• Mischa Barton's former friend Nicole Richie is helping her get her life back together after her recent meltdown. Nicole, "stepped in and talked to her about making changes in her life… basically doing a 360," says a source.

• "Mischa isn't even smoking anymore, thanks to Nicole... Nicole told Mischa that she has to straighten up because she has a lot riding on this new show," added the source. We hate to question an anonymous source, but it seems her math is a little off there. [Radar Online]
• Maybe the rumors are true: Mischa Barton is scheduled to return to work on The Beautiful Life later this week. Her rep says she "will be resuming production as planned with the rest of the cast in NYC. She's back to business as usual." [People]
• Jessica Simpson said she's not going to ask Tony Romo to return the $100,000 boat she got him for his last birthday. She explained, "I'm not an Indian giver." [TMZ]
• Joe Simpson says Jessica Simpson is "doing very good," since the breakup and she got a 5-carat diamond ring this weekend from a random jewelry designer at a party. What more could a girl want? [E!]
• "Jen romping with so publicly with Butler is like stabbing a knife through Brad's heart," claims a source, because as we all know the only reason Jennifer Aniston continues to pursue romantic relationships is to make Brad Pitt jealous. [ONTD]
• Just so you know, Brad Pitt bought another motorcycle. [The Daily Mail]
• Some are interpreting a reference Miley Cyrus made on Twitter to a John Mayer song to mean that she's going to break up with Nick Jonas for Justin Gaston... or something like that. We can't spend anymore time trying to make sense of a 16-year-old's Tweets. [People]
• Apparently Demi Lovato is still friends with Miley Cyrus even though she just broke up with her brother Trace Cyrus. Lovato says, "Recently [Miley] sent me this four-page text message encouraging me and telling me she has faith in me. It was so inspiring and made me feel great – because I do get a bit overwhelmed by the paps sometimes." [People]
• Amy Winehouse is shipping all of her equipment back from the Caribbean so she can set up a new studio and start recording her third album. [The Sun]
• Now that their divorce is finalized, Blake Fielder-Civil continues to spill details about Amy Winehouse. He says of the first time she tried heroin, "We had a bottle of pink champagne and had sex and were lying on the bed together talking. I'd been smoking heroin on my own before that, but never in front of her. I got a bit for myself, and she looked at me and said, 'Can I have some?' I was out of my mind on drugs and I said, 'Of course'. She inhaled the heroin and then just sat back, smiled and her eyes went a bit funny. She said, 'I can see why you take this'. Amy took to heroin like a duck to water, same as me." [The Sun]
• DEA agents raided Dr. Conrad Murray's home in Las Vegas today looking for Michael Jackson's medical records. An agent spoke to the press and said Dr. Murray was home during the raid. [TMZ, TMZ]
• A spokeswoman for Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyer said, "It's a waste of time responding to all these timed ‘leaks' from ‘anonymous' sources... I have no doubt they want to make a case – for goodness sakes, it's Michael Jackson - but things tend to shake out when all the facts are made known." [Radar Online]
• According to Brody Jenner he doesn't hang out with Lauren Conrad anymore. "I haven't seen much of her since she left the show," said Brody. It's almost like the producers of The Hills were forcing them to hang out. [E!]
• Apparently this L.A. Candy movie is all part of Lauren Conrad's master plan. "Lauren's goal is to get into producing – it always was," says a source, "It was always to make L.A. Candy into a film or TV show. She's been in talks about it." [People]
• Daniel Bark, the man who allegedly hit and killed American Idol hopeful Alexis Cohen has been charged with aggravated manslaughter by causing the death of another while fleeing from law enforcement officers, vehicular homicide and eluding police. Bark's attorney says he's on suicide watch. [UPI, Extra]
• Simon Cowell is dating Mezghan Hussainy, a make-up artist who works on American Idol. [The Daily Mail]
• Marilyn Manson wrote this threat to journalists on his blog: "I can, but do not need to defend myself And the absurd accusations that the average press has clinged onto. If we need a nude photo of me to prove that I am far different than the soon-to-be-murdered-in-their-home press has decided to fabricate, that is easy. But if one more 'journalist' makes a cavalier statement about me and my band, I will personally or with my fans help, greet them at their home and discover just how much they believe in their freedom of speech. I dare you all to write one more thing that you won't say to my face. Because I will make you say it. In that manner. That is a threat. Mm" [Perez Hilton]
• It seems Marilyn Manson's comments were a reaction to a recent L.A. Weekly interview that paints him as a paranoid cocaine addict and claims ex Evan Rachel Wood was nicknamed "Snowflake" because "when they played shows, she'd hold all the coke." [Rolling Stone]
• A few days before their split from Reggie Bush, Kim Kardashian said in an interview about their house hunting expedition, "I've always wanted to buy a big house myself and ... It is time for me to move. I wish my sisters could move in with me...I don't think I would ever live with someone unless I'm engaged. I'm really firm on that. I have done it before. I would tell all my friends, the best thing is to keep your independence. It feels really good to be able to buy a place by myself." Of course, People thinks this is "telling." [People]
• Hulk Hogan's divorce from Linda Bollea is nearing an end. This morning they agreed to a final settlement over their assets and Hulk told reporters, "I'm a free man." [TMZ]
• Supposedly just six months into their relationship Josh Duhamel and Fergie's relationship is on the rocks because he wants to start a family and she wants to pursue her career. "Publicly they're painting a picture of sheer bliss, but behind the scenes, cracks in their young marriage are beginning to show," says a source. [The National Enquirer]
• The Sun quoted Estelle, who sings "American Boy" as Tweeting "Rihanna just doesn't do it for me," but she says they were actually quoting one of her followers and she never insulted Rihanna. [The Daily Express]
• Ashley Jensen of Ugly Betty and her husband, actor Terence Beesley, are expecting their first child in the fall. [People]
• Ethan and Joel Coen's A Serious Man and Drew Barrymore's Whip It will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. [Variety]
• Warren Beatty's lawyer is arguing that it would be too expensive and inconvenient for him to travel to Delaware for the trial to settle a dispute about the movie and TV rights to Dick Tracy. [AP]
• A reporter on Good Day Scramento joked during an interview with Joan Rivers that her daughter Melissa Rivers was just riding her coattails. Joan replied: "I think we're going to end the interview right here. Don't be so fucking smart." [TMZ]
• Josh Brolin says sex with Megan Fox was "uncomfortable" ... on screen in their film Jonah Hex. [The Sun]
• Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted flirting with Ashley Roberts of the Pussycat Dolls. [The Sun]
• According to a press release from E!'s Daily 10, Kevin Federline says of his relationship with Britney Spears, "It's been really cordial, you know, thank God. We've had our rough patches, but you know, right now, we're doing great." And concerning the rumors that he'll star in a reality show about him getting back into shape, Kev says, "It would probably be pretty interesting, you know?"
• A reporter asked Nora Ephron if it's possible to achieve real happiness without butter. She replied: "I feel this way, but, you know, there are probably some people who have probably achieved happiness without it. But I feel sorry for them." [The L.A. Times]
• Dame Judi Dench was almost hit by a speeding taxi in London. The driver yelled, "You stupid cunt!" and she replied, " That's Dame Cunt to you!" [Perez Hilton]
• Diane Keaton has spearheaded a campaign to keep a developer from demolishing the Century Plaza Hotel, a curving glass and steel building made in the '60s that Keaton calls, "a sexy woman surrounded by ogling men – Sophia Loren in the 1960s". [The Independent]
• "Who's not Team Edward?" says Jennifer Love Hewitt of Twilight's Edward Cullen, "There is not a girl in the world who's not Team Edward! Have you met girls who are not Team Edward? Well, they are not girls! They're aliens from another planet who should not be allowed to exist... Listen, Edward can fly you through the forest. He's like Aladdin with vampire teeth - there's magic-carpet rides. He can sing. He can watch you sleep. He plays music. He sniffs your neck. I mean, please!" [MTV]

Joan Rivers, under the circumstances, was wise to play it safe - or her Nancy-Reagan-as-Trump-Tower equivalent thereof.


I have a certain sympathy for Melissa Rivers as a fellow person with no style or qualifications who still feels confident to hand down arbitrary opinions of celebrities' outfits. The difference is, I have nowhere to wearwouldn't wear anything so utterly expensive predictable as bandage plus Louboutins.


I am confused by Iliza Shlesinger's top. I like high-low as well as the next guy, but this has a middle-school-boy's conscientious tucked-in look.


I'm just gonna say it: I love Kathy Griffin's dress.


Kaylee DeFer is probably taunting Joan Rivers by wearing this getup on a night when she can't criticize it! Ha! Roast, indeed!


I'm so ready for this pajama-onesie trend to end; I have a particular aversion to "comfy" things that actually look really hard to wear. That said, Claudia Jordan looks pretty good.


Rebecca Corry's boot-breakout seems premature to my Eastern eyes, but maybe the seasons aren't acknowledged in L.A.?


Jackie Collins always wears the perfect "Jackie Collins" uniform. You can just smell the "Poison" from here.


As we know, I have a particular aversion to purple, with its echoes of wizards and Lisa Frank. And yet, I like sharp, sleek little cotton dresses like Whitney Cumming.' What to do?


Maybe I'd have gone for a slightly more open neckline on this LBD, but man am I digging on Robin Quivers' shoes - and am unfailingly struck by her commitment to off-air class!


I hate when people's dates aren't identified. Like it would take so long to ask? Not that there's anything wrong with being "Alan Thicke's plus one," I guess, but when one has taken the time to cultivate a careful Easter palette, it seems a crying shame.

[Images via Getty]

• Everyone's favorite human being, Tim Gunn, likes Dunkin' Donuts (Grace Mirabella turned him onto it.) And he can't afford to buy an apartment in New York, either! (Stars! They're just like us!) [Time Out New York]
• Simon Doonan, the woman's champion, bemoans that there's "a lot of conformity, a lot of blonde hair ... I often wonder if feminism was just a dream. I can't believe how women feel so scrutinised, and they're still so self-critical - I thought they would have let go of that now but they haven't. There's a very masochistic thing with women now that I didn't used to see. My girl friends in the punk era weren't like that at all." [Guardian]
• How's the fashion set responding to the economic crisis? "Everyone's freaking out. Everyone." [WSJ]
• AOL pulls the plug on Glass-House dwellers Joan and Melissa Rivers' Emmy coverage because of repeated humorous references to the Third Reich, corpulence. [P6]

• Prada denies it's trolling for an investor in Dubai; says it's still going public. The economy says otherwise! [WWD]
• Tom Ford's bringing in the whole Mad Men design team to work on his directorial debut. Which we would totally do, if you changed "directorial debut" to "our apartment." [E!]
• Not shockingly, Woody Harrelson is a big advocate for hemp. [Guardian]
• Of her unisex clown-in-the-asylum collection for H&M, Rei Kawakubo declares, “The collection is constructed around Comme des Garçons’ style. Rather than aiming to make clothes that no one has ever seen before, it is very much Comme des Garçons to its roots. My priority has always been creativity, which was not the least bit compromised with this collection. That was the last thing H&M wanted us to do. Otherwise they wouldn’t have asked us.” [BlackBook]
• Munichers at Oktoberfest are furious - furious! - at the poor quality of cheap, Chinese-made lederhosen. [Business Week]
• Hoping to avoid a similar fate, Scottish kiltmakers hold a summit to protect their industry. [UPI]
• Our greatest minds have come up with Kix by Katie, "a stick-on, lightweight, supportive strip which is applied to the inside back hemline of pants. This useful innovative invention adds just a bit of extra weight to your pants, making them hang down nicely." Thus is eliminated the heel-wedgie, the apparent bane of many a high-heeled dame. [InventorSpot]
• Nike's in trouble. [WSJ]
• PETA harasses Armani customers because he went back on his word about not using fur. No one makes a fool of PETA! They do that themselves! [Daily Express]
• Gillian Anderson, for one, is furious with him. [FirstPost]
• He responds by releasing a chocolate. "Available at Armani/Dolci stores this week through the end of October, the dark chocolate praline sweets are enclosed in a thin coating of white chocolate, conjuring “a tiny ethereal ghost,” the company said." [WWD]
• We apparently don't feel nearly self-conscious enough about our rapidly-aging hands. [NYT]
• Did Anthropolgie rip off their whimsical wall design? [Slog]
• British film on Hijab fashion rubs some the wrong way. [Muslim Media Watch]
• Aw, no one wants Elton John's really expensive brooch! A casualty of the economy? [The Star]
• Some Milan designers apparently in deep economic denial, all about "optimism!" [VogueUK]

The Good:
Hey, Paula! She looks pretty damn cute with all the buttons and the interesting shoes.

On someone else this dress might look trashy, but Haylie Duff is pulling it off somehow. The pop-of-color-shoes are a bonus.

Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta's dress is fresh and springy and adorable. Kudos.

Dancing With The Stars host Samantha Harris makes it look easy. This dress is fits well and is flattering and fun.

The Bad:

Sure, white really flatters your skin tone and it's L.A., where shorts are eveningwear, and your legs are great, but something about this ensemble is terribly vexing, Vanessa Minnillo. Perhaps it's the bedazzled tank.

Aubrey O'Day of Danity Kane had the same idea as Haylie Duff, but just didn't pull it off. She needs a sleek ponytail, a stack of bangles and a bra.

Melissa Rivers: Stuck in a tear in the space-time continuum, where it is 2001 and leather jackets, faded jeans and pointy shoes are all the rage.

Kim Kardashian's dress isn't bad; In fact it's quite cute. But perhaps taken in and sans belt, it could be a body-skimming tunic? Right now it seems to be emphasizing the width of her hips and camouflaging her tiny waist. She can do better; we've seen it.

The Ugly:

This, my friends, is Lisa Kline herself! Unfortunately, this dress is a disaster from neckline to hemline. Ill-fitting, oddly designed and weirdly reminiscent of cobwebs. In a bad way.

Stacy Keibler's minty green dress is actually sort of cute, but she ruined it with that heavy, clunky, dark necklace. And shall we discuss the shoes? The incredibly vulgar shoes? If the point is to evoke the image of the tip of an uncut phallus, then, by God: Well done.

[Images via FilmMagic.]

• Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend, model Camilla Alves, is pregnant. These are the eloquent words the actor and surfer dude wrote: "My girlfriend Camila and I made a baby together. Its 3 months growin in her womb and all looks healthy and lively so far. We are stoked and wowed by this miracle of creation." There's more, but you get the point. Also: The kid's gonna be gorgeous. [Us Magazine]
  
• RIP Brad Renfro, star of flicks like The Client and Apt Pupil. The 25-year-old was found dead in his home yesterday. [TMZ, NY Times]
  
• Britney Spears was completely naked in a Betsey Johnson store over the weekend, says an employee at the boutique. "Then she disappeared in the dressing room with Adnan for 45 minutes. They were making weird noises. It was disgusting." Uh, maybe he was helping her try on clothes? [Page Six]

• Paris Hilton's ex, Stavros Niarchos, is pursuing Victoria's Secret model Izabel Goulart. I dunno why we need to know this. [Page Six]
• Melissa Rivers: Grabby at a gift suite. So annoying how celebs get so much free stuff. Wait, is she a celeb? [Page Six]
• Sean Penn, who wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle in the past, drafted a letter calling the publication an "increasingly lamebrain paper." The Chronicle printed his letter, hee hee! [Editor & Publisher]
• Uh oh, Amy Winehouse is having visa issues. She may not be able to go to the Grammys! Then again, the Grammys could be canceled because of the writers' strike. [Gatecrasher]
• Dr. Phil is looking for celebs to appear on his 1,000th episode; after the Britney debacle, stars are not so interested. Could the doc use some therapy? [Gatecrasher]
• And Britney's suicide note, which was mentioned in last week's midweek madness, is about her loneliness, how unfair life is and how she can't trust anyone, sigh. [The Sun]
• Blind item! "Which doe-eyed young TV star is attracting attention for his indiscreet way with cocaine? 'He will do it absolutely anywhere,' says a source. 'Don't tell anybody!'" [Gatecrasher]
• Was Gwyneth Paltrow in the hospital because of a troubled pregnancy? [Rush & Molloy]
• Theives broke into Sadie Frost's London home — while she was there. The burglars took a cash and laptop. And this isn't the first time her house has been robbed: It happened in 2006 as well. Someone call security! [Daily Mail]
• Says someone who works for Zoey 101, Jamie Lynn Spears' show: "Everyone on the set is shocked by Jamie Lynn's pregnancy. "They don't know who did it... It could be anyone on the show!" [Rush & Molloy]
• David Spade: Maybe knocked up a Playboy Playmate. What is with that guy getting hot chicks? [TMZ]
• Linsday Lohan tried to avoid the paparazzi by wearing a brunette wig on her way to traffic school. Didn't work. [TMZ]
• John Mayer is defending Jessica Simpson on his blog, asking people who claim she jinxed Dallas Cowboys star Tony Romo to back off. "That girl loves Texas more than you know," he wrote. "It's one of her most defining traits as a person. So please don't try and take that away from her." It's a decent thing for an ex to do; making it hard to hate on this guy, ugh. [People]
• Eva Longoria is also defending Jessica Simpson. She relates, because her husband is a sports star, you see? Groan. [LA Times]
• OMG Zac Efron hospitalized! Teen hearts aflutter! The 20-year-old High School Musical star had his appendix taken out yesterday and will be fine. He should be shirtless on the cover of a magazine again real soon. [People]
• Gwen Stefani moving to London? A source says she'll stay there fro a while so her hubby can launch his solo career. [Mirror]
• Avril Lavigne had been accused of plagiarism regarding her hit "Girlfriend" but as been exonerated, phew. Apparently the lyrics and theme (Hey, you, I don't like your girlfriend) are like, common or something? [People]
• The FCC was asked if ABC or Diane Keaton would face consequences for her F-Bomb on Good Morning America. Chairman Kevin Martin: "I don't know." [Reuters]
• Childhood photos of Katie Holmes reveal that Suri looks just like her, shocker. In any case, no one doubts who Suri's mother is — just her father, right? [Daily Mail]
• Robert Blake is appealing his wrongful death verdict in which he was ordered to pay the survivors of Bonny Lee Bakeley $30 million. Blake and his lawyer are saying that the jurors were "incompetent," and "guilty of misconduct." Please just let it end! [AP]