• Here's the thing about Courtney Love losing custody of her daughter: Frances Bean Cobain wants to live with her grandmother.

Courtney Love's lawyer says that's what Courtney losing legal control of her daughter is all about. He says: "Courtney's been clean for years and is perfectly fine. This is simply about Frances preferring to live with her grandmother at this time. Frances is 17 and a strong-willed child, and this is a decision she made on her own." Wendy O'Connor, Courtney's Kurt's mother and Frances's grandmother, lives in Olympia, Washington, and last year, Frances told Bazaar: "She's probably the person I respect most out of anybody in the world." Do you remember when Courtney went on a Twitter rant in September? Frances Bean tweeted: "Someone adopt me please?" [People]

• Courtney Love's lawyer: "All I can tell you as Courtney's friend is that she loves her daughter more then anything in the world. Courtney will no doubt do what is best for Frances and will surely take her teenage daughter's desire and feelings into consideration with respect to the legal guardian issue." [Radar Online]
• Nicole Kidman's daughter Sunday Rose knows baby sign language. "She's picked it right up, Nicole says. As for her 17-year-old daughter, Bella: "She's incredibly talented… She expresses herself through drawing." [Showbiz 411]
• Yesterday's rant must have gotten him in a heap of trouble: Chris Brown has deleted his Twitter account. [Perez]
• Michael Lohan was arrested this weekend, after calling his ex-girlfriend — who has a restraining order against him. Whoops. [TMZ, Newser]
• Bethenny Frankel stripped naked for giant PETA billboard. "It's so tasteful and beautifully done," she claims. "I am especially pleased because it doesn't look like there's been any airbrushing, and I was already pregnant when I shot it." No airbrushing? Pardon us while we LOL. [Page Six]
• BREAKING: After giving birth yesterday, Kourtney Kardashian wanted a tuna sandwich. [TMZ]
• Elton John and David Furnish still want to adopt a kid, even though their attempt to adopt a 17-month old Ukrainian child who lives in an orphanage was denied. Furnish says: "We were upset not to be allowed to adopt but we'll fight and work with the Ukrainian government to change the law so that HIV positive children can be adopted. We'll be like uncles. They can visit us on holidays." [The Sun]
• So… Toby Keith was at the Nobel Peace Prize party, and Will Smith performed "Rapper's Delight." When the word "yellow" was uttered in the line "to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow," Keith pulled his eye into a slant. Asian people love that, right? [TMZ]
• A-Rod says: "I'm definitely single." Guess he won't be on Kate Hudson's arm at any Nine premieres. Still, a source says: "They've definitely broken up. There's been some drama before about his roving eye. But this isn't the first time they've split up and got back together." [Page Six]
• A-Rod was seen in Miami over the weekend in the company of a leggy blonde. A "snitch" says: "Alex has a wandering eye, and Kate is a hopeless romantic. It's not exactly the perfect match." [Gatecrasher]
• Wait, what? Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren is having a "secret meeting" with Victoria Beckham? Apparently friends have urged Elin to talk to Posh, whose own marriage was threatened by claims David Beckham had an affair with his assistant, Rebecca Loos. [The Sun]
• Several women involved with Tiger Woods claim that he wired money to them — from $5000-$10,000 — on a monthly basis. "The money comes via a wire transfer," said one woman. "There's no contract about it, there's no discussion about what it's for, but it's implied that it's in exchange for keeping quiet about his affair." And! Apparently Elin has taken his cell phone away. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Jaimee Grubbs, who had a relationship with Tiger Woods, has been calling and texting an ex-boyfriend, boasting about her notoriety. A sample: "Hey u... It's been rough... I'm very well known now and everything I do is being blasted across the Internet… I'm on every news channel and in every magazine as Tiger Woods mistress." [Radar Online]
• Items like this one, about how Tiger Woods got out of sticky situations in the past, make you wonder about all the kinds of things celebrities get away with. [TMZ]
• Jennifer Garner's stalker was arrested Monday, and sorry to be judgy, but he's totally got a super creepy mug shot. [Radar Online]
• Alabaster-skinned Kelly Osbourne is the face of St. Tropez self-tanning lotions? Ah: Fake-baking is just one of the many things she learned on Dancing With The Stars! [Page Six]
• Chace Crawford was seen drinking red wine alone and texting. Stars! Just like us. [Page Six]
• Beyoncé hearts interactive theater. [Page Six]
• Jimmy Fallon's Michael Jackson impression is allegedly impressive. [Page Six]
• Ron Howard and daughter Bryce Dallas Howard would like to make a movie together; Bryce blames her dad for not making it happen: "He knows for a fact that I pester him every single day to put me in a movie. I really want to work with him!" [Gatecrasher]
• Daniel Day Lewis thinks Jeff Bridges should win the Oscar for Crazy Heart. "Everyone loves him. And he's so good." [Showbiz 411]
• Mel Gibson "rarely" has time for his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, or their six-week-old daughter, Lucia. According to a source. "Mel can go days without even stopping by Oksana's home and checking in on Lucia - much less feeding her, putting her down for a nap or changing a diaper," spills a source. "Mel tells Oksana he isn't raising Lucia any differently than he did his other passel of kids, and that (his estranged wife, Robyn Gibson) really did the raising." [MSNBC via National Enquirer]
• "A movie company that hired Samuel L. Jackson to star in a big-budget film is pissed off they weer forced to settle for Laurence Fishburne instead, this according to a new lawsuit." [TMZ]
• Roman Polanski's The Ghost, starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor, will be released in the U.S. as The Ghost Writer in early 2010. [NY Daily News]
• Coming to a silver screen near you: In The Heights — based on the Broadway musical — directed by Kenny Ortega. Meanwhile, Corbin Bleu will do the show on Broadway. [Page Six]
• Alan Arkin's character in The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee: Loosely based on Arthur Miller. [Page Six]
• In a world of losers, SpongeBob SquarePants is a winner. [NY Daily News]
• The New York Film Critics Circle chose The Hurt Locker as best picture. Will director Kathryn Bigelow get an Oscar nod? [NY Post]
• A cheat sheet for the movies which will "most likely" be Oscar nominees at the link. [NY Post]
• BREAKING: Whatshisname doesn't like boobs. [The Sun]
• "Dear Santa, I want a boy for Christmas... wanna hook a sista up?! Oh, and not just any boy… one that holds the door open for you, and writes hand written letters, and spends time with the (parents).. ya hurrd?" — Teen star Demi Lovato, via Twitter. [MSNBC]
• "I thought a divorce was the best thing for both of them at the time, as they were a destructive influence on each other. But I was sad Blake had lost the love of his life. I speak to Amy on the phone. She said to me recently: 'You have an amazing son who is gorgeous and beautiful and sensitive. But other people don't see it.' I'm convinced Blake and Amy will remarry early next year. I don't know when, where or how it will happen. I'd like to be at the wedding this time round but I wouldn't be surprised if they went away and got hitched without anyone knowing about it. Whatever they do, I think it's going to be a happy ending this time." — Georgette Civil, mother of Blake Fielder-Civil, who says the drama between her son and Amy Winehouse almost drove her to suicide: "All this has taken a big toll on my own life… I reached my lowest ebb over the summer and even thought about ending it all." [Daily Express]
• "When I met Carey, I was an abused puppy in the corner, ready to bite anyone who put their hand out." — Pink says she has softened since meeting her husband. She also claims: "I've always said I like Britney. I swear to God, I've stuck up for Britney since the beginning." [Gatecrasher via Women's Health]

My colleagues and I are convinced that one of our co-workers is insane. The details are bizarre and too numerous to go through, but as an example, when collecting clothes for needy children we found that this worker, who admitted to never having been in a relationship, mentioned that he had a basement full of toddler clothing. When I told him about an encounter with a pushy beggar, he said: "You should have sliced his hand off with my knife." I have this fear that something bizarre will happen and then when the police ask: "Were there any signs?" we'd answer: "Sure, tons of them." Yet what were we going to do? Go to human resources and tell them he's crazy?

Dorothy Parker: Sticks and stones are mighty harsh/But beat your body in a marsh.

Soapy Smith: "Collecting clothes for needy children?" I know that game.

Lizzie Borden: Don't you travel with your own weapons?

Michel Foucault: Maybe you're insane.

Marie Antoinette: What are these "coworkers" of which you speak?

Jesus Christ: Y'know, you should really be more careful how you treat beggars. That's all I'll say. Verily.

Sigmund Freud: And who are you, Freud?

Jeffrey Dahmer: In his defense, there are much worse things you could have in your basement.

Robert Frost: Good fences make good neighbors.

Oscar Wilde: At least madness would be amusing; this is tedious.

Henry Darger: What? Some of us really like toddlers. And sometimes the state won't let us adopt, okay?

Baby Jane Hudson: Exactly! How else are you supposed to do musical numbers?

Jack the Ripper: Hand? Then they can identify you! That's why the lord made "disemboweling."

Franz Kafka: You say "something bizarre" like that's a bad thing.

Jane Austen: One may live a very full life without a "relationship," Sir.

Jack Kerouac: Fuck offices.

DearLucy [Financial Times]

• Robert Pattinson was grazed by a taxi cab in New York while running across the street to get away from hysterical fans. The cab only hit him in the hip and he was uninjured.

• The bodyguard next to him yelled, "You see what you did, you almost killed him!" at the fans. [Radar Online]
• Robert Pattinson was reportedly out on a date with two woman earlier this week, because obviously he could not have been just spending time with two female friends. "One of the two women Rob was with was definitely Camilla Belle, one of his 'rumored' girlfriends," said a source. "The other I only caught a quick glance of  and it could have been Emilie De Ravin but I can't swear to it. She was blond and beautiful." [Radar Online]
• TLC has started running commercials for a special episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 that will air on Monday. The ad, which you can watch at the link, says, "Jon and Kate Gosselin have an announcement." And Kate says in a voice over, "Recently, we've made some life-changing decisions - decisions that will affect every member of our family, ones that we hope will bring each of us some peace." [People]
• A source confirms Jon and Kate Gosselin will announce that they are divorcing. Another says they've agreed to separate by July 15. They say Kate has already met with a divorce lawyer. [Radar Online]
• Carrie Prejean's lawyers have sent a letter to the Miss California USA organization saying she was wrongly terminated and will sue unless they "retract the defamatory statements" made about her. [Extra]
• Barry Carpenter, the Ohio police chief being investigated for allegedly breaking into the home of Sarah Jessica Park and Matthew Broderick's surrogate, told a radio station he has a perfectly reasonable explanation. Carpenter says he was driving past the home when he noticed the front door was open, so he went in to make sure everything was OK. Then he met with a National Enquirer reporter who was snooping around in town to "mess with him and jerk him around." [TMZ]
• Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, his partner of five years, are selecting a surrogate mother to carry their baby. They are using the same agency as Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. [Star]
• Lou Ferrigno, former star of The Incredible Hulk is training Michael Jackson in preparation for his comeback concerts in July. "Lou and Michael have known each other for a long time," says Ferrigno's wife Carla. "Lou first trained Michael 15-years ago." [People]
• Cher has released a statement about her son Chaz Bono's sex change. "Chaz is embarking on a difficult journey, but one that I will support," she says. "I respect the courage it takes to go through this transition in the glare of public scrutiny and although I may not understand I will strive to be understanding. The one thing that will never change is my abiding love for my child." [People]
• Tyra Banks' stalker, Brady Green, was sentenced today to one year of probation, barred from contacting Tyra for two years, and ordered to complete and anti-stalking court. Tyra was not present in court. [NY Post]
• Britney Spears was originally supposed to stay at an unnamed hotel in Dublin, but after the management refused to install a steel pole in her room so she could continue practicing her pole dancing workouts she moved to the Four Seasons. [The Evening Herald]
• Alexa Ray Joel says she wasn't surprised when she found out Billy Joel was divorcing his wife Katie Joel. "I have a pretty good woman's intuition, so I could tell," said Alexa. "I know my dad very well... He's a strong man. He'll get through this, and I'm going to help him." [People]
• Kanye West and Amber Rose are back on. [Perez Hilton]
• Usher said he doesn't want people to assume that he's in a bad place because he's getting divorced. "If there's any turmoil I think it's managing all of it, but having an incredible team that helps me do that it makes it very easy, or easier than it would normally be attempting to do it myself," he said, adding, "What I do is, I try to get [my work] done and get home on the weekends if possible ... but when I'm with my boys it's just all about them." [Entertainment Tonight]
• The Austrian media is going nuts over speculation that Sacha Baron Cohen's character in Bruno is actually based on Austrian TV host Alfons Haider. He says, "I never understood the comparison to myself at all. The only comparisons I can think of is that I'm Austrian, I'm gay, and I work for television, but the rest is completely fiction." [TMZ]
• Megan Fox has defended her comments about smoking pot saying, "I wouldn't call it recreational drug use... that makes me sound like I'm going into clubs and using cocaine... I talked about the legalisation of marijuana, which I think in the United States it should be. If alcohol is legal, I just think marijuana should be, that's all." [The Star]
• Though a spokesman for the Tony Awards said that Bret Michaels was knocked out by a falling prop at the show when he "missed his mark," Michaels says, "I didn't drop my microphone or slip on a banana peel. I got blindsided … This was a real accident. This wasn't a gag gone wrong." [USA Today]
• A cast member was injured while filming a battle scene for Ridley Scott's remake of Robin Hood. Medics were called in to treat him and there's no word on his condition. [The Daily Mail]
• Delta Burke is in a wheelchair because she slipped in a hotel bathroom and injured her back. She said, "I felt myself falling and I didn't want to hit my head on the toilet because I did not want 'toilet bowl' in my obituary listed anywhere." [Extra]
• British TV host Fearne Cotton will spend two weeks with Scarlett Johansson for a new show about Hollywood lifestyles. Paris Hilton and Peaches Geldof will appear on other episodes. [The Sun]
• Jack Tweed, husband of the late Jade Goody, was snubbed by R.Kelly at a London nightclub. On onlooker reports, "'They said that Jack had been invited into the VIP area to see R. Kelly. But the bouncer did not recognise him and told him that he couldn't get in. When Jack's mate told the bouncer who he was, the guy on the door said, "It doesn't matter who he is, he still can't come in." [The Daily Mail]
• Jani Lane, lead singer of 80's hair band Warrant, was arrested for misdemeanor DUI traffic accident last night in L.A. He is currently being held on $30,000 bail. [TMZ]
• Woody Allen said he'd like French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to star in one of his films. "I'm sure she would be wonderful. She has charisma, and she performs, so she's not a stranger to an audience, and I would cast her in many different ways," he said. "I don't have a story at the moment, but you know, maybe even I'll ask her, if she's interested." [Yahoo]
• In the video at the link, Ethan Zohn of Survivor: Africa discusses the medication he has to take to treat his Hodgkins Lymphoma. "The chemotherapy knocks me down, so I've gotta take all this stuff to boost me back up," he says. [People]
• Liv Tyler got into a screaming match with an elderly woman in Los Angeles after she saw the woman shouting at a baby crying in its stroller. She checked on the child and threatened to call the police. [The Daily Mail]
• Ashton Kutcher is urging the U.S. government not to intervene in Iran, not that anyone asked him. He Tweets: "Considering how well fighting 4 freedom in Iraq went, I dont know that we should B jumping in2 this Iran deal. I think that truly the only people that can change things in Iran are the Iranians themselves and they seem to be speaking their minds now." He also told other Twitterers that they should change their IP address to make it look like they are in Tehran to confuse Iranian officials. [The Daily Express]
• NeNe Leakes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta says of the fighting on The Real Housewives of New Jersey over Danielle Staub's past, "For someone to criticize someone about something they've done in their 20s is absolutely bananas. Who hasn't made a mistake while they were in their 20s? Everyone had! Most people do things that they are not proud of when they are in their 20s. I've made mistakes. So have Teresa, Dina, Caroline and Danielle. Honey, I hope they don't pull apart my closet from when I was 21. There's a lot of stuff up in there." [E!]
• Janet Hubert, who played Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince of Bel Air has written a tell-all memoir in which she lashes out at Will Smith. She writes, "Smith had people around him who made sure no one outshone him. I was happy to see Don Cheadle become the quality actor that he is, and often wondered how he made it past one episode, as Hilary's boyfriend, being such a fierce actor. No one could be on The Tonight Show, that first season, except Will. And I mean no one." [Just Jared]
• Heather Locklear was spotted a few times last week wearing a diamond ring, sparking rumors that she and Jack Wagner are engaged. A few night later the ring was gone. "She's in it for the long haul with Jack. Their friends know their future is together," says a friend of the couple, who explains that they're planning to get married, "But they're not officially engaged." [People]
• Price William is hinting that he would like to go to war like his brother, Prince Harry. "In my eyes, if Harry can do it then I can do it," William said. "I didn't join the forces to be mollycoddled or treated any differently." He added that while many say it's impossible for him to be on the front lines, "I still remain hopeful there's a chance." [People]
• Lindsay Price says boyfriend Josh Radnor's best qualities are that, "He's very thoughtful, and he's very good at giving gifts," adding, "He's the light in the dark space." [People]
• Anna Friel says that for her role as a prostitute named Dee in the BBC show The Street she met a real prostitute. "She taught me that when she's at work she puts her mind into a different place," she said. "She absents herself. I didn't have a sex scene as Dee - you didn't need to see that. But I got the sense from the woman I met of the prostitute's disregard for men. In a sense, the woman has power over the man, she manipulates the situation and is in charge of how it goes... The piece is saying that, while prostitution is never the answer, people should not get too judgmental about women who have to go down that path." [The Independent]
• Bridget Marquardt says she's not surprised that Kendra Wilkinson is pregnant because she knew she wanted to start a family soon, "But I definitely thought Holly would be the first." She added, "[Kendra] actually has a little bit of a baby bump. She thinks she…looks fat," she said with a laugh, "but I know she's not." [E!]
• Josh Duhamel says he knew Fergie was "the One" because of advice his dad gave him. "My dad once told me to find someone who sees things optimistically," he says. "It was just the consistency of how my wife dealt with things. I knew how she'd deal with adversity." [People]
• Chace Crawford says he's even more honored to be named People's Hottest Bachelor now that he's considered the competition. "Me and my friends are flipping through and Access Hollywood, they're like x-ing out the other guys. When they're x-ing out [George] Clooney, that's when it hit me. I go, 'Wow, that feels pretty surreal,'" he adds, "It's such a big deal. It's funny I didn't really realize how massive [it] was going to be." Does Chace realize that "hottest bachelor" isn't actually as competitive as "sexiest man alive?" [People]
• John Krasinsky says that Sam Mendes made him and Maya Rudolph film their sex scene on the first day of shooting Away We Go to break the ice. "We were both really, really nervous and one of the reasons why I wear my glasses throughout the movie and never take them off is because I was so nervous under the covers that when I popped out I still had the glasses on," says Krasinsky. "I didn't have the wherewithal to see what the hell was going on. I popped out and Sam was like, 'Cut, that was ridiculous.' I said, 'I know I'm really sorry.' And (he) was like, 'No we're gonna keep it.' From then on I wear my glasses in bed for the character because I was terrified being under the covers." [The Daily Express]
• Evan Rachel Wood says even though her relationship with Marilyn Manson is over she appreciates that he helped her find her dark side. She says, "I would want to do something really dark or vintage or over-the-top for an award show, but my people would be like, 'It makes you look old, let's keep you young and fresh and light and fluffy.' And I hadn't gotten my voice yet, so I was just like, 'OK, you're right, I suck, I'll wear what you say.' But then I met [Manson], and I found somebody who appreciated all those things about me that I thought were wrong. He liked the music I liked, the way I dressed, the people I hung out with. I was raised thinking that a relationship like that was just completely wrong. But I can't choose who I fall in love with, and I'm not going to not do something that makes me happy just because people disapprove. It seemed natural to us and that was all that mattered." [The Daily Express]

But this joyous occasion did not come without a price. In a personal essay in the Advocate, Thomas writes about all of the prejudice he faced when trying to find adequate medical care. One doctor, "after a $300 consultation, reluctantly performed my initial checkups. He then required us to see the clinic's psychologist to see if we were fit to bring a child into this world and consulted with the ethics board of his hospital. A few months and a couple thousand dollars later, he told us that he would no longer treat us, saying he and his staff felt uncomfortable working with 'someone like me.'" Even Thomas's own brother was unkind, telling Thomas after his first pregnancy turned out ectopic, "It's a good thing that happened. Who knows what kind of monster it would have been."

Thomas isn't the only transmale facing difficulties. In last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, there was a story about the opposition transmen are facing at women's colleges. The piece profiled Rey, a college freshman who started his university career at Barnard, only to transfer to Columbia because of the number of issues he faced. According to writer Alissa Quart, Rey is not alone in his alienation: "Many trans students feel themselves to be excluded or isolated at women's schools and at coed colleges. Some talk of being razzed or insulted by fellow students." But Quart also discusses the question of how colleges meant for women are supposed to serve people who no longer identify as women in the first place.

Will society ever be able to accommodate all the facets of the gender spectrum? Or will cases like Thomas's and Rey's always be a struggle for acceptance and personal freedom?

Labor Of Love [The Advocate]
When Girls Will Be Boys [New York Times]

• Fergie and actor Josh Duhamel are engaged. We hope Fergie didn't wet her pants when he proposed! [People]
  
• Good news for society, bad news for Paris Hilton: Paris' grandfather, Baron Hilton, has decided to give 97% of his $2.3 billion fortune to charity when he dies. [Reuters]
  
• Lindsay Lohan spent Christmas Eve with Adrian Grenier at his Brooklyn apartment, but they're definitely not a couple. [Page Six]
  
• Also, Lindsay's dad called paparazzi photographers to tip them off to his reunion meeting with Lindsay at the Mercer Hotel. Aw, sweet! [Gatecrasher]
  
• Also: Lindsay's ex, Riley Giles, is selling his personal photos of her to the tabs. Again: How sweet! [MSNBC]
  
• Pete Doherty gave Amy Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil some tips on how to make the best of his prison time. Fielder has also asked Doherty to look out for Winehouse. Oh lord: Not a one of them stands a chance! [The Sun]

• Will Smith: Scientologist? [Page Six]
• Move over, Fergie: I Love New York star Tiffany "New York" Pollard is also engaged: Her future intended is show winner George "Tailor Made" Weisberger... [People]
• ...who is apparently already cheating on her. [Gatecrasher]
• Courtney Love is moving to New York. She bought a townhouse in the West Village. She says on her MySpace blog, "itllcost ...alot...to returjn it to a house biut fbc doesnt need to have all that space til she moves here at 18." [Gothamist]
• But whatever will Courtney fill all that space with after having been robbed yesterday? [Perez Hilton]
• Ah, nevermind: The stolen goods have been returned. [Perez Hilton]
• Britney had to return the kids back to K-Fed after spending Christmas with them. The exchange of progeny took place at a Starbucks, naturally. [Daily Mail]
• Johnny Depp: Too emotionally scarred to ever marry again. [MSNBC]
• Top Chef host / former model/former Mrs. Salman Rushdie Padma Lakshmi dnies that she and "financier" Teddy Forstmann are dating. [Page Six]
• Drew Barrymore and her boyfriend Justin "Mac Guy" Long: Definitely together, united against parking tickets. [Page Six]
• Leonardo DiCaprio and Bar Rafaeli are definitely back together. [Gatecrasher]
• Also a couple: Gossip Girl co-stars Blake "Serena van der Woodsen" Lively and Penn "Dan Humphrey" Badgley. [MSNBC]
• Jennifer Aniston reportedly celebrated Christmas with real-life best Friend Courteney Cox Arquette. [Daily Mail]
• Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown has won the custody battle for her daughter against her ex-husband, Jimmy Gulzar. Which is good, 'cause it's so much more effective when the Spice Girls sing "Mama" in their reunion tour when their very own kids are front and center. [TMZ]