Ashley Dupre, call girl to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, thanked her MySpace fans "for taking the time to send me a bit of strength and inspiration... your words have touched me." She thanked her detractors for making "me push myself and want it even more." [MySpace]
A handwriting expert is suing Bryant Gumbel for allegedly smearing him on HBO's Real Sports. [Post]
British singer Boy George really wanted to put on a special show for the New York sanitation workers with whom he performed community service, but he was denied a visa to enter the country, on account of an upcoming trial for allegedly imprisoning a male escort. [Post]
British author Ian McEwan said he despises "Islamism" because it oppresses gays and women. [Times]
Michelle Williams, mother of deceased actor Heath Ledger's child, is worried Ledger's mother and father will blow through the money in his estate before the child is 18 and able to claim any. [P6]
Clearly trying to seed a sequel to his 1986 laugh riot The Money Pit, actor Tom Hanks keeps insisting his mansion in Sun Valley was poorly constructed. His latest appeal for legal intervention was rejected by a California court Friday. [P6]
The 13-year-old daughter of billionaire Revlon chief Ron Perelman asked for a protection order against her mom and Perelman's ex-wife Patricia Duff. [Post]
Singer Stevie Nicks said everyone should buy records and in turn save the music business and in turn "bring peace to our earth." [R&M]
Latest by SeeingI: I totally would have molested Haim back in the day, but now I wouldn't even let him blow me for crack money.
(Technically speaking it wouldn't have been molestation since we are both the same age, but this is mid-30s me more »
Marc Jacobs' threesome-friendly boyfriend Jason Preston is chivalrous and brave, if not literally ass-kicking. He saw a guy throw a drink on a girl, in a club, and told the dude to apologize. Unfortunately, the guy then whaled on Preston. Still, Bryanboy will be so totally proud. [P6]
Owen Wilson maybe hooking up with Jennifer Aniston shows how two people can somehow look crazy, desperate and hot at the same time. [Star]
Wilson jumped across a pool in front of 150 people in Miami, and went crazy when a hired photographer took a picture. He made the photographer delete the picture, because he's too insane to realize that 10 other guests probably already have the video on their cell phones. [P6]
Britney Spears' dad has been sifting through the singer's financial wreckage, along with his lawyer, and it looks like former Britney hanger-on Sam Lutfi is going to take the fall for some of her problems. A source told the Post: "Her business affairs were in disarray because Sam [Lutfi] had isolated Britney, and it's going to be a very tedious task of going through everything." [P6]
Reporters, photographers so busy stalking disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer they miss movie superstar Tom Hanks walking right by. [P6]
Actress Keira Knightley sings three tracks on her new soundtrack and is all, "a sound emerged that wasn't too disagreeable." You're supposed to be all, "you were GREAT!" [Perez]
Janet Jackson is too sick to show up for Saturday Night Live, even though it could save her weak album sales.
Entertainment TV host Pat O'Brien is out of rehab, positively gorging on junk food and his network just isn't talking about him so don't ask. [TMZ]
Rapey Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is now free to go wild outside of jail. [P6]
Sean Penn was seen at the Oscars looking thrilled with his blonde supermodel date, but now he's been spotted with a "mid-twenties brunette... wearing tight jeans with tall boots" at the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. Also, "his car looked like the 'Bat Mobile.'" [OK!]
How sensitive is singer John Mayer? He keeps Xanax on his person at all times. [P6]
As many people know, broken-footed gadabout Jay McInerney is currently upholding his title as Prince of Downtown Debauchery by blogging about wine for House and Garden. His columns follow a familiar routine. He goes to the Waverly Inn, sees some faces, drops some names, drinks some wine, and says some stupid stuff. This week he tells Meg Ryan ("whom at first I didn't recognize," maybe because her lips have taken her face hostage!) that Tom Hanks (sitting nearby) "would meet her at the top of the Empire State Building." Get it? But in recent weeks, another element has been thrown into the mix: Unnecessary mentions of his stinker of a movie adaptation of Bright Lights Big City.
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• Kevin Federline performed at last night's Teen Choice Awards. There are no words to describe this national nightmare. [Egotastic]
• Rapper Busta Rhymes was arrested Saturday on felony assault charges; he allegedly beat a "fan" into a concussion on August 12 in Chelsea. Granted, the fan spit on the rapper's car before getting his ass kicked — guess he's just lucky that Busta didn't use the machete police found in his car. A machete. Really? Is that how far a rapper has to go just to prove his cred nowadays? [NYDN]
• Tom Hanks on Asians: they all look the same. And operate pedicabs. [Page Six]
• Just three weeks after Julianne Moore and family bought a puggle puppy, the poor thing died of distemper. Meanwhile, Melania Knauss uses Craigslist to find a serial killer/nanny. [Gatecrasher]
• Not only is Mel Gibson likely denying the Holocaust, but his Jewish publicist is denying the denial. You follow? [Page Six]
Latest by Flaneur: That Federline guy is really, really untalented. Seriously, he has no timbre or depth to his voice, and his flow was strained and styleless. Sad. more »
While the rest of the country spent most of last week dressing their Roman-Candle wounds, the Vanity Fair softball team was making history on the diamond, schooling the world-renowned High Times Bonghitters, 8-5. The stoners took an early lead in the game, but it didn't take long for the Veefers to exact their vengeance for May's 13-4 loss to the Bonghitters.
More »
·Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson will not attend the Oscars. Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz, Ren
e Zellweger, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are on the fence. [Page Six] · Celebs that are attending the Oscars are ordering armored limos. [Page Six] · R.J. Reynolds has come up with a cigarette called Eclipse, which produces no second-hand smoke, rendering smoking bans unnecessary. [Page Six]
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