No bravery, no sympathy.

Tim Rice-Oxley of the British band Keane had this to say about Paris Hilton, after having appeared on Saturday Night Live when Paris hosted last year: "I basically have three enduring memories of that experience. First, her stupid little dog kept running into our dressing room and we kept on booting it out, and second, she had a man, a security guard, whose only job was to carry her dog around. The other one was that she was completely unable to pronounce the name of our band. They had to dress-rehearse, like, six times: 'Ladies and gentlemen, Keanie!' Just on and on. I mean, there's no reason she should know who we are, but it's not that difficult ... And at the end, when we had the big sort of group hug, in my attempt to be kind of cool about the thing, I trod on her foot." I would like to extend my personal gratitude to this man for representin'.

Christina Aguilera announced that her next album will be titled "Back to Basics" and will be released on August 15th. It's a "modern take on vintage jazz, soul and blues from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s" and features "Ain't No Other Man," her first single, which she will premiere at the MTV Movie Awards on June 8th. I prefer Christina to Britney, but this just brings me back to Britney premiering "I'm A Slave For You" at the MTV Video Music Awards. I can't help it!

And some Laguna news, at last. Alex Murrel's MySpace is reporting a June 13th release of the Season Two DVD set, as well as her debut album, although Lauren Conrad's site is still reporting a July 25th release of the set. Lauren's website has been revamped to prepare for the premiere of The Hills. It looks just as sketchy as it did before. Boo.

I don't normally do this, but these are just too cute to pass up. Some photos of the delightfully good-looking Stephen Colletti with girlfriend Hayden Panettiere, courtesy of the stalkers at The Real O.C. boards ;).

Jessica Simpson's "longtime" personal assistant and best friend CaCee Cobb has quit. She celebrated with Jessica at Morton's in Los Angeles, where Jessica is said to have toasted, "You are my best friend. I will be your best friend forever." Hmm. Unless she's a hundred percent sure of that, I think she meant, "I hope I will be your best friend forever."

Billy Bush, host of Access Hollywood, recently blogged about Lindsay Lohan. He said that, "She came, the interview went decently, and I left realizing this about her: She is very tainted by press interviews and now instinctively feels like everybody's out to get her. She's been through a lot for a 19-year-old... one who made almost 8 million dollars for her current film, 'Just My Luck.' One step towards getting press people to lay off might be to keep them in the dark about how much money you're making - it only makes you less real and harder to truly accept." Mmm. No. Still no sympathy here, although I completely agree with him.

Seriously ... who isn't against Lindsay these days? When she appeared on TRL several days ago, her poor publicist Leslie Sloane Zelnick threw a fit backstage just moments before Lindsay was to appear on camera, demanding to switch VJ Vanessa Minnillo for Damien Fahey. Unfortunately, the show went on with Vanessa hosting -- with supposedly awkward conversation, "unwelcome mic jabbing" and "Lindsay's accusatory tone." And unfortunately for Ms. Sloane Zelnick, she represents both women.

The tumultuous life of Lindsay Lohan.

Nick Lachey, whose album drops today in the U.S., appears on Access Hollywood and opens up about his marriage/divorce: "I don't think I could ever hate her," he said of Jessica Simpson. "I think it was more of a hate of the situation ... I don't think I could say that I've completely let go, but I think it's a process that you have to go through in this." On whether he's looking to marry again in the future, Lachey said, "For me, a phase was certainly going through that emotion saying, 'I just can't imagine doing this again.' ... But for me, I'm a romantic heart ... I don't want to be a 'serial marrier,' but at the same time, I just can't imagine not being married again." He knocked down rumors of having a steady gal: "My girlie has been my work, which has been a real blessing through this." Yes. There really is no need for him to "open up about his marriage" on TV -- his album is chock full of depressing odes to his former marriage.

Jake Gyllenhaal is, for the time being, dispelling rumors of being gay -- he is now dating Gretchen Bleiler, an Olympic snowboarder. According to Us Weekly heir relationship is serious enough that Bleiler is moving from Colorado to Los Angeles for him. Jakey's people said when asked for comment, "Thank you for inquiring but we do not comment on his personal life." Read: Thank you for not asking us if he's gay or not.

The National Enquirer finally has something nice to say about someone! Too bad it's Lindsay Lohan. It reports that she's heading to Africa to help AIDS and poverty victims for the ONE campaign. The magazine quoted an insider as saying, "Lindsay truly does feel for those who are suffering from AIDS and who are poor -- and genuinely feels she needs to pay something back to the world for the fortunate life she's led ... At the same time, she wants to be taken seriously as a person, and she's well aware of her image as a fluffy party girl. She sees working in Africa as a means to shed her 'naughty girl' reputation." There's always a catch ... [Photo courtesy of ONTD]

When Lindsay appeared on Today, Matt Lauer brought up the Vanity Fair article -- and her dabbling in drugs. LiLo slammed the claims by saying, "I don't believe that was ever brought up. Yeah, everything's fine." Hmm ... are the drugs causing short-term memory loss already?

The paparazzi caught Lohan and model-musician James Burke sharing a moment on Sunday in New York City. People says, "The 20-year-old Burke was most recently linked to Lohan pal Kate Moss, with whom he took a ski vacation in January." Any bets on how long this one will last?

LL's mother Dina is being sued for fraud after signing a music deal with Antonio Almeida for Lindsay in 2002, with which Lindsay cut half an album with Emilio Estefan -- before she signed a deal with Tommy Mottola's Casablanca Records. Oops. I remember when I used to read Lindsay's online journal on her official site -- when she actually updated her official site -- and she boasted about her five or six record deal with Estefan. I guess that all went down the drain when Aaron Carter two-timed on her and Duff and blew her to mega superstardom.

Cheaters

Chad Michael Murray wasn't allowed to attend his 18-year-old fiancée Kenzie Dalton's prom. Her school has a policy against admitting guests over the age of twenty, although they can petition to get in. Murray wasn't. So instead, he threw her and her friends an afterparty, where he unravelled a present for her -- a brand new Mercedes-Benz. [Photo courtesy of ONTD]

Pete Doherty has sunken to even lower depths of depravity? Apparently, he sold his phone to a stranger to get some money to buy drugs with. Funny thing is, he forgot to delete all the juicy info, like texts Kate Moss has been sending him where she calls him "my only love" and supposedly begs him to give heroin up so they can spend the summer together at her home in the Cotswolds. Messages from fans and photos of him partying were also left on the phone. Smart one he is.

American Idol winner Carrie Underwood picked up a BA in Mass Communications from Northeastern State University this past Saturday. She was only three credits away from graduating when she left to be on American Idol.

Britney Spears' acting coach is blabbing about her lack of talent ("an untalented, self-focused wannabe," to be precise): "Britney's no better or worse than an newcomer to acting. The big difference is, she's into shortcuts. She kept telling me to skip elements of the course she believed weren't necessary ... It was clear she really hadn't understood the concept of any of them. She came across as a spoilt child in the body of a young woman, who's not used to being told no." He must really have it in for her, because he added, "I can imagine her ruining a televised drama by suddenly staring straight into camera and either winking, shaking her boobs or blowing a bubble of gum. But not all at the same time -- that would be asking far too much of her." Not like we couldn't tell from those early Mickey Mouse Club days that she couldn't act ...

Is Jesse Metcalfe pulling a John Tucker? The title character of John Tucker Must Die has reportedly been seen with three girls of late, though he is supposedly steadily dating UK band Girls Aloud's Nadine Coyle. But he's been seen around town with model Laura Shields and John Tucker costar Brittany Snow: "Jesse and Brittany attended the opening ... together and were later seen acting cozy at a club. [They] were acting every inch a couple as they posed for the cameras and then later on they were gazing into each other's eyes." A case of being too in character?

Life & Style is saying that Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz are set to marry on Oahu, Hawaii soon. Yay.

My favorite story of the day -- David and Victoria Beckham invited royals Charles and Camilla to their pre-World Cup party at -- get this -- Beckingham Palace, but were declined. No kidding!

Out with the old, in with the new.

[Photo courtesy of AshleeSimpson.net]
Rumors have been floating around for a while now, but I didn't want to say anything until I saw it with my own eyes: Ashlee Simpson has gotten a nose job. She appeared for her first official event yesterday at SunFest in West Palm Beach, Florida. From the event's photos, it looks like she also lost herself a little bit of weight. I'm a little disappointed in her, not the least of reasons being that her nose was distinctive and was what made her look different.

Laguna Beach's Alexandra Murrel is now living with Angel Carter, sister to Nick and Aaron Carter, as well as former roommate Brittany. No word on Alex Hooser, though. Seems like Hooser was nixed -- hopefully no hard feelings? Alex M and Angel have combined forces and created a MySpace account to celebrate their newfound bff-ness, and you can add them here. Angel adds that the Carter family reality show will premiere on October 26th on E!, although it's probably too early to confirm anything of the sort. [Photo courtesy of The Real O.C. boards]

According to unnamed sources, it looks like Mischa Barton's heading out from The O.C.: "Mischa is definitely going. She hasn't been happy for a while and producers think its best she leaves. It is the perfect end to the current series." The show's creator, Josh Schwartz, has been hinting at the death of a major character for sometime now -- fans may have assumed it was Johnny -- but now people are speculating that Marissa may take her alcohol and drug problems to another level and overdose to the point of no return ... another good reason to bring Willa Holland back as Marissa's little sister Kaitlin.

Lindsay Lohan gets on another star's hit list -- because of a guy. At Los Angeles' new hotspot Shag, Cameron Diaz asked Lindsay to stop smoking in the shared VIP section. Star magazine concedes that it wasn't so much about the nasty habit, but about Jared Leto, Diaz's ex-fiance.

And according to Perez Hilton (who I would not trust with real-life matters), Nicole Richie confronted him at a Coffee Bean this morning, asking him, "Do I really have zombie hands? ... Call me anorexic to my face." Perez didn't go into much detail, saying that they "had a nice little convo and hugged it out. It felt good." I'll bet it did.

Gawd, I wish some celebrity would just give him a bitch slap and stop playing so nice with him. Nicole should've been the one ...

Curvy is the new skinny.

So the new thing in Hollywood is to put on the pounds.

Lindsay Lohan's trying to do it too. She tells The Mirror that her stick-thing look doesn't suit her and wants to put on a few pounds: "You want to be called sexy, and you want to have tits and an ass ... I like food. I eat all types of things. I'd never be able to do the no carbs and no sugar thing. I just ordered a peanut and jelly sandwich. I like McDonald's and I love sushi. I do good stir-frys, but the meal I cooked the other night was grilled chicken parmesan, sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes."

We love the new Lohan news -- Page Six reported recently that at the annual Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York this past Monday, Mary-Kate Olsen "looked like she wanted to die when she saw Lindsay. She hung back and refused to get close … She clearly did not want to be near Lindsay and made an effort to not get close. It was odd ... Lindsay always e-mails her. She is always trying to find out from others who she is dating - MK thinks she's creepy." Oh, roll loving memories of high school ...

Evan Rachel Wood is dating her co-star of Down in the Valley,Ed Norton!!! The two were spotted dining and canoodling around New York City by the people at Gawker. [Photo courtesy of ONTD]

MTV has finally put up a site for The Hills, but the site notes the premiere as May 31st, at 10pm EST instead of the previously announced May 24th. Click here to check it out.

The Paris Hilton drama ensues. Stavros Niarchos is dumb enough to want to get back with her -- according to the photographers at TMZ, he arrived at her house around 1am on Monday morning and spent an hour crying and ringing her doorbell. Around 2, she finally let him in -- and he began screaming, "Take me back ... I give you everything!" Matt Leinart's name was said to be mentioned. Finally, Paris told him to "Take it easy" and to "Go home and get some sleep." Wow, she almost seems to have a heart.

And celebrities.com reports that when Paris was asked about Matt Leinart, she gave a coy smile and thought for a moment before replying, "I'm single!"

Yeah, whatever.

Vanity Fair digs up the dirt.

Nicole Richie admits to Vanity Fair in their upcoming issue that ""I know I'm too thin right now, so I wouldn't want any young girl looking at me and saying, 'That's what I want to look like ... I do know that they will, which is another reason I really do need to do something about it. I'm not happy with the way I look right now." The magazine's Leslie Bennetts added that Nicole "dealt with that by not eating and her weight went down, which she couldn't afford at that point." Apparently she's working alongside a doctor, a psychiatrist, a nutritionist and a trainer, and gets weighted once a week. But still -- Nicole tells the magazine that she doesn't believe she's anorexic. "I have gained weight since I was my thinnest."

I don't know what she thinks anorexia nervosa is if she thinks not eating isn't it. But who knows with Vanity Fair, with all the commotion that was made when Lindsay Lohan "admitted" that she had an eating disorder to it a while back ...

Ashlee Simpson opens up about her current boyfriend, band member Braxton Olita: "He's (Olita) the yin to my yang. People call him my little Buddha. When he comes around, everything changes... I'm more peaceful and chilled out. I honestly couldn't be more content ... We live day-to-day. Marriage is definitely not on my mind. There's a lot of growing up you do in your 20s, and I definitely want to wait until my late 20s or 30s or whenever the time is right."

Laguna Beach's Stephen Colletti spoke to Canada's National Post about life after Laguna: "I still talk to Trey and Dieter, but that's about it. I haven't heard from Lauren and I hardly talk to Kristin." Did he ever date Paris Hilton? "No. ... I met her and there were photos taken and I was thinking, 'This is gonna be bad.'" He hopes to have a career like Tom Cruise's (WHY!?) -- "Top Gun is one of my favourite movies. Days of Thunder? Classic." But for now, he's taking acting classes in L.A. and "honing the craft."

And Adam Brody never ceases to say funny things. For his first leading role, he stars as a "young writer who has an affair with an older neighbor" in The Land of Women. The older woman is played by none other than Meg Ryan and Brody was "grossed out" by his first sex scene: "I've done pre and post-sex scenes, but I've never done the sex scene. It was nutty ... It really was. I've done countless make-out scenes, but I've never insinuated or pantomimed sex ... I saw it and I covered my eyes. I don't want to see me doing that! It's not graphic, but I grossed myself out." [Photo courtesy of Rachel-Bilson.net]

P.S. How could I forget!? The word on the street is that Mischa Barton will be leaving The O.C. with the end of this season, but may appear as a guest star in future seasons. Gasp!

Ça c'est le pompon.

Paris Hilton takes the cake today in celebrity news. Or, "Ça c'est le pompon," as the French would say.


[Photo courtesy of TMZ]
I guess the biggest news of all is that she's been spotted around town with Kristin Cavallari's leftovers, former USC football star Matt Leinart. The pair were photographed shopping at The Grove in Los Angeles, with Paris sporting a brown wig.

Speculation on why Paris and Stavros Niarchos split has come down to ... no surprise here -- Lindsay Lohan. According to Life & Style magazine, Stavros was spotted “sipping cocktails and dirty dancing” at Element with Lindsay. A bartender told the magazine that “Lindsay was all over Stavros ... At one point, he had his hand up her skirt!” And three days later, Stavros was seen leaving her room at the Chateau Marmont.

But Nick Lachey wouldn't be able to tell you why Stavros was there in the first place -- he recently said during a radio interview that "I can safely say that I don't have any interest in Lindsay Lohan ... Nor do I understand anyone else that does." OUCH. But I couldn't agree more.

Back to Paris. She thinks "Smoking is sexy." And according to the source, Female First, she likes the way she looks when she lights up. "It's like so cool how you all smoke everywhere in the UK."

... turning now to TomKat. It's been reported that Katie Holmes' father, Martin Holmes complained about the fitness regime Katie is taking on to shed the weight she gained during her pregnancy: "My daughter needs rest, relaxation and recuperation. Katie is already doing exercises to build up her back and shoulders and I simply can't go along with what is happening." The so-called fitness instructor said that "Katie can and will do it. She has great motivation. She loves her fiance and was proud that Tom oversaw this programme ... He told her he wanted her to be the most beautiful bride ever. She was in tears when he said that." Kill me now.

And lastly, Tom and Katie have apparently signed a £22million prenup. (How much is that in U.S. dollars? Let's see ... $40.5 million. I'm just going to use pounds because I'm too lazy to convert all the figures. Just multiply the figure by two.) £8million has been put aside for Katie and Suri, whether TomKat marries or not. In addition to the 22 million pounds, if TomKat divorces Katie will receive an extra £14million. Maybe Katie's not as brainwashed as we all think she is. The couple is said to marry in July.

Oodles of gossip!

Follow-up on the Lindsay Lohan/Brett Ratner story: Page Six reported that Ratner gave Lohan the code to his house and told him to drop by whenever she well pleased. Well, when he didn't return any of his calls, she decided to take him up on his offer -- and found him in bed with model girlfriend Alina Puscau. Lindsay freaked out, as she has been known to do -- "They started screaming at each other and took the fight first into the living room and then out to the driveway while Brett hid in the bedroom ... Lindsay said she could get Alina deported and left. What she doesn't know is that Alina and Brett are so serious, he gave her a big diamond promise ring last November which she wears on her right hand. She doesn't care that he may cheat. She's got the big diamond ring." Ratner is quite the coward -- not telling Lindsay about his girlfriend, and hiding in his room.

Lindsay, who injured herself a short while back when she slipped on a staircase following a shower, has injured herself once again. "I was coming out of the shower yesterday morning and I slipped ... I have a hairline fracture in my foot. I can't wear heels though. That's the bad thing." And according to Zap2it.com, to prove that her injury wouldn't get the best of her, she "dropped to the floor at the end of her interview, crossed her bad ankleover the healthy one and did 12 push-ups." Okay, I know I said I wouldn't touch Lohan with a ten-foot pole, but that I wish I could've seen for myself. I might have even paid to see it.

Some sources have said that Jessica Simpson has announced that she and Dane Cook are a couple, but none of them are particularly reputable, so I'm going to leave it at that for now.

People is saying that Paris Hilton and Stavros Niarchos have finally called it quits.

E! recently announced that it is adding The Carters, a reality show featuring the infamous musical Carter family, as well as The Simple Life: Till Death Do Us Part, the last installment of the somewhat ill-fated show to its fall lineup. Carter versus Hilton, this should be fun ...

Kristin Cavallari has been chosen as one of Teen People's Top 25 Under 25. The issue should be on stands now.

The NY Post posted an article about The Hills today and revealed a few new "facts" about the show: it focuses on Lauren Conrad, of course, as well as her new pal Whitney (bottom, center). The creator of the show, Adam DiVello, said, "It's basically the Melrose Place to Laguna's Beverly Hills 90210." Er, okay. The producers took Lauren's suggestion to heart -- and cast one of her new neighbors, Audrina (top), a "luscious model/actress" as a series regular. But it was Heidi who instantly befriended Audrina after they met by the pool. Heidi told the producers, "Hey, there's this great girl in the building." Uh oh. Looks like LC's gonna be the Ugly Duckling of the group. That's what she gets for having such gorgeous friends ... [Photo courtesy of NYPost.com]

What the kids are up to ...

Since when did photographs of Lindsay Lohan and Brett Ratner leaving The Dime together constitute them being a couple? I must've missed something while I was gone, because that's what I've been hearing. Or, more correctly, that he's been cheating on her and that things have gone awry before they really ever went anywhere. Say what?

In promoting Laguna Beach in Canada recently, Stephen Colletti made some somewhat insightful comments about his experience with the show. "Having to deal with constant reminders of stuff that happened in high school, it's like, I've learned to deal with it really easily and so I think that's helped me grow up ... I think it's helped me to learn to be a lot more mature and ... be more smart about my actions." His advice for the Season Three cast is "Just don't try and be anybody you aren't ... I think the kids that you see in the show that come off looking bad or that just kind of are awkward to watch, you can tell when someone's not really being themself and it's like they're trying to act when they're not actors." He's currently with teen actress Hayden Panettiere -- when asked whether he was dating her, he smiled and said "My dating life is OK, I'll just say that." And on a potential romantic reunion with Kristin Cavallari, he said, "The answer is no ... It's funny because people are always asking about that. It's hard. It's overwhelming how much that question comes up." Gee, that kind of makes me sad.

Very dated photos, but I thought I'd put them out there for anyone who missed them: evidence Kristin and Nick Lachey were, at the very least, hanging out:

[Photo courtesy of The Laguna Beach Hook Up]

... and a few recent photos of Alex Murrel and Alex Hooser hanging out with the Carter twins (Aaron and Angel, Nick's younger siblings), courtesy of The Real O.C. boards:


... and an oldish but cute story: Mandy Moore was sort of horrified when she saw the headlines next to her face on the cover of this month's issue of Cosmopolitan magazine: "I'm very flattered to be on a magazine cover, but the horrifying part is my parent's have framed every magazine that I've ever been on from the beginning ... So there's a whole wall dedicated to that and it starts off with me at 14 and 'Mandy's favourite colour is pink!' and now Cosmo and my face and 'orgasms unlimited.' And my dad has to take it to the framer's to get it framed. It has nothing to do with me -- it's just an article [that appears in the magazine]!"

Kibosh is my new favorite word.

Hmm ... according to a blind item Perez Hilton left for his readers (What young singer is in major trouble with her family after the matriarch of her clan discovered she'd been an ass and was doing drugs with her fashion stylist, whom now may be getting fired? ) and a suspiciously similar bit PageSix wrote (ASHLEE Simpson is going for her own look right now - at least that's supposedly why she's no longer working with stylist to the stars Jessica Pastor. Pastor is still styling big sister Jessica Simpson, but we hear Ashlee's mom, Tina, is not a Pastor fan, and put the kibosh on any future work for Ashlee. "Tina has no control over Jessica, who is asserting her independence," a spy said. A family rep said, "The Simpsons love Jessica Pastor. Tina and [Pastor] worked together twice this week at Jessica's cover shoot, and at a Jessica Hair collection shoot."), I think it's somewhat safe to conclude the Ashlee Simpson is doing drugs with her stylist, Jessica Pastor. I'd like to think Ashlee's cute ditziness came from a natural place, but I guess not. [Photo courtesy of AshleeSimpson.net]

Los Angeles' Daily News will have you know that Talan Torriero is dating Pussycat Dolls' lead singer, Nicole Kea: After a brief engagement to Rod Stewart's daughter, Kimberly, it appears as if Talan Torriero of "Laguna Beach" isn't having any trouble moving on. He was recently spotted in the bar of Bahama Breeze in Raleigh, N.C., with the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Kea, who was in town for a concert. Some of the patrons quickly recognized the 19-year-old Torriero and immediately asked for his autograph. Realizing he would not be able to partake of any alcohol at the bar, one table even had the waiter bring him a Shirley Temple in jest. Though Torriero took the joke with great amusement, Kea was less impressed — by the fact that no one recognized her, that is. I'm not convinced.

Elizabeth Taylor's reps have come out and said that the rumors of her being bedridden with heart problems are false. She is supposedly busy working on her jewellry and perfume lines.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have reportedly set a wedding date for June 25th in Northern Sydney, although the couple hasn't formally announced their engagement.

Avril Lavigne commented to People about her new girlier image: "Being a girl is awesome. There's so much – bags, shoes, makeup, accessories ... I love putting lotion on – I'm obsessed with lavender. It's a lot of fun, and I think the older you get, the more you get into it."

Suri Cruise theories, according to TigerWeekly.com: It’s a geographic homage to Cruise’s hometown of Syracuse; it’s a reference to Surrey, England, where Hubbard once lived and where the church has a headquarters; or it’s an anagram of “Cruise,” just without the first and last letters.” The last one seems like bs, but the other two seem reasonable enough ...

BIG NEWS (not): Pete Doherty was arrested again this afternoon in London. Again. For, like, the sixth time.

Today

While in Sydney, Australia, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson couldn't find a single thing they wanted to dine on in the Glass Brasserie, a restaurant run by one of Australia's top chefs. So what did they do instead? They ordered in from Pizza Hut and devoured the large pepperoni and double cheese in restaurant, surrounded by four bodyguards. What class.

Pete Doherty has sunken to a low of lows ... or rather, we are only now becoming aware of his low-ness. Pictures have surfaced of him injecting a drug into a female fan's arm while the girl lied unconscious on a kitchen floor. Disgusting.

Other tidbitty news ...

Sofia Coppola, reports HolyMoly, is pregnant with the child of Thomas Mars, the lead singer of the French band Phoenix. Reliable source or not, I'm not sure.

Rosie O'Donnell will join ABC's daytime show The View, replacing View veteran Meredith Vieira who will, in turn, replace Katie Couric on NBC's morning show Today.

Kelly Osbourne has found a new boyfriend in Airbud (and Transamerica)'s Kevin Zegers. Weird couple or what!? [Photo courtesy of lime-light.org]

The Reality of Celebrity

Elizabeth Taylor, one of the few great actresses of yesteryear who is still around, is nearing death. At 74, her heart has begun to fail and she is, according to a friend, "inching closer to death every day and she knows it. It is not a pretty picture." The friend went on to say that "She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research." She is confined to her bedroom and has planned her own funeral. She wishes to be buried next to former husband Richard Burton.

Angelina Jolie finally spoke out about her relationship with Brad Pitt with NBC's Today and Dateline. She said that the media scrutiny makes her "giggle." "If [Brad] saw this, he would probably understand why I was laughing. Because I just don't know how to address that kind of thing. I don't talk about our - my relationship in public. But we also don't talk about it at home. It's one of those funny things that just happens, and you live your life, and you're a family. But you never actually discuss [it]." She spoke lovingly of her children: "I just think, especially my daughter, there's no possible way she would have gone to school. She is so smart and so strong. And her potential as a woman one day is great. Hopefully she will be active in her country and in her continent when she's older. And because she'll have a good education, she'll be able to do that much more." Hmm ... already building Zahara up to be a U.N. ambassador? She went on to say, "My life is very full. I'm very proud when I see my children - already Mad[dox], just how he adjusts to different places in the world and different people and his views and the kind of man he's going to be. I'm very lucky." I find it funny that Maddox's nickname is Mad. That can't be good. The full Dateline interview will air this Sunday at 7PM EST on NBC. [Photo courtesy of NBC.com]

Jolie and Pitt have already sold the photos of their unborn baby to People magazine for $3.5 million, and to Hello for $750,000. The money will go to UNICEF.

Is Sienna Miller stupid enough to take Jude Law back? Maybe, just maybe. The two were spotted last Saturday having dinner in Santa Monica and were reportedly "kissing and holding hands" throughout dinner. The following day, they were photographed having lunch with his children and later went to see Ice Age 2. [Photo courtesy of lime-light.org]

Two stars we couldn't possibly care about are getting their own reality shows: Shannen Doherty and Jennifer Lopez. Okay, maybe some people care about J. Lo. Her MTV show will "focus on her real life" and will also "follow dancers who, with Lopez's guidance, are trying to make it in the dance industry." Um. Has MTV seen her dance!? A source said that "It is very early in the development of the show and anything could happen at this point." Shannen's show is a little less ... self-involved. It will feature her "crusading to save hapless individuals from doomed relationships" and will premiere on Oxygen this summer.

Mandy Moore was persuaded into buying a car that runs on recycled soybean oil. But more than helping the environment, what really sold her on the car was that "It smelled like Mongolian barbecue and I was like, 'I'll take it!' I wanted it -- it was so cool! ... I'm waiting for that paparazzi shot of me at McDonald's at the end of the night stealing their French fry oil and siphoning it into my car." So am I.

Adam Brody's an ELLEgirl!

Paris Hilton has won an award for ... being "Ugly". At the Good, Bad and Ugly awards -- presented to women in advertising -- she scored herself an Ugly award for her Carl's Jr commercial, in which she "washes a Bentley car dressed in a skimpy bikini." The commercial was never aired, deemed being a little too risque.

According to a blurb in this week's Us Weekly, Brody Jenner reveals that, "I think the age difference [between ex-girlfriend Kristin Cavallari and Nick Lachey] was a little strange. But besides that, Nick is a great guy and Kris is a great girl." He went on to imply that he won't be getting back with Kristin: "I'm single now." Hmm. Does that mean that Kristin and Nick did have a thing? [Photo courtesy of yuppiepunk.org]

Cute quote of the week: "I had six months when I was 19 that were bar none the loneliest months of my life. I really wanted to meet a girl." - Adam Brody to ELLEgirl magazine (which I thought went bankrupt!? WTF?)

Interesting choice ... Michelle Rodriguez of Lost, has decided to commit herself to five days in prison rather than do 240 hours of community service for her DUI offense. She previously pleaded no contest to three traffic violations in 2004, completed a three month alcohol program and is currently serving a three-year probation term. Sucks to be her ...

Mischa Barton has, at last, been granted U.S. citizenship. She says of the subject, "I grew up in New York and that makes me pretty American, I think, but I'm definitely different to a lot of Americans ... I just became an American citizen so I can vote now, and I'm really looking forward to that opportunity ... There are things I stand up for, like voting and stuff like that; that's sort of thing's very important ... I'm very opinionated in my private life, but I don't like to get too political in the press." Yes, as you shouldn't.

Better late than never

Sorry for the late update tonight ...

I guess the biggest shocker of the day, although it really shouldn't be all that shocking, is that Denise Richards and Richie Sambora are an item. Woo-hoo. Now Charlie Sheen has someone else to project his anger on!

And then there's this: Us Weekly has confirmed that Britney Spears is, in fact, pregnant with her second child. And according to PerezHilton.com, "'When Spears' doctor confirmed her pregnancy she 'cried her eyeballs out'". That's really too bad ... there goes her comeback. [Photo courtesy of Us Weekly]

I'm not sure if anyone cares, but Rupert Grint of Harry Potter announced that he's quitting school (or has quit school) to make more time for his acting career: "I've left school quite recently. Thankfully I don't have to do that anymore. It was getting quite hard to juggle the tutoring with the film. I'm not really an academic sort of person so I just thought I'd leave and concentrate more on films." Ace. Setting a great example for all the kids out there ... although I would've considered doing the same if I had his fame and fortune.

Brandon Davis, every socialite's ex-boyfriend, is ... coming out with his own line of jeans!?

Oh yes, and according to some sources, The Hills will premiere on May 24th at 10pm EST. Get ready!

Learn your lessons from celebrities' mistakes.

So while I was gone, the impossible and nearly unthinkable happened -- Katie Holmes gave birth. But y'all know that already so I'm not going to dote on the freakish. What's funny (aside from having given birth on the same floor of the same hospital on the same day as Tom Cruise's arch-nemesis Brooke Shields) is that rumors are going around that baby Suri's name does not mean "Princess" in Hebrew as previously thought, but instead, "go" or "leave." That would be fun, no? [Photo courtesy of whatever Hindustan Times uses ;)]

After Denise Richards recently accused her estranged husband Charlie Sheen of threatening to kill her (among other things), Charlie is set to launch his children's clothing line tonight in Los Angeles! The line is named "Sheen Kids" aaaaand that's all you need to know. Really.

Some stories I won't delve into but deserve a mention --
Leonardo DiCaprio was injured on the set of his new movie The Blood Diamond in Mozambique, Africa. He's also dating a twenty-year-old Israeli model by the name of Bar Refaeli.
Backstreet Boy Nick Carter is under investigation for sexual assault after a twenty-year-old Wisconsin woman (glad I turned twenty-one two weeks ago! What is up with these twenty-year-old girls haha) who met him through little brother Aaron stayed with him at a friend's house in Key West, Florida. Lesson here? Never trust Aaron Carter.

Paris Hilton has been extra-stupid lately. She almost electrocuted herself by drunkenly jumping into a swimming pool after a garden light had fallen into it. According to a Sunday Mirror source, "Everyone was stunned. Paris was lucky she didn't get electrocuted. She thought it was hilarious. Stavros jumped in next and accidentally knocked her on the head in the process." According to the mag, Paris then "treated guests to an inebriated attempt at a sexy pole dance." The source commented that "Paris was so drunk she could barely hold onto the pole -- let alone dance." Hmm. What else is new?

Well, apparently Paris also turned on the waterworks to get herself out of a ticket. Her new Mercedes SLR is so new it doesn't have valid registration for the state of California, but Paris began crying and the female officer felt sorry for her and eventually let her go with just a warning. Damn dumbassed woman. She should've known better -- it's Paris Hilton for crying out loud.

But my favorite story has got to be the one about Ashlee Simpson approaching Hilary Duff at L.A. nightclub Basque and telling her that she has chunky arms. Big sister Haylie told Ashlee to get lost and, according to The New York Post, had "choice words for Ashlee's own big sister, Jessica Simpson." The Simpsons' rep said, "Ashlee thinks Hilary has perfectly lovely arms." The Duffs' rep gave a vague, "They said they had a really fun night." I'll bet they did!

The Mack is back.

But before I dive into more "secular" celeb gossip, I should clear my plate of all this Laguna gossip.


[Photos courtesy of The Real O.C. boards]
From the looks of these photos, Jessica Smith cosied up to Teddy Geiger on a Seventeen magazine "Rock Your Prom" mall event recently. According to several accounts, Jessica has been revealing more secrets about the show at college events. According to a post on Oh No They Didn't, Jessica said that the season was "played up a little bit" (as opposed to being 80% fake like she supposedly said at the other college event), whereas the third season is "by far all acting."

According to Jess, "no one talks to LC anymore because she [Lauren] only talks to Jason, who just drinks and does drugs all the time." According to the author of this, Jess said she doesn't talk to Kristin that much anymore and hinted that Kristin was a slut. Jessica went on to reveal that she dropped out of community college after a semester because of all the distractions and the reputation Laguna Beach carried. She dated a guy [I remember what he looks like but cannot for the life of me remember his name now] who turned out to be "dating her as a bet to see if he could get 'the Laguna girl' to like him."

Apparently she also mentioned that the cast was intoxicated "about 90 percent" of the time the cameras were rolling, though that seems to be an exaggeration to me. The author added that "I was surprised at how much bad language she used, and she actually shocked me as to how humanly she really was."

The May 1st issue of In Touch claims that although Kristin and Brody Jenner are back together, she has her eye on Maroon 5's Adam Levine. However, according to PerezHilton.com, Jenner's a single man again (as does his MySpace specify). Apparently Jenner joked to Perez that "he's on the hunt for Jessica Simpson" as retaliation against the rumored fling between Kristin and Nick Lachey.

Kristin is also rumored to be under consideration for the role of Lucy Ewing in the film version of Dallas. This is the same role Jessica Simpson has her eye on -- but the actress who played the small screen version of Lucy, Charlene Tilton, deems Jessica a tad too old to play the role. She instead believes Lindsay Lohan would fit the role perfectly.

A user on the Real O.C. boards shares a not-so-nice story about The Hills cast member Heidi Montag. Apparently an acquaintance of hers ended up going out to dinner with Heidi, and Heidi demanded that the waiter "take [the] bread away from me because if it stays here I will eat it and then I'll get fat." And she treated the poster's acquaintance condescendingly. Time will tell, though extreme editing may change all that. Lovely.

Alex Murrel mentioned in a recent MySpace blog that her album release date may be pushed back one or even two months to coincide with the release of the Season Two DVD set. This is not good news for Alex M. or the fans, as it probably means that Season Three is being pushed back as well. Not a complete tragedy, but oh well. Alex mentioned that she has been working with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter on a song: "... just been in the studio recording.. i actually just started recording a new song that was co written by Nick Carter and another friend of mine Shadrick...i love both of them and im soo happy to get to work with such talented guys i cant wait to hear what it sounds like finished.... its called anticipating and its more of a track that u can get up and dance too!!!"

... and Casey Reinhardt has her own lip gloss line now. They are a whopping $16 each, on sale at her website. She describes the line as: “Kiss by Casey”, Laguna Beach inspired lip gloss in shades of my favorite color, PINK! Yay! Lets all eat cupcakes and chase butterflies together now.

Laguna backtrack.

Here's some of the latest news on our favorite gang of kids -- although some is a teeny bit dated.


[Photo courtesy of The Real O.C. boards]
Talan Torriero, Stephen Colletti and ... gasp ... Kristin Cavallari got together for a Bongo promo where they signed autographs and took pictures with fans. It's nice to see them back together -- and Kristin fitting right into those strong, sturdy arms. Ahem.

Stephen was Punk'd this past Monday. Check your local listings for repeats.

Star magazine is saying that Jessica Simpson has been crank calling Kristin's cell phone by staying silent and hanging up or trying to order pizza or Chinese food. "As far as Jessica is concerned," says one of their sources, "Kristin’s a nobody-19 year old reality TV star who has just been using Nick for free publicity."

Jessica -- Smith, that is -- and Dieter have been making the rounds and answering questions about the show. A member of the Real O.C. boards shared an exerpt of what was said at a recent event: Jessica went to a community college because her grades at LBHS weren't very good (no surprise there); Jason dropped out of high school and his mother begged MTV to hide that fact; Jason and Lauren are still dating and living together; the cast was paid less than minimum wage; Casey moved to Laguna to be on the show (again, no surprise).

According to the two, the first season was approximately 20% staged, while the second season was 80% staged.

You can watch a video of Jessica saying not-so-nice things about Kristin and her career here (requires a MySpace account).

And according to Variety, Kristin will star alongside Brittany Snow in a film called Fingerprints: "Snow stars as a girl fresh out of a rehab who moves back in with her parents and sister (Cavallari) and gets involved in an investigation of what has paralyzed residents. The story is loosely based on an urban legend involving haunted train tracks. Shooting begins this month in Oklahoma."

In passing ...

I'm really only back for one night, but I will be back back the last week of April to bring you your daily celebrity juice.

Anyway, to sum things up ...

Gwyneth Paltrow gave birth to baby Moses Martin. Ugh.

Chad Michael Murray is now said to be engaged to Kenzie Dalton, the cheerleading extra who is a high school student in Wilmington, North Carolina, where One Tree Hill is filmed. Gross.

Lindsay Lohan's back to red. After nearly a year of deviating from her natural hair color, the redhead in her is back. Hurrah. I thought she looked good with black hair.

Sean Preston Federline (wow never thought he'd headline a story) was injured when he fell from his high chair. Apparently, neither mommy Britney nor daddy Kevin thought much of the fall, but noticed that he had been sleeping more than usual. When they finally brought him to the doctor, baby Sean was "diagnosed" with a scalp fracture.

Congratulations to Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (combined, that's a lot of As) -- the two are both engaged as well as expecting!

Yes, the answer to my "trivia" question was in fact Lindsay Lohan. Apparently some beef went down between Pink and Lindsay; Lindsay and Hilary Duff. But nothing to really write home about -- rumors went around that Pink was going to direct her performance of "Stupid Girls" at Lindsay, singing to her. "Luckily," the people behind the show switched Lindz's seat before the award show commenced. And the neverending high school drama between Lohan and Duff lives on. When Lindsay won Best Actress, Hilary and big sister Haylie were said to have rolled their eyes. I may have done so as well if I had been in the audience ...

... annnnd Paris Hilton is saying that although she "loves" Mother Teresa, she doesn't think that they look alike. I guess that's Paris' way of denying that she has anything to do with the movie she was rumored to star in ...

It's early.

[Photo courtesy of ONTD]
Whose sad ass is that? Can you guess?

Also, I've gotten wind that the Season Two Laguna Beach DVD set will be released on July 25th. Which probably means the new season will premiere around then. Yippee. I can't wait.

Happy April!

Lauren Conrad was spotted on this weekend's ET on MTV, talking about The Hills and saying, "Don't know, don't care" to the Kristin Cavallari-Nick Lachey rumors. Ouch. You can catch it again when it airs at 9:30am EST tomorrow. [Photo courtesy of Laguna Beach Online]

Nicole Richie is joining in on the leagues of female celebrities who have clothing lines and perfume lines. I don't know how much truth this report has, since it is said that her line will be called "That's Hot!" ... which is so not hot, considering ... doesn't Paris Hilton own the rights to that phrase? More reasons for Paris to eternally hate Nicole, huh? The line will feature "contemporary knits and tank tops with embroidery and appliqué" and will range from $28 to $40. The line is said to debut on October 11th at Intuition.

Then again, it could be a joke. It is April Fool's Day, after all.

What do Pink, Lindsay Lohan, Zooey Deschanel, Scarlett Johansson and Britney Spears all want? The role of Janis Joplin in the upcoming biopic The Gospel According to Janis, to be directed by Penelope Spheeris. Spheeris has admitted that "[Pink] would be my first choice, but she may have scheduling conflicts." But she didn't have such nice things to say about Britney: "Her agent asked if I could meet with her. Music ability is important, but most of all, the actress must have the spirit of Janis." Though she added, "Each of the actresses who has expressed interest in the role [would] bring her own special talents to eh part." The film will begin shooting in September and will "go head-to-head with another movie on Joplin, Pieces of My Heart, starring Renee Zellweger. Uh oh. Well, if it makes any difference, my vote goes to Zooey Deschanel.

Amazon.com has revealed the release date for Paris Hilton's upcoming album, titled Turn It Up. Everyone, prepare yourself.

And for those fans of Nickelodeon's Drake Bell, he is making a full recovery following his serious car accident last year. He has returned to work, but keeps his sense of humor over the arduousness of recovering in the latest issue of People: When I woke up [from neck surgery] ... my [stitched-up gash] looked like someone took a live caterpillar and stuck it on my chin. [Costar Josh Peck] was like, "You're still better looking than me, man." Josh was bringing me smoothies every day ... I couldn't shave, so I had a full-on, Paul McCartney, pull-on-it beard. I dug it. Milkshakes and smoothies were my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I lost a ton of weight, from 147 lbs to 121 lbs. Now I'm 130 lbs. We tried putting pizza in a blender, but it smelled like vomit. Doctors said, "All you have to do it put hamburger meat, beef broth and ketchup in a blender. It tastes like a burger." Dude, it doesn't.

Hilary Duff and sister Haylie's film Material Girls may never see the day of light. The film, which wrapped sometime last summer, has been having trouble finding a distributor. The film is about two wealthy sisters -- heiresses to their family's cosmetics fortune -- who lose their money and fight to get it back. The cover of "Material Girl" Hilary did with Lil' Jon to accompany the film may also never be released.

Yeah. Disney finally got its revenge on Hilary this month with the release of Cow Belles, a story about two dairy heiresses who lose their money and then fight to get it back. It stars real-life sisters Alyson (Aly) and Amanda (AJ) Michalka.

Mandy Moore's past has come to rebut ex-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama's claim about having taken her virginity. In 2002, she did an interview with Art & Understanding, "America's AIDS Magazine," which said that "Moore candidly reveals that she and Wilmer never had sex. 'I'm not an advocate for having sex or not having sex. It's a personal decision. Whenever you feel ready, you're ready. Wilmer is older than me, respected me, and so it just wasn't an issue.'" But there have been those random times Wilmer was spotted with Mandy following his breakup with Lindsay Lohan, so who really knows ...

I'm going to be gone for a little over a week, so everyone have a wonderful week-and-a-bit. Enjoy the beautiful weather!