moving to New York to be closer to his kids? [Mirror]
• Christian Bale's sister Sharon has heard the audio of his rant on the set of Terminator and says: "He seems to be incredibly stressed and angry at the moment. I think he might need help." She's reminded of last summer's incident in a London hotel, when Bale "attacked" her and their mother. "He verbally attacked us," Sharon claims. "He spoke in the same aggressive way he did to that lighting engineer. I wouldn't have minded so much but it was in front of my family and three children." [National Enquirer via Telegraph]
• Hmm, seems like Cate Blanchett will play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood movie — the role Sienna Miller was "too young" for. Not-exactly-nimble Russell Crowe is the leading man. [Variety]
• Heath Ledger fans would like to see the character of The Joker retire from film, so that Ledger's portrayal is the final word. One fan explains: "We think this psycho in scarred whiteface is the best ever. No one can improve it. So please, Hollywood, use other enemies in the sequels to come." [Wired]
• Apparently Paris Hilton told Paul McCartney she'd love to do a duet with him. She also said of his hair: "It's just like in The Beatles. It's so cute." She must be stopped. Why does she even get invited places? [The Sun]
• Mickey Rourke tried to hook up with an actress named Abi Titmuss after the Baftas; she had to tell him: "No, I won't be sleeping with you tonight, Mickey." Also: Rourke took a sleeping pill before the awards to "calm his nerves" and was seen staggering around with a champagne bottle. [The Sun]
• Mickey Rourke's speech at the Baftas: "Salty." He said: "Thank you to BAFTA, to Optimum Pictures, to Fox Searchlight, to [director] Darren Aronofsky, who gave me a second chance after I fucked up my career for 15 years... I want to thank my agent, who put his career in jeopardy by representing me several years ago, David Unger... I want to thank my publicist, Paula Woods, for having the hardest job in show business — telling me where to go, what to do, when to do it, what to eat, what to dress, what to fuck… Oh God, it's such a pleasure to be here and be back out of the darkness." [UPI]
• For his flick The International, Clive Owen had to run through a busy market in Istanbul with a gun in his hand because they couldn't get permission to shut the market down. He says: "I had a security guy very close to me but some of the reactions were pretty shocking. People would see the gun and just laugh. If it was New York or London I'd be put up against the wall if I was running through the streets with a gun - no matter who I was." The Turkish were unfazed. [Daily Express]
• Fatherhood is Clive Owen's favorite role right now, you guys. Read about how his daughters are obsessed with Friends. [USA Today]
• Speaking of Clive, he stars with Julia Roberts in Duplicity, and this article is about her return to the screen as a leading lady. [NY Times]
• Kylie Minogue, her sister Dannii and Natalie Imbrugllia will host a benefit show in London for the victims of the Australian bush fires. [This Is London]
• Fore! Samuel L. Jackson has signed on to narrate a documentary about African-American pioneers in golf. [Daily Express]
• Congrats to Kelis, who is pregnant; her husband, rapper Nas, is the father. [Mirror]
• DMX is in jail but has threatened to fight the guards, saying he would "assault somebody to get some respect." He also announced: "Y'all gonna make me lose my mind up in here." [TMZ]
• ABC will film Siegfried & Roy's final farewell performance for a special edition of 20/20. We have a feeling the "one-night, one-time illusion" will probably involve them disappearing. [UPI]
• Oh dear: the original cop is suing the Village People. Insert "Macho Man" joke here. [AP]
• Bob Marley's face on clothes, food and video games? [WSJ]
• Blind item! "Which beauty's marriage dissolved when she was caught having an affair with a man Down Under? Her husband wasn't bothered that she was pregnant with the other man's child - just that she was indiscreet." [Gatecrasher]
• "It stinks! Those boys are slovenly and have garbage and clothes everywhere. You'd think they were living in a frat house!" — An insider on the home of Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick. [NY Daily News]
• "If I waited too long, it's because we were supposed to do other things. If it is just too late? There are millions of children on this planet that I would be honored to call my own." — Sandra Bullock on being 44 and not having had a biological child. [People via InStyle]
• "[Kim's] the first girl that's ever cooked a meal for me. That's honestly how she got me - with the food! She cooked one of my favorite meals, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, candy yams and fried chicken and it was ridiculously good. My boys were there and the first thing they said was, 'she's a keeper!'" — Reggie Bush on Kim Kardashian's skills. [MSNBC via OK!]
• "I've been very lucky in the last few years, haven't I? I'm where I want to be, really, in terms of the opportunities I'm getting and the people I'm working with. If it keeps going like it is and I keep working with the caliber of people I've been working with, I'm just thankful." — Clive Owen. [USA Today]
• "My breasts, my face, liposuction, a tummy tuck, a leg lift. I've had everything you can think of except for my eyes and lips. I wouldn't touch them" — Sharon Osbourne on her plastic surgery to Ladies' Home Journal. [Page Six]
• "I have 10 songs, and three of them I think are really good. The others are pretty crap, but we're working on them." — Joaquin Phoenix, on his rap career. [MSNBC]
• "I love the storytelling aspects of hip-hop, but I love the wordplay, as well. I just think the rhyming is fantastic, and I love, like, the raw emotion of it." — Joaquin Phoenix. [AP]
• "I didn't actually lose it. But nobody knows where it is at the moment." — Angelina Jolie on her Oscar, which she gave to her mother; her mom died in 2007. [Variety]
• "I think you're born an artist. It's like being gay. You're born gay, and then you discover that's who you are over a period of time in a world where maybe being gay is not the normal thing. Then you look it in the eye and you say thank you, and you put it in your heart and you lock it up and you go. When you're 12 years old and making clothes with plastic flowers attached to them, and trying to choreograph shows at your school that are entirely too sexy — you start to be like, Okay, this is my aesthetic. My aesthetic is in so many ways exactly the same as it was when I was younger, I'm just smarter. And I know how to execute the ideas. And I have a bigger budget." — Lady GaGa. [EW]
• "I just don't feel that it's all that sexy. It's weird. And uncomfortable. I look at photos of myself, and I look like such a tranny! It's amazing! I look like Grace Jones, androgynous, robo, future fashion queen. It's not what is sexy. It's graphic, and it's art. But that's what's funny: Well, yeah, I take my pants off, but does it matter if your pants are off if you've got eight-inch shoulder pads on, and a hood, and black lipstick and glasses with rocks on them? I don't know. That's sexy to me. But I don't really think anybody's dick is hard, looking at that. I think they're just confused, and maybe a little scared. It's more Manson to me than it is sexy." — Lady GaGa. Click for more amazing quotes! [EW]

• Instead of appearing at the Grammy Awards, Chris Brown - seen at left with Rihanna at a pre-Grammy party - was arrested for a felony battery.

He surrendered to the LAPD and then posted $50,000 bail. An "unidentified woman" who appeared to have been beaten identified Brown as her attacker. Rihanna did not show up at the Grammys either. [EW, Rolling Stone, People,TMZ]

• Sources say Rihanna's face is "slightly bruised." [ET]
• This report says Rihanna had "multiple bruises" and was in the hospital but has been released. [NY Daily News]
• Cops say that Chris Brown and "the woman" they are not identifying were arguing inside a vehicle after midnight on Saturday; they received a 911 call and when they arrived, they noticed that the woman had "visible injuries." Brown had left the scene by the time police arrived. [TMZ]
• The case is a felony and not a misdemeanor because of the visible injuries. [People]
• The argument took place in a rented Lamborghini after a pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton. [Fox 411]
• Rapper David Banner says: "One situation doesn't define a man and I really want American to stop doing that to people. As humans, none of us is perfect." Um, yeah, but. You don't hit women. [Rolling Stone]
• Apparently in 2007, Chris Brown told Giant magazine: "[My stepfather] used to hit my mom. He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself. I remember one night he made her nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, 'I'm just gonna go crazy on him one day…' I hate him to this day." A family history of domestic violence? [Perez]
• Chris Brown's court date is March 5. [USA Today]
• Commenters on the EW boards claim Chris Brown hit Rihanna because he found out she gave him genital herpes, which she got from a backup dancer. Where are they getting their info? [EW]
• Oh, wait. From here. [All Hip-Hop]
• This blogger adds, "Why is all this foolishness taking place during Black History Month?" [All Hip-Hop]
• Meanwhile: Rihanna is looking for a bone marrow donor for a 5-year-old girl. [UPI]
• Uh-oh: Peaches Geldof and husband of six months, Max Drummey, have separated! To her credit, Peaches did say she didn't expect it to last forever. But maybe at least a year? [Daily Mail]
• Amy Winehouse is heading back to the UK after a long vacation in the Caribbean. She plans to present her lawyers with a "secret ex-file," detailing Blake Incarcerated's bad behavior. Ugly divorce countdown starts now! [News Of The World]
• Is there tension in the Beckham marriage as Victoria heads to New York fashion week alone? She reportedly wants to stay in the U.S.: "She feels out of place in Milan and gets frustrated by not being able to understand what they are saying." [Daily Mail]
• Whitney Houston sang at Clive Davis's pre-Grammy bash and sounded "incredible," E!'s Marc Malkin says. "Was she back to the days when she was in top high-note-hitting form? No, but close." [Yahoo News via E!]
• Usher had to cancel his performance at a pre-Grammy party due to a "serious injury in the family" — apparently his wife Tameka experienced complications from plastic surgery in Brazil. Yikes! [TMZ, People]
• A neurosurgeon from LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is headed to South America to check on Usher's wife. [Access Hollywood]
• Jennifer Aniston's 40th birthday party took place Saturday night at her house in Beverly Hills. Aniston and John Mayer "danced and huddled close all night," and guests included Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Crow, David Arquette and wife Courteney Cox Arquette, Tobey Maguire and wife Jen Meyer, Laura Dern, Kevin Nealon, and Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. Aniston has some kind of pull in Hollywood: the police kicked all the paparazzi out of the neighborhood! [Yahoo News via E!]
• Lindsay Lohan was seen hanging out at a table behind Sam Ronson's DJ booth; while Sam worked, LL was drinking from bottles stashed under the table. LL would flirt with guys but bitch out any woman who came close. This report notes that LL looked "grossly skinny." [E!]
• Director McG says of Christian Bale's "blowup": "The film set is a passionate place, and it happens… It was just one of those moments. I think I can speak on all of our behalf that we've all gotten a little fired up. And if anybody would take that moment and take it out of context, it would seem very, very strange." [People]
• Beyoncé runs around two and-a-half miles every day and is "eating veg and drinking water" because her stylists — and her mom tell her when she's gained weight. As for the diet: "It's boring." [Mirror]
• Here's video of the Jessica Simpson performance in which "every song was a disaster" and she mumbled through the lyrics and talked through tears, if you really want to watch that kind of thing. [ONTD via TMZ]
• Since she is producing a teen TV show for Fox and has a movie in the works, Jennifer Lopez is "putting music on the back burner," which may be for the best. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Do we really believe that Leonardo DiCaprio wants girlfriend Bar Refaeli to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue because it will "piss off" Gisele Bundchen? [Page Six]
• Prince Harry and Paris Hilton were supposed to have a date? And the Prince canceled at the last minute? Did he come to his senses? Should we feel sorry for Paris? [Daily Mail]
• Eddie Murphy has been ordered to pay £35,000 a month until his daughter — whose mother is Mel B. — turns 18. That's a total of about £7million. Another Shrek sequel? Anyone? [Daily Mail]
• What's this? Emma Watson is nervous about kissing Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley, on screen? [Telegraph]
• Dave Grohl wore a white knot on the red carpet at the Grammys to show his support for gay marriage and marriage equality. Think we'll see 'em at the Oscars? [E!]
• A man was killed on Justin Timberlake's golf course in Tennessee Saturday in a freak accident involving a tree. [TMZ]
• Minutes into his act at a UK nightclub, rapper Coolio was pelted by plastic bottles and ice cubes. Coolio jumped into the crowd to fight some dudes but was dragged way by security. Not exactly a gangster's paradise… [The Sun]
• The new Dancing With The Stars cast has been revealed! Jewel and her husband, rodeo star Ty Murray, will compete against each other. The youngest contestant ever, 17-year-old Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson will dance; and so will Julianne Hough and boyfriend Chuck Wicks; Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff; Belinda Carlisle; Denise Richards, former NFL star Lawrence Taylor; Lil' Kim; Jackass star Steve-O; Apple computer co-founder Steve Wozniak; actors David Alan Grier and Gilles Marini; and Access Hollywood co-host Nancy O'Dell. [People]
• Remember when Natalie Portman rapped on Saturday Night Live? Uncensored audio can be found here [ONTD]
• Hugh Grant and ex Jemima Khan are so, so back on. [Telegraph]
• Welcome Charlie Axel into the world; he's the first son for Tiger Woods and wife Elin. [AP]
• A reporter calls The International, Tom Tykwer's film starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, a "strange and beautifully made thriller." Tykwer is best known for his 1998 flick, Run Lola Run. [Salon]
• Robbie Williams has been visiting weird websites, stuff like government paranoia and UFOs. [Daily Mail]
• Original Buffy The Vampire Slayer Kristy Swanson and ice skating champ Lloyd Eisler got married on Saturday. This story notes that Swanson "lost 45 lbs. in time for her wedding with the help of The Medifast Diet and regular exercise, including martial arts, skipping rope and treadmill work." [People]
• A tell-all book about Sean "Diddy Combs" by a former aspiring rapper is called Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip-Hop. It's self-published, naturally. [Page Six]
• Are you ready for a Tricky comeback? [Independent]
• "Straying Alive! Married Bee Gee Robin Gibb has baby with live-in housekeeper 26 years his junior." [Daily Mail]
• "I want to keep learning, I have no ego. I'm blessed to be on one of the great shows. I made a statement last year that I was going to aggressively pursue my acting career… I want to do some television." - Sean "Diddy Combs on his CSI: Miami gig. [The Star]
• Paradise Beach had improbable plot-lines. We were always in bikinis, even at funerals. And someone who was my brother ended up being my father and I pulled him – it was just insane." — Isla Fisher on her soap opera past, to GQ. [Daily Express]
• "Besides being in love with him, I'm his biggest fan. I think my fiancé is hilarious." — Isla Fisher on Sacha Baron Cohen. [Mirror]
• "I've decided I am going to start loving my backside because I don't know anyone who does that. And for my daughter, I want to be able to say to her, 'I love this.' [Young women] look at all of us, myself included, on these magazine covers and they think, 'My God, how does she get skin like that?' And I can tell you, I have so many blemishes under this make-up that have been so fabulously covered, I promise you. I did realise a few years ago that no one actually talks about this retouching thing. It's like a secret or something. I'm damned if it's going to be a secret any more. I really want these young women to know we don't look like this." — Kate Winslet. [Daily Mail]
• "I think I definitely want to go to college… I could always study drama. I think that would be really cool. There's always more you can learn. If I wanted to do something totally different, I love history." — Dakota Fanning. [Newsweek]
• "Sir Anthony Hopkins is in the recording studio with Amy Winehouse, and we are hoping that next week Sir Brad and all the Pitt family will be performing The Sound of Music at the Brit awards." — Mick Jagger, making jokes at the Baftas. [People]
• "It's so invasive. It's not like they're standing 100 feet away. They're in your face, not letting you walk, standing in the way when you're driving. It becomes a situation and it doesn't need to be." — Jessica Alba on the paparazzi. [The Star]
• "I got into a bit of hot water for what I said about Amy Winehouse and I still say it again. I'm an ex-drug addict and I don't take that kind of stuff lightly. It stayed in my body for 25 years and it could still happen to this young woman or other addicts who are fooling around with drugs, especially needles. I would hope that what happened to me does not happen to her." — Natalie Cole, who has Hepatitis C and is waiting for a kidney transplant, on Amy Winehouse. [Mirror]
• "Every time I go for an ultra scan the baby is like in crazy positions with legs star-shaped and stuff. It's not like in a baby position at all. I feel like he is used to base lines and beats and receptive to that, which is cute." — M.I.A. [Mirror]
• "I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and my parents taught me to respect my elders. We'd say things like 'yes, ma'am' and 'no, sir' to adults. But kids in Los Angeles don't do that. I've drawn the line at my children calling adults by their first names. I tell them they can call people 'Miss Shannon' or 'Miss Heather' but that using only the first name is too familiar. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned." — Reese Witherspoon. [Reader's Digest]
• "It's crazy for people to care about him having a bong hit. Nothing's the matter with it - I want to have a bong hit right now. Really, the message Phelps is giving is that you can smoke weed and still be at the top of your game." — Bill Maher. [Gatecrasher]
• "My split with Brad was the hardest thing I ever went through. But it made me strong, superhuman. Now I'm turning 40 and I'm very excited. When they say youth is wasted on the young, it's so true.'" — Jennifer Aniston. [Daily Mail]
• People have called me a sex symbol in the past, but it's very much an effort […] It's been important for me to just do something that's extreme — that really separates me from that public Joaquin Phoenix persona, whatever the fuck that is. Or maybe I'm just lazy." — Joaquin Phoenix on his new, grizzy, bearded "look." [The Sun]

• Britney is so freaked out about her world tour, she's been having panic attacks. A source says:

"She has been telling her doctor she feels under pressure and ill when she thinks about touring." Is it possible she needs a break? [The Sun]

• Joaquin Phoenix swears his rap career is not a joke: "There's not a hoax. Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention." [USA Today]
• Angelina Jolie doesn't watch her own movies: "There’s a film or two I haven’t seen. I don’t really like to watch movies. I love to watch Brad’s movies though." We knew something was wrong with her. [The Sun]
• Oh, but Angelina does say that Oscar night: "I'm rooting for Brad." Plus, these are her priorities, in case you are wondering: "I'd say kids first, kids, woman to Brad and then my work internationally and being a kind of ... trying to educate myself and trying to learn about the world and ... trying to do some good things while I'm alive." Acting is like, fourth, or whatever. [People]
• Guess who isn't happy that Madonna has been parading around town with a 22-year-old Brazilian model? Alex Rodriguez. Apparently, a source spills, "Madonna likes to be in control." Do tell! So, yeah. Jesus Luz is more attentive and Madge was never committed to A-Rod anyways. [Gatecrasher]
• Jennifer Hudson's lip-sync-y prerecorded Super Bowl "Star Spangled Banner" is available for download on iTunes. [E!]
• Chris Martin and Coldplay: Viva la lawsuit, from Joe Satriani. [Fox 411]
• Prince threw a "rowdy" party with a dance bash where his band did '70s and '80s covers, and after his guests did a huge Electric Slide, His Purpleness quipped, "Y'all done tore up my carpet. I'm never inviting y'all back." [USA Today]
• Victoria Beckham is in talks to be a judge on popular UK show The X Factor. If David indeed becomes a fulltime player for AC Milan, the whole family will be moving back across the pond, sigh. [Daily Mail]
• Uh, this report says there is "no truth" to the rumor that Victoria will join X Factor. [The Sun]
• Ashton Kutcher wrote a long-ass MySpace blog entry in which he attempts to explain his Twitter obsession: "Our intention in becoming more active on the web has been with the effort to connect to the community in an effort to create a greater bond with the amazing fans that we have adopted over several years." [Perez]
• By the by, even though it was reported by the National Enquirer that Ashton and Demi Moore would adopt, Demi says, "Don't ever believe what you read there." But what about the John Edwards love child??? [UPI]
• Sean "Diddy" Combs didn't want the cops to search him before entering a party in New York where Kobe Bryant and a bunch of basketball stars were in attendance. What would they have found? [Page Six]
• Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn: Ironed out their differences? [Page Six]
• Celebs are feeling the recession: America Ferrera will only have one house; Eva Longoria wore the same outfit twice; Britney is driving a Mitsubishi. [MSNBC Scoop]
• The dude from the Kooks dumped Mischa Barton and she is "heartbroken," poor thing. [The Sun]
• Jude Law plays a transvestite supermodel named Minx in an upcoming movie called Rage, and from the looks of this picture, he's fairly comfortable in eyeliner and a wig. [Daily Mail]
• Julian Lennon and Sean Lennon will not, repeat, not perform together at a UN event in NYC on February 26. [Fox 411]
• The Speed-the-Plow crew cancelled a recent taping of Theater Talk when they learned the Jeremy Piven stuff would be brought up. The Voice's Michael Musto says: "Duh." [Village Voice]
• Leona Lewis on her autobiography: "I’m doing a picture book. A picture speaks a thousand words and I’m a big fan of photography." [The Sun]
• Girls Gone Wild mogul Joe Francis has been released from federal custody and is on home detention. But doesn't that mean he can watch DVDs of Girls Gone Wild? [Reuters]
• Congrats to model Angie Everhart, who is pregnant with her first child. Baby daddy is "very nice" but not her boyfriend or anything. "It's nobody you know," she says. [E!]
• Blind item! "Which A-list action star is trying to fool fans with his new face-lift?" [Gatecrasher]
• Mariah Carey Valentine's Day e-cards are delightfully tacky! [Pop Dirt]
• The chick who is Tina Turner's dance captain sounds totally awesome and kick-ass. [The Star]
• The Newlywed Game is coming back to TV and Carnie Wilson will be the host. Whether she will say "make whoopie" remains to be seen. [AP]
• Some reject on American Idol ripped into Simon Cowell, saying: "You need to get some wardrobe. For somebody to be so rich, your pants are very, very cheap, with that cheap, very lame shirt you've got on." The Brit press calls it a "cheeky rant." [Daily Mail]
• The dude from The City changed his name and got a record deal. [Page Six]
• "I am a dad. I think it's probably the worst thing any parent could face, the abduction of a child. It really is. Death is preferable. There's no question of that." — Liam Neeson, star of Taken. [Mirror]
• "I've never met anybody with a higher sex drive than me ever in my entire life." — Mel B. [The Sun]

• Kim Kardashian on Jessica Simpson's body: "Call me crazy, but when I saw the picture, I was like, 'Oh my God, Jessica looks hot!'" Kim continues:

"I love high-waisted jeans, I loved that belt, and her hair looked fabulous. I get that she does look curvier, but to me, there's nothing wrong it. When I saw that picture, I knew everyone was going to say something. And I thought, 'You know what? Leave Jessica alone!' She's fabulous, she's a really sweet girl, and I admire her for putting up with it." [People]

• Joaquin Phoenix's rap career: Not a hoax. Says his publicist. "He intends on exploring his musical interests despite speculative, negative or positive reactions." Sure, sure. [Mirror]
• Patrick Swayze has reportedly given up all medical treatment after doctors told him there was nothing more they could do for him. A source says: "The goal now is to keep Patrick comfortable… He's still losing weight and he's very weak." [Daily Mail]
• A stuntman who doubles for Daniel Radcliffe is paralyzed after suffering a serious injury on the set of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. [Daily Mail]
• Jake Gyllenhaal was "fidgety" at the courthouse in downtown L.A., where he was being considered as a potential juror. That's right: Jake might get jury duty! [E!]
• Michael Lohan is pleading for the public to "PLEASE HELP!!!" his daughter Lindsay: "I am asking everyone out there to intervene in every way possible to help Lindsay, and quite possibly, save her life,” he posted on his blog. "Help this wonderful, good hearted and gifted young lady to see what SaMANtha is doing to her and how she is destroying her life." [MSNBC]
• Meanwhile, Mark Ronson hung out with Lady GaGa in London last night. Ronson wore a black overcoat and skinny jeans; Ms. GaGa wore a rubber bra and skirt. [Daily Mail]
• Scarlett Johansson on her marriage to Ryan Reynolds: "I never had any preconceived notions of marriage or anything like that. I never really thought about it that much. My parents were divorced when I was 13, so I never had an idea of what a marriage should be, would be or could be. I was never in a hurry, I just figured someday I would get married, I guess. I am really in love with love. I’m a lover, not a fighter. I’m a real lov-vah." [Mirror]
• Thank GOB: The Arrested Development movie is on! [Gatecrasher]
• Brad Pitt wears that newsboy cap a lot. [NY Daily News]
• David Beckham loves it when his fellow AC Milan players pat his bottom: "I hadn’t even realised Clarence [Seedorf] had touched my backside but I’ll be happy if he does it again — because it will mean I’ve scored another goal. So he’s formally got my permission to touch it again." [The Sun]
• Miley Cyrus performed for Sasha and Malia Obama and seems blasé: "They were taking pictures like every other fan – they were really cool and appreciative of me being there. I really liked that." Yes, dear, it's all about what you like. [Perez]
• Mickey Rourke will not wrestle WWE superstar Chris Jerico at Wrestlemania, even though he said he would before the SAG awards. Apparently someone told him that acting is not being. [AP]
• Put a fork in Audrina and JustinBobby, because they are DONE: "I keep reading on blogs that I'm cheating on Justin, and we're not even together anymore!" Audrina told Us Weekly. "The last time I saw him was at The Hills finale in New York in December." [Perez]
• American Idol contestant Joanna Pacitti was in the 1996 cast of Annie, had a deal with A&M records, released an album and was on a reality show. So should she be on AI? Producer Ken Warwick says yes: "The question isn't 'have you ever had a deal' it’s 'do you have one now.' If the answer is no, then you can compete. If you were already a professional, you wouldn’t be auditioning, after all." [MSNBC]
• By the by: Paula Abdul stormed off the set of American Idol, saying: "Okay, I guess my opinion doesn't matter." A teenage contestant encouraged her to go back inside. [The Star]
• The fifth Twilight book was leaked online, and author Stephenie Meyer is "too sad about what happened" to continue writing the story. Shimmery vampire fans, insert your own "that bites" pun here. [Gatecrasher]
• Kelly Osbourne went back to rehab because her London lifestyle is "very bad for her," a source says. "It's a very party atmosphere there." Hmm, in rehab they will probably teach you not to blame the city! [People]
• Are Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane reconciling? They filed for divorce last month, but are hosting a party together next week. Work it out! [E!]
• U2 had so much fun recording their album at Olympic Studios that they're thinking about buying the facility. [The Sun]
• Blind item! "Which cheesy reality star goes on $30K shopping sprees and returns all items the next day when she realizes she can’t actually afford them?" [Gatecrasher]
• Picture this: Liam Neeson as Abraham Lincoln, in a film project by Steven Spielberg. Epic, no? [Mirror]
• Kylie Minogue was at the Jean Paul Gaultier show in Pairs yesterday, talking about how she's going to jet to India do a musical number in a Bollywood film. [WWD]
• Does Kate Hudson look a wee sloppy on the cover of InStyle UK? [The Life Files]
• Ellen Barkin will star and executive produce an untitled HBO drama, her first TV series. Barkin's character is a woman "famous for her high-profile marriage who divorces and re-enters the singles market and finds herself developing a close, platonic bond with the 24-year-old son of her ex-husband." Please don't let it be called Cougar. [Variety]
• Joan Rivers has two new books: one is a plastic surgery tell-all called Men Are Stupid… And They Like Big Boobs and the other is a murder mystery titled Murder At the Academy Awards. What do they have in common? Rivers says "101%" of the people who walk the red carpets of Hollywood have had work done. [USA Today]
• John Cleese is no longer returning text messages from his 27-yet-45 year old girlfriend Barbie Orr. It's over! [Daily Mail]
• What the world needs now: A Marie Osmond talk show. [Mediaweek]
• Julian Lennon and Sean Lennon, whose families feuded in the past, will perform together in public at a United Nations event. Come together, right now… [Fox 411]
• Everyone in the small Swiss town of Kallnach knows Marilyn Manson, absinthe connoisseur, because they manufacture his "Mansinthe" there. [IHT]
• Random people on the street have been yelling at this Prince Harry lookalike ever since Prince Harry's breakup, making the lookalike's life a living hell. Gingers never get a break. [The Sun]
• The lookalike is in hiding, btw. [Telegraph]
• If you are interested in T.I.'s pubes, by all means, click the link at the end of this sentence. [The Life Files]
• "Now guys are really nice when they’re breaking up with me because they don’t want to end up on a song." — Lily Allen. [The Sun]
• "We always thought we were doing something different, first of all, in having a show about a girl, because that wasn't happening at the time. You were usually the bimbo or the nerd, those were your main choices in the early '90s. So what we tried to do was create a show about a girl who was neither, and who was both. She was popular at school, and she was hip, but she was also bright, and she had other interests. We tried to create an experience that was common to a lot of girls, which is that you're both of those things at once, and that was huge for a lot of people. And we weren't doing Shakespeare, but we were absolutely dealing with issues that other shows were not." — Mayim Bialik on Blossom, which is finally being released on DVD. [Onion AV Club]
• "The only reason I have lost weight is because I comfort eat when I'm not very happy. The last two years, even though I had a lot of success with my first record, I was … getting so drunk. I was on tour with people I didn't know, and I was all around the world working really hard and was really confused and lonely." — Lily Allen, to The Sun. [People]
• I don’t feel sexy, not right now. I think there is kind of an ingenue thing that women play when they are in their 20s. They are sort of these whimsical, sort of transient characters, and it’s like that in life. Women in their 30s, and actors in their 30s, suddenly take on far meatier roles. They are playing mothers and wives and women who have been through a life – before the place that they are at that moment. And I look forward to that time when I’ll be able to have more of a life that I have experienced to put into the roles." — Scarlett Johansson. [Mirror]
• "My industry is magazine publishing. Pornography? That isn't my industry. If you call sexual images pornography, then they are negative. If you call those same images erotic, they are positive. I'm not an active feminist. I'm an active humanist. I separated ways from feminism when it became antisexual. I believe embracing sexuality is part of what it means to be free." — Hugh Hefner. [Time]
• "It seems to the outside world that I've always had a job but I have not. Every four months when a film finishes there's a big chasm all the time and you're trying to figure out what will come next. Sometimes there are interesting projects that come around that I put a lot of energy into and sometimes I don't. My mother would always say to me 'How can you live like this? How can you not know next year what you're doing?' I think that's part of what makes actors able to destabilize themselves to a point where they can take on another persona because they always imploding." — Meryl Streep. [Mirror]

• Joaquin Phoenix's rap career: An elaborate hoax? Sort of.

More of an "art project," in which he's pretending to have a meltdown and change careers. While bro-in-law Casey Affleck films it all. [EW]

• Amy Winehouse. Topless. Playing Scrabble. [The Sun]
• Oh no: Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, is making robocalls for Scientology. Using Bart Simpson's voice, and saying, "Hey, this is Bart Simpson — Just kidding!" This is bad news bears. [Perez]
• Gary Oldman has a simple explanation for how he came to accept Heath Ledger's SAG award: "We went for a wonderful meal with [Heath's] family in New York, we got on very well. [Later] they called and said, 'Would I pick it up for [Heath] if he won?'" [Mirror]
• Did Kate Winslet "blow her chance" to win an Oscar by forgetting Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes? [Telegraph]
• The parents of two kids in Slumdog Millionaire claim the movie may be making millions, but they continue to live in "grinding poverty." One father says: "I am very happy the movie is doing so well, but it is making so much money and so much fame and the money they paid us is nothing." [Telegraph]
• More Slumdog issues: A social activist in Mumbai has filed a complaint in a local court against director Danny Boyle, saying the film's title is damaging and discriminating. The guy has also named some stray dogs after the Danny Boyle and the stars of the film. He explains: "When the British ruled India, they called Indians 'dogs'. Why do we want to call these poor children 'dogs' 60 years after we got independence?" [Yahoo News via Reuters]
• Jessica Simpson's workout 2005 video was squashed by Big Daddy Joe Simpson, but if you follow this link you'll find a clip from the tape and audio from Jessica's business manager, in which he calls Jess a bitch and Joe an asshole. [Defamer]
• Guy Ritchie's dad, John, is pretty damn pleased his son is not with Madonna anymore. He tells In Touch: "The worst thing would be if they reconciled" and he's happy Madge has "lots of boyfriends" since it means she'll leave Guy alone. He also says: "There are no big arguments between them. All they discuss is the children." [Perez]
• Will Paris Hilton hit on Prince Harry now that he's single? "I think he's a nice guy, I love Chelsy though - I think she's so sweet - so I wouldn't try anything." [Telegraph]
• Why did Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy break up? Maybe time and distance pulled them apart. Maybe the relationship had "run its course." [People]
• Wait a minute: Kate Middleton is allergic to horses? Does polo-playing Prince William know? Does the Queen know? [Daily Mail]
• Whoa: Kelly Rowland has fired manager Matthew Knowles, who's always been like a dad to her. Was she sick of playing second banana to Beyoncé? [Bossip]
• Michael Jackson has serious, serious problems, including massive debt and, um, the Thriller musical. [Fox 411]
• Salma Hayek and Harvey Weinstein threw a Hollywood Hills bash to honor Penelope Cruz's Oscar nod, and everyone was there: Scarlett Johansson and hubby Ryan Reynolds, Ashton Kutcher and wife Demi Moore, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and wife Melanie Griffith, Charlize Theron and partner Stuart Townsend, and Angela Bassett and hubby Courtney B. Vance. Oh, and Colin Farrell. And Prince. ScarJo has dark hair now. [Gatecrasher]
• Catherine Zeta-Jones has homegrown kitchen beauty secrets: Honey and salt to exfoliate; beer shampoo; apple or strawberry for toothpaste. [Daily Mail]
• Apparently, when Jessica Alba called Bill O'Reilly "kind of an a-hole," he shot back and called her a pinhead for telling a reporter to "Be Sweden about it," assuming she meant Switzerland. Alba blogged on her MySpace: "Last week, Mr. Bill O'Reilly and some really classy sites (i.e.TMZ) insinuated I was dumb by claiming Sweden was a neutral country. I appreciate the fact that he is a news anchor and that gossip sites are inundated with intelligent reporting, but seriously people... it's so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland." Turns out Sweden was neutral and Alba was right. And O'Reilly is an a-hole. [MSNBC]
• Who comes from royalty? Whose family owned slaves? Sarah Jessica Parker and Susan Sarandon will star in NBC's genealogy reality series Who Do You Think You Are? Lisa Kudrow is executive producing the show, which explores celeb ancestral histories. [Reuters via Hollywood Reporter]
• The ladies pictured with Russell Brand yesterday have spoken to the press. "Russell took his clothes off as soon as we got through his front door. He was definitely wanting a threesome — and he thought he was going to get one," says the one who was wearing a blue onesie and white stilettos for the night. The women left because they "had a photoshoot." Russell gave the paper a different version of events: "Those women were at Brand Towers as they assured me they were qualified engineers and could fix my washing machine. I only took my clothes off 'cos I wanted to bung a load in. The washing machine is still broke but my clothes are remarkably unstained." [Daily Mail]
• Keith Olbermann, Tyra Banks, Suze Orman, Gus Van Sant, k.d. lang, Ellen DeGeneres and Rachel Maddow: All nominated for GLAAD awards. [Page Six]
• NYC socialite Olivia Palermo wants to be a serious actress. That's why she is on The City, a "reality" show. [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which married Oscar winner was caught pants- down in a club closet, getting naughty with a tranny? The waitress who walked in on the pair was so stunned, she dropped her drink tray." [Gatecrasher]
• Hotel mogul and Las Vegas billionaire Steve Wynn has split with his wife Elaine. [Page Six]
• Private Practice/Grey's Anatomy crossover alert! Kate Walsh, Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs will be on the February 12 episode of Grey's. [UPI]
• Kylie Minogue has recorded a song with kiddie band The Wiggles, because she has a 2-year-old nephew she wants to impress. "Now Charles really will think I’m cool," she says. "I hope he likes the song. It was fun to do. I might even grab a shirt and go on tour with the boys. I’m not sure what colour I will be." [The Sun]
• Debbie Matenopoulos's ex-husband claims she "pays for nothing" related to their multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home. He's demanding that she help pay the mortgage, agree to refinance, or move out and sell the home. He also admits that they both "continuously lived beyond our means during our marriage." Messy business! [People]
• Paul McCartney's publicist on the Paul McCartney wedding rumor: "No truth to it." [Yahoo News via E!]
• 50 Cent's manager is among the many who lost money via Bernie Madoff. How much? "Nothing to talk about. It's not life-threatening." [Page Six]
• Lauren Hutton was seen yelling at her help. [Page Six]
• Gene Simmons has signed on with Universal Music Canada and created his own record label, Simmons records. He writes: If you’re reading this and you’re in a Canadian band (only!!!)….and you believe you’re the next Elvis or Beatles (don’t we all…)…go to SIMMONSRECORDS.COM and we will tell you how YOU can submit your electronic demo. This is serious.” Well okay then. [Rolling Stone]
• Noel Gallagher says Oasis saved him from a life of crime: "There’s one less criminal in Burnage because I picked up the guitar. There’s one less shoplifter in Manchester." [The Sun]
• Michael Crichton left money to tons of people in his will. [TMZ]
• Isla Fisher has joined the cast of Rango, a Gore Verbinski-directed animated flick about a pet who goes on an adventure; Johnny Depp is the lead voice and Abigal Breslin has also been cast. [Variety]
• Chic people like Liz Goldwyn, Emmanuelle Seigner and Lou Doillon were at the Givenchy show in Paris, and you were not. [WWD]
• What do we think about Solange covering a Coldplay song? [Concrete Loop]
• This was bound to happen: Kanye West has changed his name. You may now call him Martin ‘Louis’ The King Jr., because he has his own Louis Vuitton shoes now. [Pop Crunch]
• "Love and light is mentioned a lot on the album. Parts of it are dark and edgy. It could be because I’ve been through a dark place. I am a man who needs love. Every man needs love, guys like romance. I do anyway." — Paul McCartney on his latest album, and maybe that "dark place" is the soul of Heather Mills. [The Sun]
• "That sweat is real and there is a lot of it. I said, 'Listen, we're going to show me exactly as I am and I'm going to sweat. Just towel me up.' Luckily, I had good waterproof makeup on and my hair stayed looking kind of cute. But that's the real deal. I'm sweating like a pig." — Lisa Rinna on her workout DVD. [Parade]
• "For five seasons I was stuck doing this character. It was kind of hard always having to play that character when it's not who I am… I just say jokes but people think I'm serious which I think is funny and I think I kind of play up to the image sometimes because - whatever - it's entertainment." — Paris Hilton. [Mirror]
• "My typical morning these days would be to get up at 6:30am, make breakfast, get Beatrice up, get her dressed and watch some TV. I don't have a nanny I do all the regular stuff myself. I take her to school, talk to all the mums, talk to the teacher then pick her up from school. I love every second of it and I'm not exhausted at all. People say, I'm up at 6:30am, what is going on? But I genuinely love it. It's a thrill bringing up a young kid, it's such an education. I am a different dad now but it's good." — Paul McCartney, 66, on life with a five-year-old. [Telegraph]
• I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister's weight. A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman's weight or figure as a headline on Fox News. All women come in different shapes, sizes, and forms and just because you're a celebrity, there shouldn't be a different standard. Is this something you would say to your wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, or even a friend? I seriously doubt it. How can we expect teenage girls to love and respect themselves in an environment where we criticize a size 2 figure? Now can we focus on the things that really matter." — Ashlee Simpson. [ONTD via MySpace]

• Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony had trouble getting into the Neighborhood Ball last night, because they were late. You gotta get there before the President! [Page Six]

• An aside: Was Jennifer Lopez seen sneaking out of the Scientology Center in L.A.? Even though her dad and her friend Leah Remini are Scientologists, J. Lo has always said she's not into it. [Gatecrasher]
• Whoa, the American Music Ball was canceled hours before it started. Performers George Clinton, Ben Vereen and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes had to go to the Heroes Ball instead. [Page Six]
• Susan Sarandon got a Politico blogger kicked out of a Creative Coalition brunch in D.C. What did the blogger do? Ask Sarandon if she'd say a word or two about Obama's speech. [Politico]
• Here's how Kerry Washington watched Barack Obama's swearing-in yesterday: "I dressed as if going for skiing. I had many layers — tights, jeans, thermal underwear," she says. "We stood in line for the hours everyone else did. I had a seated ticket to the swearing-in, but I gave up my seat and went up to the front area and kneeled." [USA Today]
• By the by, a new musical called Obama On My Mind opens in March in London. No, really. [People]
• Get ready: Thursday morning, Forest Whitaker will announce this year's Academy Award nominations. Then the Oscars will air live on February 22. [People]
• Presenters at the SAG Awards include Christina Applegate, Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Hamm, John Krasinski, Angela Bassett and Eric McCormack. The event takes place Sunday night at 8 p.m. and will be simulcast on TBS and TNT. [Variety]
• Date alert! Renée Zellweger was spotted having dinner with MSNBC legal correspondent Dan Abrams. [Page Six]
• Amy Winehouse is a heroine! Not on heroin, but a lifesaver: A tourist was having a sailing lesson in the Caribbean when she was thrown out of the boat by a big wave. The woman landed on some rocks and Amy dashed to her side, keeping her from being swept back into the sea. [The Sun]
• Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who saved Flight 1549, was seen dining on bird (chicken) at a D.C. restaurant called Hudson last night. [TMZ]
• Joaquin Phoenix threw a fit when Casey Affleck and the documentary crew arrived late to his rap performance in Las Vegas. "Thanks for fucking everything up," Phoenix yelled before throwing a CD on the floor. A source says: "Nobody can tell if he is for real or if this is all a big joke." Sorta hoping it's a joke. [Page Six]
• Oh God: When he was performing in Vegas, Joaquin Phoenix's pants had a massive hole in the crotch. "It was hard for anyone to focus on his singing," laughed one witness. "The worst was that the hole was at eye [level] for most of the crowd." [Gatecrasher]
• Sean Penn's been criticized for meeting with people like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, but his publicist says: "Sean is a champion of civil rights." [Perez]
• A California appeals court has put the Roman Polanski case on hold. [Reuters]
• A month after his brother died of a gunshot wound, Mark Ruffalo is back at work, directing and starring in Sympathy For Delicious, a flick about a paralyzed DJ who seeks out the world of faith healing. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Kristen Stewart is at Sundance plugging a new flick, Adventureland, but she reluctantly spoke about the Twilight sequel, sorta. Click for "um, like" video. [E!]
• Kevin Federline's new girlfriend "played mommy" when she and K-Fed took Sean Preston and Jayden James out to dinner over the weekend. [TMZ]
• Jude Law was wearing a neck brace after "tweaking" his neck while working out, but you can relax, he's fine. [Page Six]
• Danny Boyle is in Mumbai, defending Slumdog Millionaire: "The thing that I wanted people to take away from the film was ... this breathtaking, breathtaking resilience of people and the joy of people despite their circumstances, that lust for life," he says. "What we tried to do in the film was include as much of the city as possible." This paper notes that half of the city's 17 million people are homeless. [Hollywood Reporter]
• Blind item! "Which married morning-show producer rumored to be having an affair with a married on-air colleague was 'fidgeting incessantly' during inauguration weekend parties with her recently ringless ring finger?" [Page Six]
• Blind item! "Which supermodel had to have an uber-rocker’s teeth marks photoshopped off her bared bottom after her magazine photo shoot?" [Gatecrasher]
• Simon Cowell has fired Britain's Got Talent judge Kelly Brook after just six days on the job. Guess she didn't "bring the crazy," which is what a "judge" has to do these days. [Perez]
• Paul Giamatti plays himself in a Sundance flick called Cold Souls and says: "I kind of forgot that I was playing myself in this... I kind of felt that [director Sophie Bart] captured, in a funny way, an archetypal type of neurotic New York self-involved actor." [ONTD]
• Star Jones and chef Herb Wilson: It's on. [Perez]
• Ralph Macchio is not happy about the Karate Kid remake Will and Jayden Smith are plotting. Macchio says: "From my personal view, filling the void of what Mr. Miyagi was - and the magic of that character - is going to be the toughest task. I don't know where the romantic story-arc goes [with Jayden Smith] at that age." [Perez]
• Alyssa Milano has received a restraining order against a man who has "increasingly" harassed and stalked her. [ET]
• James Taylor wore a hat and sunglasses during his performance at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday because he either "fell during rehearsal" (official story) or had some sort of fisticuffs with a "wooden parrot in his hotel room" (unofficial story). Either way, he got 50 stitches in his forehead. Stupid parrot. [Page Six]
• Wesley Snipes has a pending three-year jail sentence for tax evasion, but has been loading up on tax-free swag at Sundance. [Page Six]
• "If someone rapes a girl he should be bent over and the same thing done to him. I’m sorry that’s just the way I feel. I’m very strict. If someone is done for drink-driving they should have their licence taken away for life. And if someone steals they should have to wear a dye on their skin, like a tattoo on their ear or somewhere it can be seen – like across their face! That would stop people stealing." — Katie "Jordan" Price. [The Sun]
• "I really know how to think. If I decide to make a coat red in the show, it's not just red. I think: is it communist red? Is it cherry cordial? Is it ruby red? Or is it apple red? Or the big red balloon red? I mean there's like so many fucking different kinds of red. And so you have to say, well, what are we trying to say in this scene? Is it a happy red? Or a sad red? Is it a lace red? Or a leather red? Or a wool red? It's like there are so many components to making a show and making art… I strive to be a female Warhol. I want to make films and music, do photography and paint one day, maybe. Make fashion. Make big museum art installations. I would be a bit more mixed-media than him probably - combining mixed media and imagery and doing more of a kind of a weird pop-art piece." — Lady GaGa. [Guardian]
• "I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that Wolverine will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations." — Hugh Jackman. [Page Six]
• "It's intense, and there are no weights involved. And some of it's like girly stuff, like just kicking your leg, but it’s muscles you don’t really ever work at. Men don’t usually go to the gym and say, 'I’m going to develop my ass. This’ll be the J.Lo workout.'" — 50 Cent, on his fitness regimen. [Gatecrasher]
• "His attitude in the play is, 'Hey, I'm pretty kickass. Sure, I made some mistakes, but any president does, and, for the most part, I did a good job.'" — Will Ferrell on playing Dubya in You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush. [Village Voice]

• Aretha Franklin is getting ready to sing for Barack Obama at the inauguration. She met him in 2005 at the funeral of Rosa Parks and says: "I think they expect between three and five million people at the swearing-in. Although I have sung for many, many people - hundreds of thousands - I have never sung for that kind of number, but I am absolutely looking forward to it." [Times of London]
• Kerry Washington, who was the national co-chair for the Vote for Change initiative, is in D.C. for the inauguration and has already attended an Essence magazine lunch and hit some cocktail parties. [USA Today]
• Yesterday's "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial featured Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and U2. Watching in the VIP section: Blair Underwood and family; Jay-Z, Angela Bassett. [MSNBC Scoop, Washinton Post]
• In D.C.: J.Lo, Marc Anthony, Shakira, Rosie Perez, Wilmer Valderrama, George Lopez, Geraldo Rivera, Rosario Dawson and others at the Latino Inaugural Ball. Lopez and Anthony were seen kissing. [Politico]
• At the Declare Yourself event: Jessica Alba, Ben Affleck, Jamie Foxx, Hayden Panettiere, Rick Schroeder, Sarah Silverman, John Legend and Lindsay Lohan. [Politico]
• Oprah's best friend Gayle King is in D.C. too, she went to the BET Honors VIP reception. She's got her own XM radio show. [WaPo]
• By the by, J. Lo and Marc are showing "no visible signs of marital distress" despite the tabloid headlines. [MSNBC]
• Picture this: 50 Cent was performing at a Vitamin Water party at the Sundance Film Festival and it was Jim Carrey's birthday, so Fiddy invitved Carrey onto the stage where he busted out some dance moves. [Gatecrasher]
• Mariah Carey got wasted at a Sundance event her husband was DJing. [Gatecrasher]
• Kate Winslet says of The Reader and Revolutionary Road: "I've been very lucky this year. It's extraordinary playing two such wonderful women." Understatement! [Telegraph]
• Leonardo DiCaprio says of filming with Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes: "It felt like a kind of a family — a sort of weird twisted family." [Mirror]
• Ashton Kutcher's blog on The Huffington Post is about a Presidential Pledge. He writes: "We have gathered a group of individuals who share the courage to pledge to our president, and the world at large, what it is that they are willing to do, give, or sacrifice, in an effort to help their fellow man. Our hope is that this effort will inspire others to do the same, with individuals posting their initiatives within their communities. This is not a selfless utopian action. In fact it is a very selfish one. By improving the lives of those who surround us we will in effect improve our own." [HuffPo]
• If you haven't already seen the sad spectacle that is Joaquin Phoenix rapping, click for video. [E!]
• Also a sad spectacle: Joaquin's beard. [People]
• Jeremy Piven's publicist is upset that the producers of Speed-The-Plow have filed a grievance against Piven and says it's outrageous. "He withdrew from the play due to medical necessity on the advice of his doctors, Samantha Masts insists. She also notes he hasn't even been paid for his Broadway stint yet. [UPI, E!]
• This long, long story is about how, with all of her projects, Victoria is beating David and emerging as the "winner" in the Beckham marriage. [Times Of London]
• Any chance Tina Fey's Sarah Palin character will show up on Amy Poehler's new TV show? "No, no, no." [E!]
• The death of Mark Ruffalo's brother, Scott, has been ruled a homicide. [Gatecrasher]
• Blind item! "Which odd couple better hope their mutual spouses don’t discover that they shared a recent night of passion in Las Vegas?" [Gatecrasher]
• Christina Aguilera and husband Jordan Bratman threw Where The Wild Things Are-themed birthday party for their son, Max, on Saturday. [People]
• Is Kate Middleton, Prince William's ladylove, coming to New York? She's spoken with Anna Wintour and Tom Ford and is thinking about working at a major fashion house. [Daily Express]
• Paris Hilton really is BFFs with the winner of her MTV show, Brittany Flickinger: "I love her. She’s slept at my house every night for the last four weeks." But! Paris's dream best friend? Angelina Jolie. "She’s strong but gorgeous and uses her fame for good to make a big difference in the world. That’s a great quality. I’d have a lot in common with her." Um, LOL? [Pop Dirt]
• Isla Fisher is trying to plot her wedding to Sacha Baron Cohen: "[It] has been difficult to plan," she tells Allure. "It is very important to me to have a beautiful ritual celebrated with all my family and friends… when you are in the public eye, to keep that private and to make it happen without it being really visible is really difficult." Plus, Bruno could show up! [SMH]
• Kate Moss's birthday party was a "monumental medieval bash," but the young lady at the door accidentally let some random people in and got yelled at by Kate. [This Is London]
• Jamie Hince has purchased some unconventional artwork for Kate Moss's 35th birthday: A Parisian graffiti artist will spray the pieces directly on the walls of Kate's house. [The Sun]
• Whoops! Katy Perry was accidentally given the International Song Of THe Year award in Cannes, due to an error in the vote-counting. The real winner? Rihanna. [News.com.au]
• Boy George is in prison, where, says an inmate, "He’s not been crying but seems to be in another world and sleeps a lot. They’ve put him in a cell with a Rasta guy to protect him and there is always a guard close by." [The Sun]
• The Jonas Brothers are getting their own TV show, and it's inspired by the Beatles… and the Monkees. The concept: The bros play boys in a band trying to live normal lives at a regular school, despite being trailed by throngs of ardent fans. A hard day's night? [Reuters]
• By the by, Nick Jonas lost a ping-pong game to Sasha and Malia Obama. [UPI]
• Uh-oh: Three buses carrying this year's 52 Miss America got lost on the ladies' first night in Las Vegas. [UPI]
• Sexy spoiler alert: This season of Lost will be extremely Sawyer-centric. And! Oh! New video sneak peek! [E!]
• Here's an interview with Lost's Michael Emerson, aka Benjamin Linus. [E!]
• Hmm, Jay Jopling, the dude that Lily Allen's been hanging all over, is actually married to edgy British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, and now she's facing a £100m divorce. [Daily Mail]
• Even though Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. have become friends while shooting Sherlock Holmes, Downey is angry that Ritchie is making him wear four-inch platforms in his shoes to give his character some height. A source says: "Rob is stumbling around a lot and cursing Guy over the silly shoes." [The Sun]
• ZOMG, Courtney Love is trying to set up Frances Bean with Twilight's Robert Pattinson! [Daily Mail]
• Portia de Rossi says marriage has changed her life. "It's legal, and it's real, so there's that kind of formality to it that makes it very valid," she says. "I think the emotions that went with that as a gay woman kind of surprised me – that I would be that relieved to have my mother be present at the ceremony to bless the union, and to call [Ellen] her daughter-in-law." [People]
• Congrats to Brothers & Sisters star Rachel Griffiths, who is pregnant with her third child. [UPI]
• The Michael Jackson musical, Thriller Live, has hit the boards in London's West End, but doesn't reference Jackson's backstory. Plus! Producer Paul Walden speaks of MJ in the past tense, saying, "Here was an artist who had an amazing career." [Wall Street Journal]
• FYI: In NYC's horse carriage battle, Liam Neeson is all for them and Alec Baldwin is against. [Page Six]
• CNN's Soledad O'Brien lives in a NYC apartment building where one of her neighbors has a mastiff. Apparently O'Brien is not a fan of the dog due to its "size, slobbering, shedding, drooling, gassiness and odors" — and got the animal — and its owners — kicked out of the building. Sad face! O'Brien has a cat. [ Gothamist]
• Brody Jenner and his Playboy Playmate girlfriend like to stay home and bake cookies. Her Christmas gift to him was a custom surfboard emblazoned with a photo from her Playmate of the Year spread and the Playboy Bunny logo. Classy! [People]
• Alex Trebek is hosting something called Canada's Next Prime MInister. Is that how they do it up north? [Yahoo News]
• Eliza Dushku is developing a biopic about the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and her brother, Nate, will star. Keeping the homoeroticism in the family! [E!]
• John Cleese, 69, has a 27-year-old girlfriend named Barbie, and she's telling this paper about seeing him naked and having sex with him and says he has the "package of a 19-year-old." [Mirror]
• Look for Cher to star in a comedy in which Johnny Knoxville is her love interest. She's 62; he's 35. Fox 411]
• Madonna's new promo shot in which she is wearing thigh-high bondage boots and white fishnet tights, a thong and a top that resembles a surgical bandage is really not that raunchy, considering. [Telegraph]
• Check out Eddie Murphy getting friendly with a blonde on the dancefloor. [Concrete Loop]
• Apparently what the world needs now is another Gordon Gekko movie. [Telegraph]
• "They photoshopped the crap out of me! I don’t care — whoever she is, she looks great!" — Kelly Clarkson, commenting on the photograph on the cover of her new single. [Gatecrasher]
• "When I started filming Lost I was 24 and I’ll be 30 this summer… When you’re in your 20s, men tend to see you as a piece of ass, and women will probably regard you as young and cute. But once you reach your 30s, suddenly people are going to take you seriously and women are more like, 'She’s reached maturity and she’s going to start sagging like the rest of us!'" — Evangeline Lily. [Mirror]
• "I always wanted to kill Hitler, I hated him. As a child studying history and looking at documents, I wondered, why didn't someone stand up and try to stop it?" — Tom Cruise. [Reuters, USA Today]
• "This is me saying this is who I am. This is my story. After all the years of reading scripts and reading lines, this is my chance to do something straight from the heart and put it out there. When I was young I liked punk rock music but then I discovered rap. I love the storytelling aspect of hip-hop." — Joaquin Phoenix. [People]
• "Obama's a unique figure in history. The fundamental American-ness of his story and the fact that he represents for many, many people an image and a view of the country that felt like it was so long missing in action…This place we've been talking about, singing about... it's alive. It isn't dead. It exists… There's always tomorrow and, hopefully, you can use the word 'hopefully' now. You can live here, and use the word 'hopefully'. So that's pretty nice." — Bruce Springsteen. [Guardian]

• Joaquin Phoenix, who recently retired from acting, officially launched his rap career this past Friday. Says Phoenix: "Are there people who think it's going to suck? Probably, but I can’t worry about that." [People]

• Why rap? "This is me saying this is who I am," Phoenix says, "This is my story." He then added, "This is my life, this is no Mekhi Phifer." Ok, not really. But you know you were thinking it too! [People]
• Portia de Rossi says that her marriage to Ellen Degeneres has changed her life: ""There's a peace to [being married] and a sense of togetherness that we just didn't have before. And I didn't even realize it would change as much as it has, but it's so lovely," de Rossi says. [People]
• The Youth of America will be represented, at least in musical form, by Kanye West, Kid Rock, and Fall Out Boy, who have been asked to perform at the Youth Inaugural Ball. In related news: the Youth of America can't wait until they are old enough to vote, so that they can avoid being represented by Kid Rock and Pete Wentz once and for all. [People]
• Anne Hathaway has a bit of Princess Mia in her after all: "I was on a first date with someone and I was so nervous I think I had crossed my legs really tight and stuck them under the table and was leaning against them and at one point I got up to go to the bathroom and my leg had fallen asleep but I didn't know it so I stood up and fell into the next table," Hathaway says, "I was laid across it and the guy was like 'Are you ok?' I was hoping somehow that he hadn't noticed. The worst part was that I had to walk to the bathroom with a kind of limp, dragging my leg."[ShowbizSpy]
• Kendra Wilkinson is now apologizing for remarks she made about Hugh Hefner and their sex life in USWeekly: "I'm really bad at interviews, and anyone who knows me knew I meant no harm...I'm a goofball. Mostly, I'm very sorry to have hurt Hef...Playboy made me who I am, and Hef has done more for me than anyone else," Wilkinson says, "In my heart, I will always love Hef and Playboy."[E!]
• Renee Zellweger has no plans to be a mother anytime soon: "Motherhood has never been an ambition. I don't think like that. I never have expectations like, 'When I'm 19 I'm going to do this, and by the time I've hit 25 I'm going to do that'," Zellweger says, "I just take things as they come, each day at a time, and if things happen then all well and good."[ShowbizSpy]
• Kate Winslet has no desire to live like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: "Although I don't know them, I do think about their situation. They're like a walking soap opera, and the public wants to know what's going to happen next. I didn't choose this profession because I wanted to be famous. I come from a family of actors, who have often struggled, so I always thought I'd be lucky if I even got a job," Winslet says, "I'm grateful for my success because of the freedom it's given me as an actress. The downside is how much more publicly available you become. I don't want Mia or Joe to think being famous is about wearing beautiful dresses - if you're on a red carpet and wearing a fabulous frock, it's the result of years of hard graft."[DailyMail]
• Amy Poehler is getting ready for the launch of her still-untitled new show: “You just try to do your best and work with talented people,” Poehler says, “Doing stuff that is a little scary, I think is good. You have to keep moving.” E!]
• Matt Lauer will be the first to interview hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger. The interview will air on Monday's Today Show. [NYTimes]
• You know how you saw a commercial for Paul Blart:Mall Cop and thought to yourself: Who is going to see that? Well it turns out everybody did: it's currently leading at the box office, fending off My Bloody Valentine and Notorious. [EW]