Actress Nandana Sen goes total nude!
MUMBAI, Sept 14: Ketan Mehta’s film ‘Rang Rasiya’ based on the life of famous painter Raja Ravi Varma has completed the shooting part and awaiting the clearance from the censor board.
The film has some scenes in which the lead actress Nandana Sen had posed total nude in front of the camera! Raja Ravi Varma painted nude women way back in late 19th century and early 20th century despite strong opposition from some groups. These scenes are also inserted into Ketan’s script and Nandana readily accepted to pose nude.
Though the scenes are aesthetically shot, certain members of the Censor Board have found those objectionable and send those to the Revising Committee for a wider consensus. A final decision is likely to come within days.
Rang Rasiya stars Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen as leads and is already certified as an 'A' Grade film.
Censor cuts Nandana Sen's provocative scene!
MUMBAI, Sept 12: In Ketan Mehta's new movie with Randeep Hooda, Rang Rasiya, there was a scene which clearly showed Nandana Sen's voluptuous breasts. But the key word here is 'was' because - sorry, guys - the censor has cut it. However, there's guaranteed to still be plenty more to see in a Ketan Mehta movie. He's the not-exactly prolific director who brought us Bhavni Bhavai, Mirch Masala and of course Mangal Pandey: The Rising.
Nandana is the daughter of Nobel-prize winning Economist Amartya Sen, famous for his work on micro credit which has revolutionized rural development in South Asia. She has a very interesting film call, having appeared in Black, where she played Rani Mukherjee's sister, Tango Charlie, My Wife's Murder, Marigold and Strangers.
In some ways, Nandana is a bit of a misfit in Bollywood, coming from an internationally acclaimed academic family and having traveled extensively all her life. Does she find this a problem?
"It doesn't really matter where I come from. What matters is how I connect with audiences," she says, "I'm not from a film family, not from Mumbai, didn't know anyone here. I didn't know how to go about making a career in Bollywood. But I was determined to do what came naturally to me."
'Female body more appealing in winter'
LONDON, Sept 29: The fair sex might find it hard to believe but a new study has claimed that women's bare body in winter is a bigger turn-on for men.
A team at Wroclaw University in Poland has carried out the study and found that men actually find women's bodies more attractive in the winter - a revelation they claim might have an impact on choosing a mate and on levels of adultery.
According to experts, though there is no clear explanation for the variation, one theory can be that fewer female bodies are on display in winter and so the rarity makes them more attractive, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
In fact, they came to the conclusion after carrying out an experiment on 114 men who were asked to rate photos of women at different times of the year. The participants were shown snaps every three months over a period of five seasons. Three kinds of photographs were shown to the subjects - full body portraits of women in black swimsuits, exposed breasts of different sizes, and faces of young women.
Results revealed that bodies and breasts were rated most attractive in autumn and winter, and least attractive in summer. But there's no seasonal variation in ratings for faces - which the experts believe may be because women's faces are on view all year round.
Jolie threatens to leave Pitt
LONDON, Sept 25: Actress Angelina Jolie has reportedly threatened to leave her partner Brad Pitt because he has started travelling a lot after the birth of their twins.
According to thesun.co.uk, for the past few weeks, the 33-year-old Jolie has been spending most of the time in their chateau in South France.
A source said: “She told Pitt if he didn't come home it would be over. She threatened to leave and check into a hotel, but he persuaded her out of it.”
The couple have six children and claim their relationship is fine.
Pammie strips down to bikini
WASHINGTON, Sept 14: Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson stripped down to a bikini for Ellen DeGeneres’ television show.
The ‘Baywatch’ actress stripped to play beach volleyball with the Olympic volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.
The 41-year-old actress also told Ellen that she’s been staying with ex-estranged hubby Tommy Lee Jones, reports Fox News.
The actress also revealed the close bond she shared with a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal family.
Gwen Stefani's X-ray clothing line!
WASHINGTON, Sept 14: Singer Gwen Stefani is using X-rays of her ex-boyfriend Tony Kanal's recently-broken finger in her new clothing line 'Lamb' - which stands for Love, Angel, Music, Baby.
"Tony just broke his finger and he sent me the X-ray. So I'm doing a T-shirt that says 'Broken' and it's going to have his X-ray on it," Ratethemusic quoted her as saying.
Stefani, also said that she was taking inspiration from old movies for the clothing range.
"I'm stupidly crazy for old movies. I (record) them so that when I'm doing my makeup in the morning, I have them on. I can be like, 'Look at Jane Russell in that shiny leopard dress - I'm copying that,'" she said.
Michael Jackson dating Pamela Anderson?
NEW YORK, Sept 4: Pop legend Michael Jackson has been on a string of dates with Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson and the two have been secretly meeting in Malibu, according to a report.
"It was all arranged by their people in total secrecy, very cloak and dagger. Michael is such a private person. He gets nervous when he thinks people are following him around, so he chose somewhere neutral for their first date,” a source was quoted in the report on themirror.co.uk.
"They were very chatty. Pamela was being her usual flirty self and Michael seemed to be responding. They are such a strange couple but they seemed to really hit it off," the source added.
According to the source, Michael also plucked up the courage to ask Pamela out on a second date, which she was more than happy to accept.
"They went for a coffee at Country Mart in Malibu and looked very comfortable with each other. They chatted about Michael turning 50, his new album, their kids. He seemed genuinely interested in Pamela," the source said.
Michael turned 50 on August 29 and has three children while Pamela is 41 and has two children.
Kate Moss is the ‘sexiest lingerie model'
LONDON, Sept 2: Kate Moss is the ‘sexiest lingerie model of all time’, according to a new web poll. The 34-year-old stunner piped singer Kylie Minogue, 40, to claim the crown of the top Agent Provocateur model of all time.
Third place in the poll was taken by Dita Von Teese, 35, who was recently voted the world’s sexiest Wonderbra babe.
Explaining Moss’ victory, the survey stated: “In the four films starring Kate, we are given dream sequences that invite us to imagine how we might fulfil her desires.”
“The dreams are beautifully crafted fantasies, each with an eerie atmosphere that brings us into a serene la-la land where we feel free to imagine pleasing Kate,” The Daily Star quoted the statement, as adding.
In fourth spot is model Alice Dellal, 20 – who will soon be seen in a new photoshoot and film promo for the lingerie firm.
Alice is followed by Lily Cole, 20, who caught the eye of those surveyed by recently walking down a catwalk with other Agent Provocateur models carrying whips and chains.
Sixth spot is taken by Catherine Bailey, 46, the firm’s oldest model.
Model Daisy Lowe, 19, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, 30, Aussie Tiah Eckhardt and French fancy Vahina Giocante, 27, rounded off the top 10 list.
Top 10 Agent Provocateur Babes are:
1. Kate Moss
2. Kylie Minogue
3. Dita Von Teese
4. Alice Dellal
5. Lily Cole
6. Catherine Bailey
7. Daisy Lowe
8. Maggie Gyllenhaal
9. Tiah Eckhardt
10. Vahina Giocante
Lohan begging Michael Phelps for a date
WASHINGTON, Sept 2: Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan, who was rumoured to be dating gal pal DJ Samantha Ronson, seems to have now fallen for Michael Phelps, the Olympic golden boy.
The actress is reported to be begging the US swimmer to take her out for a date.
However, the 23-year-old is not much interested in the offer, according to sources.
But the ‘Mean Girls’ star is leaving no stone unturned to land the opportunity.
"At first he thought it was a joke when she got in touch. But she's since been phoning and texting constantly. It's become a running joke in his camp. Lindsay has been trying to meet up with him,” Contactmusic quoted a source, as telling Britain's Daily Mirror.
“They're both going to the MTV Video Music Awards next month so they'll be sure to see each other properly then.
"Phelps is certainly flattered by all the attention but it's not clear how seriously he's taking it all,” the source added.
Meanwhile, Lindsay’s dad Michael Lohan has launched a scathing attack on the actress’ close friend Ronson, insisting that she’s using his daughter to gain publicity.
Michael has accused DJ Ronson of using Lindsay to boost her fame after hearing the news that Ronson may write a "tell-all" book about her life.
Lohan’s first lesbian lover reveals all
LONDON, Aug 18: American actress Lindsay Lohan’s first ever-lesbian lover Courtenay Semel has come forward to reveal the harrowing secret affair she had with the Mean Girls star.
Semel was the first girl that Lohan shared her lesbian inclination with, and it had been a very covert relationship, unlike the one she is now having with British DJ Samantha Ronson.
“Everyone thinks Samantha is Lindsay’s first lesbian love, but we were very passionate until her fear of being found out drove us apart,” News of the World quoted Semel as telling a pal.
“At the time she was terrified her career would be over if she revealed her sexual tendencies.
“But then Samantha came on to the scene and I was dropped,” she added.
Semel, 25, also revealed that Lohan, 22, bedded a string of men in a bid to suppress her lesbian urges, and to hide them from her public.
She further revealed how as the pressure of her double life grew, Lohan fell into addictions, and finally having a bizarre love triangle with Ronson and her.
“She met Lindsay in the summer of 2006 at a party in Malibu,” Semel’s pal explained.
“From the start Lindsay was very confused about her feelings for Courtenay so did more and more drugs to stifle the sexual attraction she was experiencing.
“But eventually she just gave in and at every party they’d kiss and touch each other in the corner. It’s a miracle nobody found out.
“Both of them would do lines of cocaine in the toilets then head home and fall into bed together," the pal said.
The two went through an on-off relationship as Lohan checked into a succession of rehab units, and continued to date men as a ‘cover’.
But it was as early as January 2007 that she first met 31-year-old Samantha, sister of pop guru Mark Ronson.
“Back then Samantha and Lindsay didn’t have a physical relationship,” the pal continued.
“She once said, ‘Samantha’s the father I never had’!
“Apparently Samantha acted in a ‘paternal’ way towards her, giving her advice and cuddles,” the pal stated.
At one stage, the friend added, both Semel and Ronson were separately visiting Lindsay at a rehab unit called Promises.
“By now Lindsay was sending ‘I love you’ notes to Samantha and signing them ‘Lindsay Ronson’ but telling Courtenay she loved her too," the pal went on.
By October, Courtenay appeared to have the upper hand. She and Lindsay moved into a rented house in Beverly Hills.
“But still Lindsay brought men back,” the pal added.
“Courtenay would throw fits of rage, writing her hundreds of angry e-mails from another room in the house.
“The sexual attraction between them was electric though and they’d still kiss and make up," the pal said.
That ended last December when Lohan bedded one man too many and, unable to take more humiliation, Semel moved out.
It was less than a week later that Samantha was back on the scene. Outwardly, at least, Lindsay became a changed person, even turning blonde.
“Courtenay still can’t understand how Lindsay is now so open with Samantha,” the pal commented.
“Every time she sees a picture of them together it kills her,” the pal added.
Britney Spears falls for bodyguard
LONDON: Pop star Britney Spears, who had a series of problems in the recent past, seems to have fallen for one of her bodyguards.
According to thesun.co.uk, the bodyguard is a former Israeli soldier and his name is Lee. He is the fourth member of her staff that she has dated.
A source said: "Britney and Lee hit it off immediately. He is her perfect type. She loves guys who work out and he is in great shape from his days serving in the Israeli Army. He also has a few tattoos, which she loves.
"They've spent so much time together that one thing led to another and their relationship became physical. They are in Mexico together. They've been having a great time - Lee's put a smile on her face."
Spears won't play lesbian stripper
NEW YORK, Aug 11: Troubled pop singer Britney Spears, who is working on a comeback, won't play a lesbian stripper in Quentin Tarantino's new movie.
TMZ.com reports that Spears was roped in to play dancer Varla in a remake of the 1965 cult film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and her character was to murder the boyfriend before taking the girlfriend hostage.
She was also to have sex scenes with another girl before the climax.
But Spears' representatives have denied that she is doing any such role.
Paris Hilton hits back at McCain ad
NEW YORK, Aug 7: Paris Hilton, the blonde, doe-eyed celebrity thrust into the presidential campaign in an ad by John McCain, issued a tart rebuttal, albeit in a scantily clad, tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
“Hey America, I’m Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity, too. Only I’m not from the olden days and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot,” Hilton said, speaking as she reclined in a pool chair in a revealing bathing suit and a pair of pumps.
“But then that wrinkly, white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. So thanks for the endorsement white-haired dude.”
“I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead,” she said. She then discusses energy policy, and suggests a hybrid of McCain’s offshore oil drilling plan and Obama’s incentives for new energy technology. “Energy crisis solved! I’ll see you at the debates,” she said.
Hilton’s rebuttal includes plenty of humour at McCain’s expense. An announcer calls him “the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old, old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket,” and asks, “But is he ready to lead?” Hilton’s spoof also intersperses images of McCain and Yoda from Star Wars and the cast of TV’s The Golden Girls .
Canada's Alexandra Orlando tops 50 sexiest female Olympians list
BEIJING: Rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Orlando of Canada has clinched the top spot in a list of top 50 sexiest female athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics.
The list, compiled by webtv.hub, saw tennis ace Maria Sharapova coming in the number two spot.
Hungary's Rita Dravucz, according to the list, is the third hottest female Olympian, reports stuff.co.nz.
United States' Amanda Beard and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic round off the top five, coming in fourth and fifth place respecgtively.
The top ten list for the 50 sexiest female Olympians is:
1. Alexandra Orlando – Canada
2. Maria Sharapova – Russia
3. Rita Dravucz – Hungary
4. Alona Bondarenko – Ukraine
5. Amanda Beard – United States
6. Jelena Jankovic – Serbia
7. Lauren Jackson – Australia
8. Victoria Pendleton – Great Britain
9. Stephanie Rice – Australia
10. Tatiana Golovin – France (ANI)
Saif objects to Kareena's kiss to Stallone
LOS ANGELES: Kareena Kapoor’s romantic scene with Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone didn’t go down well with boyfriend Saif Ali Khan. The actress who is shooting Kambakht Ishq with Sylvester Stallone in Los Angeles kissed the actor on his cheek as part of an action sequence, coordinated by the Hollywood action director Spiro Razatoss.
It took Kareena three takes to get the shot right. Saif who was also present at the shoot, allegedly objected to the kissing scene. A stand Kareena did not take kindly to.
“If you can’t see me doing a kissing scene, then stop coming on the sets of my shootings,” Kareena was heard shouting at Saif.
According to a source, she is also reported to have told him to be more broad-minded. This is another in a long sequence of spats between Kareena and Saif; the last was at the IIFA awards, when Saif was reportedly unhappy with her clothes. Most of their fights seem to have have been triggered by Saif’s possessiveness.
Saif has gone on record that he wants to marry Kareena immediately. “If I had my way, I’d marry her today,” he said earlier in the month.
Revealingly, Saif has admitted that he is anxious about his relationship with Kareena. “Of course, I’m anxious. You must understand this is the most important part of my life... so much so that at times I find even my career taking a backseat to my relationship. I’ve to guard against that. I must quickly learn to separate the professional from the personal.”
He has also said that “after my marriage to Amrita and my two kids, this is the most important relationship I’ve had.” After yelling at Saif, Kareena is reported to have continued shooting unfazed. In fact, she was visibly excited about shooting with Sylvester Stallone. According to the source, “Kareena spent a lot of time chatting with Sly.”
Katrina: Bollywood’s Queen of Hearts
MUMBAI: In an industry and era when experimenting with ones roles is the norm and versatility is the benchmark through which an actor graduates from being just an actor to a successful performer, Katrina Kaif is one actress who has stayed away from experimentation.
Her looks, dressing style and even her demeanor and deportment have remained unchanged throughout her movies. But that didn’t make the few movies old actress to become one of the most sorted after in Bollywood.
She stepped into tinselville with Boom. Despite sharing screen with hotties like Madhu Sapre and Padma Lakshmi, Katrina made herself noticed. She played a seductress to Gulshan Grover and her sexy act paved her way in the list of the one of the hottest actress in Bollywood.
But Katrina soon hung her boots as far as her hot, sexy image was concerned and stayed hooked on a simpleton, girl next door image for her movies.
Kat’s next project was a cameo in RGV’s Sarkar where she played Abhishek Bachchan’s love interest. Ramu was quoted saying, “Katrina is a classic beauty and I have decided to cast her in Sarkar.”
It was this beauty that Ramu captured on camera and brought fore an all new side of Katrina.
The audience saw a Katrina that was simple, elegant and beautiful!
Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya worked wonders for Katrina Kaif. It not only found her fame and recognition on a bigger scale, but also helped her found her soul mate Salman Khan, who was co-starring in the film.
Katrina played a gorgeous and spoilt young model, based out of London, who comes to India for her treatment. Needless to say, the model character suited the leggy beauty well and she looked ever so wonderful in her knee length dresses that helped her flaunt her beautiful legs.
Katrina Kaif kept on improvising on her acting with every film. With Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Kats got a chance to prove her acting mettle through some of the emotional turbulences her character goes through. With an un-smudge natural beauty and her expressive beautiful eyes, Katrina impressed all.
After HDKG, the actor surprised everyone yet again with her confident performance in Namastey London. She handled the complex part of her character with remarkable ease. The two films were certainly the coming of age of the young lass.
Her next eye-catching performance was in Partner, where she played a young corporate woman. By now, her light pink glossy lips, sleeveless, knee length body hugging dresses and untied straight hair had become Kat’s style statement. With her innocence intact, the soft spoken actress truly became a heart winner.
With Welcome, Katrina bewitched one and all. She played the love interest to Akshay Kumar and the duo once again created magic on screen with their lovely romantic chemistry.
What followed as ultimate surprise package in the form of Katrina’s sizzling item number in Race. Her scintillating moves and grooves in Zara Zara Touch Me and Sajna Anaari were a sure drooling watch. The songs were an exception because, for the very first time, Katrina got out of her simple sexy image and donned the avatar of a naughty sexy seductress.
For once the pretty actress looked nothing but hot. No body imagined that the very professionally dressed secretary to a business tycoon will turn into such a cleavage flaunting delicious looking babe.
The actress will next be seen in Singh is Kinng with the actor who suits her the most, Akshay Kumar and will pair up opposite her man, Salman Khan in Yuvraaj.
For the actress who is getting the best of offers and has her name listed in the top actresses of the day, things are just looking bright and right. Katrina Kaif is one actress who has proved that versatility or no versatility, its just good work that matters.
Sex in space inevitable, say scientists
WASHINGTON, July 14: Cosmic sex is inevitable, believe experts. It is difficult to accept that astronauts cannot have sexual feelings while on a three-year mission to Mars, said Jason Kring of Florida’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, who has been studying the psychological effects of long-duration space missions.
With US agency Nasa and other countries planning more and more space missions, a debate has started on the possibility of cosmic sex.
Though nobody claims to know whether it has already happened, some experts believe that sex in space is inevitable. “To say that astronauts are superior beings who cannot have interests in any kind of sexual feelings for three years... I just don’t buy it,” Kring said.
The report also highlighted the fact that space agencies were gradually inclining towards sending more mixed gender crews in space, with studies suggesting that they are better at performing assigned tasks.
“They are mission-oriented... very focused on the task at hand,” said Nasa spokesperson Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters.
Kring, however, said sexual frustration could ensue. “Human sexuality is a basic need and you’re telling people, ‘Hey, for three years, you can’t do that.’ They’re going to figure out a way to do it.”
Lawrence Palinkas, professor of social work, anthropology and preventive medicine at UCLA, said: “No research has been done to know whether it (sex in space) would be a good thing or a bad thing, but it probably is inevitable.”
Journalist Laura Woodmansee, who wrote Sex in Space in 2006, predicted “honeymoons in space and out-of-this-world sex will be a reality within a decade”.
The book describes several positions that might work during cosmic copulation, ranging from the modified missionary position to sitting with “interlocking Y-legs”. She writes that props could also be used, like a shared elastic waistband to hold one partner to a stable structure.
Nicole Kidman is moving to London
LONDON, July 14: The ‘Moulin Rouge!’ actress – who gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose on July 7 – will be in the UK capital for several months to rehearse for her new film ‘Nine’ and has asked film executives to find a house for herself, husband Keith Urban and the couple’s newborn baby.
The film is based on the musical ‘Nine’ and also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Kate Hudson. Singing and dancing rehearsals have been delayed for several weeks to give Nicole, 41, time to spend with her daughter.
Filming for the $90 million movie is due to commence in September.
Director Rob Marshall recently revealed Nicole is relieved there are other big names in the cast, so all attention won’t be focussed solely on the Australian in her first role since giving birth.
Rob - who won an Oscar for directing 'Chicago' - said: "She loves the idea of doing this. It's kind of nice that she doesn't have to carry the entire movie on her shoulders."
Meanwhile, the couple have released a statement saying their new daughter is a “delight”.
The statement says: “We feel immensely blessed and grateful to be given this beautiful baby girl. She’s an absolute delight.”
Naomi Campbell dating Russian businessman
LONDON, July 5: Naomi Campbell is reportedly dating Russian businessman Vladimir Doronin.
The supermodel - who has previously been romantically linked to Formula One racing tycoon Flavio Briatore and P. Diddy - has been spotted cavorting with Vladimir, who is nicknamed the 'Donald Trump of Russia' in his home country.
The pair - who first met at France's Cannes Film Festival earlier this year - are said to be "smitten" with each other, and have been photographed hugging and sharing intimate gazes by Brazilian newspaper O Dia.
A source said: "Vlad, as he is called by his friends, is one of the richest property developers of his country."
Vladimir is reportedly extremely taken with the 38-year-old beauty, and even threw a party for her when she was sentenced to 200 hours community service on charges of assaulting two police officers on a British Airways flight in April.
The source added to Britain's Daily Express newspaper: "Vladimir is so fond of Naomi he even threw a dinner on his boat in St. Tropez after the outcome of her court case."
Earlier this month, Naomi was seen kissing Brazilian entrepreneur Marcus Elias during a romantic cruise around the Italian island of Capri. The couple - who had reportedly been dating since February - held hands, hugged, kissed and laughed together during the cruise.
Teen 'pregnancy pact' shocks US city
BOSTON, June 20: A Massachusetts city is investigating an apparent teenage “pregnancy pact” that has at least 17 high-school girls expecting babies, four times more than last year, including many aged 16 or younger.
A high school health clinic in the city of Gloucester became suspicious after seeing a surge in girls seeking pregnancy tests. Local officials said nearly half of those who became pregnant appear to have entered into a pact to have their babies together over the year.
“Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were,” Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine, which broke news of the pact.
Some of the men involved in the pregnancies were in their mid-20s, including one man who was homeless. Others were boys in the school.
Carolyn Kirk, mayor of the port city said authorities are looking at whether to pursue statutory rape charges. “We're at the very early stages of wrestling with the complexities of this problem,” she said.
“But we also have to think about the boys. Some of these boys could have their lives changed. They could be in serious, serious trouble even if it was consensual because of their age — not from what the city could do but from what the girls' families could do,” she said.
Under Massachusetts law, it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.
“At the very least these men should be held responsible for financial support, if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested,” Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester school committee said.
Nationwide, teen pregnancies are rising after steadily declining from 1991 to 2005. Birth rates for teenagers aged 15 to 17 rose by 3% in 2006 according to data of the National Center for Health Statistics.
Hilton drives away all my worries: beau
NEW YORK, June 18:Rocker Benji Madden is happy with his girlfriend Paris Hilton and says she has driven away all his worries.
Madden appeared on a radio show and gushed about Hilton, perezhilton.com reports.
He said: "I'm so beyond happy. When you are that happy, you think about everything. She is my best friend. I've never been so happy. Nothing worries me in life anymore. When you find that best friend, that love, all your worries kind of go away.
"Your work gets better and everything you do, you have someone supporting you, and she's that for me. I've never been supported so much. I'm a lucky guy. Her family is so nice to me. And now the four of us, we all... it's great, you know."
I'm not a dumb blonde: Paris
LONDON, June 10: Paris Hilton insists that there’s more to her than meets the eye, and that she’s no dumb blonde. In an interview with Fabulous magazine, the actress revealed about her work out regime and the hoopla surrounding her image.
“I don’t like working out. I occasionally do Pilates, but the most exercise I get is when I’m out shopping. The amount I do probably burns 2,000 calories a day!” News Of The world quoted Hilton, as saying.
The 27-year-old insists that she is not a dumb blonde; in fact, she has actually a good sense of humour.
She said: “People don’t know the real me. I have a good sense of humour and I’m always making my friends laugh. In The Simple Life, I played a dumb blonde, but it’s not really me.
“I get really shy when I make public speeches and my cheeks go red, which I hate. I wish I was more confrontational but I can never challenge someone, even if I’m really upset.
“I believe in karma and try to treat people the way I want to be treated. I think that what you put into the world will come back to you.”
Jordan auctioning her implants on net
LONDON, June 10: Glamour model Katie Price a.k.a is set to sell her implants on the Internet. Talking to Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins on their Sunday Night Project the busty model revealed that she is selling her boobs on eBay for 1 million pounds, reports the Mirror.
Meanwhile, Jordan has decided to sell off her mansion for 3 million pounds for something bigger.
The current house, which is being shared with her husband Peter Andre and children Harvey, Junior and Princess Tiamii in Ockley, Surrey, will be on the market this week.
“Katie and Peter have been in Surrey for a few years now but want more space,” the Sun quoted a source as saying.
“She has her eye on a couple of properties that make her current gaff look tiny,” the source added.
Another Monica in Bill Clinton's life?
NEW YORK, June 5: Even as democratic rival Barack Obama clinched the presidential nomination, there is more negative publicity for Hillary. There are rumours that her husband Bill Clinton is allegedly having an affair with an American actress.
A Hollywood rumour claims Bill Clinton is out at it again. He is having an affair with Gina Gershon. News of the new affair is splashed across tabloids and is a favourite dinner-party gossip these days.
But Bill Clinton who is no stranger to scandal has completely denied reports of the alleged affair. He was exposed for having an affair with Monica Lewinsky while she worked at the White House. But these allegations will do no favours for Hillary Clinton who is currently trying hard to reconcile with a major set back in her political career.
Cameron goes bald for new flick
NEW YORK, May 26: Cameron Diaz shocked onlookers when she stepped out with a bald head in Santa Monica, California.
However, fans can breathe a sigh of relief, for unlike Demi Moore and Natalie Portman, the perky actress has not shaved her head, but was only wearing a bald cap.
The 35-year old star plays a mother who shaves her head to support her deathly-ill daughter in the film, My Sister's Keeper, reports the New York Daily News.
Unknown actress Sofia Vassilieva plays Diaz's on-screen daughter who battles leukaemia, while "Little Miss Sunshine" star Abigail Breslin plays her other daughter.
The film is based on Jodi Picoult's best-selling 2004 novel of the same name.
Only gay men like me: Posh
LONDON, May 15: Spice girl Victoria Beckham thinks straight men are no longer interested in her, only gay men are.
Thesun.co.uk reports her saying: "All the men that like me are gay. It is true. I have a really strong gaydar. I do love gay men though."
Her husband David Beckham is considered a metrosexual icon. He has been forthright about his interest in nail polish, sarongs, body waxing and even revealed he wears his wife's underwear sometimes.
Eva Mendes goes topless for Vogue
MELBOURNE, May 15: Eva Mendes has gone topless for a provocative picture shoot in Italy's Vogue magazine.
The actress has posed in a semi-dominatrix outfit, complete with sexy black stockings, a lacy basque and a see-through black shirt, open to reveal her breasts.
She topped off her Vogue look with a black beehive hairdo, reports the Daily Telegraph.
This is not the first time Mendes has stripped off - she appeared completely nude as Denzel Washington's girlfriend in ‘Training Day.’
She also posed nude for I'd Rather Go Naked anti-fur campaign poster for People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) last year.
And she wore nothing but lingerie for a scene in the 2007 drama ‘We Own The Night.’
Mischa Barton caught topless!
SYDNEY, May 6: Holidaying in Hamilton Island was a relaxed affair for Mischa Barton, until a snapper caught the OC star sunbathing without her top on.
It was when the 22-year-old actress was spending two days on the Island with her mum, that a paparazzo clicked her sunbaking topless.
"We went out from Hamilton to a tiny island to relax in the sun and all of a sudden Jamie Fawcett jumped out of a bush with a massive camera lens and took photos of me. He'd followed us in a boat!” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted the fuming actress, as saying.
She added: "He's a ridiculous human being. I've never abhorred anyone more. I was so angry I went up to him and said how disappointed I was with his behaviour. He apologised but he was very insincere."
The Brit-American actress said that the photog again used a speedboat to try to take pictures of her in her room and hogged after them at the Qantas Club as she and her mum were leaving to return to Sydney.
"Talking to him, he's not a straightforward person. That's why I live in Paris, because I get the privacy I want there," said Mischa.
However, with the piracy on her privacy apart, she said that she had a good time with her mother at the uber-luxurious Qualia Resort.
"I went jet skiing and scuba diving and saw some beautiful coral. I haven't had a vacation in a long time so I just laid out and relaxed - it's just been the two of us with our own pool. Real mother-daughter time," she said.
Amy Winehouse cheats on hubby again!
LONDON, May 6: The troubled singer who is reportedly seeing her manager’s assistant Alex Haines while spouse Blake Fielder-Civil is in prison reportedly slept with Babyshambles guitarist Mik Whitnall, who has now been boasting to friends about his conquest.
A source told Britain’s The Sun newspaper: “He says they’ve slept together a couple of times. He told a few people after that stuff about her and Alex Haines came out.
“It’s always supposed to have happened when they’ve been out drinking. He’s told people about her birthmark in an intimate place, which is his way of proving it happened.”
However, Mik’s manager insists the pair are just friends.
Reports of Amy cheating on Blake with Alex emerged last month, and he has now said to have demanded a £3 million divorce settlement.
Blake who is currently in London's Pentonville Prison awaiting charges of grievous bodily harm (GBH) and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice believes he is entitled to £250,000 for every month he has been married to the troubled singer.
A source said: "He has demanded £3 million at the very least from her £10 million fortune."
Bondage sex act kills a man
TENNESSEE: A man has apparently died in a bondage sex act with his wife which went fatally wrong, and the latter was now facing charges of reckless homicide.
The body of 29-year-old James Bargy with his arms and legs bound - a gag ball stuffed into his mount and his head wrapped - was found by emergency workers in Tennessee State, media reports said. The only opening for air was slits for his nostrils, officials said.
However, ABC television quoted the wife, Rebecca Bargy and Sam Patterson, her attorney, as saying that James' death was a tragic accident that occurred during fetish behaviour the couple often indulged in.
She told police that she tied her husband up and left him Friday to meet another man at a local motel for the night. When she returned Saturday, she found her husband was dead and went next door to her mother's house. Her mother, Mona Phillips, then made the call to police.
An autopsy found that Bargy died of asphyxiation. Rebecca, 25, was arrested and charged with reckless homicide in her husband's death Saturday night.
Authorities say she left her husband in the bonded state for more than 20 hours before she returned to their trailer to find him dead.
Prosecutor Michael Bottoms, who acknowledged the unusual nature of the case, told ABC News that his office might consider more serious charges as the investigation continued.
"We're considering other evidence in the case, and [the charge] may or may not change," he said.
Hilton’s intimate secret exposed!
WASHINGTON: Ever wonder why Paris Hilton would want to get snapped without her undies? Well, it seems that that’s because she always makes it a point to groom that very private place on her body.
The 25-year old hotel heiress has been snapped quite often without underwear, and is currently encouraging new BFF Britney Spears to do the same.
Now, Hilton’s bikini waxer Cindy Barshop, owner of the Completely Bare Salon, in New York, has revealed that the reason the socialite is so comfortable flashing her privates, is because she is always takes care to be well groomed down below.
"Paris is a customer of ours. I haven't done Britney, but we do see Paris for bikini waxes. I feel that if you do a completely bare wax, you feel cleaner, more comfortable and more groomed - it seems a little sexier,” Us Weekly magazine quoted her, as saying.
Barshop also insisted that Hilton happened to be one of those women, who after getting a completely bare wax feel comfortable not wearing any underwear, and as that area is groomed, also don’t feel embarrassed if they’re snaps are taken.
"I think that with the completely bare waxing, they just feel comfortable enough with their bodies that they can skip the underwear. And, oops, if they do happen to flash someone, it's not as embarrassing because the area is groomed," she said.
JLo mulls reality show
LOS ANGELES, April 24: Hollywood diva Jennifer Lopez is planning a television reality show about her life as a singer, actress and, more recently, mother, that she will finance and produce herself, The Learning Channel said.
"Jennifer is unbelievably passionate about life and will be an incredible role model for our audience," TLC President Angela Shapiro-Mathes said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to sharing this exciting journey together," said Lopez. Lopez, 38, gave birth for the first time to twins a girl and a boy on February 22.
They were the fourth and fifth children for her husband, salsa star Marc Anthony. The docu-series which Lopez will co-create, co-produce and star in is under development and no launch date was disclosed.
The US singer-actress, who is of Puerto Rican origin but was born and grew up in the Bronx, was married twice before she wed Anthony. She was ranked by Forbes.Com last year as the ninth richest female entertainer in Hollywood, with a net worth estimated at $110 million
Putin denies wedding report with former gymnast
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday strongly denied rumours about his "plans" to marry a gymnast-turned-politician after quitting his office next month, saying there was "not a single word of truth" in the story published by a local tabloid last week.
"There is not a single word of truth in what you mentioned," he said, responding to a question about the story of Moskovsky Korrespondent tabloid claiming that Putin plans to wed Olympic rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabayeva on June 15 and has divorced his wife Lyudmila in February.
Putin was addressing a joint press conference with the Italian Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi at the Island of Sardinia, where the Russian leader stopped over for an informal meeting on his way back from a visit to Libya.
Earlier on Friday, Moskovsky Korrespondent acknowledged that its story was based on unsubstantiated rumours and offered apologies.
The tabloid accepted that it cannot substantiate its own report on Putin's "wedding with a famous gymnast" and apologised for the "moral pain" inflicted to the persons concerned.
"You mentioned the article in one of our yellow tabloids. In other publications of the sort, names of other successful and beautiful women and girls are mentioned. I think, it would not be unexpected if I say that I like all of them. Just as I like all the Russian women. I hope that none of you would be offended if I say that in my opinion our Russian women are the most talented and most beautiful. Perhaps only Italian women could compete with them," Putin said at the press conference televised live from Sardinia by the state-run Vesti channel.
Marilyn Monroe sex film sold for $1.5 million
NEW YORK, April 18: A 15-minute film of Marilyn Monroe engaging in oral sex with an unidentified man will be kept from public view by a New York businessman who has bought it for $1.5 million, the broker of the deal has said.
Memorabilia collector Keya Morgan said he arranged the sale of the silent, black-and-white film from the son of a dead FBI informant who possessed it, to a wealthy Manhattan businessman who wants to protect Monroe’s privacy. “The gentleman who bought it said he’s not going to put it on the Internet and try to exploit her,” Morgan said. The tape was sold on Monday. Monroe is clothed and the man’s head remains out of the frame.
She was rumoured to have had an affair with US President John F Kennedy, and Morgan said then FBI director J Edgar Hoover, a Kennedy rival, went to great lengths to try to prove it was Kennedy in the film.
“The FBI agent I interviewed said Hoover was obsessed. A team of nine individuals were analysing the tape inside a lab. Hoover brought in a few prostitutes who allegedly had been with President Kennedy and they tried to ... see if that was really President Kennedy.”
One of Monroe’s ex-husbands, the late baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, once tried to buy it from the collector for $25,000 but he would not part with it.
Madonna still enjoys a steamy sex life!
LONDON, April 8: The 4 Minutes singer who turns 50 in August says despite being married for over seven years, she and Snatch director Guy still make time to be alone together.
The mother-of-three told Britain's OK! magazine: "I don't know who told you that having children and getting married means there is no erotica in your life."
Earlier this month, Madonna vehemently denied reports her marriage to Guy is on the rocks. Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's US spokeswoman, said: "I am delighted to confirm that Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ritchie remain happily married.
"Though they were in different countries recently Madonna in the US promoting her upcoming album Hard Candy and Guy finishing up post-production on his new film RocknRolla as well as completing a Nike commercial and working on several scripts in England the family are joyfully back together at home in London. All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household."
Britney to perform £2m dirty dance!
LONDON, March 16: Troubled pop star Britney Spears is set to do some dirty dancing for sheikhs of Dubai. The 26-year-old singer is reportedly heading to Dubai to perform a 2-million-pound erotic dance for His Highness of Dubai.
Sources say that Spears will present a private version of her mucky Slave 4 You snake dance.
According to a backer of the trip, the Sheikhs have also requested for hotel heiress Paris Hilton.
"I'm going to take Paris Hilton to Dubai - the sheikhs said any amount of money she wants is fine - and next I'm going to take Britney. She can have her own island," new! Magazine quoted the insider, as saying.
Paris Hilton strips for sexy shoot!
LONDON, March 10: Paris Hilton stripped down to just undies and a leather jacket in a raunchy shoot for German Maxim magazine. The heiress used the leather jacket to cover her bare chest, reports The Sun.
Sources say that the socialite’s new rock look can be attributed to the fact that she is dating Good Charlotte guitarist, Benji Madden.
The couple do not seem to be able to stay away from one another ever since they made their relationship public.
Meanwhile Hilton is trying to shed her party girl image and has turned to a Buddhist Monk to find her spiritual self.
The 27-year-old was spotted with the monk in Los Angeles browsing the shelves of the Bodhi Tree bookstore for spiritual enlightenment books.
Katie wants another child with Cruise
LOS ANGELES, March 8: Katie Holmes, wife of superstar Tom Cruise, appeared on the cover of InStyle magazine and said she wants to have another child with him.
Perezhilton.com quoted her as saying: "I'd love to. But I'm in no particular rush."
Speaking of Cruise and how she fell in love with him, she added: "It happened in an instant. When you fall in love, it's like time stops. I try every day to make him know how much I love him."
Jordan denies spilt reports
MELBOURNE, Feb 15: Katie Price a.k.a Jordan has shot down the reports that she and hubby Peter Andre are splitting up. In an interview in a British chat show, the 29-year-old model denied that any marital tension.
“We’re not splitting up,” Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.
The glamour model revealed that rumours had started after she was spotted without her wedding rings. She added that the only reason she was not wearing her wedding band, was because it was locked up in the safe, and she couldn’t get it open.
“I know I’m not wearing my wedding rings but that’s only because they’re in a safe at home and I don’t know how to open it!”
Jordan also said that her first son Harvey’s sight is improving.
“I want to bring him on the show and prove how much progress he’s made, and show people that they just shouldn’t believe everything their doctor tells them,” she added.
Carla Bruni’s naked snaps published
PARIS: An exclusive nude picture of French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s fiancée, model Carla Bruni has found its way into the pages of a Spanish magazine.
In the picture, the model is seen wearing nothing but a pair of black leather boots while languishing on floor cushions.
The only thing that covers her modesty is her arms folded across her chest.
The pic appears in the glossy men's magazine DT’s February issue.
In another picture that has been posted on blogs, the Sarkozy’s ladylove is seen topless.
What is sure to restart the debate about whether the President and Bruni have wed in secret is the presence of a gold band on the model’s ring finger.
A spokesman for the magazine could not confirm exactly when the less explicit picture that they have published was taken, but maintained that it was before her relationship with Sarkozy went public officially.
"It could have been as early as last August," the Telegraph quoted Maria Sanchez, from the magazine's publisher Focus, as saying.
Ms Sanchez also revealed that the black and white snap that appears in the magazine was one of a series taken in a photoshoot by New York agency Art & Commerce.
Britney accuses mom of sleeping with her lover
LONDON, Feb 2: Britney Spears hysterically accused her mother of sleeping with her lover as she was admitted to hospital.
The Piece of Me singer who has been classed “G.D.” (gravely disabled) by health care professionals at Los Angeles’ UCLA Medical Center screamed that Lynne “wanted to sleep with her boyfriend” as she was taken away in the early hours of Jan 31.
Sources claim Britney raged: "The only reason she's admitting me is because she wants to be alone with her boyfriend! She wants to sleep with my boyfriend!!"
The 26-year-old singer didn’t specify if she meant photographer Adnan Ghalib or her ex-husband Kevin Federline who Lynne has been in close contact with.
Hospital sources said Britney arrived at 2.15am but was not admitted until 4.15 am as she was causing such a scene. They claim she was on Adderall - a stimulant used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder - and was taking up to 10 laxatives a day.
When she calmed down the Gimme More singer talked about how much she misses her sons Sean Preston, two, and 16-month-old Jayden James.
The medical term G.D. means the patient is unable to take care of basic needs, including food, clothing or shelter. It is one of the criteria for involuntary commitment.
Meanwhile, Britney’s ‘manager’ Sam Lutfi has accused Lynne of not caring about her daughter’s condition.
In a text message sent to US TV show Access Hollywood he wrote: "No. Her mother is not someone who cares about her daughter, she's only concerned with herself. Sad but true. She was too busy getting a manicure to come over yesterday, despite her daughter’s pleas. Sad, very sad."
Lutfi also revealed he feels responsible for Britney and is the only person with her best interests at heart.
He said: “I feel like I have a moral obligation.
"You meet her and she cries, and she begs you not to turn on her. I have three sisters and I would do the same for any of them. “Britney has never paid me, I have never sold any photos of her, and I have never accepted money from the media.”
Now, Fergie has a wardrobe malfunction
WELLINGTON, Jan 19: American pop singer Fergie suffered a slight wardrobe malfunction when she opened for The Police at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.
The 23-year-old vocalist for ‘Black Eyed Peas’ opened for the evening playing at least three songs with the fly on her trousers gaping.
The stadium was jam-packed as around 22,000 fans flocked to watch The Police kicking off their Australasian tour.
The Police comprise front man Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers.
The band reformed in May last year for the tour, performed a string of hits from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I want to stay pregnant forever: Halle Berry
LONDON:Halle Berry is so much in love with her pregnancy that she wants to stay that way forever. The Oscar-winning actress has revealed that she is thrilled to have the opportunity to be a mother and that the pregnancy hormones are working in her favour.
"Right now I have so much joy and energy. I can just go and go and go,” The Sun quoted Berry, as saying.
"My skin is aglow from all the hormones. I actually wear less make-up now, which is really good. I want to stay pregnant forever," she added.
The ‘Monsters Ball,’ star is looking forward to a spectacular birth, as it may be her last. "I may only do this one time, so I want the moment to be as big as it can be. I want the biggest bang I can imagine," she said.
The actress also said that the she’ll pick up a name when the baby is born. "People are always saying, 'You mean you haven't picked out a name yet? But I don't know how you name a baby until you meet it," she added.
Halle Berry regrets butt tattoo
LONDON: Halle Berry admits that her biggest regret is getting her ex hubby’s name tattooed on her butt. The Academy Award winning actress married first hubby, pro baseball player David Justice in 1992 and had his name tattooed on her posterior.
When the marriage ended in divorce in 1996, Berry had the tattooed turned into a sunflower for it represented.
However, Berry now admits to the UK edition of Cosmopolitan that she made a mistake in getting the etching, for she would have just preferred ‘clear skin’.
"I chose a sunflower because when darkness descends they close up to regenerate," Femalefirst quoted her, as telling the magazine.
"But I really wish I'd never had the tattoo in the first place. Clean, clear skin is always better," she added.
Berry and Justice found it difficult to maintain their relationship while he was playing baseball and she was filming elsewhere.
She had earlier revealed that she left so despondent after the break-up that she considered taking her own life.
Britney Spears loses custody of her two sons
NEW YORK, Jan 5: Troubled American pop star Britney Spears has lost custody of her two baby boys to ex-husband Kevin Federline, hours after she was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for observation as a "special needs" patient.
The family court in Los Angeles, hearing the bitter custody battle, on Friday gave the "sole legal and physical" custody of the two children to Federline and suspended Spears' visitation rights until "further order." Another hearing has been set for January 14.
Her visitation rights were earlier suspended in October last year but she was allowed monitored visits three times a week.
On Thursday night, police were called to her Los Angeles residence after she allegedly refused to hand over the two boys - two year old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James -- and locked herself in a room.
Television pictures taken from air showed she was restrained to a stretcher as she was taken to the hospital and police said she was under the influence of some unknown substance. She looked vacantly while being taken out of her house to the ambulance by paramedics.
Spears remains under observation as a "special needs" patient and is under constant watch, Us magazine, which specialises in celebrity news, quoted a source at Cedars-Sinai hospital as saying.
Lohan kisses three men in one day
LONDON, Jan 4: Controversial actress Lindsay Lohan was spotted kissing three different men in one day while holidaying on the island of Capri.
Lohan was first spotted kissing waiter Allesandro Di Nunzio just after she arrived on the island, the sun.co.uk reports. A few hours later she was seen kissing Italian actor Eduardo Costa and then later Dario Failla.
"Lindsay certainly likes her men and judging by her efforts over the weekend, they love her too. She wasn't content to share a snog with just one fella - it seemed like she wanted them all. She certainly set tongues wagging," said an onlooker.
Lohan is reportedly seeing music producer J.R. Rotem who had in the past dated troubled pop star Britney Spears.
Jennifer Aniston on a dating spree?
NEW YORK, Jan 4: It seems that Jennifer Aniston can’t have just one-on-one time, as far as men are concerned.The former Friends star was recently spotted with a mystery man in Mexico, after having several secret trysts with Sex And The City hunk Jason Lewis.
While on holiday with pal Courtney Cox’s family in Los Cabos, Mexico, the 38-year-old actress spent quality time with her mysterious male pal in her rented villa, reports the New York Post.
Meanwhile, British sources have revealed that the Californian beauty has had many clandestine meetings with Lewis, who played Smith Jerrod, love interest to Kim Cattrall on the hit HBO series.
Aniston’s rep recently hit out at reports claiming that the actress is pregnant.
A recent report in The National Enquirer claimed that Aniston is expecting her first child.
The publication also speculated that the father could be either Vince Vaughn, Paul Sculfor or Sex and the City star Jason Lewis.
However, the actress’ representative has dismissed the comments, saying: “She is not pregnant.”
Paris loses out, Hilton fortune pledged to charity
NEW YORK, Dec 27: US socialite Paris Hilton's potential inheritance dramatically diminished after her grandfather Barron Hilton announced plans on Wednesday to donate 97 percent of his $2.3 billion fortune to charity.
The wealth includes $1.2 billion Barron Hilton stands to earn from both the recent sale of Hilton Hotels Corp. -- started by his father Conrad in 1919 when he bought a small hotel in Cisco, Texas -- and pending sale of the world's biggest casino company, Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
That money will be placed in a charitable trust that will eventually benefit the Conrad N Hilton Foundation, raising its total value to about $4.5 billion, the foundation said in a statement.
Barron Hilton, chairman of the foundation, intends "to contribute 97 percent of his entire net worth, estimated today at $2.3 billion, including the created trusts, at whatever value it is at the time of his passing," the foundation said.
Paris Hilton was not immediately available for comment on her grandfather's plans.
Jerry Oppenheimer, who profiled the Hilton family in his 2006 book House of Hilton has said Barron Hilton is embarrassed by the behaviour of his socialite granddaughter Paris and believes she has sullied the family name. Barron Hilton, who is 80, has not commented on Oppenheimer's remarks.
The foundation supports projects that provide clean water in Africa, education for blind children, and housing for the mentally ill. Its aims, based on Conrad Hilton's will, are "to relieve the suffering, the distressed and the destitute."
"Speaking for the family as well as the foundation, we are all exceedingly proud and grateful for this extraordinary commitment," said Steven Hilton, one of Barron's sons and president and chief executive of the foundation.
Conrad Hilton established the foundation in 1944. When he died in 1979, he left virtually all of his fortune -- including a 27 percent controlling stake in Hilton Hotels -- to the charity.
Paris, a symbol of celebrity privilege in America, gained notoriety in 2003 when a home video of her having sex with a boyfriend was posted on the Internet. Then this year she spent more than three weeks in jail for violating probation in a drunk-driving case.
Scary Spice’s gyrating act sparks outrage
WASHINGTON, Dec 19: Spice Girl Melanie Brown’s performance at the band's comeback gig in London has sparked off anger in the U.K.
It all started when Scary Spice gyrated with an unsuspecting male fan onstage.
On Dec 15, the singer stunned her young fans by thrusting her head between the legs of the fan during her solo performance of Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way.
One angry mum told Daily Star newspaper that the act was very disgusting and inappropriate.
"It was disgusting. There were lots of children in the audience so something this sexual was totally inappropriate. She looked more like a stripper than a singer,” Contactmusic quoted the mum, as telling the newspaper.
Angelina Jolie is the sexiest movie star ever!
LONDON, Dec 10: Angelina Jolie has topped a list of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars Ever. The Beowulf actress topped the poll, conducted by Empire magazine, to find the most beautiful star of the silver screen.
Angelina claimed the prestigious title because of her "pneumatic figure, feline eyes and lips that could have been stung by several hives of bees".
She narrowly beat Natalie Portman, who finished in second position after "making baldness sexy" in 'V for Vendetta' and setting men's pulses racing with her raunchy pole dancing scene in 'Closer'.
James Bond actor Daniel Craig who wowed women in Casino Royale when he emerged from the ocean in a pair of tight-fitting blue swimming trunks came third, while Fantastic Four beauty Jessica Alba finished fourth.
Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp rounded off the top five. Other entries on the list, which was voted for by 20,000 film fans, included Matt Damon who was recently voted People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2007 - who took 17th spot.
British stars Christian Bale, Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Kate Beckinsale and Clive Owen all made it in to the top 25, with Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe coming in at 23.
Volver actress Penelope Cruz took 50th position and the entire list was rounded off by Die Hard 4.0 actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Empire magazine's 100 Sexiest Movie Stars Ever top ten:
1. Angelina Jolie
2. Natalie Portman
3. Daniel Craig
4. Jessica Alba
5. Johnny Depp
6. Eva Green
7. Brad Pitt
8. Scarlett Johansson
9. Keira Knightley
10. Gerard Butler
Nudity is just not my thing: Julia Roberts
WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Her new movie Charlie Wilson’s War may be the last time Julia Roberts’ fans get to see her nude on-screen. The mum-of-three admits to E!’s The Daily 10 that it’s highly unlikely that she will be stripping off for the cameras once again.
The reason, she insists, is that nudity is not ‘her thing’. "Listen, there's a reason why you don't see me naked me in movies, you don't see me running around in bathing suits in movies. It's just not my thing," usmagazine.com quoted her, as saying.
Roberts, who famously used a body double to shoot nude scenes in the movie that catapulted her to stardom ‘Pretty Woman’, now joins the ranks of actor Brad Pitt, who recently stated that he would not be dropping his clothes ever again.
Roberts’ new movie hits the big screen in the US on December 21.
Starring with her in the movie are fellow Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The pic is about Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who conspired with a rogue CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos to launch an operation to help the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
It is based on a 2003 book of the same title by George Crile. The film is directed by Mike Nichols, is written by Aaron Sorkin.
Nicole Kidman not ‘hot’ enough to be Bond girl
WASHINGTON, Dec 6: Nicole Kidman has ruled out the possibility that she will ever be playing a Bond girl, because she just think she’s ‘hot’ enough for the role.
The Oscar winning actress has starred alongside current James Bond Daniel Craig in two movies – The Invasion, and the soon to be released film, The Golden Compass.
However, despite being considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, the Aussie actress revealed to Britain’s Closer magazine that she doesn’t think that she has the right look to star in a 007 flick.
"I don't know if Daniel would have me. I'd have to be a 'hot babe' and I don't think that's really my thing," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.
Kidman will soon be seen on the big screen in The Golden Compass, a movie that has been attacked by US-based Catholic League for being anti-Christian and promoting ‘atheism for kids’.
However, the star defended the movie, who plays the villainous Mrs Coulter in the flick, has said that the critics are way off the mark.
"I'm a Catholic and I didn't feel it was anti-religious when I read the screenplay,” she said.
Salma Hayek's breasts, a present from God!
LONDON, Nov 22: Salma Hayek claims her breasts are a present from God. The Mexican actress, famed for her curvy figure, used to be flat-chested when she was younger and regularly prayed for a bigger bust.
She even put her hands in holy water to try and make a miracle happen.
She said: "My mother and I stopped at a church during a road trip we were making from our home in Mexico. "When we went inside the church, I prayed for the miracle that I wanted to happen. I put my hands in holy water and said, 'Please God, give me some breasts!'"
Just months later, Salma started to develop the breasts which have become the envy of women all over the world. The mother-of-one added to US chat show host David Letterman: "He gave me them! Within a few months, I developed a growing spurt, as all teenagers do, and I was very pleased with the way I grew outwards."
The Ugly Betty producer recently revealed she was told she would never make it in Hollywood because her height was a "deformity". The stunning Latina star said: "I had my struggles. I am 5ft 2in and in Mexico where I am from, it was very important to be tall.
"I grew up in a world where beauty was not only tall, it was white and blonde with blue eyes. People used to say that the short thing was a deformity. I was really upset about my height and then one day I said, 'Who decided that it's better to be tall? Am I less healthy? Am I less capable?'"
Paris Hilton to hunt hot men in New York!
LONDON, Nov 22: The hotel heiress who recently split from her 20-year-old pizza delivery boyfriend Alex Vaggo because he was too shy, told her sister Nicky at the weekend she wanted to move to the Big Apple because there are no hot men in Los Angeles, where she currently lives.
A partygoer at Hollywood's Green Door nightclub said: "I heard Paris talking to Nicky outside the club. She looked really fed up, and said, 'There are no guys at this party or in Los Angeles in general. New York has much better guys. I'm going to move there.'"
Paris has a theory as to why most of her relationships have ended prematurely.
She said: "People think I sleep with everyone, but I'm not like that. Kissing is all I do. The reason so many of my relationships don't work is guys are like, 'Hey what's going on? It's been like four months and I'm only getting a kiss here!' "
Paris has been a loser in love. She has two broken engagements - one with Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos, and one with actor Jason Shaw - and has enjoyed dalliances with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, actor Jared Leto and Colin Farrell.
She was also the unwitting star of the 2003 sex tape, One Night in Paris, with her ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon. The film went on to become the biggest-selling celebrity sex tape of all time.
Now, an Angelina Jolie ‘wardrobe malfunction’
LONDON, Nov 16: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie experienced a split spreading in the seam of her skin-tight leather trousers, when she appeared at the Leicester Square in London with her partner Brad Pitt.
Pitt reportedly came into the scene, and planted a protective hand on her derriere.
The 32-year–old actress, however, managed her way out and walked out a lake loaded with only liquid gold, reports the mirror. However, on the red carpet she had a low-tech cover-up.
Meanwhile, actor Ray Winstone has revealed that working with Angelina Jolie in Beowulf made him feel sexy.
The 50-year-old star said that starring alongside the Tomb Raider beauty boosted his self-confidence.
A man with a ‘cute butt’ is Jessica's choice
WASHINGTON, Nov 16: Men who want to date Jessica Simpson, better make sure that they have ‘cute butts’, for that’s the first attribute the singer will be checking out.
Also high up on the singer’s list of priorities for her man is that he should not only be a family man, but also be willing to be put under the scanner by her grandparents.
“Like, if a kid were to come up to him and tug on his shirt, he’d pick him up on twirl him around. I definitely love a family man, a guy that’s not afraid to pick up the babies,” usmagazine.com quoted her, as saying on talk show The View.
“And somebody who wants to meet my grandparents immediately ... if he has a cute butt, that’s all right,” she added.
For the moment however, Simpson has no plans for planning another wedding, for she just too busy making music.
“I’m kind of married to my music right now and focusing on writing an album,” she said.
Simpson has been married once to singer Nick Lachey, and has also been in failed relationships with singers Adam Levine, John Mayer.
Curves, brains go together in woman
LONDON, Nov 12: Curvy women have been admired for their sensual figures. But, a new study has found that ladies with large hips and small waists are cleverer too, than those with apple-shaped bodies.
In fact, according to international researchers, women with an hourglass figure are not only intelligent, they also give birth to brighter children.
"The fat around fuller hips and thighs holds higher levels of Omega3 fatty acids which are essential for the growth of the brain during pregnancy," the researchers were quoted as saying.
The scientists at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California came to the conclusion after analysing data from a study of 16,000 women and girls, which collected details of their body measurements and their scores in cognitive tests.
The team found that those women with a greater difference between the waist and hips scored significantly higher on the tests, as did their children, "possibly a result of higher levels of Omega3 fatty acids on the hips".
The research has explained why children born to teenage mothers do worse in cognitive tests, their mothers may have had insufficient stores of the best fatty acids.
"The cognitive development of their children is reduced, and their own cognitive development is impaired compared with those mothers with a later first birth," the researchers were quoted as saying.
The study also noted, however, that children born to teenage girls with traditional hourglass figures seemed to be protected from this phenomenon and did better in tests.
Daniel Radcliffe has a crush on Sophie Dahl
LONDON, Nov 12: The Harry Potter actor who is set to play a World War I soldier in ITV drama My Boy Jack confessed the blonde supermodel is his ideal woman.
When asked which celebrity he would like to kiss, Daniel replied: "Sophie Dahl."
The 18-year-old star was delighted to discover Sophie's boyfriend, musician Jamie Callum, is short like him.
He exclaimed: "He's quite short, isn't he? Good, that means she likes short men. Well done, Jamie!"
Daniel, who has been dating his Equus co-star Laura O'Toole since May, also revealed he finds intelligence very attractive and has a soft spot for actress Natalie Portman.
He added: "What does it for me is ferocious intelligence and talent, so people like Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman - they're just so bright."
Daniel and Laura were seen shopping together last weekend. The pair are said to have grown close after meeting during the London run of Equus. Laura, 22, understudied for the role of Jill, whose character appeared in a lengthy nude scene with Daniel.
A Marilyn Monroe pic for Becks' bedroom
LONDON, Nov 12: It seems that football star David Beckham prefers curves to the stick-thin frame of his wife Victoria.
That’s perhaps the reason why the former England captain specifically asked for a Marilyn Monroe picture for his bedroom.
According to sources, Beckham asked interior designer Kelly Hoppen to source a famous photo of the yesteryear’s sex symbol to hang over the couple's bed.
"David specifically asked for the picture," the Daily Mail quoted a source, as saying.
"He adores Marilyn and thinks the photo of her with rose petals covering her breasts is a stunning picture. It is hanging above the bed,” the source added.
'Om Shanti Om' beats 'Saawariya' at the box office
NEW DELHI, Nov 12: The audience verdict is out. The box office seems to favour Shah Rukh Khan's " Om Shanti Om " in comparison to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's much-touted magnum opus " Saawariya ".
While King Khan's film registered 90 percent occupancy across the country on its Diwali release, Bhansali's love story managed 60 percent.
" Om Shanti Om " is director Farah Khan's tribute to the colourful and vibrant cinemas of the 70s and it has Shah Rukh is a new avatar, going shirtless and displaying his six-pack abs, while Bhansali's film is a mystical love story set in Shimla and introduces new faces.
According to Vishal Kapur, COO of Fun Cinemas, the Shah Rukh film has generated a lot of repeat audience interest in comparison to " Saawariya ".
"Among our 15 cineplexes across the country, the bigger ones did a business of at least Rs.500,000 and smaller ones Rs.150,000 on Friday. ' Saawariya ' churned out Rs.350,000 at the big centres, while at the smaller ones it could only manage to collect Rs.78,000," Kapur told IANS.
Kapur feels that " Om Shanti Om " could prove an even bigger Shah Rukh hit than his last " Chak De! India ".
"It could do better than 'Chak De! ' which picked up after the positive reviews. However, 'Om Shanti Om ' had a great opening. I am a little doubtful about ' Saawariya '," said Kapur.
The audience response can be gauged from Anirban Basu, a movie buff who saw both the films. " 'Om Shanti Om' is much more entertaining than 'Saawariya' . SRK's film has a perfect blend of comedy and drama while Bhansali's film is stale and boring. It is extremely slow. Apart from the lavish sets there is nothing in the film to hold the audiences' interest."
The difference of how well both the films would do in the coming days is also evident from the advance bookings.
"For Saturday, 50 percent of advance booking has been done for 'Om Shanti Om' while for 'Saawariya' it is just a little over 20 percent," said Ashok Bisht, assistant manager of JAM multiplex, Noida.
With both the films in tough competition, the weekend will prove boom time for the multiplexes across the country.
"With two big films releasing the same day, this weekend will prove to be a big money spinner for all multiplexes. However, we have noticed a new trend among some viewers - they want to watch both films," said Gautam Dutt, chief marketing officer of PVR Cinema.
Posh Spice’s new diet mantra – eat more!
LONDON, Nov 5: Victoria Beckham is on a very different kind of diet these days – a diet that involves the singer actually eating more.
The stick-thin singer has been told to eat more than what she actually eats in a bid to prepare her for the forthcoming Spice Girl reunion tour.
Posh Spice has been told that she will have to increase her food intake if she wanted to keep up with the strenuous dance routines planned for the tour.
Known for her thin frame, Beckham maintains a waist measuring 23in by eating steamed fish and edamame (soyabeans).
But now a source has revealed those as a part of the new diet the singer would have to, firstly, detox her body system and later would be eating brown rice with steamed vegetable.
"First Victoria is going on a weeklong cleanse where she will only be able to drink hot lemon water and eat organic fruit and vegetables to detox her system," the Daily Mail quoted the source, as saying.
"She will have to keep this up for five days even though she will be training. Her new diet is based on eating small bowls of brown rice with steamed vegetables.
"Her favourite at the moment is steamed spinach, carrots and tomatoes. She will also be eating beetroot at every mealtime because it's a good source of fibre and iron and low in calories,” the source added.
Posh would also have to eat handfuls of nuts and seeds as four or five small meals a day.
"She is terrified of putting on a single pound and has had to be talked into increasing her food intake.
"It would be very embarrassing for her if she collapses or gets ill because she's too weak,” the source said.
Britney sings about her divorce
LONDON, Oct 22: Troubled pop star Britney Spears, who is working on a comeback, has recorded a song about her messy divorce with Kevin Federline.
The song Why should I be so sad is featured in her new album, reports ananova.com.
In the song, Brtiney refers to her ex-husband as a self-centred man whose life revolves around women, money and cars. The song has been produced by rapper Pharrell Williams who is confident that Britney's album will prove that those who doubt her are wrong.
He said: "At the end of the day, she is a sweet person."
The album is titled Blackout and will be released on October 29.
Beyonce flashes boobs at store
LONDON, Oct 17: Singer-actress Beyonce Knowles launched her new Samsung B –Phone at the Samsung store in New York recently, but the event saw her flashing something else apart from the handset – her boobs.
The R&B singer exposed more than she intended in a sheer green dress at the release on Oct 11.
The Crazy in Love hitmaker unconsciously gave the paparazzi a glimpse of her bra-less twin assets, reports The Sun.
Samsung’s limited edition B-Phone is a Beyonce branded version of the UpStage music phone.
The handset features burgundy and gold colors designed by the singer herself.
In addition to this feature, the phone also includes a Beyonce themed startup screen and the ability to download exclusive Beyonce videos, photos, and a song she recorded as a child.
The B- Phone showcases a dual sided design, with an MP3 player on one side and a phone on the other.
Kelly Brook turns sex guru
LONDON, Oct 17: Women wishing to spice up their love lives may now find a sex guru in model/actress Kelly Brook, as she has some potent bedroom tips.
She says that one should not rush to turn off the lights when it comes to seducing a partner.
She insists that illuminating the bedroom with a fluorescent strip-light or a subtle candlelight can be incredibly flattering.
Brook strongly feels that a woman who is ready to get intimate should celebrate the fact that her partner wants to be with her, and enjoy the confidence that comes with it, the Mirror reports.
She has also insisted that women should always remember that men hardly notice the bits women are conscious about.
Instead he is more interested in the sparkle in his partner’s eyes, the smile she breaks into when he gives a compliment and the way her body responds to his.
The swimwear designer said that women should maintain a level of mystery, and therefore she suggested taking some time to master the art of undressing.
She further added that whether a woman undresses for her man or he undresses her, do it slowly and enjoy discovering what lies below.
The 27-year-old designer emphasised on wearing beautiful, soft-to-the-touch clothing that feels good against the skin, such as velvet, cashmere, Angora or satin.
She also recommended not to put too much of perfume, for it could be a turn-off to men because they tend to prefer women’s natural smell.
However, she thinks that there is something incredibly seductive about freshly bathed, delicately scented skin.
Therefore, she said that women, if get a chance, should enjoy a long soak and go for a lightly fragranced moisturiser or body oil before getting dressed.
I looked like a fat pig, sobs Britney
LONDON: Britney Spears’ doomed performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards in Las Vegas has led her to admit that she “looked like a fat pig.”
The troubled singer, who performed her new single Gimme More on September 9, seemed to be the most aghast after finishing her act.
According to a source, the former pop princess lip-synched her way through her performance and struggled to dance in time, but it was the sight of her flabby body that really left her feeling ashamed.
“She was also able to see video of herself throughout the auditorium,” the Daily Mail quoted the source, as telling America’s Us Magazine.
“She flipped out. She came running off the stage, yelling 'Oh, my God, I looked like a fat pig! I looked like a fat pig!' She was inconsolable,” the source added.
The singer’s much-hyped come-back performance was severely panned by critics, who branded the act “bored” and “glazed” as she forgot dance moves and lip-synched out of time.
Lie back and think of Russia
Ulyanovsk, Russia: The governor of a central Russian province, on Wednesday, urged couples to skip work and make love instead to help boost Russia's low birth-rate.
And if a woman gives birth in exactly nine months time -- on Russia's national day on June 12 -- she will qualify for a prize, perhaps even winning a new home.
"It's normally something for the home -- a fridge or a television set," Yelena Yakovleva at the Ulyanovsk regional administration press office, said.
"It doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy."
Newly-weds Karina and Anton Bukhanovsky walked hand in hand down the main street of the regional capital of Ulyanovsk. They live in St Petersburg but traveled to Ulyanovsk to soak up the atmosphere on Wednesday.
"I used to live here," said Karina, aged 19. "We plan to come back on the same day next year and try for a baby and the prize nine months later," she said.
Anton, aged 21, kissed her gently on the cheek and they strolled off arm in arm.
Regional governor Sergei Morozov told employers to contribute to a Kremlin campaign to boost the birth rate by giving couples Wednesday off to have sex.
Russia wants to reverse a trend in which the population is shrinking by about 700,000 people a year as births fail to outpace a high death rate boosted by AIDS, alcoholism and suicide.
This is the third year Ulyanovsk region, famous as the birthplace of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, has dedicated a day to encouraging couples to produce more babies.
Prizes will extend equally to unwed women who produce children on the right day, though the biggest prizes will go to married couples.
On Russia Day this year, a family won a jeep after their fourth baby was born on the holiday.
Next year, the top prizes will include an apartment, Morozov told Reuters. "We need more people," he said.
This year a record 78 babies were born on June 12 at the main hospital in the regional capital of Ulyanovsk, beating the 2006 total of 26, said chief doctor Andrei Malykh.
"The scheme is working. People want the prizes," he said.
From catwalk to sidewalk
NEW DELHI, Sept 4: In the '90s, Gitanjali Nagpal sashayed down the catwalks of Delhi with the likes of Sushmita Sen. A Navy officer's daughter who went to Lady Shri Ram College, she seemed set for a flashbulb career in fashion.
On Sunday, they found her living off the streets and spending her nights in parks and temples. And by Monday, she was being hounded by TV cameramen, reporters and do-gooders. Gitanjali's sad story had just taken yet another weird turn.
It's a horrifying story of the dark side of glamour: how one false move can send a promising career to a downward spiral of drugs and self-destruction. By her own admission, the ex-Mount Carmel student worked as a maid, spent her nights with men for money to quell her craving for drugs and alcohol and was in the end reduced to a life on the footpath.
Gitanjali's estranged husband lives in Germany with her child. And, touchingly, he still waits for her. When a newspaper, first spotted her in South Delhi's Hauz Khas village and started taking her photographs, Gitanjali slid the T-shirt down her shoulders like a seasoned model and posed in style. She promised to model even better for a reward: a swim in a five-star hotel.
But after the story was published on Monday, Gitanjali was back among the flashbulbs. In an ironical twist, she was chased by TV reporters, shepherded by Delhi Commission for Women and taken in a Qualis first to a police station and then to Vimhans, a hospital that deals with mental health.
Gitanjali, still striking with her matted dreadlocks and wearing a black corsette and long skirt that seemed to have all the colours of rainbow, didn't get down from the car. Rather, she abused people who approached her. Three psychiatrists talked to her in the car. They later said she had poor hygiene, had rashes all over and was irritable.
First kiss is the key to winning a girl
LONDON, Sept 4: Men had better start working on their kissing skills, for a new study has found that a kiss is all it takes for a woman to decide which man she wants to hook up with.
The study, by researchers at New York's University at Albany, found that the fairer sex has developed kissing as an evolutionary tool to find the right father for their children, and that they often judge men exclusively on the quality of the first kiss that they share.
The study, based on the questions put to 1,000 students about their views on kissing, found that women "place more emphasis on a kiss and are more reliant on kissing as a mate assessment technique" than men.
Psychologist Gordon Gallup, who led the study, said that for many men, the first kiss can be the one that makes or breaks the deal.
"While many forces lead two people to connect romantically, the kiss - particularly the first one - can be a deal-breaker," the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.
"Kissing is part of an evolved courtship ritual. This may activate mechanisms that function to discourage reproduction among individuals who are genetically incompatible," he added.
The researchers found that bad breath, and being generally unpleasant, are also important factors, for women can interpret them as a sign of health problems.
Tongue contact and the exchange of saliva were found to help both sexes make subconscious assessments about each other.
Women's breath can indicate hormone levels and fertility, while male saliva will have traces of the sex hormone testosterone.
The study is published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology.
Britney Spears having a lesbian affair?
LONDON, Aug 26: Troubled pop star Britney Spears was spotted making out with her personal assistant Shannon Funk during a topless romp in a swimming pool.
Though Spears ordered her people to clear the hotel pool area to be left alone, a hotel source said: "Even though the pool was closed, some people still saw them - and their jaws hit the floor. Britney seemed more into this girl than she has ever been into a guy."
Dailysnack.com quoted Spears' friend as saying: "Britney did get raunchy with the guys, but that was nothing compared to what she did with Shannon. Even though the hunks were hot, Britney made a beeline to cavort with Shannon. She seemed insatiable.
"Shannon's been a great pal to Britney through very tough times. It was inevitable they'd end up very close - but no-one knew just how close."
Friend also added that this was not the first time this has happened. They were caught cuddling and kissing in the street last month. Spears has most recently fired Shannon saying she was leading her astray.
Woman sets fire to ex-husband's penis
MOSCOW, Aug 22: A woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka, Moscow police said Wednesday.
Asked if the man would make a full recovery, a police spokeswoman said it was "difficult to predict."
The attack climaxed three years of acrimonious enforced co-habitation. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat, something common in Russia where property costs are very high.
"It was monstrously painful," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I was burning like a torch. I don't know what I did to deserve this."
The bra turns 100
NEW DELHI, Aug 22: Bra, the foundation piece of a woman’s wardrobe, has completed 100 years of its existence this year.
Completing a century, the bra, labelled the "brassiere" by Vogue in 1907, has seen many changes from the flat-chested flappers of the 1920s, to bra-burning ceremonies of the '60s and Madonna's cone shaped bustiers of the '80s.
Stylist Lisa Cimmino said that women had lots to choose from when it came to the support fastener.
"The bra is a foundation piece in any women's wardrobe. We would be lost without them," News.com.au quoted Lisa, as saying. "I mean, 100 years on they are making our busts bigger or smaller, sexier or sportier," she added.
Keira Knightley bares all for Chanel
LONDON, Aug 13: Keira Knightley steamed up the lens with her new curvy, nearly bare-all pics for cosmetic giant Chanel.
The 22-year-old, who had a carefully-placed bowler hat in the pic, gave a glimpse of her twin assets.
Earlier, the actress was seen in King Arthur American posters as a buxom beauty, but she told a US magazine that the promotion poster was not original.
"Those things certainly weren't mine. We had an interesting discussion when they said, ‘we want to make them slightly larger and you'll get approval’ and I was like, 'OK, fine. I honestly don't give a s***'" Daily Mail quoted Knightley, as saying.
The new femme fatale Knightley, who has been known for her tomboyish look since she appeared in ‘Bend it like Beckham’, once spoke about her dislike of her chest.
"I don't have any t***, so I can't show cleavage,” she said.
The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ beauty insisted that Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle was the first ever ‘women’ perfume she wore.
“It is the first women’s perfume I’ve ever worn. I need something clean,”
Knightley is thought to have signed a one-year contract worth more than 500,000 pounds to be the face of the scent.
Victoria Beckham prefers fashion over Hollywood
LOS ANGELES, July 28: Victoria Beckham, who with football star husband David Beckham makes a much anticipated move to Los Angeles this week, has scoffed at suggestions she wanted to launch a Hollywood movie career.
"I must be the only person in Los Angeles who doesn't want to be in films," Beckham joked.
"I don't think I am that good at acting actually," the former "Posh Spice" member of the 1990s band "The Spice Girls" told reporters in a telephone conference.
Nude blonde, gold stilettos and a Ferrari..
BERLIN, July 24: A mysterious blonde paid a visit to a petrol station shop in the small eastern German town of Doemitz on Sunday -- wearing nothing but a pair of golden stilettos and a thin gold bracelet.
The tall, slender woman strolled into the shop in the town of Doemitz on the warm afternoon and bought cigarettes, petrol station employee Ines Swoboda told Reuters on Monday.
"I wasn't surprised because she's come in naked before -- she's a very nice woman," Swoboda said, adding none of the other customers was bothered. The woman could have faced charges of creating a public disturbance if anyone had complained.
A quick-witted customer did, however, snap pictures of the woman believed to be about 30 years old as she walked back to a waiting Ferrari and climbed into the passenger seat. Several of those photos appeared in the German media on Monday.
Wanna be a "sexecutive"?
SYDNEY, July 10: Condom makers say it's the world's best job, a "sexecutive position." An Australian company is seeking real life testers for its condom products.
"Got what it takes to be an official condom tester?" asks an advertisement launched by Durex Australia next to a photo of a busty young woman in a revealing nurse's outfit.
"With this job on your CV, it really will be a chance to brag to your mates about the special skills you possess, not to mention that your new role will work wonders with the opposite sex," Durex Marketing Manager Sam White told local media.
The "bed-testing" position is unpaid, but 200 selected testers would be up for free pack of Durex products, plus a bonus prize of A$1,000 ($854) for one lucky winner, White said.
In return, testers would have to report back on the feel and performance of the company's products.
Only Australians need apply, and would-be testers will be asked to explain why they should be considered. Humour would help in the application, Durex said.
"To apply, simply explain why you think you're right for the position (missionary is acceptable) and you could be eligible for the employee bonus of $1,000," said the ad on Web site www.durex.com.au.
Tony Parker and Eva Longoria get married
PARIS, July 7: Professional basketball star Tony Parker married "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria at a civil ceremony in Paris on Friday — a prelude to their expected star-studded weekend wedding bash at a lavish and storied chateau.
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe officiated and gave a speech saying how happy he was that they were married in the City of Light, said the mayor of Paris' 4th District, Dominique Bertinotti.
Longoria, 32, showed up first in a white stretch limo, wearing a way-above-the-knee pink Chanel dress with striped black and white straps. She was accompanied by about eight guests in cream, pink and purple dresses. She turned, smiled and waved for the crowd of waiting photographers and reporters who were kept well back behind two rows of police barriers.
Longoria then changed into a short white dress for the ceremony, said Bertinotti — whose office acted as the dressing room.
Parker, the 25-year-old San Antonio Spurs star who was born in Belgium and grew up playing basketball in France, arrived about 10 minutes later in a gray minivan, wearing a dark suit. He went straight in without waving. French soccer star Thierry Henry was in his group.
In between, other guests arrived in a Humvee stretch limo.
The ceremony, in a room with blue-and-white trimmed walls, a French flag and a portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, lasted about 45 minutes. Bertinotti said there was a small reception afterward that also lasted about 45 minutes.
French law requires couples who marry to make their vows official at a city hall, even if they have a church wedding as well.
Parker translated Delanoe's speech into English for the guests, who numbered about 40.
"It was very joyous, very nice," Bertinotti said. "The atmosphere was very warm and very authentic."
The couple left in a black Mercedes sedan with tinted windows.
They were thought to be planning a second wedding ceremony Saturday at a Paris church that used to serve French royals. Then, they and their guests were to party at Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th century chateau 34 miles southeast of Paris.
In an interview with Le Parisien published Friday, Parker said he was eager to have kids.
"That would be even better than my NBA titles, even if I don't compare private life and sports," he told the newspaper. "Eva talks to me about it all the time. I'd like to have girls, because I come from a world of boys."
He also said he considers himself "the luckiest guy in the world."
A lucky number? 7/7/07
PARIS, July 4: This year, 7/7/07 provides a unique opportunity for superstition and marketing to come together: starry-eyed couples are tying the knot, casinos are over-booked and Live Earth concerts as well as the proclamation of the world's seven new wonders take place that day.
"Number 7 has a magic sacred side and the reputation of bringing luck," said numerologist Jean-Daniel Fermier. So several sevens could bring an extra dose of good fortune.
"Number 7 is the union of 4, symbol of matter, and of 3, symbol of the spirit," said Fermier, author of a French guide to numerology.
"A priori, July 7, 2007 is a good date for a wedding. The marriage may stand a better chance of success, though of course the date is no guarantee."
Among the crowds of lovers in line to wed that day is celebrity couple Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives") and French basketball hero Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs -- said to be superstitious.
Parker said in Paris this week that it was Longoria who chose the setting for their July 7 marriage -- the grandiose chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte outside Paris. "Personally I don't care (where we get married). I've been talking about it every day for the last seven months. It's a girl's day," he said.
But back in March already, a member of a US wedding planning site told AFP that more than 30,000 weddings were planned for July 7, when in ordinary years only 12,000 couples would choose a Saturday in July for their marriage.
"This is the biggest day I've seen in recent years," said Kathleen Murray, deputy editor of theknot.com.
But David's Bridal, the largest US retailer of wedding gowns, says it alone will deliver a record 20,000 gowns for brides for July 7 weddings.
That figure is double the peak figure in a normal year, and the company estimates some 65,000 - 70,000 weddings across the country on July 7.
Even those impulsive types seeking to elope in the US wedding capital Las Vegas are likely to be disappointed, with the city's wedding chapels all booked up, according to the media. One, the Chapel of Flowers, has 113 weddings planned for Saturday, around three time the normal figure.
In Paris this week, one of the city's major department stores, Galeries Lafayette, said it had received 774 wedding lists for 7/7/07, against an average 290 for each of the 13 Saturdays from July to September.
"Reservations for this particular date were made long in advance," said Sonya Willigsecker of Ceremonia, a small French wedding planning company. "We have had to turn down at least 40 couples for this date," she added.
Would-be couples who organised too late can always try their luck in a casino or buying a lottery ticket instead, however.
In casinos, where 777 wins the jackpot on one-armed bandits, managers are offering special July 7 deals such as an overnight luxury stay with spa and dinner for 777 dollars, or the night of your life for 7,777 dollars.
In France, the state-owned lottery is offering a seven-million-euro super-prize on 7/7/07. "We expect four to five million people to buy tickets in comparison with three million for an ordinary draw," a spokeswoman at the Francaise des Jeux said.
But interestingly Friday 13 this July will do better. The French lottery will offer a 15-million-euro prize.
July 7 is also the date chosen to announce the results of a contest to choose the seven new wonders of the world.
Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Bernard Weber, a former assistant to Italian filmmaking legend Federico Fellini, has launched a website where Internet users can vote and choose the world's "new seven wonders."
Among sites short-listed are the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis in Athens and the Great Wall of China. Greek historian Herodotus chose the original seven, which included the hanging gardens of Babylon, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes and the lighthouse of Alexandria.
And for those more interested in preserving the future than the past, the global Live Earth concerts funding Al Gore's foundation against global warming also take place July 7.
More than seven cities are involved however -- among them notably Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, London, New York, Hamburg and Istanbul.
But one academic brushed off the 7/7/07 frenzy as pure nonsense.
"7/7/07 is not pertinent," said Jean-Pierre Brach, a professor of esoteric studies at Paris' eminent Institute of Higher Studies (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes).
"A number must be interpreted within a given historical context," he said.
The media fuss over July 7, he added, was no more than "divinatory numerology invented in the 19th century and popularised worldwide by the Americans."
"Girl power" back as Spice Girls reunite for tour
LONDON, June 30: "Girl Power" is back with the announcement that the Spice Girls, who topped charts in the late 1990s, are reuniting for a tour and greatest hits album.
Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Scary and a heavily pregnant Baby Spice told a press conference in London on Thursday that the tour would take place in December and January and would be accompanied by a television documentary about the band.
The 11-city tour starts in Los Angeles on Dec. 7 and ends on Jan. 24 next year in Buenos Aires.
"Girl power is back, we're going on the road, we're touring the world," Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton said in a promotional video shown to the press before the five girls appeared on stage at London's 02 arena.
When asked why she dropped her previous resistance to a reunion, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm replied: "A girl's allowed to change her mind. This is something that we've only seriously started discussing this year."
Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell added: "For me it's about celebrating the past, enjoying each other, it's about our fans. It felt the right time -- it's kind of now or never."
The five-member band is the latest in a long line of pop acts to bury past differences and reform, and they will be hoping for success where many others have failed.
The Spice Girls boasted album sales of 55 million during their meteoric career, and hits including "Wannabe" and "Say You'll Be There" topped charts across the globe.
But their success was shortlived. Halliwell walked out on the band in 1998, only four years after The Spice Girls was created, and the remaining band members went their separate ways after releasing the album "Forever" in 2000.
The singers said comparisons with Take That, a British boyband that enjoyed huge success since reuniting for a tour last year, were inevitable.
"One thing that's very different about the Spice Girls is we were truly global," Chisholm said.
Victoria "Posh" Beckham, who wore her hair short and blond, added: "Take That are starting up again. For us we're celebrating the past, we're going to do a small tour and then that's probably going to be it."
Halliwell called the reunion a "one night stand", joking: "So you can enjoy it more, right?"
All now in their 30s, the singers embarked on solo careers with varying degrees of success after the band split.
Three of the five are mothers and Bunton is expecting her first child in the late summer.
"There's a lot of children, and about to be another one, and our priorities are really our families, as much as we want to have fun," Beckham said.
"One of the main reasons why I think some of us want to do this is (for our kids) to actually see what we used to do. We're definitely going to have a huge creche (on tour)," she said.
Beckham has maintained the highest profile since the band broke up, helped by her superstar soccer-playing husband David and appearances at fashion shows and on tabloid front pages.
The couple are moving to the United States where David has signed to play for LA Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Melanie "Scary" Brown largely disappeared from the public eye until a high-profile paternity case involving Hollywood star Eddie Murphy.
Earlier this month a DNA test confirmed Murphy as the father of Brown's newborn baby girl after he declined to publicly acknowledge paternity.
It’s legs, not breasts that turn men on!
LONDON, June 19: The common notion that a woman’s breasts are the biggest turn-on for men has been put to rest by a recent survey.
A recent poll by SlimFast has established that female legs are the number-one turn-on for men.
Almost one-third of blokes voted shapely and well-formed legs their favourite part of the female form, reports The Sun.
In the poll, men voted curvy singer and TV presenter Charlotte Church as the owner of the best body, followed by screen legend Marilyn Monroe.
According to women, Prince Harry’s girlfriend Chelsy Davy had the best curves and assets.
Victoria Beckham’s shape was voted the worst by both men and women in a poll of 2,000 people.
Julia Roberts Gives Birth to 3rd Child
NEW YORK, June 19: Julia Roberts has welcomed her third child, a boy named Henry Daniel Moder. Henry was born Monday in Los Angeles. He weighed 8 1/2 pounds, said Roberts' publicist, Marcy Engelman.
"All of the Moders are doing great," Engelman said in a statement.
Roberts, 39, and her husband, 38-year-old cinematographer Danny Moder, have 2-year-old twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus.
The couple were married in July 2002 at Roberts' home in Taos, N.M.
Roberts won the best actress Oscar in 2001 for "Erin Brockovich." Her screen credits also include "Steel Magnolias" and "Pretty Woman."
Roberts voiced the wise spider in the 2006 film adaptation of "Charlotte's Web." She'll next be seen in the drama "Charlie Wilson's War," directed by Mike Nichols, which is scheduled for release later this year.
Paris Hilton is 'teetering on the brink'
LOS ANGELES, June 9: After only tasting one day of freedom, Paris Hilton is back in jail. The heiress was ordered back to court on Friday morning because prosecutors in her case were seeking to hold the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office in contempt for releasing her from jail early.
After hugging her family, the sheriff’s office picked up the heiress and the cruiser was followed by frantic paparazzi, a la OJ-style, all the way to the courthouse.
The judge ruled that Paris will now have to finish her original sentencing of 45 days behind bars.
After the ruling, Paris was screaming to her mother as she was taken from the courthouse “it’s not right!”
She reportedly cried throughout the whole hearing.
Paris was released from jail earlier this week due to an undisclosed medical condition, according to officials.
Law enforcement sources said that Hilton has been crying a lot, praying and extremely withdrawn.
Hilton is in the medical ward at Twin Towers, an L.A. County jail facility. She is in a room by herself with a glass door. For her protection, a sergeant guards the door at all times.
We're told Hilton hasn't eaten or slept since she arrived yesterday. Sources have described her condition today as "fragile" and "despondent." One source called her "a train wreck" while another said she is "sullen and withdrawn."
We've learned her shrink, Dr. Charles Sophy, spent more than two hours with her this morning. Hilton's family can't visit today. In the medical ward, families can only visit on Sundays and Tuesdays.
We're told Hilton is receiving "appropriate medical attention." We're told she's being given psychotropic medication.
Paris Hilton out of prison for medical reasons
LOS ANGELES, June 7: Hotel heiress Paris Hilton was released from prison on Thursday for medical reasons after serving just over three days of a 23-day sentence but she will be confined to her home for 40 days, officials said.
Steve Whitmore of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office said Hilton had been "reassigned" but he declined to identify her medical condition for privacy reasons.
"With extensive consultation with medical personnel it was decided this reassignment should be done," Whitmore said at a news conference.
Hilton, a symbol of privilege and American celebrity culture, was serving a sentence for violating probation after being caught driving with a suspended license. She will have to wear an electronic monitoring device on her ankle to ensure she does not go out for the next 40 days.
One reporter described Hilton's job as going to parties and events and asked if she would be allowed to leave her home for work, just as lifestyle media star Martha Stewart could during her five months under house arrest for insider trading.
"My understanding is that she's confined to her home with an ankle bracelet, she cannot leave that facility," said Whitmore. "She will fulfil the remainder of her time confined to her home."
The 26-year-old hotel Hilton Hotel heiress and star of reality television show "The Simple Life" was originally sentenced to 45 days in prison. That was later reduced to 23 days under state sentencing guidelines.
Hilton was arrested on charges of drunken driving in September. In January, she pleaded no contest -- the equivalent of a guilty plea -- to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving. She was sentenced to three years' probation and had her license suspended.
But she was caught driving on a suspended license in February, when police stopped her for speeding and with her headlights off at night. A traffic court judge ruled on May 4 that Hilton's latest offence constituted a probation violation.
Hilton turned herself in late on Sunday night, just hours after attending the MTV Movie Awards near Hollywood, where she was the butt of comedians' jokes.
She was released in the early hours of Thursday and Whitmore said she would be credited with five days incarceration, including Sunday and Thursday, even though she actually only spent three full days in prison.
Before she entered prison, a contrite Hilton, whose great-grandfather, Conrad, started the global Hilton Hotel empire, was photographed carrying a Bible.
"This is an important point in my life and I need to take responsibility for my actions. In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make ... Although I am scared, I am ready to begin my jail sentence," she said.
She was housed in a unit for celebrities and high-profile inmates at a prison in Lynwood, about 15 miles (24 km) from Los Angeles.
Hecht said Hilton was kept alone in her cell, an enclosure 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide, 12 feet (3.7 meters) deep and 8 feet (2.4 meters) high, equipped with two bunks, a sink, a small table, a slit window and a metal toilet.
Hilton's booking photo showed her dressed in a white V-neck top, wearing eye makeup and lip gloss with a slight smile, her blond hair swept to one side over her right shoulder.
Hilton 'doing well' in LA prison
LOS ANGELES: Paris Hilton, the US socialite and former TV star of The Simple Life, is doing well after her first night in a Los Angeles jail, her lawyer has said.
Richard A Hutton added she would now "reflect on her life, to see what she can do to make the world better".
Hours after appearing at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, Hilton, 26, started her sentence at the LA County Jail.
She will serve 23 days in solitary confinement for violating her probation for a drink-driving conviction.
The socialite has been separated from the main prison population in a special unit that contains 12 cells, each holding two people.
The 3.7m by 2.4m cell has two bunks, a table, a sink, a toilet and a small window.
Hilton will spend 23 hours in her cell and has one hour to shower, watch television or make phone calls.
Former inmate and LA resident Shamarra Thomas, who spent two days in the main prison for neglecting to pay parking tickets, said conditions for the rest of the women were unpleasant.
"You have people defecating on themselves, urinating on themselves, sleeping on the ground - it's horrible," she said.
Hilton's lawyer said his client was "really being punished because of her celebrity".
Steve Whitmore from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail, said: "Her demeanour was helpful. She was focused, she was cooperative."
Hilton was accompanied by her mother as she arrived at the jail. She was then fingerprinted, photographed, medically screened and issued with the jail's regulation orange jumpsuit.
After checking in, Hilton was given her first meal which was cereal, bread and juice.
Mr Hutton said his client is taking responsibility for her actions, adding: "She knows it's wrong, but her attitude is 'I'm going to come in here, I'm going to do my time, I'm going to get it over with and I'm going to show the world who I really am'."
Meanwhile the waxwork museum Madame Tussaud's in London has taken the opportunity to mock the celebrity socialite.
The wax mannequin of the star has been temporarily dressed in a black and white striped prison suit.
Paris Hilton checks into L.A. jail
LYNWOOD, California, June 4: Paris Hilton has reported to a Los Angeles County jail to begin a three-week stay for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.
The 26-year-old heiress was booked late Sunday into the Century Regional Detention Facility in an industrial area about five miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to the sheriff's inmate locator Web site.
Though a judge sentenced her to 45 days behind bars, Hilton was expected to serve only 23 days because of a state law that requires shorter sentences for good behavior.
Earlier Sunday, Hilton attended the MTV Movie Awards, where she briefly spoke to reporters about her sentence.
"I am trying to be strong right now," Hilton said. "I'm really scared but I'm ready to face my sentence."
The 13-year-old jail has been an all-female facility since March 2006. The two-story concrete building sits in an industrial neighborhood, beside train tracks and beneath a bustling freeway.
Hilton will be housed in the facility's "special needs" unit.
Officers arrested Hilton in Hollywood on September 7. In January, she pleaded no contest to the reckless-driving charge and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
She was pulled over by California Highway Patrol on January 15. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive. She then was pulled over by sheriff's deputies on February 27, at which time she was charged with violating her probation.
Meanwhile, just before her jail term, the reports suggested that Paris Hilton was apparently so petrified about what she will face when she goes to jail that she has stopped eating, and constantly breaks down in tears.
A source revealed that she has family and friends worried because she’s lost her appetite, and constantly breaks down into tears.
"Paris hasn't been eating at all and her parents and friends are beyond worried about her," Hollywoodrag.com quoted the source, as saying.
"She breaks down crying a lot because she just can't deal with the reality and the pressure of everything that is happening," the source added.
However, Paris can breathe a sigh of relief, for it was recently revealed that she would be getting special treatment behind bars.
She will not only be kept separated from the general population of fellow inmates at the Los Angeles' Century Regional Detention Center, but will also have only one cellmate.
In an additional attempt to discourage lowly paid prison guards from trying to cash in on their private access to the Hilton, a memo has been sent out to the staff, warning them that anyone who takes pictures of Paris will be disciplined, presumably resulting in the loss of their job.
Hugh Grant, the commitment-phobe
WASHINGTON, June 4: Hugh Grant would love to settle down and start a family. But, he’s a bit reluctant about marriage after seeing other couples lose their passion for each other after they wed.
The Music and Lyrics star, while admitting that he gets a bit ‘worried’ that he’s in his forties and still single, also insisted that he wasn’t a fan of the way passion and affection died down between couples after they had spent years together.
"It's true that my age sometimes worries me. Each birthday is an almost unpleasant date - I told myself that being single in your thirties is fine, but at 46 it's a bit worrying," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.
"I would like to get married, but at the same time I'm horrified by those couples that I see around me and the lack of affection and passion that can result from the passing of time," he added.
The actor sparked off rumours that he was getting ready to settle down with lady love of three years Jemima Khan earlier this year, but then shocked fans when he and Khan announced that they were splitting up instead.
The two kindled rumours of a reconciliation after they were spotted on a series of dates last month.
However, Khan was recently spotted getting cosy with none other than supermodel Elle Macpherson’s former long-time partner, Arpad Busson.
A source revealed to the News of the World that though Khan had been stuck on Grant for a long time, she was having a great time the Arpad’s company.
"For a long time it looked like she only had eyes for Hugh. But she and Arpad are spending more and more time together, and she looks to be having a ball," the source said.
"They certainly seem relaxed in each other's company. They are clearly close companions and have been going out together late into the night," the source added.
Italian delicacies boost libido
LONDON, June 4: A recent survey has revealed that salami and smelly cheese hold the secrets to good sex, not oysters or champagne.
The poll, published by Telecom Italia shows the benefits of delicious Italian food on libido.
A quarter of Italian women confessed that salami was their most loved aphrodisiac, while 21 per cent opted for cheese.
Other scrumptious foods that boost libidos consist of risotto alla Milanese, which is flavoured with saffron, and plates of steamed vegetables, with both getting 12 per cent of the vote.
Oysters, which are conventionally considered to be aphrodisiacs but are comparatively uncommon in Italy, did not find a place in the survey at all.
"The benefits of the Mediterranean diet on libido are clear,” the Telegraph quoted Alessandro Di Gregorio, the director of the Artes Centre for Assisted Procreation, as saying.
He linked the intake of Nduja, a severely hot salami from Calabria, with a boost in blood flow.
"Chilli helps release a peptide in the gut which is like natural Viagra," he said.
Bruno Giammusso, a doctor who specialises in male impotence, said that Italian delicacies "can undoubtedly produce an advantageous effect".
"Food and sex are a magical alchemy of elements. But it is important, with cuisine, to drown all the senses,” Serenella Salomoni, an Italian sexologist, said.
She advised women to focus on how they lifted food to their mouths and chewed "discreetly", to create an intimate atmosphere.
However, despite the daring claims of Italian scientists, the general agreement is that aphrodisiacs, love stimulants named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, have little medical value.
Immortal Paris
LOS ANGELES, May 22: Paris Hilton has been immortalised as a doll wearing prison overalls. The convicted hotel heiress’ impending jail sentence has inspired a line of memorabilia - which includes T-shirts, mugs and prisoner-Paris figures.
Sandy Kelley - who sells the dolls - is quoted as saying by Britain’s Daily Express newspaper: “I’m sure Paris wouldn’t mind. Everyone knows how she loves to be the centre of attention.”
The merchandise is said to be attracting immense interest on internet auction sites. Paris is also said to be cashing in on her prison stint. The ‘Simple Life’ star is rumoured to be in talks for a book and TV deal detailing her 23-day stay in a Los Angeles jail.
The 26-year-old was ordered to spend 45 days in prison after being found guilty of violating her probation by driving with a suspended licence. Her sentence, which is due to start on June 5, was halved earlier this week after she was rewarded for “good behaviour”.
Topless Britney thanks fans for support
LOS ANGELES, May 21: A topless Britney Spears has thanked fans for their support during "the trying time" that has included the end of her marriage, a bizarre public meltdown and a spell in rehab.
In a message posted on her website, a photo of Spears wearing nothing but a pair of elbow-length white gloves appears alongside a message to fans who have included the troubled pop princess in their prayers.
"The reason for this letter is to let everyone know that their prayers have truly helped me," Spears writes.
"I am so blessed that you care enough about me to be concerned and will continue to live in this brighter state with all of you by myself during this trying time," she said.
"We are all lights of the world and we all need to continuously inspire others and look to the higher power," she added.
Spears split from husband Kevin Federline last year, an event that triggered an avalanche of tabloid stories about the Oops!
... I Did It Again star.
She was photographed partying hard in Los Angeles and Las Vegas -- often pantyless -- and bizarrely shaved her head shortly before entering a rehabilitation clinic.
Stripping away all but bare facts...
NEW YORK, May 14: Some people have a dress down day at work. Victoria Sinclair has dress off day, every day. As lead anchor for the online subscription channel Naked News, Sinclair has been titillating viewers for more than six years, removing her clothes while announcing everything from interest rate rises to sports results.
To the casual viewer, the programme opens like many other news bulletins, with a banner Naked News sweeping around a spinning globe fading into an announcer in a studio standing in front of a bank of television screens. The half-hour news segments, which are sourced from wire reports, could easily come from any of several more mainstream news outlets - until, that is, the announcers start undressing.
Sinclair brushes off criticism that the programme trivialises current events and objectifies women, saying such attitudes are simply outdated.
She counters that other media outlets do more damage to the news by sensationalising reports with over-the-top music and graphics.
In one recent bulletin, anchor Roxanne West went from fully-clothed during an item on Northern Ireland's power-sharing assembly to topless for a report on Japan's controversial Yasukuni war shrine.
The panties came off during a report on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert battling to keep his job.
Sinclair says the hardest part of the job is covering natural disasters or atrocities such as the September 11 attacks in 2001. "We stayed fully dressed, all of us, for the entire week" after the attacks, she said.
Naomi finds solace in sweeping
London, May 9: Naomi Campbell has poured her heart out in a diary she kept while scrubbing clean a New York Sanitation Department garage as part of her community service, and revealed that she found ‘solace’ in it.
The British supermodel, who was ordered to clean up the garage as punishment for throwing a phone at her maid, wrote in her diary that she had found a new “peace” thanks to the service.
“I find solace in sweeping. I have no other responsibility. I have no phone. I have the time to think. Just have, you know, peace,” The Sun quoted her, as writing.
She also reveals in the diary that mixing with other cleaners helped her see what life on the other side was like.
“Two of the people in the room have never been on a plane. They ask me what it’s like, and I’m embarrassed to tell them I was on seven planes the week before alone. It’s so interesting to get to know so many different sorts of people,” she writes.
“One co-worker tells me how he ended up here, basically because of alcohol. I bond with him, and I tell him I’m in recovery,” states her diary.
She also insists that she has come to realise that it’s time she gave up addictions like drugs and alcohol.
“Some people can handle a drink or a line of cocaine, but I’ve finally come to realise that, for me, it’s all or nothing — and it has to be nothing. And my life has changed since,” she states.
Naomi’s diary is set to be published in US fashion magazine W.
Paris Hilton may go to jail
LOS ANGELES, May 5: Paris Hilton's life in the fast lane could slow down significantly. The hotel heiress faces a hearing Friday for allegedly violating the terms of her probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving conviction. Prosecutors have asked that she be jailed for 45 days.
Prosecutors also want Hilton to stay away from alcohol for 90 days, wear a monitoring device that will chart whether she complies, and they seek to have her license suspended for an additional four months.
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Hilton is being treated the same as anyone else.
"Anyone who would have conducted themselves in a way that resulted in this set of facts, we would have made the same recommendation of 45 days in county jail, regardless of whether they were a celebrity or not," he said Thursday.
Hilton could face up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Hilton, 26, pleaded no contest in January to reckless driving stemming from a Sept. 7 arrest in Hollywood. Police said she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. She had a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent, the level at which an adult driver is in violation of the law.
She was sentenced to 36 months probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.
Two other traffic stops and failure to enroll in a mandated alcohol education program, are what landed the socialite back in court.
On Jan. 15, Hilton was pulled over by California Highway Patrol. Officers informed her that she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging that she was not to drive, according to papers filed in Superior Court.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies stopped Hilton on Feb. 27 and charged her with violating her probation. Police said she was pulled over at about 11 p.m. after authorities saw the car speeding with its headlights off.
Hilton's spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said at the time Hilton wasn't aware her license was suspended. A copy of the document Hilton signed on Jan. 15 was found in the car's glove compartment, court papers say.
Mintz had no comment Thursday.
Hilton was also required to enroll in an alcohol education program by Feb. 12. As of April 17, she had not enrolled, prosecutors said.
Hilton, heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, first gained notoriety for her hard partying as a teen. She attracted worldwide attention when a sex tape she made with a boyfriend was released on the Internet.
She stars in the reality-TV series, "The Simple Life," now in its fifth season, with Nicole Richie. She appeared in the 2005 film, "House of Wax" and recently finished filming "The Hottie and the Nottie." She also is a handbag designer and has a namesake perfume
Britney gives 'lap dance' at secret gig
SAN DIEGO, May 2: Most fans at Britney Spears' secret gig last night in San Diego were disappointed by the 20-minute show, but one guy sure wasn't.
While lip-syncing through "Breathe on Me", a sparkly bra-clad Britney pulled an unidentified man up from the audience and proceeded to dance around him with four other ladies.
It was the teen idol's first show in nearly three years, held at San Diego's House of Blues nightclub and billed as a concert by an unknown band called the M&Ms.
Spears lip-synced her way through a handful of her most popular hits in front of a few hundred revellers, local media reports said.
The impromptu concert came after a tumultuous several months that saw Spears give birth to her second child, file for divorce, and bizarrely shave her head before checking into a rehab clinic.
The comeback show received mixed reviews from those among the audience who had reportedly shelled out up to 500 dollars on the black market for 35-dollar tickets to the show.
"It wasn't a good move for her career," ticket-holder Mackenzie Trimble told the San Diego Tribune. "When you come out and do four songs and lip-sync ... that's not what Britney fans came to see."
But one female fan was impressed.
"I think she worked the stage, her body looked great. So it was good to see her finally come back and prove us all wrong," she told Los Angeles television station KNBC.
Spears shot to superstardom in late 1998, with her smash-hit debut album "Baby One More Time," which she followed with another chart-topping success the following year, "Oops! ... I Did It Again."
According to Time magazine, Spears has sold over 76 million records worldwide and her 31 million albums sold in the US make her the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history.
Yet while Los Angeles-based Spears is idolized by many teenage fans, her personal life has become a favorite topic for debate in an insatiable entertainment media.
A much-publicized relationship and break-up with singer Justin Timberlake made her a prime tabloid target, not least because she cultivated an image of wholesome purity that was at odds with her raunchy lyrics and dance routines.
Scarlett Johansson finds monogamy unnatural!
LONDON, April 16: American actress Scarlett Johansson does not think it is natural for human beings to be monogamous.
The ‘Lost In Translation’ star revealed that when in a relationship, she has to work hard to keep her mind off other guys.
The 22-year old insisted that she does not feel that any person remains faithful to one partner.
"I'll get flack for saying this, but I do believe that human beings aren't instinctively monogamous."
Johansson broke up with her boyfriend of two years Josh Hartnett late last year.
Pornstar tale draws crowd
SINGAPORE, April 6: A play about the life of a Singaporean woman who took the US porn industry by storm by performing 251 sex acts in 10 hours opened yesterday – a sign of loosening censorship on the highly controlled island.
“251,” a play about Annabel Chong, is also a new test of public tolerance for sex in a society that remains largely conservative, despite increasingly liberal attitudes among the young.
Admittance is only for those 18 and older. Tickets have been selling fast, with the play’s opening performance and another 10 of its 14 scheduled shows in the 220-seat theatre already sold out, said Toy Factory Productions’ assistant marketing manager Bryan Teo.
“It shows Singaporeans are very curious about who Annabel Chong really is,” Teo said. “They have all heard about the 251 sex acts, and now they want to find out more about her.”
Chong shot to international adult film notoriety in 1995 when she performed 251 sex acts with 70 men in a video. Her performance was billed as world record-setting, but it impressed few in her home country. The video remains unavailable in Singaporean stores because pornography is banned.
“251” explores a little known side of Chong – including her troubled experience with religion as a teenager, a violent sexual assault as a college student overseas, and the intellectual premise of the video that earned her a spot in porn history.
“Whether we like her or absolutely hate her, we can’t deny the fact that she is very much part of our national psyche,” director Loretta Chen said.
Indonesian Playboy Magazine Editor Acquitted
JAKARTA, April 5: An Indonesian court has tossed out charges that Playboy Indonesia's editor-in-chief had violated indecency laws. Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta on the case, which has angered many strict Muslims.
A judge in the Jakarta court told prosecutors they had failed to take into account the country's laws protecting free speech
The judge ruled that Playboy Indonesia editor Erwin Arnada had been improperly arrested and charged with violating indecency laws. As a result, he was freed.
The decision has angered some strict Muslim groups, which have pushed for an expanded legal definition of pornography and stronger laws against it.
Outside the courtroom, about 200 protesters faced police armed with water cannons, but the demonstration remained peaceful.
Arnada faced up to 32 months in jail if convicted.
Hendrayana, director of the Press Legal Aid Center in Jakarta, says the verdict is critical for media freedom in Indonesia. He says the since the country's reformation in the late 1990s, members of the press have been searching for the best way to gather and distribute information to citizens, a job they should be able to do it without restrictions or intervention from the government.
Since Indonesia moved from dictatorship to democracy over the past nine years, some conservative Muslim groups have pushed for stricter morality laws.
Azizah Aziz is a law specialist for Nahdlatul Ulama, an Islamic group in Indonesia with 30 million members. She says the decision is a big disappointment.
Aziz says decisions like this are hard for members of the group to accept, because they are very contradictory. It fails to take the people's side, she says, and fails to protect women from exploitation.
A lawyer representing Muslim groups vowed to seek new charges against Arnada.
Though the Indonesian version of Playboy contains no nudity, the magazine's first edition sparked protests in April 2006. The magazine's central office was moved to the island of Bali, where most of the population is Hindu, following attacks on its Jakarta office.
Why we remember our first kiss!
WASHINGTON, March 15: Boffins have uncovered why you are most likely to remember your first kiss or why the most embarrassing moment of your life may haunt you till your dying day.
They have found a mechanism by which the constantly changing brain retains memories. They have found that the brain co-opts the same machinery by which cells stably alter their genes to specialize during embryonic development.
Courtney Miller and David Sweatt reported their findings in the March 15, 2007 issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
Their studies aimed at exploring whether a process called DNA methylation plays a role in forming memories. In this process, molecules called methyl groups are attached to genes, which switches them off. Conversely, lack of methyl groups enables the genes to remain activated.
Cells use methylation during embryonic development to selectively deactivate genes to enable the cells to specialize into different types as the embryo develops. Such regulation is dubbed "epigenetic," since it constitutes a layer of genetic control beyond the regulation inherent in the structure of genes themselves.
Methylation causes a permanent change in gene activity during development. So, while previous studies by Sweatt and others had hinted that the methylation mechanism remains active in adult brains, researchers had generally believed that methylation would not constitute a mechanism for long-term establishment of memories.
However, as misregulation of DNA methylation occurs in some brain disorders like schizophrenia and forms of mental retardation, Miller and Sweatt designed experiments to test whether methylation specifically regulates memory formation.
In their experiments, the researchers conditioned fearful memories in rats by giving the animals mild shocks when they were in a specific training chamber. The researchers could then test whether the rats remembered the conditioning by observing whether they froze when placed in the chamber.
Using drugs that inhibit methylation, the researchers showed that methylation was necessary for rats to form such memories. Particularly importantly, the researchers found that the level of methylation directly controlled the activity of genes known to either suppress or promote memory formation. The memory suppressor gene they studied is called protein phosphatase 1, and the memory-promoting gene is called reelin.
"To our knowledge, this study is the first to present evidence that DNA methylation, once thought to be a static process after cellular differentiation, is not only dynamically regulated in the adult nervous system but also plays an integral role in memory formation," concluded Miller and Sweatt. They wrote that their findings indicate that DNA methylation has been co-opted by the central nervous system as a "crucial step" in regulating gene activity involved in memory formation.
"The findings presented here may provide an important and relevant piece of data to the schizophrenia field, as they provide evidence that reelin methylation is subject to modulation in response to experience and environmental stimuli," wrote Miller and Sweatt.
Men see sexy strangers!
WASHINGTON, March 13: If you thought that nothing could ever change the way your man sees you, well you better think again, for it seems that coming into contact with attractive, flirtatious women may cause your partner to look down on you.
The researchers believe that the findings may hold a clue as to why men, who are constantly exposed to attractive, young women at work, such as male high school teachers and college professors, have a very high rate of divorce.
The study was conducted by Sandeep Mishra and McMaster University colleagues Andrew Clark and Martin Daly, who carried out two primary experiments.
In the first experiment, they showed photographs of attractive opposite sex underwear models and abstract art to 87 male and 66 female volunteers.
After looking at the pictures, the volunteers were then asked to rate their current partners on 17 attributes that included things like physical attractiveness, intelligence, warmth and desirability.
Single people were asked to rate images of strangers.
A mathematical computer analysis of the first experiment showed that those men who viewed photographs of models rather than abstract art had nearly always rated their mates lower.
The outcome was also the same as far as single men were concerned. The women participants, however, remained unaffected by the photos.
In the second experiment, volunteers were asked to watch a video of members of the opposite sex being interviewed and asked non-sexual questions, such as "Why do you think it is important to vote?"
The researchers had asked some interviewees to behave more socially open, such as by looking directly into the camera, smiling often, touching/flipping their hair and acting as if the viewer was the center of attention.
After the viewing, when the volunteers were asked to rate the interviewee’s attractiveness, they found that men rated women who ‘flirted’ very highly.
The researchers also noted that once again, women were not affected by the interviewee`s behaviour.
Mishra said that this is due to the fact that this was due to the fact that while men are more likely to be attracted to women in a more sexual manner, women on the other hand, are attracted to men with greater material resources.
"Males generally like attractive girls that are interested in them sexually, and females are generally attracted to men that have material resources," Discovery News quoted him, as saying.
"What is `natural` (in terms of biology) is not necessarily what is `moral` or good`... One must simply be aware of the fact that these are not uncommon tendencies," he added.
"This study has important consequences for better understanding romantic dynamics, and perhaps for helping people have more realistic expectations about romantic relationships," said Martin Lalumiere, associate professor in the behaviour and evolution research group at the University of Lethbridge.
The research is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.
Mallika beats ‘em all
MUMBAI: What’s with Mallika Sherawat impressing foreign directors? At first, it was Jackie Chan in Myth, and now it is Bill Bannerman, Hollywood stalwart Clint Eastwood’s right-hand man. After screening faces across continents for his mainstream Hollywood film Unveiled, the director has given the nod to Mallika.
Mallika’s will be seen in a highly performance-oriented role (finally!). Bannerman says, “Behind the veil, there lies a sexy, manipulative victim, whose life is in grave danger. But she is very dangerous too.” The film revolves around the life of a Muslim woman who has two husbands and a lover. It will be a blend of film noir, thriller and dark drama.
Bill has been working on the casting for a long time now and considered many actresses for the role, before zeroing in on Mallika, that is.
Sources reveal, “Hillary Swank and Penelope Cruz had shown interest, but they wanted the actress to be a South Asian or from the Middle East so that she could portray the character of a Muslim woman from the Middle East, and lend a degree of authenticity in terms of accent, body language, knowledge of customs, etc.”
Closer home, Mallika managed to beat actresses Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty to it.
“Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty were strong contenders. But speculations are rife that Aishwarya Rai had date problems and her impending marriage plans would have been a possible hindrance. As for Shilpa Shetty, she only has a big name. In reality, she still hasn’t signed anything worthwhile so far,” said the source.
Bill Bannerman will arrive in Mumbai soon to make an official statement.
Salma Hayek engaged, expecting a baby
NEW YORK, Mar 10: Next up for Salma Hayek is a wedding — and a baby carriage. The 40-year-old actress is engaged to businessman Francois-Henri Pinault and is pregnant with their first child, her spokeswoman, Cari Ross, said Friday in a statement. No further details were provided.
The Mexico-born Hayek has starred in films such as "Frida," "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" and "After the Sunset." She is one of the executive producers of ABC`s "Ugly Betty," in which she recently guest starred as a two-faced magazine editor.
Pinault is chairman and chief executive officer of the luxury goods company PPR SA, which owns high-end labels such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Stella McCartney.
Hayek received an Oscar nomination for her role in 2002`s "Frida."
Naomi Campbell sentenced to mop New York floors
NEW YORK, March 7: British beauty Naomi Campbell will swap her catwalk outfits for a broom, gloves and safety vest when she begins mopping floors at New York's Sanitation Department on March 19, a court official confirmed on Tuesday.
But Campbell, who was sentenced to community service as punishment for throwing her mobile phone at her housekeeper, will serve her five-day sentence indoors.
Singer Boy George attracted a media throng when he swept streets in a court-ordered punishment in August.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Campbell had been assigned to mop floors with other community service workers at a Sanitation Department warehouse in Manhattan. A court official confirmed the story but declined further comment.
Campbell, 36, has been accused by at least three employees of hitting or otherwise assaulting them. She has blamed her temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
Scarlett Johansson is Playboy’s sexiest celeb
NEW YORK, Feb 20: Actress Scarlett Johansson has been voted Playboy magazine’s sexiest celebrity leaving behind other bootylicious women like Angelina Jolie and Pamela Anderson.
"Scarlett Johansson is the apex of beauty and sensuality - from her porcelain skin to her fully feminine figure to her mysterious charisma, which is at once palpable and undefinable," the Playboy editors write.
They make it clear she's No. 1 and then name 24 other beauties, in no particular order, reports the Daily Mail.
Other hotties include Charisma Carpenter, who assisted in the dispatching of numerous monsters in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" on TV.
Others on the list are: Kara Monaco, Willa Ford, Paris Hilton, Diora Baird, Christina Aguilera, Pussycat Dolls, Pamela Anderson, Lindsay Lohan, Charisma Carpenter, Jenny McCarthy, Beyoncé, Denise Richards, Jennifer Lopez, Carmen Electra, Mercedes McNab, Cindy Margolis, Joanna Krupa, Jaime Pressly, Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Kelly Monaco, Jenna Jameson and Vida Guerra.
Now, Britney wears a blonde wig to hide her bald head!
NEW YORK, Feb 20: It seems that Britney Spears is already regretting shaving off her locks and going from blonde to brunette to bald, especially after she was spotted sporting a wig.
The singer, who spent some time at the West Hollywood's chic Mondrian hotel, was seen lounging besides the pool sporting a short blond wig to cover her newly shorn skull.
She appeared at the pool wearing a green cap over the blond wig, as well as a multi-coloured, but mismatched bikini top.
"She was here, she was wearing a wig and nobody recognized her," the New York Daily News quoted an employee at the hotel's Asia de Cuba restaurant, as saying.
And though the singer appeared teary-eyed and on the verge of a nervous break-down when she stopped by Esther's Haircutting Studio on Friday, Feb 16, she looked happy and relaxed when she spent the day at the posh hotel.
Top marketing officials believe that the incident may have sabotaged Britney’s image, her income, and her personal life in a breakdown that could cost her a fortune.
Bald Britney-bilia grips eBay
Celebrity magazines may regard Britney Spears' latest hairdo as evidence of a mental meltdown, but it has provided plenty of entertainment for eBay enthusiasts who are posting everything from domain names (britneygoesbald.com) to celebratory T-shirts on the auction site.
The Los Angeles hairdressing salon where Spears shaved off her locks was yesterday offering the bounty on eBay for $US1 million ($A1.27 million). "Proceeds" were - of course - going to charity.
Today a bevy of creative spin-offs was available, though few were attracting hefty bids.
One reliable eBay seller had some Brit Knee Hair for sale on the site for an opening sum of $US1.93. And just in case prospective clients weren't sure about the authenticity, a photo of the said goods had been supplied.
There was the expected array of Bald Britney T-shirts, but for those on the hunt for something a little more special an abstract painting of Britney's hair "separated from her head" was on offer for $US25.
For nostalgic types, a year-2000 Britney 'Hit me one more time doll' had been dusted off with the seller pointing out the doll came with (now) "hard to find hair".
There was even a handmade bag for sale, otherwise known as 'something to keep Britney's hair in'.
But best of all for Britney purists was an actual CD of her songs. The album In the Zone, with bonus lock of hair, was available for the bargain price of $US12,999.
Anna's Final Booze-Fueled Hours
NEW YORK: The days leading up to Anna Nicole Smith's death were filled with booze, late-night partying and a hotel room stocked with prescription pills.
According to the New York Daily News, a bouncer from the Hard Rock Hotel says Anna Nicole was wasted early Tuesday morning. "She was messed up. She couldn't walk on her own," he says. "Her bouncer was on one side and her lawyer friend on the other."
And just hours before she died she was seen doing shots at the hotel's Central Bar. A bartender says the blonde bombshell looked "plastered" and was slurring her speech. She then moved the party upstairs, where her room looked like a "pharmacist's shop" allegedly stocked with Xanax, Provigil, Fentanyl and Methadone.
In the wake of her death, DVD sales for Anna Nicole's reality show are skyrocketing. Since Thursday, its ranking on Amazon.com has soared an amazing 180,000 percent, moving from number 27,014 to 15.
Stewardess grounded over 'sex' with Fiennes on flight
SYDNEY, Feb 11: Australia's Qantas Airways grounded a flight attendant after fellow crew members alleged she had sex with British actor Ralph Fiennes aboard a flight to India, news reports said Sunday.
The woman, named by the Sunday Telegraph as 38-year-old Lisa Robertson, issued a statement denying the charge but admitting spending 'a short period of time' in a toilet together with the 45-year-old star of the 1996 film 'The English Patient'.
Robertson said she had struck up a friendship with Fiennes and when she went to the toilet, and he followed her in.
'I explained to him that this was inappropriate and asked him to leave,' she said in the statement. 'Mr Fiennes became amorous towards me and after a short period of time I convinced him to leave the toilet, which he did.'
She has been suspended without pay over the Jan 24 incident.
The former police officer breached company policy by allowing Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, to sit in a crew jump seat while chatting to him on her rest break.
Robertson concluded her statement by saying that 'at no time were any other customers aware of this incident'.
Harry Potter has no qualms about stripping!
LONDON, Feb 3: Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliff was a complete antithesis of his child wizard self when he appeared in the nude for a picture before his West End debut.
The picture was released before 17-year-old Radcliffe`s stage debut — in which he must appear naked in the West End, playing Alan Strang, the disturbed stable lad who blinds horses, in the first London revival of Peter Schaffer`s Equus.
Thea Sharrock, director of the new show, said: "Oh My God" when she saw Radcliffe undress for the photoshoot in a hangar near Heathrow, according to the producer David Pugh.
"There was no hesitancy about taking off his clothes," he said. "When that boy takes his shirt off, Harry Potter has flown out of Hogwarts for good," he was quoted by the telegraph, as saying.
The play opens at the Gielgud Theatre on Feb 27.
'Borat' 19th most powerful man in UK
LONDON, Jan 31: Fictional Kazakh journalist Angus Howarth Borat, the creation of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, has made it to GQ magazine’s annual list of top 100 most powerful men in Britain.
The character is ranked 19th on the list, just one place behind Prince William and two behind Tory leader David Cameron.
"Not since John Lennon has an English entertainer had such an effect on the world," the Scotsman quoted GQ as saying about Baron Cohen.
James Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK and a Labour Party politician, was in pole position for the second year running, followed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who was in second place.
"Brown is all but chief executive of a government where Blair is largely a figurehead," the magazine said.
The Governor of Bank of England, Mervyn King, was named the third most powerful man in Britain, and was followed by Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, BBC director-general Mark Thompson and Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green.
British Home Secretary John Reid wrapped up the 10th position on the most powerful list.
Top sporting figure on the list was Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, securing the 16th place, while the highest ranked football manager Sir Alex Ferguson was at 83rd postion.
The only football player to make into the list was England and Chelsea star John Terry, named at 32nd place, while the man he replaced as the England captain, David Beckham, failed to get a mention.
Channel 4 director of programmes Kevyn Lygo was at number 50, while Peter Bazalgette, UK chairman of Big Brother makers Endemol, is 56th.
Other celebrities named in this year’s list include TV chef and school meals crusader Jamie Oliver (15), M&S chief executive Stuart Rose (26), and the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson (70).
TV presenter Jonathan Ross was one personality to have made significant progress in his position, from 99th to 29th place.
Best-selling author Sidney Sheldon passes away
LOS ANGELES, Jan 31: Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers, Broadway theater, movies and television, then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.
Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist. His wife, Alexandra, and his daughter, author Mary Sheldon, were by his side.
"I`ve lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I`ve never heard an unkind word said about him."
Sheldon`s books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.
"I try to write my books so the reader can`t put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It`s the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power — their femininity, because men can`t do without it."
Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.
Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.
"Then I do a complete rewrite - 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."
Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.
Sheldon began writing as a youngster in Chicago, where he was born February 17, 1917. At 10, he made his first sale: $10 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.
At 17, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film material at Universal Studio for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and sold one, "South of Panama," to the studio for $250.
During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In the New York theater after the war he established his reputation as a prolific writer. At one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." He received a Tony award as one of the writers of the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead." His Broadway success brought about his return to Hollywood.
His first assignment, "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer," starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple, brought him the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.
While under contract to MGM, he recalled in 1982, "I worked like hell and I never stopped. Dore Schary (then production head) one day looked at a list of MGM projects. I had written eight of them, more than three other writers put together. That afternoon, he made me a producer."
With the movie business hurting because of television`s popularity, Sheldon decided to try the new medium.
"I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced `The Patty Duke Show` (in which she played two cousins), and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."
Another series, "Nancy," lasted only a half-season, but "I Dream of Jeannie," which he also created and produced, lasted five seasons, 1965-1970. The show concerned an astronaut, Larry Hagman, who lands on a desert island and discovers a bottle containing a beautiful, 2,000-year-old genie, played by Barbara Eden. She accompanies him back to Florida and eventually marries her.
"During the last year of `I Dream of Jeannie,` I decided to try a novel," he said in 1982. "Each morning from 9 until noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning — or rather, dictated — and then I faced the TV business."
The result was "The Naked Face," which was scorned by book reviewers and sold 21,000 copies in hardcover. The novel found a mass market in paperback, reportedly selling 3.1 million. Thereafter Sheldon became a habitue of best-seller lists, often reigning on top.
Sheldon prided himself on the authenticity of his novels. He remarked in 1987: "If I write about a place, I have been there. If I write about a meal in Indonesia, I have eaten there in that restaurant. I don`t think you can fool the reader."
For "Windmills of the Mind," which dealt with the CIA, he interviewed former CIA chief Richard Helms, traveled to Argentina and Romania, and spent a week in Junction City, Kan., where the heroine had lived.
Having won a Tony, an Oscar and an Emmy (for "I Dream of Jeannie"), Sheldon declared that his final medium was the best.
"I love writing books," he commented. "Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you`re on your own. It`s a freedom that doesn`t exist in any other medium."
Shilpa Shetty wins 'Celebrity Big Brother'
LONDON, Jan 29: Hot favourite Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has won the grand finale of the British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother on which she faced alleged racist bullying that sparked off an international race row. Shilpa was elected the winner last night by 63 per cent of voters ahead of runner up singer Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael Jackson.
The 31-year-old elegant actress won the public`s affection during an extraordinary four weeks in which she was the victim of alleged racist bullying by fellow housemates Jade Goody, Jo O`Meara and Danielle Lloyd.
She was crowned the winner after finalists Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict, Ian H Watkins, Danielle Lloyd and Jack Tweed were all evicted during the show`s final last night. A show spokesman said Jack Tweed had received 3.2 per cent of the votes cast, Danielle Lloyd got 3.3 per cent and Ian Watkins received 5.3 per cent.
Screaming with surprise, Shilpa burst into tears as Davina McCall, the host of the show, announced the news.
"Chicken curry rules! Thank you so much" she yelled as she was led out of the house by Davina.
"I just want to thank the people of Great Britain for giving me the opportunity of making my country proud," Shilpa said.
With this victory, Shilpa would earn several bounties, besides getting 350,000 pounds paid to her to participate in the show. She has been offered a Hollywood film by fox pictures, a book deal, endorsements for clothes, cosmetics and jewellery, a television documentary, hosting a cricket reality show and an awards ceremony and an exclusive interview with the tabloid the sun fetching her 100,000 pounds.
"I don`t want to sound cliched but it`s truly been quite a roller-coaster... The highs, the lows, and each one has taught me so much," Shilpa said.
She initially played down the rows, saying her biggest shock in the house was "to cook".
Shilpa looked shocked when Davina told her the fighting had caused a furore. But then she said, "I kind of had an inkling but I`d love to hear about some news." She then watched footage from the house, including Jade`s diary room entries.
But in a short speech, she said she didn`t want Jade to be branded a racist.
"Things happen, people make mistakes and we all learn from them," Shilpa said.
"But I can say one thing for sure, Jade didn`t mean to be racist. She isn`t a racist. I really don`t want to leave England putting anyone in trouble. This country has given me so much."
Her response drew cheers and clapping from the studio audience.
Jade`s eviction is `triumph over evil`: Shilpa`s spokesperson
LONDON, Jan 21: The family of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty hailed on Saturday the eviction of her chief tormentor from Big Brother as a triumph of "good over evil," amid a furore over racist bullying on the show.
Viewers of the British reality television show voted to evict Jade Goody who has taunted Shetty in the "Celebrity Big Brother" programme, where participants live shut off from the world in a fishbowl environment.
"This vote has shown that goodness always prevails, like in Bollywood films," a spokesman for Shetty and her family said.
"This vote was not about just one contestant facing eviction. It was a straight forward contest between Shilpa and Jade, between good and bad," said Dale Bhagwagar.
Goody had been the hot favourite to be evicted as Indian government officials called on their British counterparts to intervene in the row and British lawmakers lined up to attack the show.
Both women were nominated for eviction, and 82 per cent of voters wanted Goody out. The show pits celebrity contestants in a studio house to see which one can emerge the audience favourite.
Goody -- along with former Miss Britain Danielle Lloyd and one-time pop star Jo O'Meara -- led the assault on Shetty, often reducing her to tears. Shetty has been called a "dog" and asked whether she lives in a shack, prompting protestors in India to burn effigies of the show's producers.
"The issue of racism was surely playing on the minds of the British. That's why they have voted Goody out with such an overwhelming majority," Bhagwagar said.
"Shilpa would have won even without the sympathy. She is extremely popular. I have been shouting from the rooftops that she is heading for the kill."
There have been some attempts at reconciliation between the pair before the eviction, with Shetty withdrawing her claims of racism and Goody and Lloyd apologising for their remarks.
Indian newspapers, which reported the patchup on their front pages, hinted that it may have been prompted by the broadcaster and show producers to avert legal action by Shetty.
"Shetty could mount a claim for bullying or harassment that could end with (producer) Endemol and Channel Four playing out tens of thousands in compensation," a major national daily quoted a leading lawyer in Britain as saying.
The dailies also reported on Saturday an invitation by the Indian Tourism Office in London to Goody to experience "the healing nature of India".
The invitation for the sponsored trip was published as an open letter in advertisements in leading British newspapers, a Mumbai based daily said.
Jolie voted ‘Most Attractive Woman’ on the planet
LONDON, Jan 21: When it comes to her looks, Angelina Jolie can rest assured that there’s no other woman on the planet who can compete with her, for she recently topped a poll to find the ‘Most Attractive Woman’.
The online poll, conducted by Hello magazine, saw 25 percent of readers and Jolie fans voting to make sure that the brunette mum-of-three topped the poll.
Coming in on the actress’ heels was TV series ‘House MD’ star Jennier Morrison who laid claim to the second spot, reports Hello magazine.
She was followed by the woman Brad Pitt dumped in favour of Jolie – Jennifer Aniston, who was named the third ‘Most Attractive Woman’.
The top five was rounded of by the princess of pop Christina Aguilera, and reality TV star Nicole Richie, who came in fourth and fifth place respectively.
The list for top ten ‘Most Attractive Woman’, as per hellomagazine.com is:
1. Angelina Jolie
2. Jennier Morrison
3. Jennifer Aniston
4. Christina Aguilera
5. Nicole Richie
6. Queen Rania
7. Emma Bunton
8. Nicole Kidman
9. Cate Blanchett
10. Salma Hayek
Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan get engaged
MUMBAI, Jan 14: Bollywood hearthrob Aishwarya Rai and actor Abhishek Bachchan on Sunday night got engaged to each other at a quiet ceremony in Mumbai, setting the stage for the marriage of the film industry`s most talked-about couple.
The much-awaited news was confirmed by Amitabh Bachchan himself. The wedding will take place sometime in February.
The engagement between Abhishek, who turns 31 on February 5 next, and 33-year-old Aishwarya, was held at the residence of the Bachchans in suburban Juhu, the actress` secretary Hari Singh said.
The event, attended by family members and close friends of the Bachchan and Rai families, took place between 8.30 pm and 9 pm, hours after Aishwarya and Abhishek returned here from New York from the promotion of their just-released film "Guru" directed by Mani Ratnam.
Apart from the entire Bachchan clan, family friend Amar Singh was also present on the occasion.
Sources said Abhishek put a ring on the finger of Aishwarya to mark the engagement but no date has been set for the wedding between the two of Bollywood`s hottest stars.
The engagement came against the backdrop of rave reviews of "Guru", giving a major boost to the careers of Aishwarya and Abhishek.
Among those present at the ceremony were Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya Bachchan, their close friend and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, the parents of Aishwarya, industrialist Anil Ambani and his actress-wife Tina.
Astrologer Chandrashekar Swami had claimed earlier that the duo would get married between January 14 and February 27 in 2007.
Amid speculations that Ash was a manglik, the couple performed corrective puja at an ancient Shiva Temple in Varanasi, in which the entire Bachchan family was present.
By taking Aishwarya to Varanasi where Amitabh Bachchan’s father Harivanshrai Bachchan’s annual rituals are observed, the Bachchans had sent a message to the rest of the country that Aishwarya was now part of their family.
Both families were going by astrological predictions and suggestions.
Fed`s USD 50 mln divorce settlement demand leaves Britney in tears!
Washington, Jan 14: Britney Spears left shell shocked when she heard that her estranged hubby Kevin Federline is reportedly demanding a 50 million dollar paycheque in exchange for letting her keep custody of the couple`s sons.
The `Toxic` singer hasn`t gotten a lot of positive publicity ever since she split from Federline, and is afraid that he will use it against her if a custody battle takes place between the two for their sons – 15-month old Sean Preston and 4-month old Jayden James.
A friend of the pop singer told Life and Style Weekly magazine that Britney has been “crying practically non-stop” ever since she heard the news, for she`s terrified that she will lose her kids.
"Britney almost fell off the chair when she heard the figure. She has been crying practically non-stop. She is worried sick that she is in danger of losing her babies," Hollywoodrag.com quoted the pal, as telling the mag.
A source insisted though Britney has been in the news for the past few months for all the wrong reasons she cannot stand the thought of having her kids taken away from her.
"One night without them was all it took Britney to see how scary it would be if she lost the custody battle. She was emotional – there were tears in her eyes," the source said.
The insider also revealed that Britney had informed her lawyers that she wants her divorce wrapped up as soon as possible, for she no longer has the stamina for a “long and nasty fight”.
"She has told her lawyers she doesn`t want a long and nasty fight. She hasn`t got energy for it," the source said.
Britney and Federline separated in November last year after being married for two years and two months.
Britney Spears' naked plans
NEW YORK, Jan 5: Britney Spears is commissioning a nude portrait of herself. The 'Toxic' singer has finally got back in shape following the birth of her second son, Jayden James, and is so proud of her figure she wants it "immortalized" in a painting.
A source told Britain's More magazine: "Britney's been getting in better and better shape since she split with Kevin and wants her body immortalised in a portrait.
"She loves the film 'Titanic', especially the scene where Kate Winslet's character Rose gets painted in the nude. She wants it tastefully done, though, and is looking for the right artist to do it."
Britney - mother to one-year-old Sean Preston and four-month-old Jayden James - filed for divorce from husband Kevin Federline in November.
Since separating from Kevin, Britney, 25, has been spotted out partying on several occasions showing off her body in a variety of skimpy outfits.
She has been pictured four times not wearing any underwear.
Leona Lewis becomes the fastest selling female performer of all time
LONDON, Jan 1: X-factor winner, Leona Lewis, has broken her third world record to become the fastest selling female performer of all time.
Her single ‘A moment like this’ reached the number one position and sold 571,253 copies in the first week itself "It's great news for Leona, and the song looks solid at number one for a second week," The Mirror quoted her spokesperson, as saying.
Lewis’ single smashed Britney Spears record of 464,000 copies of her single ’Hit Me Baby One More Time’. Leona's debut song, a cover of a Kelly Clarkson ballad, broke its first record on day one, becoming the fastest selling download with 50,000 copies in the first half hour, and created its second record by becoming the best selling download over the period of a week.
Julia Roberts Expecting Third Child
NEW YORK, Dec 30: Hollywood actress Julia Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder, revealed that they are expecting their third child together.
US magazine reported that the 39-year-old film star already has a pair of 2-year-old twins, twins, Phinnaeus Walter and Hazel Patricia, with Moder and now the couple will welcome another addition.
The birth of the twins in 2004 was especially difficult for Roberts who, after enduring a false labor, was ordered have months of bed rest until the birth.
The news of another child from Roberts, who recently lent her voice to the film "Charlotte's Web," is nothing shocking after the actress had previously confessed her longing for a large family and a domestic life.
"It's a joy being domestic. It's something I want and something that makes me very happy," said she in a past interview.
Roberts met the 37-year-old while filming "The Mexican," for which Moder was a cameraman. They were married in New Mexico in July 2002.
Miss Nevada stripped of title for nude photos
New York, Dec 26: Miss Nevada USA, Katie Rees, has been stripped of her title after nude pictures of her appeared on the Internet.
The pictures show Rees exposing her breasts, passionately kissing other young women, and simulating oral sex with females and a male.
"Katie Rees has been relieved of her duties as Miss Nevada USA 2007," said Paula M. Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss USA pageant.
The dirty pics that caused Miss Nevada (in red) to be dethroned
First runner-up Helen Salas will assume the title and compete at the 2007 Miss USA pageant on March 23rd in Los Angeles.
The too-hot-to-handle photos comes days after a scandal regarding Miss USA Tara Conner.
Posh says JLo’s butt “really big in flesh”!
LONDON, Dec 23: Her posterior is one of the things that define Jennifer Lopez, but it seems that one person who’s not too impressed by it, is former Spice Girl Victoria ‘Posh Spice’ Beckham.
The singer-turned-designer regaled pals at London’s Claridge’s with tales about the famous stars she has recently come into contact with while on her trip to America.
“Victoria had quite a bit to drink and was telling all her mates about her recent trip to America,” The Sun quoted one onlooker, as saying.
And, it seems that after Posh and her pals downed eight bottles of Krug champagne over the afternoon and into the evening, the mum-of-three told pals that JLo’s backside looks “really big” when seen “in the flesh”.
“Vic was going on about the size of Jennifer Lopez’s bum. Victoria said it really is big when you see it in the flesh,” The Sun quoted one onlooker, as saying.
Posh was reportedly so tipsy by the time the booze session had ended that literally stumbled out of London’s Claridge’s when she left.
Well, she may still be friends with the new Mrs Tom Cruise, but it looks like Posh might not be in JLo’s good books for much longer.
Beyonce voted Hollywood`s Best Dressed Actress
WASHINGTON, Dec 21: Singer Beyonce Knowles has been voted Hollywood`s style queen in a new Best Dressed poll.
Style editors at American publication Life + Style have hailed the diva as "the personification of style", naming her as their favourite fashion femme of 2006.
Knowles has topped the list beating out Mischa Barton and sexy Scarlett Johansson in second and third spot respectively, reports Contactmusic.
The top 10 on the Best Dressed list is: 1. Beyonce Knowles 2. Mischa Barton 3. Scarlett Johansson 4. Jennifer Lopez 5.Julianne Moore 6. Lindsay Lohan 7. Demi Moore 8. Gwen Stefani 9. Katie Holmes 10. Jennifer Aniston.
Britney Spears No Panties Photos
Paris
Hilton confirms wedding rumours
WASHINGTON,
Dec 18: Rumours that Paris Hilton is getting set to say 'I
Do' are true after all, and the confirmation has come straight
from the heiress' mouth. The Hilton hotel heiress revealed
to British paper the Daily Star that she was indeed planning
to wed her Greek shipping heir beau Stavros Niarchos.
"It`s
true. I am going to get married," Contactmusic quoted
her, as telling the Daily Star.
And,
it seems that all those reports about Hilton being at loggerheads
with new BFF Britney Spears don't hold much truth after all,
for Paris wants the 'Toxic' singer to be her matron of honour.
"I want a fairytale wedding and Britney`s going to be
my matron of honour. She can advise me," Hilton added.
Paris
and her on-again boyfriend Stavros Niarchos sparked off rumours
about a rekindled romance after they were recently spotted
jetting off to an impromptu weekend getaway in Miami.
However,
two people who might not be very excited about the nuptials,
will probably be Niarchos' parents, for they happen to think
that the reality TV star is just too "tacky".
Mel
Gibson has a 29-year old secret lovechild!
LONDON,
Dec 18: Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson may soon find himself
at the doctor's office giving a sample of his DNA, for a 29-year
old woman is claiming that she is his lovechild.
Painter
Carmel Sloane is claiming that Gibson got her mother pregnant
after a romp on a mattress at the back of his car before he
became one of the most recognisable faces in showbiz.
As
for why Sloane wants Gibson to take a paternity test, well
she just wants to get to know her father, and her son his
grandfather.
"I'm
not doing it for his money. I just want to meet the man I've
always known was my dad - and for him to get to know his grandson,"
the News of the World quoted her, as saying.
Legal
papers will be served on the 50-year old Gibson, this week.
The
29-year old painter also insisted that she was not looking
for a portion of the Gibson's fortune, and that all she wanted
was for him to recognise her "as family".
"I'd
love it if he recognised us as family. I'm not looking for
a meal ticket. I am happy with my life. I would love to meet
him but I wouldn't expect to be part of his life. I'm not
looking for a piece of the pie or that lifestyle. I would
like him to know he has a grandson who is a great kid. He
is very bright and creative. He would be proud of him,"
she said.
"We
have no choice but to go legal so that we can get to the bottom
of this once and for all. A simple DNA test will sort it out,"
Sloane added.
Is
Paris Hilton getting married?
WASHINGTON,
Dec 12: Rumours are abuzz that one of the most talked-about
celebs on the singles' list, Paris Hilton, will soon be saying
'I Do'. The
hotel heiress sparked off engagement after she was spotted
attending a party in Los Angeles wearing a diamond ring on
her ring finger, reports Contactmusic.
The
rumours come just days after Hilton was snapped locking lips
with her Greek ex beau Stavros Niarchos, fuelling rumours
that the two were a couple once again.
However,
while the 'Stars Are Blind' singer was keen to show off her
rock at a fashion show recently, her publicist was not confirming
or denying that Paris will soon be saying 'I Do'.
Hilton,
who recently revealed that she wants to have four kids by
the time she turns 30, has been engaged twice before, but
has never been married.
She
was engaged to male fashion model Jason Shaw from mid-2002
to early 2003, and then to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis
from May 2005 till October 2005.