CharlieCruiser's World

Reward for Nude Anderson Cooper

2011-03-18T06:29:00.002-04:00

Playgirl is offering $10,000 to anyone who can get the publication a nude picture of Anderson Cooper for its “Top 10 Guys We Want to See Naked” list.

Playgirl’s Daniel Nardicio told Popeater.com Cooper tops the list.

"He's got this charisma that a lot of our readers are attracted to, plus now he's all muscled, [so] he's not only smart but also hot," Nardicio says. "Both our male and female readers love Anderson."

The cash offer comes days after someone tried to snap a pic of Jake Gyllenhaal while he was standing at a urinal at a movie premiere.

Joe Jonas: "Nothing Wrong With Being Gay"

2011-03-18T06:17:00.003-04:00

Pop star Joe Jonas isn't gay but doesn't seem to mind the gay rumors that have dogged him in recent months, according to a new profile in Details magazine.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay," Jonas says, "but I'm not." The middle Jonas brother, 21, was bluntly asked if he's gay by paparazzi last January. Details speculates that part of the reason for the rumors may have been Jonas's playful video homage to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies," in which he dressed in a leotard and heels and danced to make good on a sports bet with some friends. The video of his performance was watched by more than 25 million viewers on YouTube.

Here is the complete Details magazine interview:

Joe Jonas is going grocery shopping, walking along a busy commercial section of Hollywood. No one notices him, no tween girls shriek, as he weaves through the sidewalk traffic. Joe doesn't much look like a Jonas Brother anymore. Gone is his telltale luxurious sweep of black hair. Now it's cropped in a look one of his handlers likes to call "Top Gun-Tom Cruise," and he's wearing a rakish beard and mustache, along with skinny jeans that hang low enough to reveal the pattern on his boxers. These signs of testosterone seem to defy the boy band's squeaky-clean image—the three brothers wore "purity rings," pledging chastity until marriage. Joe, 21, looks all grown up. And there isn't a purity ring in sight.

"'Does anyone ever tell you you look like Joe Jonas?' I get that a lot," Joe says in his mild, soft-spoken way. "Or they'll say, 'You're so much cuter in person.' Or 'Where are your brothers?'" He laughs. "It's not like we wake up in the same bed."

Joe moved out of the home he shared with his parents and his brothers, Kevin, 23, and Nick, 18, a year and a half ago, to rent a house with some buddies in Los Feliz. But it was haunted, he says—"We'd hear footsteps"—and he often thought about getting his own place. Then, about nine months ago, he started dating Twilight star Ashley Greene, and the idea of a little privacy became more appealing. So last November, he found a bachelor pad in this part of town, which he likes because "it's like my mini New York. I got my gym a few blocks away"—where he's been working out five days a week with his trainer.

"I like to watch all the crazy characters in the neighborhood," he says. "I saw this gay homeless guy that got arrested. When the cops said, 'Spread 'em,' he was like, 'You'd like that, wouldn't you?'" Joe grins; he likes a good comeback.

In addition to hitting the gym regularly, Joe is also a fan of bars in the area, like the Bowery on Sunset, because it's "really laid-back." Wait a minute—didn't the Jonas Brothers, who provided the voices of cherubs in 2009's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, swear off alcoholic beverages?

Yes, but that was back when Joe was living with his mom, Denise, and his dad, Kevin Sr., a former evangelical preacher who now comanages the band. It was also before Joe decided to do a solo album, the first single from which will be released next month.

"I'm growing up, the fans are growing up," Joe says. "I've gone through a lot of stuff in my life so far. There are stories I haven't really been able to tell. When you're writing with three people, you wind up with a sound that might be—not average—but, you know, expected."

The moment he walks into Trader Joe's, the sound system starts playing "Year 3000," a Jonas Brothers hit from their first album, 2006's It's About Time. The boys' cheerful guitar riffs and boisterous voices fill the giant store. "I didn't call and arrange this," Joe says, amused, as he grabs a cart.

Joe's apartment, a loft studio in a brand-new high-rise, is sizable, but it's modest for a young man who, with his brothers, made $35.5 million last year, putting them at No. 40 on the Forbes "Celebrity 100." There's a stunning 180-degree view of Los Angeles. There's a vintage Pac Man game, a Batman pinball machine, a Baldwin piano, and an 8-month-old English-bulldog puppy named Winston. There's a Warholesque painting of Mick Jagger by a local artist. Joe—who is known for his on-stage brio, his jumps and kicks and orgasmic facial contortions—has said that he idolizes the performance styles of Jagger and Freddie Mercury, "the big frontmen."

There's also a framed photograph of Joe and his brothers at the White House with President Obama and Paul McCartney—on the wall right by the front door, so you can't miss it. "I didn't know who to be more excited about," Joe says of the meeting, which took place last year when McCartney received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The Jonas Brothers performed a cover of "Drive My Car" at the event.

"I heard [McCartney] told somebody, 'I want the new Beatles to come and play for me,'" Joe says, his chocolate-brown eyes growing wider.

Joe will tell you stories about famous rockers giving props to a band that the New York Times has called "among the most culturally important American rock bands of the last decade."

"Pat [Patrick Carney], the drummer for the Black Keys, I met him at a Kings of Leon concert in London"—coincidentally, it was at that same concert that Joe met Greene—"and he was like, 'I used to shit on you guys, but then I actually listened to your stuff, and you're so rad.'"

A Black Keys record is playing on Joe's turntable as he makes taco filling, simmering chicken in olive oil and lemonade. He's into cooking. After he got his own place, he says, "I fell in love with it. I became friends with a lot of chefs. I was a judge on Top Chef last year. It was a dream come true."

Then he pauses a moment; his thick, dark eyebrows knit together. He looks like a teenager again. "You know what? I forgot to get tortillas."

The taco filling winds up being wrapped into big pieces of lettuce—a fine, healthy, Asian-inspired solution. Joe stands at the counter as he tucks into his new culinary invention and starts talking excitedly about his solo album (which is as yet unnamed). He has been recording in L.A. for the past couple of months but says the idea came to him in the summer of 2009 when the JoBros were in Rome. "We were sitting in this beautiful Colosseum-looking hotel. And I was starting to think, 'I really wanna do a solo project.' My brother Nick did one. It wasn't really as big as..." Here he catches himself. Nick's solo album, Who I Am, released last year, received mixed reviews and sold fewer than 200,000 copies in the U.S.

"He wasn't really hoping for it to be huge," says Joe, who calls Nick "my best friend." "It was more for himself. He wanted to do a record that he really believed in. And so I was like, 'I would really like to make music that inspires me,' 'cause with the Jonas Brothers stuff, we can be constricted in what we can and cannot do.

"I wanted to do something you could hear in a club or something you could dance to, something that's fun—something that's me. I think it was definitely because I was getting older. But it was also a kind of a scary thought. 'Cause you go, 'I don't want to offend my brothers.' You know?"

But when he approached Nick and Kevin, they were all for it. He also got the blessing of Hollywood Records, the Jonas Brothers' label, which is owned by Disney and which sold 8.5 million copies of the band's last three albums—Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer, and Lines, Vines and Trying Times.

But the boys in the band aren't really boys anymore, and the sales of their recent albums have slipped slightly. Their 2009 Disney Channel sitcom, Jonas L.A., didn't catch on with viewers and was canceled after two seasons. Their debut film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, was a disappointment, earning just over $19 million.

The thinking at Disney HQ seems to be that a solo turn by Joe might be a way for the Brothers to recapture their maturing fan base and possibly develop a new one. "We're not breaking up, we're just taking a break," Joe says. "I really have a hope for the fans that got older and went, 'You know what, I'm really not into the Jonas Brothers anymore,' that I'm able to catch their ear again with my project and they're able to go, like, 'Hey, this is cool stuff, I'm happy listening to this, I'm not embarrassed listening to this.'"

"I'm wildly supportive," says Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Studios. "Going solo is a very good idea for Joe at this age. It's like graduating from college."

But will Joe Jonas be believable as a real rock star? Can the fans ever forget that they loved him in fourth grade?

"I look at Joe's scenario as kind of like when Justin Timberlake broke out of 'N Sync," says Rob Knox, a producer working on Joe's solo project who previously teamed up with Rihanna and Jamie Foxx. "Justin was 21 when he came out as a solo artist. Joe is coming to producers who know how to create that edgier pop feeling. We're not doing any boy-band songs."

What they are doing, Joe says, is an eclectic mixture of "electro indie pop rock." "It's Joe's album, it's not just something put together for him," says Danja, another veteran producer on the project, whose past work includes Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds. "He's collaborating with the writing. He's very different from what you'd expect. All I can say is he's an adult man. He has a rock-star edge about him."

If Nick was always the cute Jonas, and Kevin the other Jonas, then Joe was the sexy one. The shrieks of the Brothers' 10,000-plus crowds are usually induced by his hip-swiveling-and-mic-twirling routine.

"Being on stage makes me come to life," Joe says. "When all eyes are on you, they're watching every move you make."

His gyrations have apparently caught the eyes of a number of fetching young female entertainers. He's dated the troubled Disney star Demi Lovato ("I wish her the best") and the actress Camilla Belle. Taylor Swift was so bitter after their breakup that she wrote a song about it ("Forever & Always") and went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in 2008, to complain that Joe had dumped her in a phone call that lasted 27 seconds.

Joe countered by saying that it was Swift who had hung up on him. Now he says, "I think all artists have a right to write about what happens to them. But," he adds with a smile, "I have a right to write about things too."

He won't say whether his album will contain a Swift rebuttal—just that there will be songs about "different love scenarios that I've been through, breakups, hurts. Me hurting somebody and feeling bad about it. I think there's a lot of scenarios where people might wanna hear my side of the story."

But who would break up with Joe?

"Some guy," he says with a laugh.

It's a nod to the gay rumors he's been fending off ever since he got into a verbal altercation with some taunting paparazzi earlier this year. "There's nothing wrong with being gay," he says now, "but I'm not." Adding to the buzz, he dressed up in a leotard and heels and danced to "Single Ladies"—to comic effect—to square a sports bet with some buddies. He got the idea from his fans. The video of his performance got more than 25 million hits on YouTube.

But he really did have his heart broken; it was about two years ago, and the young woman was someone in the entertainment world. "I won't say her name," Joe says. "But I was in a relationship, and we tried to work things out, and she, you know—I was really upset because she—she broke up with me." A sadness lingers in his voice.

By contrast, his relationship with Ashley Greene, who's 24, "feels good," he says. "I think what works about it is she really puts my feelings first. She understands my busy schedule. She'll fly out to my shows—she's been to places in South America that I can't even pronounce." And in January, he visited her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while she was shooting the next two installments of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn: Part I and Part II (Greene plays the psychic vampire Alice Cullen). He also flew to Jacksonville, Florida, to meet her parents. "Her dad can drink me to shame," Joe says. "He's awesome."

Times are changing for the Jonas Brothers, with Joe going solo (for now) and Kevin marrying Danielle Deleasa, a former hairdresser, in 2009. "Actually, I hit on her first," Joe says of meeting his future sister-in-law when the band of brothers were on vacation in the Bahamas. "And after that she and Kevin hit it off, of course. Now we have a fourth person traveling with us everywhere, so that's a different thing completely."

It's afternoon. Joe's driving his big black Mercedes G-Class down Sunset to the studio to work on his album. He's thinking about the days when he and his brothers and his dad toured the country with a trailer full of instruments, performing wherever they could. Success did not come easily, he says, and it got to the point where "we were about to say, 'This sucks—we don't want to do this anymore,' but then it all sort of started to happen for us."

And happen it did. "We've seen every state in America besides Alaska and Hawaii, been all over Europe. It's been so much fun." Sure, there have been times when it's gotten a little weird, rocking out for little girls. "We did some things that were like, 'Really? We're gonna do this? Like, go and play for an elementary school, are you serious?' At the time I was like, 'I'm 17, I wanna go meet girls at high schools.'

"And now I'm 21," Joe adds. "I wanna go play my music in a club."

Joe draws inspiration from one of his heroes—Bono—in moving forward with his dream: "I just want to believe that people are gonna really accept me for who I am and the music that I'm making now."

Joe went to see U2 play in Toronto last year. "After the show we got an e-mail saying Bono wants to invite you to the after-party. He comes waltzing in with his jean jacket buttoned down to here, pointing his finger at everybody. We hung out with him till three in the morning. He told me, 'The songs you write, really be honest, don't hold anything back. The reason for being an artist is you gotta be honest.' And I was like, 'Wow.'

"He said, 'I have countries that hate me, but I don't care. I have dictators that wanna put my head on a stick. So the next time you write a song, write from the heart, and really be honest, and don't be afraid of it.'"

Joe arrives at Henson Recording Studios—Charlie Chaplin's old studio. He parks the car. "When I was younger," he says, getting out, "I was always trying to make people satisfied with the way they thought I was supposed to be. And finally understanding that, in music, you can really be yourself and people accept you for who you are, that was a big thing to me." Work awaits, and as he heads inside, he adds: "I'm really excited to get the ball rolling and write some more stories in the book of craziness."

Leo and Armie Lock Lips for Hoover

2011-03-18T06:08:00.002-04:00

And it’s a wrap.

According to E! Online’s Marc Malkin and Brett Malec, Leonardo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer have filmed their kissing scene for the upcoming Clint Eastwood–directed biopic J. Edgar.

According to a source, the scene between the two actors is hot. DiCaprio is starring in the film as late FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, while The Social Network’s Hammer plays his protégé and rumored lover Clyde Tolson.

"[They did] more [takes] than Clint normally does," the source said. "They wanted to make it right ... It's a more involved scene than just the kissing ... It was so sexy."

Before production began, it was rumored the film had been stripped of its gay content. But screenwriter Dustin Lance Black told AfterElton.com: "To think that somehow you’re going to a make a movie about somebody like J. Edgar and you’re not going to learn what’s in his heart, that’s just not going to happen in a script that I write. It’s unfounded [the idea that the movie is being de-gayed.]"

Which Couple Gets Sex Counseling from Holly Holliday on Glee Next Week?

2011-03-03T06:26:00.004-05:00

We’re less than a week away from the much-anticipated return of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Holly Holliday on Glee and Entertainment Weekly has some juicy scoop to reveal about Holly’s second stint at McKinley High.

They already broke the news that she would be subbing for the school’s sex ed teacher. But Holly’s sex-pertise will not be reserved solely for the classroom: Entertainment Weekly has learned exclusively that she will also be counseling one of the series’ major couples. Which one?

SPOILER ALERT! Newlyweds Emma (Jayma Mays) and Carl (John Stamos).”Holly ends up counseling them a little bit,” says star Matthew Morrison. “It turns out their sex life isn’t all that.” Adds Morrison, “At the same time, I find out the glee club is having a lot of sex and they’re not really informed as to what’s going on. Holly and I come up with an idea to teach them through song about the dangers of sex.”

Morrison adds that by the end of next week’s episode, there’s also potential for a Holly/Will romance. Says the actor, “By the end of the episode, we kind of get together. She has to leave again but there’s a possibility of a future between Will and Holly.”

In fact, Paltrow is currently shooting yet another episode of Glee, her third this season.

Celebrity & Dancer Pairs Unveiled for New Season of Dancing with the Stars

2011-03-03T06:22:00.003-05:00

They've got their partners. Now, they just have to learn the moves!

Following the cast announcement on Monday, ABC on Wednesday unveiled the celebrity-dancer pairings for the new season of Dancing with the Stars, premiering March 21st.

The couples are as follows: Kendra Wilkinson and Louis van Amstel; Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas; Wendy Williams and Tony Dovolani; Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy; Petra Nemcova and Dimitry Chaplin; Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke; Romeo and Chelsie Hightower; Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer; Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya; Hines Ward and Kym Johnson; and Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff.

The stars have three weeks to prepare for the premiere, and Alley, 60, said the pressure is on.

"My partner [Maksim Chmerkovskiy] is calling me 'G' for Grandma," she said at Monday's press conference. "He says I'm too slow. I call him 'M' for mean."

Christina Aguilera to Coach on NBC's The Voice

2011-03-03T05:51:00.002-05:00

Christina Aguilera is putting that voice to good use.

The Grammy winner has just been named as a musician coach on NBC's new musical competition series The Voice, which premiers April 26th.

"I am so excited to be part of such a wonderful project that celebrates music and the talent behind it," Aguilera, who joins coaches Cee Lo Green and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, said of the role. "To be given the opportunity to help shape new artists' careers and mentor them to see their dreams come to fruition is a task I welcome with open arms."

NBC executives say the singer's talent was what caught their eye. "Christina has a once in a generation talent – her voice is phenomenally distinctive and instantly recognizable," Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming at NBC and Universal Media Studios said of the appointment. "Her journey as an artist, who started so young in the music business, will be an inspiration to the talent she coaches on the show."

The news comes on the heels of a challenging week for the singer. She was jailed by police for public intoxication early Tuesday morning before later being released, while her boyfriend, Matt Rutler, was also arrested for investigation of DUI.

Charlie Sheen: 'It's Not an Act'

2011-03-03T05:28:00.000-05:00

Yes, Charlie Sheen is acutely aware that plenty of people think he's crazy. And he doesn't care.

"It's not an act," he tells People magazine in this week's cover story. "Here's the good news: If I realize that I'm insane, then I'm okay with it. I'm not dangerous insane."

During the course of a late-night interview at his Beverly Hills home, Sheen, 45, addressed everything from his ongoing "war" with Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre to his two-girlfriend living arrangement to his self-styled path to sobriety.

Expressing disdain for the Alcoholics Anonymous model of recovery, he says, "I'm not interested in addiction, disease, all that crap. Twenty years they took from me. I just decided that I was going to think differently, that I was not going to believe anything I'd been taught."

As for his unorthodox home life with 24-year-old girlfriends Rachel Oberlin and Natalie Kenly, he says, "everybody's needs are met, everybody's cool."

The actor is more reflective on the subject of his young children: 2-year-old twins Bob and Max with ex-wife Brooke Mueller and daughters Sam, 7, and Lola, 5, with ex-wife Denise Richards.

"There's a feeling ... that I haven't spent enough time with them, and they're getting older," he says. "Not the boys, but the girls. But rather than sitting here and going, 'What have I done?' I just change it."

For much more on Charlie Sheen, including the childhood influence of his father's Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now, his thoughts on his exes and his prediction about the future of Two and a Half Men, pick up this week's issue of People, on newsstands Friday.

Jessica Simpson is a 'Frontrunner' to Judge The X Factor with Simon Cowell

2011-03-03T05:12:00.000-05:00

Although buzz about which celebrities could join Simon Cowell's new show The X Factor is already going strong, a new name has been added to the mix. Jessica Simpson is a frontrunner to become one of the judges alongside Cowell.

"There [are] loads of conversations happening at the moment," says the source. "No one has been offered a judging role yet as new names keep coming forward who want the role, but there are some frontrunners and it's fair to say Jessica is one of them. She's very keen."

Simpson, 30, has the skills needed for this particular format, which features a $5 million recording contract as the grand prize, says the insider. Still, there are a lot of factors that go in to making the final choice.

"She knows what she is talking about [and] is talented and likable," the source says. "But Simon's not in a rush to decide. The judges have to mentor on The X Factor – it's more than just turning up for a few hours a week to appear on TV."

The judges will have to "work with contestants on music, dancers, styling," the source continues. "It's a lot of work."

The X Factor, which is already a hit in Cowell's native U.K., will debut in the U.S. on FOX in the fall, so producers have time to make a careful choice.

"They have to get the decision right, which takes time," the source says. "Those final decisions may not happen for a few weeks."

Lady Gaga Opens Up About Sex and Self-Love

2011-03-02T07:04:00.002-05:00

Lady Gaga had sex for the first time when she was a teenager, but it wasn't until much later that she started to enjoy her sex life.

She said: “I didn’t lose my virginity until I was 17. But I have to say even then I wasn’t ready and it was an absolutely terrible experience.

“It wasn’t good at all. I have never not had safe sex, I have always asked a guy to be tested and to use protection, which was always my rule. Otherwise you’re playing Russian Roulette.”

The 24-year-old hitmaker is presently dating bar owner Luc Carl, who she has known since she was 19. She says she didn’t enjoy sleeping with someone until much later and feels making love is a way of expressing “vulnerability.”

She added to Britain’s Grazia magazine: “I never actually enjoyed sex until two years ago. It was a proper monogamous relationship in which I felt free enough to trust and I had enough self love. Sex is the ultimate expression of vulnerability and for me it was important to know that it was a proper relationship so it was sex as a source of love and nothing else.”

In the past, Gaga has claimed she is bisexual as well as saying she believes if you have sex with people you are not love with they will ruin your "energy."

She said: "I have weird superstitions about sex. If you're not having sex with someone who really loves you they can screw up your energy.”

Christina Aguilera Arrested & Jailed for Her Safety

2011-03-02T06:27:00.004-05:00

Christina Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication early Tuesday morning and jailed for her own safety until she recovered. Her boyfriend was also arrested for investigation of DUI.

The singer was released from custody at the West Hollywood sheriff's station at about 7:30 am, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

"We have no desire to prosecute, none whatsoever. It just for a public safety issue," says Whitmore. "When she was able to navigate and to think on her own and make her own way, she was released."

Aguilera, 30, was a passenger in a car driven by boyfriend Matthew Rutler that was pulled over at 2:45 am when deputies noticed the vehicle driving erratically. Both were booked, Aguilera for public intoxication, Rutler for DUI.

"She was not capable to taking care of herself. She was incapacitated," says Whitmore. "She was cooperative. She was not belligerent in any way whatsoever. She was just intoxicated."

By law, a person can be held in custody if they cannot take care of themselves, he says.

"As she got better, she just said, 'I would like to leave,'" says Whitmore, and deputies granted her request.

Aguilera's reps were not immediately available for comment.

Christopher Sieber Rescues La Cage

2011-03-02T06:10:00.003-05:00

Christopher Sieber will replace ailing Arrested Development star Jeffrey Tambor as Georges in the Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles, according to The New York Times.

Sieber, who received Tony award nominations for Shrek the Musical and Monty Python's Spamalot, had been scheduled to star in another revival, playing Billy Flynn in the long-running production of Chicago. Producers of that show released Sieber from his contract to begin rehearsals for La Cage. Tambor dropped out of the show last Thursday, citing complications from recent hip surgery as the reason. Sieber will star in the groundbreaking drag musical opposite another gay actor, Harvey Fierstein. The two men previously worked together in the Broadway production of Hairspray.

The date for Sieber's first performance in La Cage hasn't yet been announced.

Lost Two and a Half Men Episode Had Charlie Sleeping With a Man!

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Had Charlie Sheen returned to the Two and a Half Men set this week, he would’ve had a surprise waiting for him: a possible same-sex hook-up!

According to some casting intel acquired by TVLine, one of the show’s four “lost” episodes was to find Sheen’s onscreen alter ego spending the night with a man.

Just prior to the plug being pulled on the season, Men producers were casting the role of Jonathan, a fortysomething client of Lyndsey’s (Courtney Thorne-Smith) who just so happens to be gay. Charlie befriends Jonathan, and the two end up partying the night away.

Cut to the following morning when they wake up in bed together with absolutely no memory of what may or may not have happened.

Hopefully Charlie will clean up his act and return to the Two and a Half Men set next season, and we have the pleasure of seeing this episode. Stay tuned!

Elton John May Appear on Glee

2011-03-02T05:56:00.001-05:00

Elton John has been in talks about appearing on Glee.

Jane Lynch, who plays Sue Sylvester in the show, said she had encouraged the gay legend to meet series co-creator Ryan Murphy without realising the pair had already discussed the idea.

She told Access Hollywood: “I said, ‘You should be on it!’ And he said he and Ryan just had coffee or something and they talked about that, so that would be really fun.”

Meanwhile, Matthew Morrison, who plays Will Schuester, said recently that John could appear as a love interest for Sue.

He said: “We should find a spot for him to be on the show. That would be awesome. He’s a living legend. He just brings such a great energy and a great validity to everything he does.

“He should do something with Jane Lynch. I think he should maybe play her boyfriend or some kind of love interest for her. I think that would be fun.”

John Galliano Fired from Christian Dior

2011-03-02T05:41:00.001-05:00

French fashion house Christian Dior has fired designer John Galliano one day after video of him declaring his love of Hitler hit the Internet.

"Today, because of the particularly odious nature of the behavior and words of John Galliano in a video made public this Monday, the Christian Dior house has decided to lay him off immediately and has begun firing procedures against him." the fashion house said in a statement Tuesday.

In the video, which was posted by U.K. tabloid The Sun, Galliano is seen drunkenly telling two Italian women, "I love Hitler."

He then tells a café patron, "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f---ing gassed."

Last week Galliano was temporarily suspended as Dior's creative director pending an investigation into alleged anti-Semitic remarks. He was arrested last week on charges of assault stemming from the same incident.

Dior came under pressure to take action after Academy Award winner Natalie Portman released a statement obtained by The New York Times, saying she was "disgusted and shocked" by his comments and "will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way."

Javier Bardem & Josh Brolin's Oscar Kiss!

2011-03-01T06:58:00.004-05:00

Javier Bardem spent much of No Country for Old Men, for which he won an Oscar, trying to kill Josh Brolin. Well, these two former co-stars obviously are far friendlier off screen. They co-presented at Sunday’s Academy Awards dressed like twins and greeted each other with a kiss!

Both actors are married to gorgeous female movie stars: Javier and wife Penelope Cruz are new parents while Josh has been married to the lovely Diane Lane.

They did so well, that maybe they should do a sequel to Brokeback Mountain? I'd watch it!

'Hot in Cleveland' Gets Third Season Renewal

2011-03-01T06:51:00.003-05:00

TV Land is bringing back its breakout comedy Hot in Cleveland for a third round. The show stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendi Malick, Jane Leeves, and of course, Betty White!

The network picked up another 22 episodes of the series, which will begin shooting this summer. Cleveland has averaged a robust 3.2 million viewers for TV Land during its second season.

“The chemistry that this cast has with each other is undeniable so we are excited to bring Hot in Cleveland back for another season,” said Larry W. Jones, president of TV Land. “Our viewers will be thrilled with all that is in store for next season – amazing storylines, smart and hilarious writing and even more beloved guest stars.”

Kirstie Alley Join Dancing with the Stars

2011-03-01T06:44:00.002-05:00

Get ready to rumba!

Actress Kirstie Alley, reality star Kendra Wilkson and talk show host Wendy Williams will square off against former boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard, actor Ralph Macchio and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward on season 12 of Dancing with the Stars, it was announced live Monday night.

The cast – 11 stars in all – was revealed during The Bachelor telecast. Model Petra Nemcova, actress Chelsea Kane, radio personality Mike Catherwood, singer and actor Romeo, and WWE star Chris Jericho are also competing.

The celebrities, whose respective professional dancer pairings will be revealed on Wednesday, have just three weeks to prepare for the March 21st season premiere on ABC.

The nerves are already kicking in for Kane, who starred on Disney Channel’s Jonas L.A.

"I don't know how I'm going to react to the judges when there's a camera on my face and I'm trying to smile through it," Kane, 22, says. "Hopefully, I won't ruin my makeup."

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Star Jane Russell Dies

2011-03-01T06:35:00.002-05:00

Jane Russell, voluptuous star of films The Outlaw and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, has died at 89, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The actress first came to Hollywood's attention as a discovery of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who attempted to capitalize on Russell's staggering figure in his controversial film The Outlaw, which was shot in 1941 but not released until 1946.

Russell was a favorite of gay audiences primarily for her costarring role opposite late screen legend Marilyn Monroe in Blondes, arguably her most famous film. Though the film was a showcase for two of cinema's sexiest bombshells, it is appreciated by gay audiences for Russell's unbelievably homoerotic number, "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love," in which the brunet actress cavorts with musclemen clad only in flesh-colored shorts.

New Release Tuesday!

2011-03-01T06:07:00.003-05:00

We start a new month with plenty of great new releases on Blu-Ray, CD and DVD including Love & Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

MOVIES
127 Hours (B)
Bambi (Diamond Edition) (B)
Burlesque (B)
The Cable Guy (B)
Faster (B)
Love & Other Drugs (B)
Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (B)
Waiting for Dublin (B)

MUSIC
David Foster & Friends - Hit Man Returns
Harry Connick, Jr. - In Concert on Broadway
Lucinda Williams - Blessed
Miguel Bose - Cardio Tour
Rango - Music from the Motion Picture
Take Me Home Tonight - Motion Picture Soundtrack

TV SHOWS
Davey and Goliath - Volume 5
Huge - Complete Series
If Tomorrow Comes - Mini-Series
Leave It To Beaver - 6th Season
Napoleon and Love - Mini-Series

(B) = Available on Blu-Ray

Adam Levine & Cee Lo Green to Join NBC's 'Idol' Rival, The Voice

2011-03-01T06:03:00.002-05:00

Mark Burnett and NBC pulled it off: Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine have signed to join the singing competition series The Voice.

The pop star duo will give NBC a chance to steal some thunder from Fox’s American Idol when the new series debuts this April. “I am so happy that Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green have joined the coach panel for The Voice,” executive producer Mark Burnett tells Entertainment Weekly. “Aside from being incredible voices, they bring years of experience in the music industry and a really cool vibe that has never been seen before on a music competition series.”

“We want The Voice to be a search by relevant artists for relevant artists,” added NBC’s Executive VP of Alternative Programming Paul Telegdy. “Every person who sits on our panel can do what it is that they’re judging.”

NBC has also set a premiere date for the show: Tuesday, April 26th at 9:00 pm (ET), in a two-hour debut. The show will shift to its regular time period on May 10th at 8:00 pm (ET).

Entertainment Weekly first reported that the singers were in negotiations for the gig last week. There’s still two seats left to fill, and that judge/coach may be the most intriguing of all: Christina Aguilera remains in talks to join the show.

Telegdy says he was impressed with Levine after seeing the Maroon 5 singer visit Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “His voice and versatility was incredible, and he had a great sense of humor and interplay with Jimmy,” Telegdy says.

“I was absolutely thrilled to be invited by Mark Burnett to join The Voice as a coach,” said Adam Levine in a statement. “I look forward to working with these singers and helping them push forward throughout the competition to make their musical dreams become a reality.”

Cee Lo has been an impressive media presence in recent months, with Telegdy citing the artist’s “willingness and braveness to do so many things, and his DNA at moment includes all sorts of people who are relevant to the music industry.”

“It’s an honor for me to be able to help mold a malleable and new talent in such a fashion as The Voice,” said Cee Lo Green in a statement. “Being a coach on The Voice is a substantial responsibility, and I take it with sincerity and distinction.”

NBC’s overall goal with The Voice is to sign big-name performers who are also popular music fans and a bit more youthful than, say, Steven Tyler. “Not to diminish other people on other shows, but it’s a different job to break through the clutter now than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago,” Telegdy says.

While taking a break from his work on Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo has been on a star-making run with his hit single “F**k You” and his Grammy performance with Gwyneth Paltrow (during which he was dressed, appropriately enough for a man judging a show on NBC, as a peacock). Meanwhile, the L.A.-based band Maroon 5 released their most recent album last fall and played Fox’s Super Bowl pre-game earlier this month.

The Voice is based on a Dutch hit in which contestants audition while judges face the other direction, unable to see the contestants. The judges make their verdicts based on the singer’s vocal talent alone rather than being influenced by the contestant’s physical appearance. After the audition rounds, the judges will coach the contestants. The Voice will debut sometime this spring.

And the 2011 Oscars Go To...

2011-02-28T06:55:00.000-05:00

The King's Speech ruled over the 2011 Academy Awards on Sunday, taking home four honors including Best Picture and Best Actor for the movie's star, Colin Firth.

The royal drama, about stuttering British monarch George VI, led the competition with 12 nominations going into this year's Oscars, and edged out the likes of Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception and The Social Network to claim the most coveted title of the night.

Firth was crowned Best Actor in a Leading Role, emerging triumphant over Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and James Franco (127 Hours).

Filmmaker Tom Hooper also basked in Oscar glory as he was hailed Best Director, beating Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), David Fincher (The Social Network) and Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit).

Pregnant Natalie Portman fought back tears as she walked away with Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of a tormented ballet dancer in Black Swan, ahead of Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine).

She gave special thanks to her Black Swan choreographer and fiance Benjamin Millepied, telling the audience, "So many people helped me prepare for this role... my beautiful love, Benjamin Millepied who choreographed the film and has now given me the most important role of my life."

It was also a golden night for The Fighter, about tough Boston, Massachusetts boxing legends Mickey Ward and Dickie Eklund, as Christian Bale and Melissa Leo dominated the Best Supporting categories.

Meanwhile, moviemaker Francis Ford Coppola, actor Eli Wallach and historian Kevin Brownlow were given a standing ovation in recognition of the lifetime achievement honors they received at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards in November. Fellow honoree Jean-Luc Godard did not attend the ceremony.

Oscars co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco opened the 2011 Academy Awards with a hilarious spoof poking fun at the Best Picture nominees, while 2010 presenter Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman also made surprise appearances in the skit.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, Randy Newman, and Florence Welch and A.R. Rahman provided the music for the night as they performed the tracks nominated for Best Original Song.

And Celine Dion took to the Kodak Theatre stage in Los Angeles to sing Smile during the ceremony's annual In Memorium segment, remembering the stars lost in the past 12 months, including Tony Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Dennis Hopper, Pete Postlethwaite and Gloria Stuart.

The complete list of winners at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards is as follows:

Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Best Screenplay - Adapted: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Screenplay - Original: David Seidler, The King's Speech
Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World (Denmark)
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Documentary (Feature): Inside Job
Best Art Direction: Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara, Alice In Wonderland
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Sound Mixing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick, Inception
Best Sound Editing: Richard King, Inception
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Best Original Song: We Belong Together from Toy Story 3, Randy Newman
Best Costume: Colleen Atwood, Alice in Wonderland
Best Documentary (Short Subject): Strangers No More
Best Film Editing: The Social Network
Best Make-up: The Wolfman
Best Animated Short Film: The Lost Thing
Best Live Action Short Film: God of Love
Best Visual Effects: Inception

Spartacus Creator Talks 'Gods of the Arena' Finale & Epic Season 2 Plans

2011-02-28T06:28:00.003-05:00

Six hours was far too short of time to spend among such fine gladiators in Starz’ Spartacus prequel, Gods of the Arena. Below is Entertainment Weekly's Q&A with creator Steven S. DeKnight.

They talked about the prequel’s finale and learn some details about season two (and when it airs), plus get an update on our favorite gladiator, Andy Whitfield. Warning, spoilers ahead!

Entetainment Weekly: Gratitude for this interview!
Steven S. Deknight: [Laughs] Sure, I love the way it’s starting.

So one headline is: “Gannicus lives!” Your “Han Solo meets Achilles” — as you once described him — will fight another day. Those who know the history of Spartacus figured this, but was still great to see him make it out alive.
Yes, Gannicus is one of Spartacus’ generals in the actual war. Our original plan was always to introduce Gannicus unto storyline. We will set him up to at some point to come back. It was a wonderful performance. When I designed that character I wanted something different from Spartacus and Crixus. He brought it in spades.

‘At some point’? So not necessarily at the start of season two?
We’re still working on it. We don’t know when or how. We got some very juicy ideas. He won’t pop up immediately.

So one possible take-away from this season: It’s pretty much all Lucretia’s fault. Did you hesitate to have her poison Batiatus’ father? That seems pretty heartless even for her.
The two major things she does — poisoning Titus and maneuvering her husband to kill Tullius — are all done for love. Love of her husband and her friend Gaia.

Glad to see one of my favorite characters, Ashur, got so much development this season. Is it fair to assume he will be serving Lucretia like he did Batiatus in season two?
Ashur serves himself at the end of the day. Who he aligns himself to is an ever-shifting arena all its own. I love the character at the end of season one when you realize the reason he’s bad is he just wants a hug — he wants love and respect, but he can’t get it. It was great to show how he got started, and how it all fell apart. He’s going to have some amazing stuff in season two.

Does it ever get boring dreaming up new gross ways to kill people?
Does any red-blooded American male ever get tired of that? We come up ideas in the writers room, it’s part character focused and part “wouldn’t it be cool.” Then we turn it over to the stunt team and they make it ten times better.

Also noticed you threw in some mixed martial arts moves in this season.
Yeah, it started with that first blindfold fight with Gannicus. We didn’t want him to appear to be a superhero. [Executive producer] Rob Tapert and the stunt team came up with the idea the best thing to do is get him on the ground and grapple. Then they found some natural places to throw [MMA] in.

You once again had some great dialogue, though not all of it I’m happy to have in my head: “Words fall from your mouth like shit from ass” still haunts me.
I can never tell what the audience will really love. That one I see retweeted all the time. It seems to have culturally stuck and I’m thrilled.

The show must be a blast to write.
I love the world. I love playing with the language. But it’s a pain in the ass to write. It takes twice as long. We tried writing it in modern language, then going back over it, but that didn’t work. It’s a linguistic exercise that never gets easier.

The arena is such a major part of the storyline. With the escaped gladiators on the run, will there be gladiator fights in season 2?
We definitely won’t be in the arena as much. Season 2 is the segue period where we’re segueing out of the arena. Eventually we will put an exclamation mark on never returning to the arena.

Since the show is shot entirely on greenscreen, you need a number of regular interior settings since it’s expensive to use special effects to make outdoor backgrounds. Since the gladiators are on the run, what will those settings be?
We find incredibly inventive ways of putting them inside. One of the cool things is you will never see our heroes inside a tent for season 2. I can’t tell you what we do, but they find different places to be inside. And in season 2 an equal part of the story is the villains side, which is much more interior.

Can you give fans an update on how Andy Whitfield is doing?
Last I heard he’s doing great, fighting the good fight, very much concentrating on his health and family. It’s a horrible thing, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. I have no doubt Andy will beat it. He’s one of the strongest and most centered men I’ve ever met. He’s very private, but I hear third-hand that he looks great and is in high spirits.

Liam McIntyre, who will play Spartacus in season 2, looks a lot like Andy. How important was that?
Not important at all. We were trying to find somebody who didn’t look exactly like him. We saw a thousand people. It came down to a handful of choices. Liam was the only one who resembled Andy. What we really loved about Liam is he had an honesty and intensity and compassion and sympathy in his performance — something that Andy really brought to the role. Spartacus doesn’t come from a place of anger.

I recently re-watched season one and was really struck by Andy’s performance — he played anger well, but he was also came across really vulnerable.
He was. It was incredibly difficult finding Andy. And nearly impossible finding somebody else to step in. Liam was so good in his audition, we overlooked he had dropped like 35 pounds for another role — he looked like Christian Bale in The Fighter. We’re keeping him down in New Zealand beefing him up, putting him on the [gladiator training] program. The last picture I saw of him, I can’t believe it’s the same guy.

Lesley-Ann Brandt, Lucretia’s body slave Naevia, is also leaving the show.
Things like that are always complicated. That had to do with her contract and the lost period of time it’s taken to get back to season two. She relocated to Los Angeles and is getting work and we couldn’t make schedules to work out. We wish her the best, she was great in the role. But in this show we weather characters dying and being recast.

So season 2 is not coming until next January right?
Unfortunately, we cannot air it until the end of January. Our post-production process takes so long. We can start airing it sooner, but we’d have to air five episodes and go on a long break. And Starz has Camelot in the spring and Torchwood in the summer.

And Gods of the Arena will be out on DVD when?
I don’t know the official date. I will assume it will be around the same time season one, which was September. We also like to pack in a lot of extras. [Note: Starz confirms September is the target, but adds this plan is still tentative.]

Since you have one season of Spartacus done, and you have the second mapped out, and you know the overall story of Spartacus that you’re telling from history — you must have some idea at this point how many seasons this story should be. So what’s that number?
It’s entangled with other numbers. One is budget — the show gets more expensive each season. The other is ratings. I could go anywhere from three to six seasons. Budget is not a small part of it. As the gladiator war continues and Spartacus’ army grows, it becomes more difficult to produce on a TV budget.

So is it fair to assume season two has a bigger budget than the first season?
Yes. The budget was always planned to go up a bit.

Anything else about season 2 you can tease to?
It will be epic. In true Spartacus fashion, nothing will be easy for our heroes or our villains. The thing I love about this world is you have villains who are not all bad and you have villains who will try to screw other villains — and the same is true on the heroes side. The scope and scale we are attempting is much larger than anything we have done before. And I’m guessing a few beloved characters may die.

Gaga Godmother to Elton & David's Son?

2011-02-28T06:23:00.002-05:00

In an interview with Canada’s Maclean’s magazine, Elton John’s husband David Furnish discusses gay rights up north and his feelings about family shields while (more or less) confirming that Lady Gaga is son Zachary’s godmother.

“I’m always very proud when people ask me about being a Canadian,” Furnish told the magazine when asked if he felt support from his home country. “I know when [Stephen Harper] was elected he talked about repealing gay marriage—legislation that was already passed in Canada. When it went to the House of Commons, more people voted to keep it than put it in in the first place. That is a sign of society taking a step, walking into unknown territory and realizing that this isn’t going to be the destruction of the moral fabric of our society. This isn’t going to hurt or kill anybody.

Furnish says he feels Canada is “more progressive and more accepting” than America “on all sorts of levels relating to same-sex couples and families,” especially after an Arkansas grocery store recently placed a “family shield” over the Us Weekly cover that featured Furnish, John, and Zachary. “I was disappointed but not outraged,” he says. “They put the shield up and two days later, they took it down. That is progress in its own right.”

When asked whether or not reports were true that Lady Gaga had been named Zachary’s godmother, Furnish replied, “We haven’t publicly confirmed that yet but your sources are very good! I prefer not to comment on it because we are going to make a statement about godparents later on.”

Furnish feels that Gaga is an excellent role model because “she’s all about inclusiveness and tolerance. She believes that you can be whoever you want to be and that we don’t have to live in a world of conformity and that we can all [benefit] from individuality. That’s the best message in the world.”

American Idol Top 24 Announced

2011-02-28T05:17:00.002-05:00

"Will Jennifer find the strength to go on?" Ryan Seacrest asked at the start of Thursday's two-hour American Idol.

Wednesday night, you'll recall, ended with a sobbing Jennifer Lopez listing to the side, like a leaking ship sinking into a sea of tears, giving bad news to Chris Medina.

Within two minutes, Ryan answered as we expected he would: "Jennifer knows the show must go on."
Not only that, she looked fabulous. The hair! The luster!

And off we went as the judges rounded out the top 24 roster, 12 guys and 12 girls, teasing (or more likely torturing) each singer with feints and sighs before finally delivering a verdict.

"You're mean," said Laina Alaina, who looked as if she were about to drop dead before getting good news.

Here are some of the dramatic highlights of the episode:

Goodbye to Jacee: The one big twist came at the end of the night, when poor little Jacee Badeaux – I guess there's really no need to describe him that way – was sent home, along with Colton Dixon. The last male spot went to the very nice, very talented Brett Loewenstern. He also happened to be the most deserving, but ruling against Jacee somehow feels like ruling against a puppy, or baseball cards in the spokes of a shiny new bike, or the American flag.

Country showdown: Scotty McCreery, who sang a great, old-fashioned cover of "Long Black Train" for the judges, made it through. They loved his classic country voice, of course, but also his decency – he's still apologizing for not sticking up for Jacee in the group round. But John Wayne Schulz and his big black hat hit the trail. Not too surprising, considering how he's barely been on camera since his audition. You had to keep an eye out for him from week to week.

Worst birthday ever: The last female spot came down to Thia Megia, who so far seems pretty much perfect, and Jessica Cunningham, who's auditioned seven times before. And Jessica was rejected once again – on her 25th birthday, unfortunately. She (jokingly?) made a rude gesture to the cameras. But she could have meant it and you wouldn't have blamed her.

Mr. Sunshine: Given good news, Jacob Lusk, the nightingale with the lungs of steel, stood up and let whoop with a high note, then hopped, danced, ran and whooped some more. He must have been especially stoked that Randy Jackson called his Hollywood-week version of "God Bless the Child," the "single best performance ever on Idol." If he actually wins, he'll spontaneously combust.

In general, the night's other winners were the obvious ones, and included Stefano Langone, James Durbin ("I don't think you'll ever be selling pizza," Steven Tyler told him.), Jordan Dorsey, Julie Zorrilla, Lauren Turner, and Casey Abrams ("I don't think we've ever seen a musician as talented as yourself," Randy said. "It's like three people in one"), who was so excited he accidentally knocked his chair off the stage. Also vying for your votes: Tim Halperin, Tatynisa Wilson, Robbie Rosen, Rachel Zevita, Pia Toscano, Paul McDonald, Naima Adedapo, Kendra Chantelle, Karen Rodriguez, Jovany Barreto, Haley Reinhart, Clint Jun Gamboa and Ashthon Jones.

Tom Cruise to Play 'Rock n' Roll God' in New Movie

2011-02-24T06:52:00.003-05:00

Tom Cruise has signed up to play aging musician Stacee Jaxx in the big screen adaption of the hit musical Rock of Ages, and director Adam Shankman is sure his performance is going to impress everyone.

The actor has been taking voice lessons for his role and has been studying the '80s rock songs in the musical to make sure he gets everything right.

Adam told Access Hollywood: “I think we’re going to see him every drop the rock ‘n’ roll god! I’m very excited. He’s so committed to doing it. He’s pouring himself in this part in a way I’ve never had an actor do … it’s pretty intense.”

Tom will have to perform several songs in the film, including Styx’s "Renegade," Bon Jovi’s "Wanted Dead or Alive" and a duet of Foreigner’s "I Want To Know What Love Is," possibly with Anne Hathaway, who is set to play the character Sherrie.

Shankman also confirmed rumors Russell Brand is in talks to join the cast as Lonny, the manager of The Bourbon rock club, while Alec Baldwin is set to play Lonny’s boss Dennis.

He added: “We are talking to Alec Baldwin and there may be some Russell Brand. I can only say at this point that there may be, because the deals aren’t closed."

American Idol Adding Online Voting Via Facebook

2011-02-24T06:48:00.002-05:00

Will you accept American Idol‘s friend request?

The Fox hit will soon announce that it’s adding online voting for the first time.

Here are the details: Users will be able to use their Facebook accounts to reach a dedicated Idol voting page that will include all the current contestants. Each fan will be able to vote 50 times during a telecast’s voting period. Viewers will still be able to vote via text messaging and toll-free phone calls as well.

The Idol plans have been in the works for awhile, though Fox hasn’t commented. Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe leaked plans to introduce a form of online voting earlier this week, followed by somebody leaking plans to introduce Facebook voting for next fall’s The X Factor.
Idol creator Simon Fuller has been pushing for the show to embrace online voting as part of its widespread overhaul of season 10. With Idol still dominating in the ratings and viewers embracing Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as judges, the industry consensus seems to be that the show has managed to pull off something that many thought impossible — soldiering on successfully in the wake of Cowell’s departure.

This latest change, online voting, is expected to go into effect during the performance show on Tuesday, March 1th.

Elton John Cuddles with Son, Zachary

2011-02-24T06:15:00.003-05:00

Elton John has spoken of his unbridled joy at becoming a first-time father at 63. But this picture really tells the story.

In this new photo, the legendary British musician is seen grinning from ear to ear as he holds his son Zachary, who will be two months old on Friday.

John and his partner, David Furnish, welcomed Zachary, via a surrogate, on Christmas Day and having been dividing up the parenting duties ever since. "I knew it would be incredible," John said recently, "but honestly I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been so shocked. I'm like a gibbering wreck in front of him."

Kelly Osbourne’s New Material Girl Ads

2011-02-24T06:08:00.003-05:00

In her ads as the new face of Madonna and daughter Lourdes Leon’s clothing line, Material Girl, Kelly Osbourne is showing off her colorful side — and both Kelly and Lourdes are talking to People magazine about their fashion favorites for the upcoming spring season.

“The military jacket. I love that and I put it with a bunch of badges on it to make it my own, too,” Leon said recently, whereas Osbourne points to the accessories. “The shoes–there’s a pair of nude heels that I’m really obsessed with,” Osbourne gushed. “There’s so much stuff in it that’s so me and what I wear. There’s a leopard dress that I get to wear next that I’m excited about. I love prints,” she said.

When it comes to clothes for warmer weather, it’s shorts for spring that are all the rage for the girls. “I’m like obsessed with them,” said Lourdes. But one of the greatest things about the line, Osbourne observes, is that it’s accessible to everyone. “There’s not many other companies besides Material Girl that do clothes at an affordable price that are high fashion and [are] what people see in the magazines and can emulate themselves without having to go and spend $1000 on a dress,” she said.

And one of the most important aspects of the line for 14 year old Lourdes was making sure that other girls her age could buy great clothes without breaking the bank. “I don’t go out and buy all of these expensive [clothes]…so it’s good for my friends. It’s good for everybody and it’s good clothing, too.”

Read more from Lourdes Leon and Kelly Osbourne in this week’s issue of People magazine!

Glee Cast to Debut Original Songs on March 8th

2011-02-23T06:40:00.003-05:00

It was teased at the end of last week’s episode, but now Sony has confirmed that the Glee cast will release two original songs on Glee: The Music, Volume 5, on sale March 8th.

Titled “Loser Like Me” and “Get It Right,” the tracks are the first original music to produced for the show. “Loser Like Me,” an ensemble piece, was co-written by pop vet Max Martin, who’s written for the likes of Britney Spears, Pink, and the Backstreet Boys. “Get It Right” is a solo ballad that will be sung by Lea Michele’s character Rachel Berry. Both will be featured in the March 15th episode, fittingly titled “Original Song.”

The full track listing for Glee: The Music, Volume 5 is as follows:

1. Thriller/Heads Will Roll
2. Need You Now
3. She’s Not There
4. Fat Bottomed Girls
5. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
6. Firework
7. Baby
8. Somebody To Love
9. Take Me or Leave Me
10. Sing
11. Don’t You Want Me
12. Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)
13. Kiss
14. Landslide
15. Get It Right
16. Loser Like Me

Carlos Leon: I'm a Lenient Father to Lourdes

2011-02-23T06:06:00.001-05:00

Their own relationship didn't last, but Carlos Leon found the love of his life thanks to Madonna – their daughter Lourdes.

"I'm forever grateful to [Madonna]," Leon told People magazine. "I have no regrets. I wouldn't change anything. I got the best thing out of that relationship, and that's my daughter. My daughter is everything to me."

Like many smitten fathers, Leon, 44, admits he has a tough time being strict with Lourdes, now 14.

"I'm a lenient dad," says the personal trainer and actor, whose new film Immigration Tango came out Friday. "I'm very empathetic, and I'm good at listening to my daughter … I'm probably a bad dad when it comes to disciplining her."

One area where he tends to be overly compromising? Her curfew. "I try to work with her on it," he says. "We settle on a time, say around 10 p.m., and she's like, 'How about 10:30?' And it eventually becomes 10:15."

Leon says Lourdes isn't dating yet, but knows it's coming. "I'm dreading it so much, because she's my little girl. I want her to stay young forever," he says. "I'm already overprotective, so when the time comes, I will be ready to have a talk with the guy she brings through the door. He better be ready, because I'll give him the rundown!"

For now, he and his daughter bond by going on bike rides in New York City and hanging out at home, watching movies like Harry Potter and Twilight.

"She loves to watch Harry Potter. It's a favorite of hers. We can watch that 100 times – well, she can," Leon says. "Twilight is also pretty big at our house. She likes Robert Pattinson. She's Team Edward all the way."

Besides wizards and vampires, Lourdes loves fashion and is a budding fashionista. She even gives Dad a few pointers.

"Sometimes she will give me a hard time about my clothes," Leon says. "I wore a pair of jeans once, and they weren't as skinny as I usually wear them, and she was like, 'Oh my God, Dad, those pants are ugly. Please change your pants.' "

He adds with a laugh: "They were too bootcut, so I changed."

Charles Perez: Getting the Last Word

2011-02-23T05:55:00.007-05:00

Charles Perez, the former television anchor and talk show host, has a new memoir that pulls no punches. Perez talks to Neil Broverman from The Advocate about Confessions of a Gay Anchorman, and why many TV journalists are stuck in the closet.

Even though he was out back then, Charles Perez's time hosting his self-titled talk show in the '90s was relatively scandal free. After the show wrapped in 1996, Perez transitioned into the role of television journalist, working for the program American Journal, and then serving as a weekend anchor on the number one station in the country's largest market, New York's WABC.

In 2008, Perez was named main evening anchor at WPLG in Miami — a job he says was a joy until bad publicity, regarding an ugly break-up with an ex-boyfriend, began rearing its head. Perez says his bosses become anxious about the headlines surrounding his personal life, called him "too soft," and then pulled him from the main anchor desk. After filing a complaint under the Miami-Dade Human Rights Ordinance, Perez was fired; WPLG says it had nothing to do with Perez being gay and, since the scandal erupted in 2009, the complaint against WPLG has been dismissed.

Perez's tumultuous time at WPLG, along with his entire career in front of the camera, is documented in his new memoir, Confessions of a Gay Anchorman. Happily married and with a new baby daughter, Perez talked to The Advocate about his book and why it's so hard for some television journalists to come out.

The Advocate: Why did you want to write the book?
Charles Perez: I would not change anything about how my life has unfolded—I have an amazing husband and a beautiful daughter. But when I parted with my last station, WPLG in Miami, which, up until the end, was a great relationship—I felt like two things finally collided—Charles Perez, the TV anchor personality, and Charles Perez, the gay man. And when they did, I felt like fate put me on that intersection and I had to deal with it. It had been a long time coming.

How have people reacted to the book?
I think there’s two reactions—I stay away from reading things online; lots of people have lots of opinions and I have no power over what people think and they have a right to their opinion. But especially with the book, many people with opinions haven’t read it yet. Facebook is a great example—a lot of people have started reaching out to me, particularly young gay men. Most of all, I wrote the book because I thought we have to erase the shame associated with being gay. It’s time for gay men to have our own Rachel Maddow, if you will. There are lots of examples of gay men on television, thank God—there wasn’t when I was coming out in the '80s. But even though that changed, I do believe there’s still a ceiling. I think that’s really disconcerting and I wanted to put a spotlight on it. I know that makes some people uncomfortable, but nothing changes until it changes.

In the book, you mention a newspaper article that had the headline, “Charles Perez, Too Gay for WPLG?” How strongly did you feel there’s a limit on journalists’ "gayness?"
I give an example in the book of a co-worker who called one of our meteorologists “too gay”; he needed to be tempered. First of all, [the gay man] was a great meteorologist. Bottom line. And that’s the other message of the book—as Martin Luther King said, we should be judged on the content of our character. We should also be judged by the quality of our work and our results. But in today’s corporate culture, particularly if you’re on camera, you’re a commodity. Being gay is still considered by the top brass a liability. They’ll take that shot with you if you’re a reporter in the street or if you’re a morning anchor, but if you’re the main evening anchor that they’re putting their image behind—not so much. This is true at a local stations and at a national network. [Executives] might be OK with it, but there’s an unspoken expectation that you will not only not lead with it, but you will allow the misperception that you’re straight to be perpetuated.

Does Joe the Plumber, et al, care if he gets his news from a gay anchor?
I don’t think they care. And if they care, they care for a moment and then they’re more interested if you’re doing a professional job. I think the fear comes more out of advertisers and out of television executives who are afraid what advertisers will think. Ellen DeGeneres is a great example, if you go back to her sitcom. When she came out, there were great ratings, everything was fine, and then unfortunately advertisers started to pull out and ABC didn’t stand with her; they dumped the show. I think in the long run, Ellen and Rosie O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow have proven the case—if you’re good, no one cares. But I think there is a double-standard with men. The Celluloid Closet put a spotlight on how gay men were only allowed in films as jesters or clowns. There are a lot of great people who are on TV today and accepted by management and their colleagues, but there also sort of the role of “Jack” on Will and Grace. That’s unfortunate and needs to change. We can’t be that narrow; our community is broader than that.

Congratulations on your new baby, Madeline. What are your thoughts on Florida’s new house speaker Dean Cannon recently telling the Florida Baptist Witness that he’s interesting in enforcing the gay adoption ban that was struck down last year?
It’s not over until it’s over. And this is an example, like the TV business. Bigotry and discrimination continue to exist, and the fact that some politicians would be willing to consider reversing this decision and reinstituting a ban on gay adoption—Florida being the only state in the union that had a specific ban on gay adoptive parents—tells you there are still a lot of people uneducated about what it is to be gay. I don’t really believe George or Laura Bush had a problem with gay people; they had staff members who were gay. But Bush was willing to stand up and propose an amendment to the Constitution to limit our freedom for political reasons. That may be what’s happening in Florida, but that hurts people like our daughter.

We’re not perfect parents but I dare you to come into our home and tell us we don’t love and care for our child as well as anybody can or would. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in Florida who get behind this issue. When I left the station, most of the response that I had from viewers was really supportive. But there was one guy who wrote me a letter and said, “I am going to do everything I can to get my congregation to start a campaign against you to make sure you never work in this market again.” And I thought, That’s a good use of your time.

As I wrote the book, the “It Gets Better” campaign started. I love the campaign, but it also falls short. The message is that it gets better after you leave your home, after you leave your school, after you leave your place of worship. Shouldn’t we try to make it better in those places? Along with the book, I’m launching the “No Shame” campaign, and people like [openly gay former baseball player] Billy Bean are involved. The purpose of the campaign is to make it OK to be gay and unacceptable to shame someone for being gay—at home or church. It’s no longer OK for someone like Joel Osteen to say homosexuality is a sin.

There was a cover of Time magazine in 1976 with two men holding hands. My dad held it up and said, “Enough with all these damn queers. They should put them on a damn island and get rid of them.” At 13, I shrank and told myself no one would ever know I was gay. Every time a preacher or politician takes an antigay stance, they do that.

How important is passage of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act?
When I lost my job in Florida, I was struck by the lack of employment protections for gay people in this state. I knew I’d be OK; I had a high-enough profile. But I thought about the kid who works in the hardware store or the young mother who’s gay and her employer find out and cans her, regardless of how good she is—my heart went out to them because they have no recourse. When the House became Republican as a result of the midterm elections, a lot of people, including Barney Frank, felt the wind just leave their sails. But [ENDA] is not dead. It’s got to come back, and the earlier versions of it that didn’t include transgender protections were not right. We can’t do to each other what others have done to us. I would love to help champion [ENDA]. My agent said, “Do you want to carry around a gay flag?” I said, “No, but I want inequality to go away.” The only way for the issue to go away is to grant equal protection.

Cee-Lo Green & Adam Levine May Host Mark Burnett's Singing Competition Show "The Voice"

2011-02-23T05:50:00.001-05:00

Grammy scene-stealer Cee-Lo Green and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine are in serious discussions to join Mark Burnett’s singing competition The Voice for NBC.

Producers also considered Lenny Kravitz, Roger Daltrey, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and Enrique Iglesias about occupying a judging seat on the show. Plus, there’s a major-name female star who’s in talks to join as well, but is not yet close to a deal (according to two unconfirmed sources, it’s Christina Aguilera, which would obviously be an enormous name for any talent show).

Deals are not signed and things could still change. But NBC hopes to close deals with the male singers within the next few days, and then sign another judge sometime next week. While taking a break from his work on Gnarls Barkley, Cee-Lo has been on a star-making run with his hit single “F-You” and Grammy performance with Gwyneth Paltrow (during which he was dressed, appropriately enough for a man who may judge a show on NBC, as a peacock). Meanwhile, the LA-based band Maroon 5 released their most recent album last fall and played Fox’s Super Bowl pre-game earlier this month.

As Fox discovered last year when trying to fill spots on Idol, securing high-profile judges can be difficult as pop stars tend to come with prior commitments. Signing with a network for a TV show often means canceling other obligations, sometimes at a price.

Clearly NBC is going after pop stars instead of record label suits for their judges spots, and is hoping to land current and relevant artists. If hired, Cee Lo and Levine, along with the third judge, should lend some name recognition and industry experience to the show, as well as generate press interest.

The Voice seeks to gain market share when it launches this spring in the toughest of reality genres just as Idol is ramping up for its Top 12. It’s a high stakes plan, especially since Idol has already bested one competitor this season, CBS’ performance series Live to Dance starring former Idol judge Paula Abdul. But NBC has proven it can draw a good ratings with a singing competition with its winter a cappella competition The Sing Off.

The Voice is based on a Dutch hit where contestants audition while judges face the other direction, unable to see the contestants. The Susan Boyle-friendly format has judges making their verdicts based on the singer’s vocal talent alone rather than being influenced by the contestant’s physical appearance. Once they hit a button deciding whether to accept the performance, their chairs swivel around. Unlike Idol, contestants will not be sequestered during the competition, but will be free to interact with fans and perform on their own (such as doing club dates) while trying to build their fan base.

Last week NBC announced The Voice will take the unique step of opening its audition process to any singer with a web cam.

Carson Daly will host.

Jennifer Lopez's forthcoming album 'Love?': Producer RedOne spills on the sound

2011-02-16T06:45:00.002-05:00

American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez’s long-gestating album Love? is currently slated for a March 29th release, and one single, the Pitbull-infused, “Lambada”-riffing “On the Floor” has already hit radio (although not the Billboard charts in the U.S….yet).

So we’ve gotten a taste of what’s possibly to come, but what’s up with the rest of the forthcoming album? Lopez is reportedly using music that she recorded for the album back when it was in the works at Sony and songs that she’s newly recorded with producers Tricky Stewart, The-Dream, and RedOne.

Which is interesting considering RedOne came down the red carpet at Sunday evening’s 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where he spilled some details about what to expect when Love? drops next month. “I did about half of the album and I am one of the executive producers with LA Reid,” Red One told Entertainment Weekly. “The first song, ‘On The Floor,’ is already blowing up and the rest is even better. Lots of dance songs.”

The sound, as you might guess, nods to Lopez’s roots — but it’s more than that. “A little bit of the Latin flavor is infused in it,” RedOne explains, “but I would describe it more as a global sound. It is all about love and covers all emotional sides of Jennifer. She is in a good place.”

How does Lopez’s role as a new judge on American Idol fit into her new musical iteration? “Most of the album was done before she started Idol so I don’t think that will influence her sound, but I think it has probably been a great experience for her to be reminded what it is like to just be starting out and to be excited when everything is new,” RedOne offered. “She is an icon because she had a dream and a passion and then she worked really hard to attain it. But I think she was the perfect choice for a new judge. She knows what it takes to make it.”

Richard Hatch: The Naked Truth

2011-02-16T06:35:00.003-05:00

As Richard Hatch returns to reality TV to face Donald Trump on Celebrity Apprentice, the Survivor legend worries he might be sent back to prison for more tax-related problems. Can his gay wiles win him another battle?

When The Advocate interviewed Richard Hatch for an October 2000 cover story, the gay, 6-foot-4 Rhode Island native had just won the wildly popular premiere season of Survivor, a million-dollar victory some fans viewed as a metaphor for a gay man’s survival in a hostile heterosexual world. More than 10 years later, the snakelike strategist is equally famous for getting bitten by the IRS for tax evasion, a conviction that landed him in prison for nearly four years. Now free to compete on the fourth edition of Celebrity Apprentice, which premieres March 6th on NBC, the 49-year-old Hatch talks prison sex and the ongoing legal troubles that threaten his alliance with the gay tribe.

The Advocate: I can’t believe this is your first chat with The Advocate since 2000.
Richard Hatch: Well, you know, that whole prison thing can get in the way.

Oh, we’ll get to that. But when you last spoke to us, you still had very little sense of what your Survivor win meant to the gay audience. How has your relationship to the gay community evolved over the past decade?
As time unfolded, I started to recognize what my being on the show and being openly gay meant to people, because they started expressing it to me more and more. It’s hard to think about having the kind of impact that it turns out I had. To this day, people still write to me to talk about their experience of seeing somebody not afraid to be who they are. As a kid, I didn’t struggle as much as the kids who contacted me after the show, so it’s been humbling and rewarding, and I’ve really come to respect the influence that I’ve had.

You’ve said that your being gay was a main reason for your Survivor victory, in part because it taught you “to interact assertively with people.” Did you use your sexuality to your advantage on Celebrity Apprentice?
I think so, yes. [Laughs] I’m always using my gay wiles, but you’ll have to tune in to see how. But I never expected that some people might not even know I’m gay.

When you first saw your competition on Celebrity Apprentice, did you immediately have an idea of whom you’d befriend? All strategy aside, the little gay boy in me would’ve made a beeline to Lisa Rinna.
I did make a beeline to her. I adore her, and I couldn’t help it. I’m totally drawn to her, and we got along really well. She’s phenomenal. I love her because she’s so real. But the strategy part of the game was very similar to Survivor for me in that I needed information before I could fully strategize. I didn’t know anyone on Survivor, and even though I might’ve known who they were, I didn’t really know anyone in Celebrity Apprentice either. You need to get a feel for people before you can decide how they’re going to be helpful.

NeNe Leakes is already making headlines for her antagonistic behavior on the show. Are you a Real Housewives of Atlanta fan?
Oh, sure. NeNe’s a character. She’s just larger than life. When I meet famous people, very rarely are they who I think people might imagine them to be, but NeNe is. I’m drawn to her because she speaks her mind, and I don’t deal well with the whole superficial, hidden agenda thing. We actually got along well.

Were you starstruck by anyone?
Starstruck isn’t in my vocabulary — I’ve never really understood it — but I’m often impressed with goodness, kindness, and realness, and I did encounter that on this show. Some people were just wonderful to be around. And some weren’t. Irrationality is very difficult for me, so maybe you can make some speculation there.

Did you encounter homophobia from any of the contestants?
No. Other than with my legal battles and in the courts, I really haven’t encountered that in my life. Now I know what it is, but I certainly didn’t encounter it on Celebrity Apprentice.

Did you get the sense that Donald Trump is gay-friendly?
I had a great sense of that from before, encountering him a number of times in a number of situations. He even invited me to sit on the dais for his roast at the Friars’ Club, which I did. He’s a good guy. He loves women, so I don’t think he could relate to my being gay if his life depended on it, but I don’t think he cares.

Mr. Trump famously fired former Celebrity Apprentice contestant Khloe Kardashian because of a past DUI offense. Were you worried that Mr. Trump might judge you on your personal legal issues instead of the competition at hand?
Oh, absolutely. Obviously we’re not that close, so I’m certain that, as with most people, he only knows as much as he can know through the media. He has to be concerned about a person who’s been charged and convicted, though wrongfully so. I’m sure there was some tentativeness and wondering there, and that’s just what I encounter as a result of what’s happened.

That hardly seems fair.
It is fair because that’s life. You can’t know who somebody is until you spend time with them and process whatever data you have, valid or not. People don’t have an accurate understanding of who I am, and most of what the media has portrayed about my situation isn’t complete or accurate, but I’m used to it. I move forward, and hopefully someday people will understand.

As we’ve discussed, Survivor positioned you as a role model for the gay community. When the media’s focus turned toward your legal woes, did it feel like you had let the community down?
Absolutely. Well, I don’t know that I felt I had personally let them down, but I felt as if I was learning how undermined we as a community can be because of our second-class status in this culture and the pervasiveness of bigotry that I didn’t know was as powerful as it is. So, yeah, given the strong guy that I consider myself to be, I didn’t expect for anyone to abuse me the way I’ve been abused. It was a disappointment.

Even with some time having passed since your May 2009 release, you fully stand by your previous statements that antigay discrimination played a major part in your conviction?
It’s incontrovertible. This court refused to allow us to ask potential or selected jurors about their feelings toward homosexuals, even when many of them had submitted questionnaires that claimed “I could never find that fag innocent,” “I hate queers,” or “not a chance I could serve on this jury” — really unbelievable, blatant, clearly spoken homophobia that I didn’t even know existed. But I don’t blame the jurors; I blame the court and the bias of that particular judge from the outset.

Though most of your sentence was served at the Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia, which is a minimum-security facility, the first six months of your sentence were served in a maximum-security facility. We’ve all heard the same horror stories, so how did you feel going to prison as a famously gay man?
I was never afraid of being raped or of anything physical because I’m a healthy, strong guy, and I’ve always held my own. I also know that people are people, wherever they are, so I truly didn’t have the sense that they were going to be animals in prison. But it’s fascinating to me how sex is such a part of that all-male environment. In the Federal Correctional Institution, where I spend three years, there were 1,500 guys, one of whom was an in-process transsexual who was in there for prostitution. Her breasts had already grown in, so she ended up being removed from the prison after being raped. There’s also a lot more education than I imagined — access to information about how disease is transmitted, what to do if you feel threatened, etc. — but there was quite a bit of sex in there.

Were you able to connect with other gay people in prison? I want to imagine you in there like Jim Carrey in I Love You Philip Morris.
I haven’t seen that yet, but yeah, I met quite a few people in prison who were gay. There were even some gay people on staff.

Were gay staffers generally friendlier or more lenient?
No. Like with anything, it ran the spectrum. There’s as much homophobia among gay people as there is among straight people, and with gay people it’s often more damaging and destructive. Just look at our politicians. And with positions of power often come exaggerated homophobia, gay or not.

Have you maintained any of the friendships you made with gay prisoners?
Well, there are rules. Being currently on supervised release, I’m not allowed to be in contact with any felon with whom I was in prison.

You married your partner, Emiliano Cabral, in Nova Scotia in 2005. How did your relationship survive your long absence?
I’m the luckiest man on the planet. Our relationship is as strong as it has ever been. I adore him. But living in a country that doesn’t recognize our marriage is still infuriating beyond description. We’re in our eighth year now, and I can’t even begin to describe the additional torture, stress, and difficulty this has created only because we’re gay.

I assume there were no conjugal visits.
No. And for the first six months, before I was moved to the Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia, any visit with anyone was behind glass. The system is so broken that I don’t even know how to begin. That’s an entire topic I could go on about, and hopefully I will someday.

Aren’t you working on a book?
Oh, yeah. I wrote every day the entire time I was in prison. What publishers are waiting for and what I’m waiting for before accepting the offer is for the ending to be that I’m exonerated. It’s a heck of a battle, but I’m hopeful.

As recently as two weeks ago, it was reported that you might be headed back to jail. Should we be worried?
Absolutely you should be worried. I’m worried. Prosecutors are desperate to uphold this wrongful conviction. I’ve served nearly four years in prison, my entire sentence, and I’m on supervised release, which other people know as probation. I’ve also done everything humanly possible to comply with the original judge’s special conditions. One condition was that he ordered me to get mental health counseling. Probation got me a psychiatrist who said he didn’t understand why I was even there, so probation said I’d met that condition. The second condition was that he ordered me to amend my tax returns from 2000 and 2001, but they’re still the subject of an ongoing audit. To this day, the IRS has never given me a bill, so no taxes have ever been determined to be due. You can’t submit amended returns in the midst of an audit, not that I could submit them anyway because I haven’t been given figures as to how those returns should be amended. Not knowing what to do, the prosecutors just submitted their last brief on January 31, arguing to put me back in prison for not amending the returns. It’s infuriating. Now we’re waiting for the judge to decide what to do — decide whether this is a technical violation or whether I’m thumbing my nose at the court, which I’m obviously not. I’ve been in communication with probation this entire year and a half, and I have a hundred e-mails that express my cooperation with the IRS. But I’m still worried because I’ve seen what’s happened before. It’s not always about what’s true.

Here’s the million-dollar question: Considering all the problems that have stemmed from your Survivor winnings, do you wish you’d never won the damn prize in the first place?
That would be a waste of time, wouldn’t it? As an observer of life and one who lives it day by day, it is what it is. You take what you can from your experiences. It’s been devastating to me, my family, my friends, but I’m blown away and fascinated by what I’ve learned. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a huge contribution one day. Once I’m finally exonerated, I’ll have the credibility to make a difference that will affect many peoples’ lives.

Prince Harry to Be William's Best Man

2011-02-16T06:30:00.001-05:00

It will be all in the family for Prince William and Kate Middleton, who Monday morning announced their wedding party.

As was widely predicted, Kate, 29, has chosen her sister Pippa as her maid of honor – whose job, it is stated, will be to make sure the bridal gown is displayed properly and the young wedding party is kept in line – while Prince Harry will be his brother's best man, the palace announced.

For royal watchers, the real treat may be in observing the young friends and royal relatives who will make up Kate's bridal party. Among them are Lady Louise Windsor, 7, the daughter of William's Uncle Edward and his wife, Sophie Wessex. Hon. Margarita Armstrong-Jones, 8, is also from the wider Windsor clan. She is the daughter of Queen Elizabeth's nephew Viscount Linley and his wife, Serena.

A close friend of the couple, Hugh van Cutsem, is the father of another bridesmaid, Grace, 3. She, like one of the pageboys announced by the palace, Tom Pettifer, 8, is a godchild of William's. Pettifer is the son of William's nanny, Tiggy Pettier (nee Legge-Bourke), and her husband, Charles.

There's also a spot for Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's granddaughter, Eliza Lopes, 3, whose mother is Camilla's daughter, Laura. The other pageboy is William Lowther-Pinkerton, 10, son of Jamie Lowther-Pinker, who as the princes' private secretary is the one heading up the wedding planning – and all the crucial work for the couple and William's brother Harry.

The palace ends its announcement by saying that the couple will withhold news of the what the bridesmaids dresses and the uniforms of the pageboys until April 29th – which happens to be the wedding day.

Elizabeth Taylor's Health is Improving

2011-02-16T06:27:00.002-05:00

It's good news for Elizabeth Taylor!

A week after checking into an L.A. hospital for symptoms associated with congestive heart failure, the Hollywood icon is showing marked improvement, People magazine has learned.

"Since being admitted, there has been steady improvement in her condition, and over the weekend she has had visits from family and close friends," says a statement from reps for the legendary actress, 78, who suffers from an ongoing heart condition. "Her medical team is gratified by her progress to date, and it is hoped and expected that this will continue over the next few days. For now, she will remain under their care in the hospital for continued monitoring."

While Taylor is enjoying visits from those close to her, "she is sleeping and resting a lot, which she really needs to recover her strength," the star's rep Sally Morrison told People. "Due to symptoms of congestive heart failure, she is still being monitored and continues to need rest to recover her strength. She did not have a heart attack."

Symptoms of congestive heart failure include difficulty breathing and fluid in the lungs.

Taylor, who underwent heart surgery in October 2009, appreciates support of her loyal fans. As the statement continues: "Friends and fans around the world should be reassured that Elizabeth Taylor is in good hands and receiving the best possible care from her skilled and dedicated doctors and nurses."

HBO to Air Lady Gaga Concert

2011-02-16T06:24:00.002-05:00

HBO will host quite the little monsters mash when five-time Grammy winner Lady Gaga headlines her first solo concert special on Saturday, May 7th.

Lady Gaga aka Stefani Germanotta “is the single most exciting music talent on the scene today,” HBO Entertainment president Sue Naegle said in announcing the event. “We’re especially thrilled that she’ll be creating unique new elements for the special that will make the show an even more memorable experience for our viewers.”

Gaga’s concert special will tape February 21st and 22nd, when Madison Square Garden sets the stage for her “Monster Ball Tour.”

Lady Gaga’s next album, Born This Way, is set for release May 23rd. Her debut disc, The Fame, earned two Grammy Awards and spawned five No. 1 hits, while the follow-up, The Fame Monster, netted three Grammys this past weekend.

HBO Launching True Blood Blog

2011-02-11T06:52:00.002-05:00

HBO is about to unveil a new way for fans to keep up with True Blood.

The network will announce on today a production blog called “Inside True Blood” that will give fans behind-the-scenes details of production on season four. The idea was prompted by the success of the network’s production blog on Game of Thrones.

The blog will have real-time contributions from Gianna Sobol, assistant to series creator Alan Ball, straight from the set.

The first post goes live today at 9:00 am (ET) at http://inside-true-blood-blog.com and all I know is it contains this sentence: “Today’s call sheet includes the words ‘hostage,’ ‘bites,’ ‘dinner’ and ‘Eric.’”

GLAAD to Honor Ricky Martin & Kristin Chenoweth

2011-02-11T06:49:00.002-05:00

Grammy award-winning singer Ricky Martin and Emmy- and Tony award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth will be honored at the 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

Martin will receive the Vito Russo Award, which is presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people, in New York on Saturday, March, 19th.

"Ricky coming out was a game changer for many gay and transgender Latino children, who for too long did not have many out gay people to look up to," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, in a statement released to the press. "Through his music, videos and interviews, Ricky has sent an important message that our community wants the same things all people do: an equal chance to raise our families and take care of our loved ones."

Chenoweth will receive the Vanguard Award, which is presented to media professionals who have increased the visibility and understanding of LGBT people, in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 10th.

"When allies like Kristin take such powerful stands against antigay sentiments in the media, it sends an important message of equality," Barrios said. "It is a privilege to honor such a talented and conscientious advocate for fairness towards the LGBT community."

For more information on the awards, click here.

Ken Leaves Barbie for Ben?

2011-02-11T06:42:00.002-05:00

Mattel is pushing its line of Barbie dolls by insinuating in tweets and on billboards that the toy character's ex-boyfriend, Ken, wants her back — but there's a rogue effort to get the blond doll together with another "man."

Aside from tweets like, "How does a doll know when she’s thinking about an ex ... and not just memories with him?" Mattel has purchased billboard space in Southern California where Ken asks for Barbie's love back (they "broke up" in 2004). But a website has sprung up featuring a Ken impersonator (with facial hair) standing next to Ben, a moustached doll wearing a sleeveless shirt. A message from Ben reads, "Let's come out with the truth. Ken is head over heels in love with me, Ben Collins. But Barbie is trying to get back together with him. Please help me show the world that our love is real and not plastic."

Congressman Resigns Amid Photo Scandal

2011-02-11T06:36:00.006-05:00

A two-term, conservative Republican congressman Christopher Lee from Western New York abruptly resigned on Wednesday after a gossip Web site published a photo of him shirtless, which he allegedly sent to a woman on Craigslist.

"I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness," Lee, 46, said in a statement on his congressional Web site.

Lee, who is married and has a young son, quit after Gawker.com published an e-mail exchange between him and a 34-year-old Maryland woman, whom he had evidently sent the photo, reports The New York Times.

Lee had replied to a personal ad the woman had placed on Craigslist seeking a financially and emotionally secure man between the age of 30 and 40, according to Gawker. She responded flirtatiously but stopped after searching for his name online and realizing who he was.

The woman, who was not identified, then sent the e-mail exchange to Gawker.

In his resignation message to constituents (which was delivered by his office and not by him personally), Lee, a former manufacturing executive, wrote: "The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately."

What's the Sweetest Moment of Glee's Valentine's Day Episode?

2011-02-10T06:38:00.002-05:00

It was Valentine's Day at McKinley High on Tuesday's "Silly Love Songs" episode of Glee – and love was in the air. But which moment was sweeter than a box of chocolates?

Less than seven minutes in heaven – er, the janitor's closet – was enough for Puck to fall hard for his plus-size classmate Lauren Zizes. When she rejected him, he tried everything to earn her affection, including singing "Fat Bottom Girls," which she found offensive. After convincing her to go on a date to Breadsticks, Puck was stood up. When he confronted her and told her his attraction wasn't about her curves but because she's the "bigger badass," she agreed to take things slow and be his Valentine's date – as friends.

After witnessing Blaine's embarrassing Valentine's Day serenade of a Gap junior manager, Kurt tells the cute warbler that he was not alone in misreading love signals. "I thought the guy that you wanted to ask out on Valentine's Day was me," Kurt said, pointing out that they sing "flirty duets together" and know each other's coffee orders. "I really, really care about you but ... I'm not very good at romance," Blaine tells him. "I don't want to screw this up."

At his kissing booth to earn money for glee club, Rachel told Finn she still loves him and asked for forgiveness for cheating with Puck. Finn gave her the star necklace that he bought her for Christmas before they broke up. "You're better than everyone at this school," he said, adding that he wants to be alone for a while. "You're a real star and you need to shine." Later, he admitted that he kissed Quinn and saw fireworks, and she said she was glad to know the truth. "Now I'm free to pursue my dreams without anything holding me back," she said.

Aretha Franklin to Get All-Star Grammy Salute

2011-02-10T06:31:00.004-05:00

There is only one Queen of Soul, but it takes a chorus of artists to celebrate her.

"As a "valentine" to Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and Grammy Legend Award recipient Aretha Franklin, four-time Grammy winner Yolanda Adams, four-time Grammy winner and Latin Grammy winner Christina Aguilera, Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson, country superstar Martina McBride, and current nominee Florence Welch will join together on the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in celebration of the 18-time Grammy winner and current nominee's music and ongoing legacy," the Recording Academy said in an announcement Wednesday.

The salute, to take place at the start of the program, will feature individual and collective renditions of some of Franklin's classics – though Franklin, 68, is not expected to attend Sunday night's event, presumably due to her recent, undisclosed health problems. According to her rep, she'll be at home in Detroit watching with her friends and family.

The tribute will be among several performances set to take place at the Grammys, by such artists as Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Jaden Smith, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and, in his live Grammy performance debut, Mick Jagger.

On Tuesday, the Academy also announced that best traditional pop vocal album nominee (for her Love Is the Answer) Barbra Streisand would also perform, introduced by her long-ago A Star Is Born costar, Kris Kristofferson.

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday, Februart 13th at Los Angeles's Staples Center and air live on CBS starting at 8:00 pm (ET).

Katy Perry Appreciates Her 'Enormous' Bust

2011-02-10T06:14:00.001-05:00

Katy Perry has no problem flaunting her cleavage these days, but that wasn't always the case for the Firework songstress.

"When I was a kid … I had enormous boobs that I didn't know what to do with," Perry says in the March issue of Elle. "I wore minimizers, which were not cute. Those thick-ass straps! I got made fun of for the over-the-shoulder boulder holder."

In fact, Perry, 26, longed to resemble a supermodel. "All I wanted was to look like Kate Moss," she says. "Little did I know ... [my breasts] would come in handy someday."

One person who likes Perry just the way she is? Her new hubby Russell Brand.

"Everything clicked really fast," the pop star says of her British comedian counterpart, 35. "We kind of instantly got past all the surfacey stuff. And ever since then, there hasn't been a dull moment."

Perry says the lack of dullness in the relationship will most likely continue because she and Brand plan to expand their family.

"I want to have kids!" Perry said. "I'm totally fine with saying that. I think some people are … worried it's going to ruin their career, but I want to live a full life."

Read the entire interview in the latest issue of Elle magazine.

Simon Cowell to Be a Judge on X Factor

2011-02-10T06:08:00.001-05:00

Simon Cowell won't speculate on who will be behind the judges' table on the American version of The X Factor, but he confirms there will be one familiar face on the panel – himself.

"Once the show goes into production, I become a judge," Cowell told reporters Monday. "Then I have to put my trust into the producers' hands, which is effectively how it works in the U.K. Yes, I am judging."

Before the show starts, Cowell will serve as executive producer and participate in the selection of the judging panel, which has been widely speculated about. Nicole Scherzinger, Rihanna, Jessica Simpson, Paula Abdul, Cheryl Cole, Katy Perry and Will Smith have all been rumored as possible judges on the show.

Cowell says feelers are out to certain possible judges, though he would not list their names. Asked about his former Idol pal Abdul, he said, "I'm a massive fan of Paula. We honestly haven't made our mind up yet … We're talking to a number of people. We hope to make an announcement in three to four weeks."

So, can viewers expect the same hard-nosed Simon Cowell they have come to expect from his years on American Idol? Or will he be a softer, gentler Simon on X Factor?

"I started to cringe over the years as I saw people being booked as the so-called 'mean' judge and being gratuitously rude for the sake of it. I had my own style and like to think I'm honest and wouldn't sugarcoat something to make myself popular," he said. "I am gong to try and be consistent, as I have been over the years … People know what to expect if I'm on the judging panel. I don't think things will change too much."

Cowell is excited about judging on this show since, unlike on Idol, it will involve working directly with contestants. "I wanted to make a show where I could help the competitors on a weekly basis and that's more interesting to me because I will have a lot more to do," he said.

On X-Factor" competitors will make home visits to the judges during the evaluation process and perform in front of live audiences of several thousand right from the start to see "who can handle the pressure," adds Cowell.

Plus, the stakes are high for the hopeful stars: The winner of X Factor will be awarded $5 million record deal, the largest guaranteed prize in TV history.

Cowell also says he's glad that audiences are still interested in talent competitions. "The good news is people are still excited about these shows – Idol, Dancing with the Stars, America's Got Talent – people, thank god, still like these shows and that gives me confidence for when we launch ours [in the fall]."

Cynthia Nixon & Wife Welcome a Son

2011-02-10T06:02:00.001-05:00

It's a boy for Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni!

Marinoni gave birth to the couple's son, Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni, on Monday, February 7th, Nixon's rep confirms.

"Christine and baby are doing great," stated her rep.

Nixon, 44, and Marinoni, 43, began dating in 2004 and announced their engagement in 2009. The Sex and the City star has two children, Samantha, 14, and Charles, 8, from her previous relationship with teacher Danny Mozes.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Shares 5 Facts About Himself Including His Crush on Glee's Darren Criss

2011-02-03T06:43:00.006-05:00

People Magazine has a fun “5 Facts About Me” feature about Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson in its current issue.

What he can’t get enough of: “Coffee. I could have seven or eight cups in a day.”

What he’s addicted to: “[The iPhone app] Angry Birds. There was a point when I was playing it at red lights. Oprah said not to text and drive, but she didn’t say not to do that!”

Who he would love to be: “Michelle Obama for a day. I don’t want the pressure of being the president, but I want to see inside The White House and put the girls to sleep.”

His bad habit: “I bite my nails. It’s boredom, it’s nerves, it’s when I’m happy, when I’m hungry. I work through the bitter nail polish. It’s really bad.”

His celebrity crush: “Glee’s Darren Criss [pictured below with Jesse and Neil Patrick Harris]. I got to meet him the other day. He’s the nicest guy, so sweet, so talented. It was wonderful.”

Anderson Cooper Attacked in Egypt

2011-02-03T06:39:00.002-05:00

CNN's Anderson Cooper escaped serious injury Wednesday when he was attacked by a group of demonstrators in Egypt, which has been plunged into crisis in recent days by political protests.

Cooper, 43, said he and his production crew, reporting from Cairo, were set upon by demonstrators loyal to embattled president Hosni Mubarak. "The attackers pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head, he said, but no one was seriously hurt," according to a report on CNN.com.

A colleague, CNN's Steve Brusk, tweeted that Cooper was "punched 10 times in the head" by a "pro-Mubarak mob."

Appearing on CNN's American Morning Wednesday, Cooper looked fine, and the anchor continues to file reports on the unrest in Egypt.

Farrah Fawcett’s Iconic Swimsuit Donated to the Smithsonian

2011-02-03T06:02:00.003-05:00

The red swimsuit that made Farrah Fawcett into a iconic pin-up is headed to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Fawcett’s longtime companion Ryan O’Neal donated the swimsuit and other items, including an original copy of the swimsuit poster, a leather-bound book of Fawcett’s personal copies of scripts for the first season of Charlie’s Angels, a Fawcett swimsuit jigsaw puzzle, a “Farrah Phenomenon” 1976 edition of TV Guide, an original 1977 Farrah Fawcett doll and a “Farrah’s Glamour Center” hairstyling toy, to the Smithsonian on Wednesday.

The items will join the museum’s pop culture history collection, which includes items ranging from Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz to Kermit the Frog.

Best known for her role on Charlie’s Angels, Fawcett’s iconic 1976 poster in which she donned a clingy red bathing suit sold millions of copies.

After a long battle with cancer, Fawcett died in 2009 at the age of 62.

How Ricky Martin Juggles Single Fatherhood with Twin Toddlers

2011-02-02T06:25:00.003-05:00

Ricky Martin has been through a lot in the past year. But keeping him calm at the center of his crazy life are his two most adoring fans – 2-year-old twin sons Matteo and Valentino.

"Every day they teach me different things," the pop star, 39, tells Parade of his boys, born via surrogate in August 2008. "The love is there. When you have a 2-year-old saying every other hour, 'Papi, te amo. Papi, I love you,' it can't get better."

Certainly, there's never a dull moment. "A lot of people say, 'Wow, you're a single father of twin boys, that's crazy!' " he says. "Two toddlers can get hectic, but I wouldn't change it for anything."

Asked what fatherhood has taught him, Martin replies: "Heavy lessons about simplicity and unconditional love. I don't want to sound cliché, another father talking about unconditional love, but man, that's the way it is. You hear it all the time, but when you feel this other branch of love getting stronger and stronger every day, it's just amazing."

He also reveals that the twins are already following in their famous father's footsteps. "The other day I took them to a toy store and they went straight to this tiny piano," he says. "And I'm like, 'Look at the robot!' But no, it was the piano. Both of them. So it's very beautiful."

Martin, who came out last spring, also talks about being a voice in the gay community – and says it's a natural progression for him.

"It's something I feel really good about doing," he says. "I have been an activist for human rights for many years. Today, I'm in touch with who I am and I have the opportunity to be in front of a camera and talk to millions of people."

Ricky Martin's latest CD, Musica+Alma+Sexo (Music+Soul+Sex) was released yesterday.

Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy & Linda Gray Onboard for New 'Dallas' Show

2011-02-02T06:15:00.000-05:00

Larry Hagman is a lock! TNT confirmed today that Larry Hagman will participate in the Dallas reboot that’s in the works at the cabler. Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray will also appear in the pilot that’s based on characters created by David Jacobs and executive produced by Cynthia Cidre (Cane).

The original Dallas aired from 1978 to 1991 and followed the Ewing family of Southfork. (Hagman played J.R. Ewing, Gray played his wife Sue Ellen, and Duffy portrayed J.R.’s younger brother Bobby). The modern story will focus on the Ewing offspring – J.R. Ewing’s son, John Ross, and the adopted son of Bobby and Pam Ewing, Christopher – as they clash over the future of the family dynasty.

Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives) will play John Ross while Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious) will play Elena, who is involved in a love triangle with Christopher and John.

Hagman told Entertainment Weekly in September that he continues to make appearances on behalf of Dallas, which syndicates in 60 countries today. ”It’s like an annuity, really,” Hagman said. ”I go out, they adore me, and then they pay you. What better job can you have?”

This isn’t the first time that someone’s tried to revive the Texas oil family drama that aired from 1978 to 1991. In 2006, Twentieth Century Fox decided to adapt the soap for the big screen, closing deals with John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, and Luke Wilson. But then research indicated that the Dallas brand didn’t mean much to younger moviegoers, says a source close to the project. Travolta and Lopez soon dropped out.

More Details on the New Charlie's Angels

2011-02-02T06:02:00.000-05:00

Entertainment Weekly has shared fresh details about ABC’s Charlie’s Angels reboot. Unlike the original 1970s series, where the team of private investigators were disgruntled graduates of the police academy, the update currently has the crime-fighters as a trio of not-so-angelic criminals. In the pilot, Charlie brings them together and offers an opportunity to redeem themselves — by working for him, of course.

One major character is still being tweaked, however, and keep in mind pilots tend to undergo plenty of changes before they air. One of the trio has been previously reported as a con artist, while another is an ex-Marine and weapons expert.

Though the recent feature films were light-hearted (and, like the new series, executive produced by Drew Barrymore), sources say the new show will be a “fairly serious, non-campy” take on the concept.

But ABC’s Angels will match the original series in at least a couple key respects… Angels will consist of self-contained episodes — a new adventure each week, rather than having a serialized storyline. (There are some serialized elements, of course, like with all shows, but it’s mainly episodic).

Also, Charlie will remain a voice in a box — no video at least, when talking to the Angels – and the story will explain why, in the age of iChat and Skype, he’s still using such low-tech communication. (81-year-old Hart to Hart star Robert Wagner is near a deal to play Charlie.)

The pilot begins shooting in March, which gives the new Angels (Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh) time for some specialized training for the physical demands of the show.

The script is being polished by executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar, and then, like all pilots, could get tweaked more in the coming months. ABC will decide in late April or early May whether to pick it up to series for fall.

New Kids on the Block's Jonathan Knight: “I Have Never Been Outed By Anyone But Myself!”

2011-02-01T06:49:00.005-05:00

From time to time, you will have a celebrity come out as gay and say they were never in the closet. Most recently, Johnny Weir came out.

But the truth is, whether you are famous or not, sometimes you have to come out time and time again in so many ways. So this appears to be the case with Jonathan Knight, a member of New Kids on the Block.

Last week, it seemed that singer Tiffany had possibly outed him when she casually mentioned that he is gay. Knight quickly showed his support of her via Twitter and has now taken things a step further in the New Kids on the Block website.

Here is an excerpt from his statement:

“I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost twenty years ago. I never know that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay! Apparently the pre requiste to being a gay public figure is to appear on the cover of a magazine with the caption “I am gay”. I apologize for not doing so if this is what was expected! My belief is that you live your life by example, and not by a caption on a magazine! If there ever has been any confusion about my sexuality, then you are someone that doesn’t even know me!” “I love living my life being open and honest, but at this time I choose not to discuss my private life any further!”

Now, how much longer before his brother, Jordan, also comes out of the closet? Hopefully soon!

David Cook: New Album, New Confidence

2011-02-01T06:31:00.002-05:00

His gritty rock voice is what helped David Cook, 28, win season seven of American Idol.

But when working on his latest, as yet untitled studio album, he learned to use that voice in a whole new way.

As usual, Cook collaborated with an array of music industry veterans, from Kelly Clarkson songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk to OneRebublic vocalist Ryan Tedder. But in contrast to the "anxiety" he felt making his platinum-selling, self-titled, post-Idol album, the Missouri-bred singer told AOL's Popeater: "Sitting in the room with these people, I still managed to find my voice … really speaking up for myself and making sure that what was happening was going to come across as me and not, 'Here's David Cook singing somebody else's songs.' "

In a behind-the-scenes video shot at Emblem studios in Calabasas, California, Cook comes across as self-assured, but not cocky: "I'm very confident in my own ability to write music, but I think anytime you can bounce ideas off of other people – you know, two heads are better than one."

Henry Cavill Cast as Superman

2011-02-01T06:25:00.002-05:00

Look! Up in the sky! It's Henry Cavill as Superman!

The British Tudors star, 27, will play the Man of Steel (and his human alter ego, Clark Kent) in Zack Snyder's upcoming Superman movie, set for release in December 2012.

"In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen," said the 300 and Watchmen director in a statement released Sunday. "I also join Warner Bros. and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield."

Like Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh before him, Cavill is an under-the-radar leading man for whom the Superhero role represents a big Hollywood break. He'll next appear in Immortals alongside Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto and Kellan Lutz, expected to premiere in November.

Eva Longoria & Tony Parker Finalize Divorce

2011-02-01T06:23:00.002-05:00

The three-year marriage of Eva Longoria and NBA player Tony Parker legally ended in a Texas courtroom Friday.

Having met in late 2004 and married at a storybook wedding in a European castle during the summer of 2007, Longoria, 35, filed for divorce last November.

Her petition cited "irreconcilable differences" for the split, but immediately after news of the split there arose infidelity rumors, with claims that Tony has been unfaithful.

In her filing, Longoria sought support from Parker, 28, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs. (Longoria is a Texas native, from Corpus Christi.) The couple had a prenuptial agreement signed the month before their wedding and updated two years later.

This was Longoria's second marriage. In 2002 she married General Hospital actor Tyler Christopher. They divorced two years later.

TMZ first reported Friday's court appearance. But Parker's rep confirms to PEOPLE that the divorce is final and declines any further comment.

Sunday night, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Longoria, who stars as Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives since October 2004, Tweeted from the red carpet: "Me and my other favorite latina [Modern Family star] Sofia Vergara at the SAG Awards!!"

New Release Tuesday!

2011-02-01T06:14:00.004-05:00

We start a new month with several new releases on Blu-Ray, CD and DVD. Here are today's new releases including Ricky Martin's new CD, Musica+Alma+Sexo.

MOVIES

10 (B)

A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Soup (B)

Alice in Wonderland (1951) (B)

All About Eve (B)

An Affair to Remember (B)

Boys Don't Cry (B)

Chain Letter (B)

Conviction (B)

Hatchett II (B)

Let Me In (B)

Monsters (2010) (B)

Never Let Me Go (B)

Night Catches Us (B)

Pleasantville (B)

Ray (B)

The Tillman Story (B)

Welcome to the Rileys

You've Got Mail (B)

MUSIC

George Michael - Faith (Remastered)

The JaneDear Girls - The JaneDear Girls

Ricky Martin - Musica+Alma+Sexo

Rod Stewart - The Best of the Great American Songbook

TV SHOWS

Airwolf - 4th Season

Blue Murder - Complete Series

Cake Boss - 3rd Season

Garrow's Law - 1st Season

Saturday Night Live - Best of Chris Farley & Best of John Belushi

(B) = Available on Blu-Ray

Kaboom;s Thomas Dekker Talks About Gay and Straight Love Scenes and Going Full-Frontal

2011-02-01T05:57:00.004-05:00

Thomas Dekker stars in director Gregg Araki latest film Kaboom and chatted about some provocative topics with Next Magazine at the film’s New York premiere.

Dekker starred on Fox’s The Sarah Connor Chronicles and had also been on NBC’s Heroes.

He left Heroes and a role that was supposed to be gay. This gave the young actor and his reps a bad rap because it seemed to some that his departure from the show was a matter of him simply not wanting to play a gay role.

That certainly is not the case since his pansexual character in Kaboom sleeps with both men and women.

“I felt it was such an honor to play a role that was neither gay nor straight,” Dekker confided. “I hadn’t come across a feature script like that before.”

He is also not the least uptight about nudity.

“The movie opens with a full-frontal shot of me,” he said nonchalantly. “Honestly I don’t care about nudity or sex. I find it a lot harder to do those emotional scenes than ones merely involving vanity. If I could do every photo shoot and every scene naked, I would. It would be easier. People have less to judge when you’re naked.”

Dekker’s next role is a gay one: He plays Lance Loud, who broke ground as the openly gay son in in the 1973 reality series An American Family, in a new feature for HBO called Cinema Verite.

Derek Hough Leaves Dancing with the Stars

2011-02-01T05:41:00.001-05:00

Dancing with the Stars will be a little less fabulous when it returns to ABC in March.

"I'm taking season 12 off," three-time champ Derek Hough told People magazine. The Dancing pro, 25, will be busy playing the lead role in the upcoming dance movie Cobu 3D, which is slated to film in New York and Toronto this spring.

Hough will play a New Orleans street dancer who moves to New York and falls for an Asian drummer (played by Korean pop recording star BoA). The Romeo and Juliet-style love story (their dance groups are rivals) will be accented by "some incredible dance numbers," says Hough. "People will see a much edgier side of me and these other styles of dance I'm capable of doing."

Hough has already started training for the film by working out in the gym and brushing up on his tap dancing skills. He says he's put on "about 10 lbs. of muscle" for the film, "which is a lot for me."

Everyone at Dancing with the Stars is excited for Hough's new endeavor. "We wish Derek the best as he takes time off from Dancing with the Stars to pursue his film career," the show's executive producer, Conrad Green, stated, "and look forward to having him return to the show in the fall."

And Dancing fans can expect Hough to come back to the ballroom better than ever for season 13.

"I will be making it back to Dancing with the Stars in the fall. I'm just taking a little break and taking this chance to grow and expand a little bit as an artist," Hough says. "It's like I told one of the producers on the show – I'll come back with a whole new set of skills."

Colin Firth, Natalie Portman & The King's Speech Triumph at 2011 SAG Awards

2011-01-31T07:05:00.001-05:00

Natalie Portman, Colin Firth and the cast of The King's Speech took the top prizes at the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.

Firth won Best Actor for his role in the British monarchy drama, which also took the prize for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Meanwhile, Portman claimed the Best Actress award for her performance in Darren Aronofsky's ballet drama Black Swan.

The Fighter was also a big winner, with castmates Christian Bale and Melissa Leo earning honors for Best Supporting Actor and Actress respectively.

Elsewhere, Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Betty White (Hot In Cleveland) and the casts of Boardwalk Empire and Modern Family were the big winners in the TV categories.

A lifetime achievement award was also handed to beloved American actor Ernest Borgnine, who turned 94 on Monday.

The full list of winners at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards is as follows:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: The King's Speech
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth - The King's Speech
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale - The Fighter
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo - The Fighter
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Al Pacino - You Don't Know Jack
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Claire Danes - Temple Grandin
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series: Steve Buscemi - Boardwalk Empire
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Betty White - Hot In Cleveland
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series: Boardwalk Empire
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series: Modern Family

Lady Gaga Releases Full Lyrics to Forthcoming Single 'Born This Way'

2011-01-28T05:58:00.005-05:00

Lady Gaga memorably sang a couple bars from her forthcoming, and much-anticipated single “Born This Way” at last fall’s MTV Video Music Awards and released album art. Now she’s giving up everything but the actual song itself, as pop’s reigning queen released the song’s full lyrics via a Tweet.

Based on what she released—and as expected—the song is very empowerment focused, with the first verse going, “My mama told me when I was young / We were all born superstars.” Hello, yes we were! A few bars later, the chorus really drives home her point: “I’m beautiful in my way / ‘Cause God makes no mistakes / I’m on the right track baby / I was born this way.”

Basically, she’s saying: Make no apologies, be who you are, don’t be ashamed of whatever/whoever that is!

Elton John told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year: “‘Born This Way’…will completely get rid of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive.’ This is the new ‘I Will Survive.’ That was the gay anthem. This is the new gay anthem.

Actually, it’s not a gay anthem—it can apply to anybody.” Based on what’s here, that’s certainly true—gays and straights alike will most certainly love this.

Now we just need to hear the actual song! But we won’t hear it until February 13th, the same day as the Grammys, which will feature a performance by Gaga.

In the Tweet, Lady Gaga also revealed the song’s credits. ‘Born This Way’ was written by Lady Gaga; produced by Lady Gaga, Fernando Garibay, and DJ White Shadow; and mixed and engineered by David Russel.

Here are at Gaga’s full lyrics to Born This Way:

BORN THIS WAY
WRITTEN BY: LADY GAGA
PRODUCED BY: LADY GAGA, FERNANDO GARIBAY, DJ WHITE SHADOW
MIXED AND ENGINEERED BY: DAVID RUSSEL

INTRO:
It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M
Just put your paws up
’cause you were Born This Way, Baby

VERSE:
MY MAMA TOLD ME WHEN I WAS YOUNG
WE ARE ALL BORN SUPERSTARS

SHE ROLLED MY HAIR AND PUT MY LIPSTICK ON
IN THE GLASS OF HER BOUDOIR

“THERE’S NOTHIN WRONG WITH LOVIN WHO YOU ARE”
SHE SAID, “‘CAUSE HE MADE YOU PERFECT, BABE”

“SO HOLD YOUR HEAD UP GIRL AND YOU’LL GO FAR,
LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY”

CHORUS:
I’M BEAUTIFUL IN MY WAY
‘CAUSE GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

DON’T HIDE YOURSELF IN REGRET
JUST LOVE YOURSELF AND YOU’RE SET
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

POST-CHORUS:
OOO THERE AIN’T NO OTHER WAY
BABY I WAS BORN THIS WAY
BABY I WAS BORN THIS WAY
OOO THERE AIN’T NO OTHER WAY
BABY I WAS BORN-
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY

DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE A DRAG -JUST BE A QUEEN
DON’T BE!

VERSE:
GIVE YOURSELF PRUDENCE
AND LOVE YOUR FRIENDS
SUBWAY KID, REJOICE YOUR TRUTH

IN THE RELIGION OF THE INSECURE
I MUST BE MYSELF, RESPECT MY YOUTH

A DIFFERENT LOVER IS NOT A SIN
BELIEVE CAPITAL H-I-M (HEY HEY HEY)
I LOVE MY LIFE I LOVE THIS RECORD AND
MI AMORE VOLE FE YAH (LOVE NEEDS FAITH)

REPEAT CHORUS + POST-CHORUS

BRIDGE:

DON’T BE A DRAG, JUST BE A QUEEN
WHETHER YOU’RE BROKE OR EVERGREEN
YOU’RE BLACK, WHITE, BEIGE, CHOLA DESCENT
YOU’RE LEBANESE, YOU’RE ORIENT
WHETHER LIFE’S DISABILITIES
LEFT YOU OUTCAST, BULLIED, OR TEASED
REJOICE AND LOVE YOURSELF TODAY
‘CAUSE BABY YOU WERE BORN THIS WAY

NO MATTER GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BI,
LESBIAN, TRANSGENDERED LIFE
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO SURVIVE
NO MATTER BLACK, WHITE OR BEIGE
CHOLA OR ORIENT MADE
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO BE BRAVE

REPEAT CHORUS

OUTRO/REFRAIN:

I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!

I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!
I’M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN THIS WAY HEY!

A GQ Interview: The Last Temptation of Ted

2011-01-28T05:46:00.000-05:00

When the reverend Ted Haggard was outed four years ago, it was in a ball of biblical hellfire—crystal meth! Gay sex! Unholy massages! Banished from the church he founded, he was forced to wander the Arizona desert selling insurance. Now Pastor Ted returns with his wife by his side, a new church, and a more open theology. Is he chastened? Somewhat. Straight? Hmm. Ready for a second coming? Well, here's the complete interview by Kevin Roose from the latest issue of GQ.

It takes only a couple of minutes from the moment we enter the gas station for someone to recognize him. A biker in a leather jacket and a black knit cap spots him as he approaches the register, does a quick double take, and then comes over to ask the same question everyone asks.

"Pastor Ted! How you been?"

"Doing well! Doing well!" Ted says, shaking the stranger's hand. "I can't see who you are under there. What's your name?"

The biker lifts his hat, introduces himself as Robert. He used to listen to Ted preach at New Life years ago, he says, back before everything happened.

"Well, it's good to see you, Robert! Thank you for saying hello."

"I hope everything works out for you."

"Thank you!" Ted says, flashing his toothy, rectangular smile. "You know one of the advantages of my story? It can't get worse!"

Ted turns back to the cashier, twenty-ounce Mountain Dew in his hand.

"Are people being friendly to you today?" he asks her. Her face flushes as it all becomes clear; she nods.

"Great to hear!" Ted says, and bounds into the bright October day.

Ted likes it here in Colorado Springs, the place where he served for twenty-two years as pastor of New Life Church, a congregation with 10,000 members and a Six Flags–sized campus on the north side of town. He doesn't go there anymore, of course. But he's constantly bumping into former parishioners like Robert, and he enjoys telling them about his comeback—that four years after the scandal that destroyed his career, made him a national punch line, and got him temporarily banished from the state, he's moved back home, kept his family together, and started a new church. It feels good to be here, he says, to show the cynics a real-life resurrection.

He founded the new church, St. James, last summer, naming it after the apostle who said, "Faith without works is dead." The purpose of the church, Ted announced to a small cluster of reporters assembled in his yard, would be to help others struggling through their seasons of crisis. "I don't judge people anymore. I know life happens to everybody. Sometimes it's self-imposed, other times it's imposed from the outside," he said. "But I think we're qualified to hold people's hands when they go through that."

The question of whether Ted is in a position to help others—whether he should be helping others—isn't an easy one, even for some of his friends and advisers. "What happened four years ago was a violation," Glenn Packiam, a New Life executive pastor, said when we spoke on the phone last fall. Packiam still considers the Haggards friends, but when I asked if he thought Ted should be back in the ministry, he was careful. "Every person has to discern for themselves whether they can trust him again," he said.

In Ted's mind, though, he's never been more capable, more called, than he is now. He has walked through the fire and emerged with family and faith restored. He's "less broken now," he says, more whole, spiritually and psychologically. This may be true. But "less broken" doesn't necessarily equal "redeemed." And what he's working to repair may not be the sort of thing that can be fixed.

Last spring, Ted's eldest son, Marcus, approached me at a conference where I was speaking about a book I wrote on my semester undercover at the Reverend Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Marcus surprised me when he suggested that I should talk to his dad: "He almost wrote your book."

Marcus explained that as a teenager, Ted had written for his school paper and hoped to become a journalist. He was accepted to a few college journalism programs, but his dad, a midlife evangelical convert, offered to buy him a brand-new Pontiac LeMans—blue coupe, tan leather seats—if he went to Oral Roberts University instead.

Ted wasn't thrilled about attending school with the Jesus crowd, but a car is a car, so he came up with a plan: He would go to Christian college and write an insider exposé. All of which means, in essence, that Ted and I have one very strange thing in common, and that he would have scooped me by thirty-five years had the Holy Spirit not called him to the ministry after a late-night prayer session in the parking lot outside his sophomore dorm.

A few months later, I called Ted to ask if he would be open to letting me meet with him. He was wary, but after consulting Gayle, his wife of thirty-two years and the closest thing he has to a publicist, he agreed to let me visit. It wasn't until I arrived in Colorado Springs that Ted called to say that plans had changed, that he was going on an overnight camping trip with Elliott and Jonathan, two of his other sons, and that instead of meeting at his home, would I maybe want to tag along?

Ted is a goofily handsome man with sandy-colored hair that he parts on the side like a 1950s school principal. Even when he's the loudest in the room, as is often the case, he's good at creating a quick intimacy, addressing you by name and readily poking fun at himself.

"Kevin, you just have to promise to write about my dashing style," he jokes as we load up the car, glancing down at his too-big New York Giants hoodie and dad jeans.

I follow the Haggards' white Escalade in my rental for two hours, past Eleven Mile Canyon to a lush hilltop clearing overlooking a wide valley.

Almost as soon as we're out of the car, Ted sets out in search of a cell signal. Even though he goes to the mountains several times a month—and even though his phone has software that allows Gayle to track his movements via GPS—he wants to check in, make sure she knows exactly where we are.

"It's my responsibility to rebuild trust," he explains, "since I'm the one who screwed up." Ted talks about the scandal freely, whether asked about it or not, which first seems like the by-product of four years of intensive therapy but may also be a canny way to control the narrative, to preempt others' suspicions and doubts.

When we get back to the campsite, Elliott has already built a fire and raided the cooler Gayle packed. Jonathan, a slight, scraggly-bearded 23-year-old with a developmental disability, piles logs on the ground as he slowly sounds out "fa-ther son camp-out."

Taking in the night, Ted lets out an almost comically long, satisfied sigh. "Our lives have returned to normal," he declares, sliding a marshmallow onto a skewer. "We're starting to do the things we did before, because we're getting a grip on life again."

Elliott, a high school junior with moppish hair and the quiet confidence of a cool-crowd kid, rolls his eyes in a Dad, come onnnnn way. "I don't think our family has a normal anymore," he says.

"Yeah," Ted says, laughing. "It's a pretty dynamic situation."

The air is colder up here than in Colorado Springs, and we huddle around the fire as Ted delivers a series of autobiographical mini-sermons about his childhood in rural Indiana and his time at Oral Roberts. He loved school, even though he now realizes "it was where I was taught that I could pray through my issues instead of getting real help." He tears up talking about this stuff, though he says everything makes him cry these days.

"I cried when the Chilean miners got rescued. I cry when I watch Undercover Boss. I cry at anything that shows people being people. I'm a wreck."

I'd hoped to ask Ted about the new church, but after the kids go to sleep in the Escalade (too cold for tents, they decide), his mood darkens, and for the next few hours, as the fire burns down to nearly nothing, he bitterly runs through everything we all have wrong about him.

He says that despite popular perception, he was never a right-wing power broker in the vein of Jerry Falwell. His reported weekly chats with George W. Bush were usually just briefings with low-level White House staff. He was never a homophobe, either, he says, and though he supported a 2006 amendment outlawing gay marriage in Colorado, he was also in favor of a ballot measure that would have extended domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples.

When I start to ask about Mike Jones, the escort who exposed him, he cuts me off.

"We never had sex sex," he says, glancing at the car to make sure that Elliott and Jonathan are asleep. "I bought drugs and a massage from him, and he masturbated me at the end of it. That's it."

But Ted's true sore spot, the thing that drains the life from his voice, is the way he and Gayle were treated by their church in the wake of the scandal. "Here I was, feeling like I'd wasted my life," Ted says. "And they just sent me away."

When Ted resigned from New Life, a board of church-appointed overseers presented him with a separation agreement that required him to cut off all contact with members of the church, stay away from the media, perform no ministry-related work, and move his family out of Colorado. As severance, the church would provide fourteen months' salary for him and Gayle (about $200,000) and assorted other benefits. Ted obediently signed the agreement, but he now believes it was excessively harsh treatment for a family in the midst of a major crisis—especially since, well, isn't providing mercy for sinners sort of the entire point of Christianity?

"I used to think the church was the light of the world," Ted says. "But I've completely lost my faith in it."

Ted's complaints about New Life are old news to anyone who's been following his saga, but tonight, when I ask him if he really means to say completely, he stops and looks at the sky already starting to lighten.

"You've got to understand, Kevin, people are, at their cores, hateful," he says, rising to stamp out the fire's embers and go to bed. "I don't want to believe that, but the facts have prevailed over my idealism."

Ted Haggard has always been a different kind of pastor. When he started New Life in his basement in 1985, he preferred jeans and untucked oxfords to the dark suits and conservative ties of his peers. As the church grew into one of the nation's largest congregations and Ted became president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, he broke from the religious right on many of its core axioms.

He was no progressive—he used to say that his only disagreement with George W. Bush was over his choice of pickup truck. (Ted drove a Chevy; Bush was a Ford man.) But he believed in environmentalism, didn't subscribe to young-earth creationism or Left Behind rapture theology, and thought good Christians should read books by Thomas Friedman and Malcolm Gladwell in addition to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Still, even the skeptics were dumbfounded when, on the eve of the 2006 midterm elections, a Denver television station aired an interview with Mike Jones, revealing that Ted, under the alias "Art from Kansas City," had purchased sex from him and that he'd helped Ted buy crystal meth, over the course of a three-year affair.

Ted initially denied having met Jones, but a few days later he confessed that he was, in fact, Art from Kansas City. In his resignation letter to New Life, he wrote: "The fact is, I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar."

Soon after Ted signed the separation agreement, the Haggards began their exile in Phoenix, where Ted took a job as a door-to-door insurance salesman. He attended therapy sessions in which a counselor used a technique called eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to trace Ted's same-sex urges to having been molested by one of his father's employees at age 7. After just three weeks of EMDR, a member of Ted's advisory committee told The Denver Post that Pastor Ted was "completely heterosexual."

It was the sort of easily mocked, over-the-top statement that Ted might make, but he himself never actually put it in those terms. Ted has been vague about his sexuality since moving back to Colorado Springs in 2008. He says that he still believes the Bible is clear that "homosexuality is not God's best plan for people," but his stance on the issue has softened to the point of near incomprehensibility. After the camping trip, when I asked him about the wording he once used to describe his same-sex urges—in 2006 he wrote in a letter to New Life's congregation that he was warring with a "repulsive and dark" part of himself—he backtracked, saying he never meant it that way. "There's nothing repulsive to me about that world, but it's not a temptation anymore."

When we get back from the mountains, I drive up to Denver to visit Mike Jones. Jones, a soft-spoken inverted triangle of a man, chuckles at the idea of Ted's temptation-free heterosexual existence. "He can call it whatever he wants," he says, "but... please." In Jones's 2007 tell-all, I Had to Say Something, he describes drug-fueled porn-watching sessions, fumbling attempts at oral sex, and an occasion on which Art from Kansas City paid him to have sex with another man while he watched. Jones was once proud of exposing a conservative hypocrite, but as he shows me around his modest one-bedroom apartment, he tells me that he's had trouble keeping a steady job since the scandal and that when potential boyfriends Google him, they mostly flee in horror.

"I wouldn't do it again," he says. "It's ruined my life, too."

What bothers Jones most is that Ted is again serving as a pastor and an influencer, putting the people who trust him—especially young men—in danger. Two years ago, a New Life volunteer named Grant Haas revealed that Ted had masturbated in front of him and offered him drugs on a church trip in 2006, when he was 22, and that New Life subsequently paid him $179,000 to keep quiet. New Life later confirmed having paid Haas but insisted that it wasn't meant as hush money. (Ted denies the drug offer but admits that he masturbated in the room they shared. "I thought he was asleep," he says.)

New Life won't comment on the Haggard era, but Haas tells me over the phone that what happened with him and Mike Jones wasn't the end of it, that Ted's tenure at New Life was marked by an atmosphere of sexual impropriety. Haas has forgiven Ted, but he shares another incident, of being invited with a friend to skinny-dip in Ted's pool while Gayle was away. He also recalls Ted showing him a photo of a group of naked men from New Life's youth program standing in his office, covering themselves with books. "Everything at that church was sexualized," Haas says.

When I asked Ted about these claims at the campfire, he responded angrily, reiterating that he'd never had sexual contact with anyone except his wife and Mike Jones. "And that's exactly why I haven't done youth programs at St. James," he said, "because here I was trying to help these guys, and now I've got people calling me a pedophile." Later he tells me about the four polygraph tests proving his innocence and predicts that he'll be vindicated in the end: "Grant Haas will end up publicly repenting, Mike Jones will end up publicly repenting, and the overseers will end up publicly repenting, just like I did."

Ted may be telling the truth, but his peculiar brand of self-victimization and protestation—in which every "I messed up" is followed by a "but... "—makes it hard for people in Colorado Springs to believe that he's actually sorry for what he did. One former New Life member expressed what seems to be the general sentiment surrounding his resurgence: "I think Ted genuinely loves God, and I think he has a sincere interest in helping people, but I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."

On Sunday morning at eight fifteen, two days after we return from camping, Ted hitches a trailer loaded with a wooden pulpit and folding chairs to the back of the Escalade and sets off for Timberview Middle School.

Four months after its founding, St. James is growing but remains for the moment a spartan operation in Timberview's cafeteria, with a small congregation of 200-odd "saints" who mill around before services stirring powdered creamer into cups of lukewarm coffee.

At ten, a guitarist plays a few stripped-down worship songs, and Ted rises from his folding chair beside Gayle and Jonathan to deliver his sermon. He paces the floor, adjusting the stage mike wrapped around his ear.

"In the evangelical movement, we've said to people that differ from us: "We want to convert you." And what that means is, 'We want you to adopt the things that we believe. Then you can be like us, and we will have won a convert.' "

"I would suggest that St. James try a different methodology. I would suggest that we try the idea of: 'We have read our Bibles. We have prayed and been spirit-filled. So our purpose is to make life easier for other people around us no matter what their theology is; no matter what their race, color, creed, or sexual orientation.' Those things are not the primary issue as far as we're concerned, because our concern is to be Jesus for them."

Ted is a good preacher, maybe even a great one, with boundless energy and an aw-shucks affect he perfected over two decades in New Life's pulpit. He literally wrote the book on encouraging member participation in churches (1998's The Life-Giving Church), and one of his favorite techniques is to stop midsentence and ask his parishioners for help, in the manner of a kids' television show host—does that make sense? I'm not even sure I'm making sense up here!—before surprising them with a perfect, wrenching bit of clarity.

After the final amen, I strike up a conversation with Wing, Guy, and Art, three parishioners who come every week to stock up on Ted's encouragement. Wing was evicted from his house after falling behind on payments, and he's been living out of his car for the past two weeks. Guy's wife left him last week, taking their daughters with her. Art, a burly Hispanic man in a sleeveless shirt, was addicted to meth when his brother told him about a new church with an unconventional pastor.

"At first I thought, Man, I don't wanna go to no faggot's church," Art says. "But the first day I was here, Pastor Ted looked at me and said, 'You've been struggling with drugs, haven't you? Today you walk free.' I haven't touched it since."

Part of what these guys love about St. James is that it helps struggling people in real, tangible ways. During the offering, when most churches pass the plate, Ted instead has his saints give money to one another. Today the gifts included a $500 donation to fix one man's car and money for another man to pay his electricity bill.

"I'd rather have that conversation with a handful of people," Ted says to me after the service, "than have a worldwide TV audience and everyone think I'm a hotshot."

His voice trembles, "That $500? That's Jesus to me now."

I've seen Ted move himself to tears more than once, but this time it seems less melodramatic, more like he's plucking at some deeper internal tension. He's admitted that he went through a period of spiritual disillusionment after his scandal, and maybe this is how he's resolving it—with a church that's more like group therapy and with a gospel centered on a new golden rule: Do unto others as nobody did unto me.

The home on Old Ranch Road is a better-than-average house on a better-than-average street in a better-than-average section of Colorado Springs. The Haggards bought it in 2000 at the height of Ted's ministry, and as I drive through the open gate and past the barn, it occurs to me that holding on to it during their exile may have been hugely important psychologically. Its white-trimmed brick facade and big green lawn scream suburban stability. The most recent local drama was that the neighbors on the right were angry because of a dispute related to the Haggards' roosters.

I've come by on Monday—the pastor's Saturday—to spend my last day in Colorado Springs with Gayle and Ted. Gayle, a pretty 53-year-old with chin-length brown hair, wearing a dark cardigan and pressed slacks, greets me warmly at the door. "Good morning! Sorry it took us a little while," she says, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to be dressed before you came."

"I didn't, and I don't care," says Ted, smiling beside her in an undershirt and red pajama pants.

Gayle pours coffee while Ted shows me the house: two-car garage, in-ground pool and hot tub, backyard trampoline, Ten Commandments light fixtures. Their bookshelves hold an encyclopedia set, some political memoirs, a few Dan Brown novels, copies of Ted's books, and several old family portraits that look like outtakes from an L.L.Bean catalog. Christy, their only daughter and, at 29, the eldest of the five children, is in the den finishing a paper for a writing class. New Life Church, nine-tenths of a mile away, is visible through the north-facing windows if you squint hard enough.

As Gayle and I sit down on the living room sofa and Ted moves his laptop off the recliner next to us, I mention that I'd visited New Life the day before, touring its $50 million campus with the church's media escort.

"See, that's typical," says Ted. "They'll do that. That's typical of the old Soviet Union."

"Wait till you see the Gulag," Gayle deadpans.

"Now, at St. James, I didn't care who you talked to," Ted says, leaning back in his chair. "If we were into image management, we wouldn't have let you talk to Guy. But my philosophy is: It is what it is. It just is what it is.

"Actually!" he exclaims. "I just finished reading my Bible before you came. A fella texted me a tremendous verse, and I read it to Gayle, and I said, 'I should start saying this at New Life.' "

"You mean St. James."

"I mean St. James."

"You do that all the time."

"Anyway, I'm reading Romans. I just finished with Matthew, which is all Jesus, so I thought I'd harden that up with some Paul. Because Jesus is way too redeeming. He likes everyone but religious people."

Gayle, who has always been more careful around reporters than Ted, heard that he was in one of his moods up in the mountains, and she's worried that I'm going to write that he's a manic-depressive loon. I assure her that I'm not.

"Oh, good," she says, sounding genuinely relieved. "I know how he can get."

They met at Oral Roberts, and they have the rapport of a couple who have been married their entire adult lives. It's difficult to imagine that just four years ago, Gayle looked on with revulsion as Ted gathered his children in this very living room and told them that he'd been living a double life.

Gayle wrote about this time in Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour, her 2010 memoir, copies of which are stacked in cardboard boxes in the dining room. In explaining her loyalty to Ted, Gayle tried to show that she's not, in fact, a subservient pushover, that she might actually be a lot braver and more principled than most. "If I left Ted," she wrote, "my life would be illustrating that some people mess up too badly to be redeemed... . And I don't believe that. I don't believe in throwing people away because they've sinned, because all people are valuable and loved by God."

What Gayle's book didn't do was settle the question of Ted's sexuality or give insight into how it plays out in their marriage now—whether Ted still battles the same urges that got him to Mike Jones's massage table. And if so, does he tell her when it happens? Does she worry that he'll lapse again or that after everything they've been through, he'll pull a Jim McGreevey and leave her for a man?

When Gayle leaves to pick up lunch from a nearby Italian joint, I mention that I visited Mike Jones in Denver. Ted tenses and preemptively begins debunking Jones's claims again—no sex, no repeat massages, no kinky stuff. He admits that he bought drugs from Jones "five or six times" but maintains that he wasn't an addict.

"Sometimes I'd throw it away," he says. "Other times, I'd go someplace and masturbate and use it. But it was for masturbation. And that's one of the reasons why I haven't been real clear. I don't want to stand up publicly and say, 'Hey, I'm a masturbation guy!'

"You know, that's really the core issue here," he continues, lowering his voice. "I bought the drugs to enhance masturbation. Because what crystal meth does—Mike taught me this—crystal meth makes it so you don't ejaculate soon. So you can watch porn and masturbate for a long time."

"And it would be gay porn?" I ask.

"It would be both. I enjoyed both then."

"Do you watch porn anymore?"

"Now we're getting into what should happen between me, my wife, and my therapist."

For the first time since we've met, Ted isn't looking directly at me. "Here's where I really am on this issue," he half whispers. "I think that probably, if I were 21 in this society, I would identify myself as a bisexual." After a weekend of Ted trying to convince me of his unambiguous devotion to his wife and kids, I'm at first too surprised to say anything.

"So why not now?" I ask finally.

"Because, Kevin, I'm 54, with children, with a belief system, and I can have enforced boundaries in my life. Just like you're a heterosexual but you don't have sex with every woman that you're attracted to, so I can be who I am and exclusively have sex with my wife and be perfectly satisfied."

"But what does it have to do with being 54?"

"Life!" he says. "We live an ordinary life."

It's the most intimate exchange we've had, and the confession strikes me first as sad, then as nakedly honest, the kind of thing I kept wishing he would say to Oprah or Larry King or any of the other people who have demanded explanations of his muddled sexuality. In a way, hearing Ted talk about his self-imposed boundaries makes it easier to understand how he can seem so fulfilled with his new, cleaned-up life. These days what Ted craves is not total sexual satisfaction but exactly the things he used to have—a church, a loving wife, camping trips with his boys—and getting those things back will require amputating part of who he is and what he might, at some point, have wanted.

A few minutes later, Gayle walks back into the house with an armful of food.

"Lunch is served!"

"You're wonderful!" Ted says, rising from his recliner to help. From the couch, I can hear their voices peal through the house.

"Do you want me to mix the dressing in or just leave it on the side?"

"Oh, go ahead and mix it in."

At the table, we bow our heads as Gayle says grace: "Father, thank you for today. We pray for your blessings on all of this, and for your wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. In Jesus' name, amen."

I look up to see Ted gazing at Gayle, the corners of his mouth pressed into a slight smile. He hadn't bowed his head at all.

Tom Ford Talks About When He & a Journalist Did an Interview Completely Nude

2011-01-27T06:08:00.006-05:00

The new issue of Interview magazine has a very interesting interview with Tom Ford about his careers as a fashion icon and movie director.

Here is an excerpt of the interview with John Currin:

When Tom Ford walked away from womenswear more than six years ago, he wasn’t just vacating his post as creative director of Gucci Group, where he designed for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent—he was leaving an industry that he helped shape and reinvent. He’d brought a new understanding of glamour, beauty, sophistication, and, above all, sexual seduction to fashion, so when he announced in 2004 that he was quitting to try his hand as a film director, it sparked something of a communal identity crisis. Who would fill the void, rise to the occasion, and, more importantly, have both the creative talent and business acumen to fulfill the dreams of customers and the expectations of stockholders?

No doubt, in Ford’s absence—shorter than some imagined, as he launched his eponymous menswear label in 2007—fashion has changed significantly. But so has the man himself. In 2009 he delivered A Single Man, a poignant, wrenching, maturely expressed drama based on the Christopher Isherwood novel, which revealed him to be a cinematic force as well as a sartorial one. And then last fall, the man who famously got out of the game because he was fed up with the business came back to the land he once ruled—and did so in a sensational way.

Tom Ford’s Spring 2011 womenswear collection, presented at Ford’s Manhattan store to a select few journalists, editors, and fashion-world heavies, was the biggest show of the season that you never saw, partly because Ford decided to mark his return to dressing the female form as a way of protesting the current state of the industry: fashion as impersonal, aggressive, and aloof; fashion as playing to the critics instead of the customers; fashion as instantly accessible via the Internet to a global audience that obsesses over trends without ever experiencing the quality, the complexity, and the refinement of the clothes themselves. The presentation was Ford’s manifesto-like argument for bringing back to high-end fashion the excitement, intimacy, immediacy, and sense of fun—all qualities that have been arguably sacrificed over the last decade for the mass-takeover approach favored by many of today’s designers.

Ford invited only 100 guests to his Madison Avenue showroom on the evening of September 12, 2010. Playing emcee on the microphone, with photographer Terry Richardson and his team securing the show’s only visual documentation, Ford announced each look as it came down the runway worn by one of the many actresses, artists, models, musicians, socialites, and muses the designer had personally chosen to walk in the show—among them, Julianne Moore, Beyoncé Knowles, Daphne Guinness, Lou Doillon, Lauren Hutton, Karen Elson, Marisa Berenson, Natalia Vodianova, and Stella Tennant. While Ford refused all requests for media sneak peaks and red-carpet opportunities, what was evident in the collection was that Ford’s continuing obsession with and glorification of the female form had not gotten tame—he brought out the slips and curves of the body with silk fringe, leopard print, suede, and leather.

Ford hasn’t abandoned his second career—in fact, he is in the process of finishing the screenplay for his next film project. But as his friend, the painter John Currin (husband to another of Ford’s presentation muses, the artist Rachel Feinstein), caught up with him in Los Angeles, it was clear that Ford relished being back on his home turf, making clothes for women and making women feel the way only he can.

TOM FORD: We have to be careful. Everything we are saying is going to be recorded.

JOHN CURRIN: [laughs] The small acorn that will grow into a great oak of a scandal later, right?

FORD: [sighs] Ah, yes, I know what that’s like. You say the littlest thing, it gets misinterpreted.

CURRIN: Well, I’m here to ask you some questions, and I think a good one to start off with is about your childhood. What were some of your first memories of seeing beauty?

FORD: That would have been as a little kid living in Texas. My grandmother was probably the first person who I thought was beautiful. She was incredibly stylish, she had big hair, big cars. I was probably 3 years old, but she was like a cartoon character. She’d swoop into our lives with presents and boxes, and she always smelled great and looked great. She always had the latest things. She was larger than life to me, even as an adult, but when I was a child it was really like she was from another planet. It seemed like she lived in a different world, and wherever that was, I wanted to go.

CURRIN: So it wasn’t natural beauty, then. It wasn’t sunsets or mountains or trees.

FORD: No. In fact, I didn’t learn to appreciate those things until much later in life, because I grew up mostly in New Mexico, which is famous for sunsets and mountains and trees. That’s the reason I have a place there and spend so much time there now. When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was to escape what I thought was the country and get to a city. Probably film and television had influenced me so much, I really thought the key to happiness was living a very artificial life in a penthouse in New York with martini glasses.

CURRIN: Your movie had some of that feeling; for instance, with its collection of small moments of cultivation—the way things are folded or put in a drawer.

FORD: Well, I do that myself, and that character was very, very, very autobiographical and very different from the character in the Isherwood book. That’s really about putting on a sort of armor to go out in the world. The character played by Julianne [Moore] was quite literally based on my grandmother. It’s funny, that movie was cathartic for me. It was really my midlife crisis on the screen. [Currin laughs] It was! I was working through all of those earlier notions of what was important in life. And George has a moment where time stands still, and he really feels his connection to the universe and understands the meaning of life, in a way, and that he doesn’t need to live any longer, and he dies. I never used to say that he dies, but I think enough people have seen the film by now, so I can give away the ending. But as an adult working in the fashion industry, I struggle with materialism. And I’m one of the least materialistic people that exist, because material possessions don’t mean much to me. They’re beautiful, I enjoy them, they can enhance your life to a certain degree, but they’re ultimately not important. Your connections with other people are important, our connection to the earth. And that’s why I go to New Mexico as often as I can. And what I find to be the most beautiful thing in the world now is nature—sunsets, trees, my horses.

CURRIN: I didn’t mean it pejoratively that your aesthetic is always about cultivation.

FORD: My fashion aesthetic. I guess I’ve yet to express another aesthetic.

CURRIN: What’s interesting in the movie is that the aesthetic is so unsexualized. It was orderly and beautiful, but with this tragic panic underneath. But it was weird how it did look like you and your world to a degree, or how most people envision it.

FORD: Well, I think most people don’t actually know me. They know the projection of me that I use to sell things. And they know me from an expression of material beauty. I’m actually very introverted. I’m very shy. I’m very emotional. I think those are human experiences that everyone can relate to. So this movie wasn’t about sex. It was about love. That was on purpose, because a lot of people equate homosexuality with sex and not necessarily with love. It was important that I keep the movie not about sex. It was about the same struggle that everyone goes through, if you’re intelligent, at some point in your life. You ask yourself, What is this all about? Why am I living? What does this mean? Why am I here? Those are the questions George is asking himself.

CURRIN: If I could segue then to—

FORD: To high heels? Yes! Let’s get to high heels. That’s a great segue right into fashion.

CURRIN: Actually, yeah, because you are saying that people associate homosexuality with sex—or oversexed men and sexual relationships. But when you’re making a sculpture or image of a woman, is there a sexual aspect to it?

FORD: It is never even calculated. When I’m making an image of a woman, or dressing a woman—I have a reputation for sex and making a woman sexy, and men as well—but I don’t start out saying, “Oh, I’m gonna make this woman look sexy or sexual.” I simply stand there and put her in front of me and say, “What can I do to make her more beautiful in my eyes? Let’s pull in the dress here, let’s do this, let’s do that.” The end result is something that other people consider sexual, but for me it’s just beautiful. My expression of beauty is something I do naturally. I love the human body—the female body, the male body. I work in a way to try to enhance the body, and so you often see a lot of the body or the silhouette or outline, and that’s what people equate with sex. But I’m very comfortable with sexuality. It’s not anything that’s ever freaked me out. I’m very comfortable with naked bodies. Someone asked me recently about male nudity, and I brought up the subject that, in our culture, we use female nudity to sell everything. We’re very comfortable objectifying women. Women go out and they are basically wearing nothing. Their feet and toes are exposed, their legs are exposed, their breasts are exposed. Everything is exposed—the neck, the arms. You have to be really physically perfect, as a woman, in our culture to be considered beautiful. But full frontal male nudity challenges us. It makes men nervous. It makes women nervous. Other times in history, male nudes have been regarded in a different way. The Olympics were originally held nude. The reporter I was explaining this to said, “This would make a great story.” I explained how when I come home I actually
take off all my clothes, and I wear no clothes until I leave. I eat naked. I do everything completely naked. He said, “That would make a great interview.” I said, “Fine, we have to do it nude.”

CURRIN: How old was the interviewer?

FORD: Oh, 55 or 56. [Currin laughs] He was in very good shape. Anyway, we did the interview. The interviewer was straight, and I made it a point to desexualize the interview even though I was sitting with my legs wide open, completely naked. At the end of the interview, I put on a dressing gown and he put on his clothes, and I sat next to him on the sofa and said, “Was that sexual?” He said, “Absolutely not.” And I said, “That’s because I didn’t make it sexual. Sexuality is in the eyes, it’s an expression, it’s in a look.” Then, all of a sudden, I looked at him in a very different way, and it made him very nervous.

CURRIN: I wanted to ask if you’ve ever felt any remorse in your work, because that is something I’ve felt before in my work. You don’t seem like someone who feels a great deal of remorse about anything.

FORD: No, I don’t.

CURRIN: I sometimes get the feeling that I look at women to objectify them, and I start to feel guilty. I wonder if that ever plagues you?

FORD: I think I detach the physical from the spiritual. It’s my business to make a woman or a man beautiful, and I’m working with a model in a fitting, and I’ve objectified them to the point that they become an object. They’re something that I’m modeling or shaping or sculpting, but I’m very aware that even though I make them physically beautiful, their soul and personality and character is somewhat detached from that. It’s great when you have a combination of the two— that’s what makes a true beauty. Some people are physically beautiful but yet they’re completely uninteresting, and thus they’re not beautiful. I detach the two. And I turn the same eye on myself: When I look in the mirror, I say, “Well, this eyebrow is starting to sag,” or “I’m going gray right here, I need to fix that.” Or “I’ve eaten too much. I need to do a few more push-ups, blah blah blah.” But that’s completely separate from me as a human being. It’s purely the body that I move through the world in, and people react to it on the surface. So, no, I don’t have any remorse, because I separate them. Do you?

CURRIN: Yes. I think it’s mixed up in my lust for women, or my sexual desire for women . . .

FORD: That’s why I think gay men make better designers.

CURRIN: Are gay men free? Are you unburdened by lust? Is that an advantage of being a gay man?

FORD: I lust after beautiful women. First of all, I love women. But I lust after beautiful women in the way that I lust after a beautiful piece of sculpture—this will probably get me in trouble—or a beautiful car. I believe everyone’s on a sliding scale of sexuality. There are moments where I am sexually attracted to women. But it doesn’t overpower my first impulse; my lust for them is the same as my lust for beauty in all things. It’s not like I ever think, “Oh, my god, I’ve got to spread her legs and fuck her.”

CURRIN: Isn’t that the sticking point—

FORD: What a well-chosen word. [both laugh]

CURRIN: But the very thing that is required by art, which is to isolate and objectify and to look from a distance at something, is the thing that is considered oppressive when men do it to women. And that’s what gets you into trouble.

FORD: I think that’s wrong. I’m an equal-opportunity objectifier. I think it’s the exact same thing. I’m sorry, I don’t understand why our culture both worships and objectifies beauty, and then slams those of us who participate in it. Because I make that detachment, I’m capable of objectifying a beautiful woman, but that doesn’t demean her in any way. She’s beautiful because she’s a creature who exists physically, in the physical world, who happens to be in a moment of prime.

CURRIN: That would seem to be a theme of your fashion work: the complete freedom from guilt. Part of the fantasy of the ad campaigns—which I think Americans look at as a leisurely European playboy—is the evocation of a person not really hampered by guilt or remorse or worried about the unhealthy aspects of their lifestyle.

FORD: This may sound corny, but the only thing I feel remorse about is when I hurt someone, hurt their feelings, or make them feel bad. I’m obsessive about that. “Oh, my god, did I say the wrong thing? Did I hurt them? Did they understand what I meant?” But the creation of visual images or design, I have no remorse over. I’m not somebody who regrets anything, because I’m very happy with where I am and everything I’ve done in my life. Everything that’s happened to me, I’ve learned a lesson from—or if I didn’t, I was foolish, and I will repeat the same thing and eventually, hopefully, I will learn a lesson.

CURRIN: Do you think that is an unusual trait among Americans?

FORD: I think we’re very uptight in America. You have to remember that we’re descended from Puritans. Whether or not the country is now composed of immigrants, our culture as American really begins with the landing of the Pilgrims and a puritanical view of things. It was a group of people who escaped Europe because they felt it was depraved in a certain way, and that culture still permeates. I’ve lived in Europe for the last 20 years, so I’m kind of a hybrid. I feel very American in certain ways, and in lots of ways I feel more European.

CURRIN: How do Europeans feel about you? Do they see you as a stereotypical American who’s hardworking and controlling, or do they see you as one of them?

FORD: I think the Italians feel like I’m one of them. I think that’s because I resurrected a brand that was very close to their hearts, and I lived in Italy for a long time and speak Italian. The English, who knows? As for the French, the first thing out of every French reviewer’s mouth was something about being an American. The French are very nationalistic, which I think is very backward, honestly. I think today you have to be international and global. It’s very narrow to think in a nationalistic way. Unfortunately, Americans do the same thing, because most Americans don’t even have a passport. They don’t travel.

CURRIN: I’m so envious of Europeans for their history, their painting ability, their style and aesthetic, and I sometimes think “American painter” is an oxymoron. I wonder if it’s the same way for a designer.

FORD: Just remember that you’re descended from Europeans. You’ve just grown up in this country. You can still call yourself a European who’s living in America.

CURRIN: Northern Irish. That’s not quite European . . .

FORD: Not continental . . .

CURRIN: It’s not Monte Carlo.

FORD: That’s not one of my favorite places in Europe.

CURRIN: [laughs] I’ve never seen it. I’ve never been there. What I know of Monte Carlo is probably mostly informed by your advertisements.

FORD: That’s not what Monte Carlo is. It’s really a lot of people who are overly tanned and have too much collagen and too much money and diamonds that are too big.

CURRIN: It’s like Los Angeles.

FORD: On steroids.

John Currin is a New York–based artist. His recent exhibit, “New Paintings,” was shown at New York’s Gagosian Gallery.

To read the full Tom Ford interview pick up a copy of the February issue of Interview.

Glee Goes Gruesome for 'Thriller'

2011-01-27T06:04:00.002-05:00

Costumed and covered in gruesome zombie makeup, the Glee cast is hardly recognizable as they gnash their teeth and perform a jerky dance across a football field for the big February 6th post-Super Bowl extravaganza.

Joined by sexy blue-haired cheerleaders, the group will take on the Michael Jackson's classic "Thriller" video as a mashup with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs's "Heads Will Roll."

The episode, at between $3 and $5 million the most expensive to date, will focus on the growing tension between the Glee club and the football team.

"You can never re-create something as incredible as 'Thriller,' " Lea Michele tells Entertainment Weekly. "We're making it our own."

Will Ferrell Replacing Steve Carell on The Office?

2011-01-27T05:58:00.003-05:00

If there's one guy who can play a worse boss than Steve Carell, it's Will Ferrell -- and the movie star is set to do just that.

Ferrell, a long-time friend and co-star of Carell -- the two featured together in 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy' -- will join the workplace comedy for a four episode arc near the end of this season, Deadline.com reports.

Carell's Emmy-winning time on 'The Office' is winding down, and the show has been waiting to reveal his replacement at Dunder Mifflin. Ferrell will play a branch manager that comes in as Carell's Michael Scott begins leaving, and will take over for at least one episode.

"We are proud to continue The Office's tradition of discovering famous talent," 'The Office' show runner Paul Lieberstein (who plays Toby on the show) said, "and we hope that once America gets a good look at Will, they'll see what we see, tremendous raw sexuality."

Farrell and Carell's careers often intertwine: Carell tried out for 'Saturday Night Live,' claiming he lost out to Farrell, and they starred together in 2005's 'Bewitched.'

Paparazzi!: Doggy Duty

2011-01-27T05:55:00.001-05:00

Talk about man's best friend! Hugh Jackman, sporting a full beard and mustache, totes his adorable French bulldog Peaches for a stroll through New York's West Village neighborhood on Tuesday.

The Oscar Nominees are...

2011-01-26T06:30:00.002-05:00

British monarchy drama The King's Speech is the film to beat at the 2011 Academy Awards after scooping an astounding 12 Oscar nominations.

The film has landed top nods, including Best Picture and acting honors for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, as well as a Best Director mention for Tom Hooper.

Also nominated for Best Picture are Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.

Joining Hooper with Best Director mentions are Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), David Fincher (The Social Network) and Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit).

Meanwhile, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), James Franco (127 Hours), Javier Barden (Biutiful) and Jeff Bridges (True Grit) will compete against The King's Speech star Firth in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category.

Nominees for Best Actress in a Leading Role include Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine), while Amy Adams (The Fighter), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Jackie Weaver (Animal Kingdom) join Bonham Carter in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category.

Competing against Rush for the title of Best Actor in a Supporting Role are Christian Bale (The Fighter), John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town) and Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right).

The award nominations were announced at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday by last year's Best Supporting Actress winner Mo'Nique and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak.

The 83rd annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 27th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and will be hosted by Anne Hathaway and Oscar-nominee James Franco. It will be televised on ABC.

The complete list of nominees is as follows:

Best Picture: Black Swan - The Fighter - Inception - The Kids Are All Right - The King's Speech - 127 Hours - The Social Network - Toy Story 3 - True Grit - Winter's Bone

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter - John Hawkes, Winter's Bone - Jeremy Renner, The Town - Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right - Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Fighter - Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech - Melissa Leo, The Fighter - Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit - Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Actor: Javier Bardem, Biutiful - Jeff Bridges, True Grit - Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network - Colin Firth, The King's Speech - James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Actress: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right - Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole - Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone - Natalie Portman, Black Swan - Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan - David O. Russell, The Fighter - Tom Hooper, The King's Speech - David Fincher, The Social Network - Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, True Grit

Best Screenplay - Adapted: Danny Boyle/Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours - Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network - Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3 - Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, True Grit - Debra Granik/Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone

Best Screenplay - Original: Mike Leigh, Another Year - Scott Silver/Paul Tamasy/Eric Johnson, The Fighter - Christopher Nolan, Inception - Lisa Cholodenko/Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right - David Seidler, The King's Speech

Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful (Mexico) - Dogtooth (Greece) - In a Better World (Denmark) -
Incendies (Canada) - Outside the Law (Algeria)

Best Animated Feature: How To Train Your Dragon - The Illusionist - Toy Story 3

Best Documentary (Feature): Exit Through the Gift Shop - Gasland - Inside Job - Restrepo - Waste Land

Best Art Direction: Alice In Wonderland - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Inception - The King's Speech - True Grit

Best Cinematography: Black Swan - Inception - The King's Speech - The Social Network - True Grit

Best Sound Mixing: Inception - The King's Speech - Salt - The Social Network - True Grit

Best Sound Editing: Inception - Toy Story 3 - Tron: Legacy - True Grit - Unstoppable

Best Original Score: How To Train Your Dragon, John Powell - Inception, Hans Zimmer - The King's Speech, Alexandre Desplat - 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman - The Social Network, Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross

Best Original Song: Coming Home from Country Strong, Tom Douglas/Troy Verges/Hillary Lindsey - I See The Light from Tangled, Alan Menken/Glenn Slater - If I Rise from 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman/Dido/Rollo Armstrong - We Belong Together from Toy Story 3, Randy Newman

Best Costume: Alice in Wonderland - I Am Love - The King's Speech - The Tempest - True Grit

Best Documentary (Short Subject): Killing in the Name - Poster Girl - Strangers No More - Sun Come Up - The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Film Editing: Black Swan - The Fighter - The King's Speech - 127 Hours - The Social Network

Best Make-up: Barney's Version - The Way Back - The Wolfman

Best Animated Short Film: Day and Night - The Gruffalo - Let's Pollute - The Lost Thing - Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Best Live Action Short Film: The Confession - The Crush - God of Love - Na Wewe - Wish 143

Best Visual Effects: Alice In Wonderland - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Hereafter - Inception - Iron Man 2

Gay Doritos Ads Won't Air

2011-01-26T06:28:00.002-05:00

The pair of gay-themed Doritos ads that made the rounds on the Web Monday won’t air during the Super Bowl, according to a spokesman for Frito-Lay.

Frito-Lay director of public relations Chris Kuechenmeister told the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation the ads were two out of 5,600 that were submitted to the company for its “Crash the Super Bowl” contest.

He said the ads were not among the finalists chosen by a panel of judges and have no chance of airing during the Super Bowl or otherwise.

The ads, which ran on The Advocate, sparked mixed reaction from gay viewers. One ad features two men steaming in the sauna as one man seductively eyes the other’s crotch. In a second ad a man gazes across the fence at his two gay neighbors, who are sunning themselves and eating Doritos by the pool.

Kuechenmeister said the contest’s judges sought to “identify spots that were appropriate for everyone” and “observe a level of respect for everybody.”

He said though the ads don’t appear on the contest’s official page and the company has no direct ability to remove them, he would be raising the issue with the company’s legal team.

Kate Hudson to Play Linda Lovelace

2011-01-26T06:26:00.002-05:00

Kate Hudson is reportedly in talks to play porn icon Linda Lovelace in a new biopic.

The Hollywood actress, who is currently pregnant with her second child, is said to have been offered the title role in a film adaptation of Eric Danville's book The Complete Linda Lovelace.

James Franco is in negotiations to play pornographer Chuck Traynor opposite Hudson, according to www.Deadline.com.

The movie will go up against a rival Lovelace project called Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, which initially saw Lindsay Lohan cast in the title role before she was replaced by Malin Akerman due to her ongoing personal problems.

Elton John Won't Be Invited to the Royal Wedding

2011-01-26T06:22:00.002-05:00

Here's one star who isn't eagerly checking his mailbox for the big wedding invitation.

Despite the buzz about him performing at the royal wedding on April 29th (whether officially or as a street performer outside Westminster Abbey, as he joked), Elton John says he won't make the invite list.

"I think because of my relationship with Princess Diana, people automatically think I'm going to be invited," John told Reuters.

But since he doesn't know Prince William well, "I'm not invited to the wedding, I would not expect to be invited to the wedding," he says.

Still, he's happy to join the throngs of well-wishers.

Prince William and Kate Middleton "seem very happy," says the singer, who performed at the 2007 London memorial concert for Princess Diana. "He's a terrific man, William, and he's going to be a great king."

Not to mention a great groom.

"These boys are their own people, they have their own friends," says John. "I just hope that they have the best day and its sunny and it's a great occasion for them."

Regis Philbin Replacement: Who Will Fill His Seat?

2011-01-26T06:00:00.005-05:00

Who will fill Regis Philbin’s seat on ABC’s Live! with Regis & Kelly?

Here are 10 names making the industry rounds as potential pairings for Kelly Ripa. Some of these celebrities been previously reported and others are new. At least a couple, we’re told, are non-starters. ABC, unfortunately, has no comment. Here’s what we think:

– Ryan Seacrest: You can’t have a major talk show vacancy without his name coming up. He could clearly handle the job. The trick (as is the case with several names below) is working around his existing deals.

– Jeff Probst: The Survivor host is a superb interviewer, he has co-hosted the show in the past, and his contract is up this year.

– Mario Lopez: Another former Live! co-host. We’re told he’s potentially a popular contender, but that his deal with Extra may hold things up.

– Chris Harrison: The Bachelor host is already in the ABC family. If he can handle crazed bachelorettes, surely he can work with sweet Kelly, right?

– Mark Consuelos: Yup, Kelly’s husband. He’s an actor and reality show host. We’re hearing he’s an unlikely choice.

– Chris Cuomo: The 20/20 host is another ABC insider.

– Anderson Cooper: Woulda-coulda-shoulda. He’s busy trying to get his own daytime talk show off the ground.

– Billy Bush: Like Lopez, there’s an entertainment news program deal to work around — this time, with Access Hollywood.

– Neil Patrick Harris: Considered a fantastic substitute co-host on the show. But would he want the gig?

– Mike Rowe: Now this is an interesting name. The Dirty Jobs host and Deadliest Catch narrator has a ton of female fans. Could this blue collar man’s man pull off the celebrity bantering and hamming it up with Kelly? Why, this could be his toughest job yet.

Bonus: Here’s some names floated by other publications: Nick Jonas, Bryant Gumbel, Glenn Beck, Tom Bergeron, and Larry King.

And, yes, all those who are supposedly being considered are men (though one publication did mention Jane Lynch).

Keep in mind that when Kathie Lee Gifford left Live, similar lists circulated the media as producers began to reach out to prospective talent. And you know who wasn’t named on any of those lists? Kelly Ripa.

Mamma Mia! The Jersey Shore Cast Heads to Italy

2011-01-26T05:51:00.002-05:00

How do you say "gym, tan, laundry" in Italian?

The cast of Jersey Shore is heading to Italy for season 4 of MTV's hit show, the network announced Tuesday.

"While the stateside Jersey Shore locales have become iconic for our audience ... Europe is a fresh spin on a show that continues to reach new heights for us," MTV's Chris Linn said in a statement. "The cast is headed to the birthplace of the culture they love and live by. We can't wait to see what erupts as a result."

Amid their inevitable shenanigans, the gang – which in season 3 includes Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Paul "DJ Pauly D" Delvecchio, Jenni "JWOWW" Farley, Vinnie Guadagnino, Ronnie Magro, Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola – will leave "the boardwalk behind for the piazzas," "trade gorillas for Italian stallions" and, according to the statement, drop in on Vinny's Italian relatives for a famous Guadagnino family dinner.

"Ohh I Love Italy This Time A Yeahhh," Pauly D Tweeted Tuesday.

Adds Snooki: "Just heard the most amazing news!"

With a whole new country before them where they can create embarrassing moments, one thing we'd love to see is how The Situation's abs stack up compared to the classic competition of Michelangelo's statue of David, on display in Florence.

The next season is set to begin production in the spring in Europe and will air later this year, MTV says.

Eclipse & Last Airbender Lead Razzie Nominees

2011-01-25T06:43:00.002-05:00

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is leading this year's Golden Raspberry Awards (The Razzies) after scoring nine nominations for the upcoming ceremony, which names and shames the worst movies.

The popular vampire sequel is on the shortlist for Worst Picture, while Kristen Stewart is up for the Worst Actress trophy and the film's lead male stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are set to battle it out for Worst Actor.

Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper in the blood-sucking series, picked up two nominations for Worst Supporting Actor - one for his role in the latest Twilight project and another for his part in The Last Airbender, which also picked up a total of nine nominations.

The film, starring Dev Patel, landed on the shortlist for awards including Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actor (Patel) and Worst Supporting Actress (Nicola Peltz).

The other Worst Picture contenders are The Bounty Hunter, Sex and the City 2 and Twilight spoof Vampires Suck.

Joining Stewart in the Worst Actress category are Jennifer Aniston (The Bounty Hunter), Miley Cyrus (The Last Song) and Megan Fox (Jonah Hex), while Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon received a shared nomination for their roles in the second Sex and the City sequel.

Other contenders for this year's Worst Actor title include Jack Black (Gulliver's Travels), Gerard Butler (The Bounty Hunter) and Ashton Kutcher, who is nominated twice for his parts in Valentine's Day and Killers.

The winners of the awards will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 26 February - a day before the Academy Awards take place.

Last year, Sandra Bullock attended the event to pick up the Worst Actress trophy for All About Steve - a day before she won an Oscar for her part in The Blind Side.

This year's Academy Award nominations – for outstanding achievement in movies – will be announced later this morning.

Britney Spears Returns to 'Edgy' Sound on New CD

2011-01-25T06:40:00.003-05:00

While Britney Spears's new single, "Hold It Against Me," may have provided an upbeat preview of her new album, what will the rest of the work sound like?

"It's way more edgy than the last album," songwriter Claude Kelly, who composed several tracks for the as-yet-untitled album, said at a New York NARAS reception. He adds that Spears, 29, is returning to the grittier sounds of 2007's Blackout. "[It's] more in the vein of the album before," he says.

Though Kelly admits he's not completely sure what the "final product is going to be," he does say, "the last album [2008's Circus] was more clean pop. [Its purpose] was to reintroduce Britney to the world as the pop princess."

As the first single also indicates, Spears, who Tweeted from her "Hold It Against Me" video shoot this weekend, has new tunes are definitely club-worthy.

"She's always ready," Kelly says. "Dr. Luke and Max Martin are running the show, and it's all about the beats. It has a heavier bass line and it's much harder, more urgent, more club. She's ready again!"

Kelly Osbourne is the New Face of Madonna's Material Girl Fashion Line

2011-01-25T06:32:00.003-05:00

Kelly Osbourne's has been named the new face of Madonna's Material Girl fashion line.

Osbourne, who once called herself an "ugly duckling," replaces 'Gossip Girl' star Taylor Momsen, according to a tweet from the company.

Material Girl is a year-old juniors design collaboration between the iconic music superstar and 14-year-old daughter Lourdes. It's sold exclusively at Macy's.

"Material Girl is thrilled to confirm that Kelly Osbourne is the new face for 2011. We will be sharing all the details on this exciting new campaign in the coming weeks," her rep confirmed in a statement.

Material Girl launched in 2010 with rebellious Momsen as its face. Late last year though, Lourdes blogged that the label was "desperately seeking" a new face.

Osbourne, who slimmed down considerably after an image-altering turn on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," has updated her look from goth to glam.

"I've spent the last few years trying to figure out who Kelly Osbourne is, from addiction to awards and fashion faux pas," she writes on her official blog.

Things seem to be looking up for Osbourne, who earlier this month was seen with British musician Rob Damiani, after a long funk from breaking up with Luke Worrall last summer.