Model turned actress Amber Valletta has entered rehab for “work stress, image issues” and nonsubstance-related addiction. It’s anyones’ guess what exactly “image issues” and a “nonsubstance-related addiction” are, but I’m betting it’s just a fancy way of saying “I’m entering the publicity generating, career-boosting, celebrity rehab game.” That’s ok though, Amber’s one person we don’t mind seeing more often.
Nicole Richie pays homage to Audrey Hepburn in her father Lionel Richie’s new video “I Call It Love.” In the video, Nicole sports a pair of Swarovski crystal embedded sunglasses from Bulgari’s new Astrale collection, while looking lovingly through a Bulgari’s window in a Breakfast At Tiffany’s movie moment.
Ever since her infamous falling out with ex-best friend Paris Hilton, Nicole has managed to aquire an air of class about her, opting to keep her legs closed and maintain a lower profile than her Simple Life media whore costar.
After enjoying an extended, sold out run off-Broadway at the Playwrights Horizon theatre, Grey Gardens, the critically acclaimed musical about real life mother and daughter eccentrics Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier, transfers to the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway this fall.
Source: WENN
Streep: “Wintour Didn’t Inspire Me”
Oscar winner Meryl Streep insists she didn’t base her The Devil Wears Prada character Miranda Priestly on US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, because she hadn’t heard of her until the movie was screened. The David Frankel-directed film is based on a novel by Wintour’s former assistant Wendy Finerman and is based on her experiences working for the fashion bible. But Sophie’s Choice actress Streep based her performance on a number of ‘uberbosses’ rather than directly portraying Wintour in the fashion industry parody. She tells the New York Daily News, “I know the book was based on an assistant’s view of Anna Wintour, but it didn’t interest me to do a documentary on Anna Wintour, and I don’t know anything about her. I only met her at the first benefit screening. She was a good sport, but I think she’d been told that I don’t resemble her. It was much more fun for me to make the uberboss out of a (combination of people), so that’s what I did.” Wintour brought her boyfriend Shelby Bryant and daughter Bee Shaffer to watch the movie at New York City’s Paris Theatre last month, but she declined to pose on the red carpet with Streep. Her spokesman tells website PageSix.com, “She thought the movie was very funny.”
Below is a sneak peak at Streep as the Anna Wintour-like character Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, which opens this Friday.
Source: TMZ.com
Nobody Puts Barbara In a Corner
Posted Jun 28th 2006 12:35PM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: TV, Celebrity Feuds
Star Jones has left “The View” — permanently, according to her now-former co-host and boss, Barbara Walters. The show aired this morning with just Walters, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck taking their customary seats at the now oddly empty round table, and Jones’ name and picture has been removed from the opening credits.
After the ladies took their seats, Walters began the show, dryly, “And then there were three.”
Summoning as much patrician chill as she could, Barbara gave as good as she got: She told the audience that Star wouldn’t be coming back, and that though she had purposely given her a few months to find a new gig and had given her the chance to “leave with dignity,” her co-host had “made another choice” by talking to People magazine and making “other announcements” in the media yesterday.Walters also said that she and the producers had decided not to renew Star’s contract several months ago (which, she says, Star knew) though she didn’t go into the reasons why.
Jones, perhaps to try to take the offensive, appeared earlier this morning before “The View” on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show and said that she wanted to leave when they told her contract wasn’t going to be renewed two months ago and that, until yesterday, Joy and Elisabeth didn’t even know she had gotten the boot.
Jones told Seacrest that “if anyone should feel betrayed, it should be me,” referring to comments Walters made yesterday that she had felt “betrayed” by Star’s jumping the gun. And she complained that she found out about how Rosie O’Donnell — who Star said had been “nasty and insulting and vicious” about her weight loss — was brought onto the show at the Emmy Awards, when Barbara announced it.
Star also acknowledged that she had made some missteps in commercializing her wedding planning to the hilt, saying “I want to take full responsibility for the audience thinking, ‘Star abandoned us.’”
Also, Gawker.com reports:
Our recaps don’t do justice to the measured, authoritative tones of Barbara Walters who, no matter what bullshit Star Jones may pull, will always be the boss around The View’s henhouse. As she explains the circumstances of Jones’ departure, Walters reminds us (and presumably Jones herself) that “The View helped make Star a star.” And don’t you forget it, snatchpants.
Also: a few readers report that Jones called in to Steve Harvey’s radio show this morning and said that yesterday ABC producers called her agents, informing them that Star was never to come back to The View, effective immediately. Burning bridges sure does make for a spectacular glow.
Source: IMDb.com/WENN
June 28, 2006
Walters “Betrayed” by Jones Reynolds
TV veteran Barbara Walters feels “betrayed” by her The View co-host Star Jones Reynolds following her shock on-air announcement of her departure from the talk show. Walters, 74, was stunned when Jones Reynolds, 44, told viewers and her fellow presenters she would be leaving the ABC program after nine years yesterday morning, because the announcement was planned for Thursday. Speaking to camera, Jones Reynolds said, “Something’s been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season and I will not be returning as co-host next year.”
And in this week’s issue of People magazine, Jones Reynolds says, “What you don’t know is that my contract was not renewed for the tenth season. I feel like I was fired.” Walters, who created and produces the show, says, “I love Star and I was trying to do everything I possibly could – up until this morning when I was betrayed – to protect her. I would have loved for Star to have left and not said ‘I was fired,’ and not make it look like the program was somehow being cruel to her.
“Walters admits ABC network bosses declined to renew Jones Reynolds’ contract after research showed audiences were turned off by the former lawyer’s dramatic weight loss and her 2004 marriage to Al Reynolds, where she plugged companies on air in exchange for freebies for her wedding. Walters adds, “We tried to talk them out of it and we tried to give Star time to redeem herself in the eyes of the audience, and the research just kept getting worse.”
Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards’ three-ring circus of a divorce just got a whole lot more interesting. Page Six reports Jason Itzler, the former pimp… uhm I mean “owner” of the New York Confidential escort service, is claiming Sheen hired two of his best girls, “Cheryl, a 20 year old blond ballerina and Juilliard grad, and Victoria, a 19 year old, dark-haired former Hotel Gansevoort hostess”, to dress up like cheerleaders and do a lesbian act for him at the tune of $20,000.
“They loved Charlie”, said Itzler from Riker’s Island where he’s serving time for money-laundering and prostitution charges. “They said he was a great guy, a great lover and had a big [bleep].” Itzler also claims Sheen liked to role play, meeting the girls “for romps at trendy 60 Thompson in SoHo” where he would pretend to be an x-rated movie director, guiding the two girls through “steamy lesbian scenes”.
Cooper’s Own Sad Story
By Rush & Molloy
Source: New York Daily News
Anderson Cooper has traveled the globe covering war and famine and disaster, but he’s been reluctant to report on his own family tragedy – until now.
In his new memoir, “Dispatches From the Edge,” Cooper writes that reporting the horrors of Hurricane Katrina cracked open a levee holding back memories of his brother Carter’s 1988 suicide.
“For so long, I tried to separate myself from my past,” Cooper recalls. “I tried to move on, forget what I’d lost, but the truth is, none of it’s ever gone away.”
As the children of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, Cooper and his brother knew a childhood of privilege, where artists like Truman Capote and Andy Warhol were regular guests at their townhouse. Then their father, Wyatt, died in 1978 when Anderson was 10 and Carter was 12. “The world,” he writes, “seemed a very scary place.”
A Dim ‘View’ Of Star’s Future
By Richard Johnson
May 2, 2006 –
Source: Page Six
NOW that Rosie O’Donnell is joining “The View,” Star Jones may be on her way out. Sources say Jones fashioned herself to be the next Meredith Vieira on the show and wanted to be the moderator of the crew – but grande dame Barbara Walters wasn’t going to let that happen. “You can’t even mention Star’s name around Barbara,” said our source. “She hates her. Really can’t stand her.”
Walters gave some noticeably cool remarks to the Times yesterday about past bitterness between Jones and O’Donnell. “The only concern would be Star’s,” said Walters. “If Star wants to continue to be there, she is welcome.”
O’Donnell is good pals with Jones’ “View” nemesis, Joy Behar. Spies say Jones’ agent is calling around now. “Until she leaves, it will be must-see TV,” said an insider. “Imagine Rosie and Star going at it every day! Fabulous!” But another said, “Star’s ego won’t let this last for long.” Jones’ rep said, “Star has always viewed Barbara Walters as a mentor and is unaware of any hostility.”
Walters, via her p.r. queen Cindi Berger said, “Star has never angled or asked for the moderator position. Star can stay on ‘The View’ as long as she wants to, she has been very gracious.”
Lange Honored By Lincoln Center
April 18th, 2006
Source: IMDb.com – WENN
Oscar winner Jessica Lange was taken by surprise when she was honored by New York City’s Film Society Of Lincoln Center on Monday night, when her celebrity pals took to the stage to talk about her short-comings. The Tootsie actress was paid the tribute by the renowned cinematic body in recognition of her contribution to film and television. Misery actress Kathy Bates took the stage with Joan Allen to make fun of Lange’s perceived lack of a sense of humor, with Allen saying, “Remember that time in the make-up room (on Bonneville) when she told us not to buy from Exxon because their profits were too high. She’s a laugh riot!” Scottish actor Alan Cumming recalled starring naked alongside Lange, who turns 57 tomorrow, in Titus. He said to her, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Jessica, but you’ve got fantastic tits.” To which she replied, “Please, if your hand weren’t there that thing would be halfway round my back.”
