18 August 2006
Osment Charged With Drunk Driving and Drug Possession
Former child star Haley Joel Osment has been charged with drunk driving and marijuana possession following his car crash in Los Angeles last month. The Sixth Sense star, 18, was formally charged with the misdemeanors yesterday in Los Angeles. According to website Tmz.com, the teenager has also been charged with driving with a .08 blood alcohol level or higher and the infraction of driving under the age of 21 with a blood alcohol level of .05 or higher. The charges relate to his car crash last month, after Osment lost control of his Saturn and collided with a brick pillar in a Hollywood suburb. The young actor was treated for a broken rib and a shoulder injury at a nearby hospital.
Gibson Agrees To Plea Deal To Stay Out of Jail
Mel Gibson has avoided a spell in jail after agreeing to a plea deal following his drink driving arrest at the end of last month. In court in Malibu, California yesterday morning, the movie star's lawyer confirmed he had thrashed out a deal with prosecutors, which will place Gibson on probation for three years. Under the terms of the deal, Gibson will attend a full year of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He has also been fined $1,200. Gibson has also volunteered to record a public service announcement on the hazards of driving while drunk and to enter a rehabilitation facility immediately, according to website Tmz.com. It was understood that Gibson had checked himself into such a facility after his arrest, but US tabloids report the actor has been a recluse at his home in California since the incident hit the headlines. Gibson has pleaded no contest to driving with a .08 blood alcohol level or higher. The count of driving under the influence was dismissed, as was a charge of driving with an open container of alcohol. The plea deal was officiated by judge Laurence Mira, who has passed sentence on a number of lawbreaking celebrities like Nick Nolte, Nicole Richie and Gibson's pal Robert Downey, Jr. Gibson was arrested on July 28 after leaving Malibu bar Moonshadows. His arrest prompted outrage from Jewish community leaders after the actor's drunken, anti-Semitic rant was made public.
Oscar-Winning Producer Crashes Her Own Premiere
Crash producer Cathy Schulman was forced to attend the premiere of her latest movie as the guest of actor Paul Giamatti, because of her ongoing feud with former business partner Bob Yari. Schulman and Yari made Giamatti-starring The Illusionist, which premiered in New York on Tuesday night, before their acrimonious split. Yari sued the Producers Guild Of America and the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences in March after he was removed from the Oscar-winning Crash's credits, because the Academy only allows two producers from each film to be nominated for the top prize. Crash was a surprise Best Picture winner, and writer/director Paul Haggis picked up the award for his producing contribution along with Schulman at the March ceremony. And, while legal action continues in Los Angeles, the pair are still not on good terms, especially as Yari ensured Schulman was not asked to The Illusionist premiere. Schulman tells PageSix.com, "I was not invited to the premiere. I went as Paul Giamatti's date. When I saw Yari, I said hello. He didn't say anything, but let's put it this way - if looks could kill. And they didn't give me a wristband to get in the VIP section of the after-party. It's just an unfortunate and unnecessary situation. I still haven't been paid for Crash or The Illusionist."
Richie Fights With Photographer
The Simple Life star Nicole Richie furiously confronted a photographer who insulted her while she was shopping with a friend in Malibu, California, on Saturday. Richie and her friend were leaving the Planet Blue boutique when a photographer reportedly shouted, "Nicole, you look disgusting. Gain some f**king weight!" The star has been battling accusations she is dangerously thin and claims she'd had enough of people making comments about her weight. The paparazzo's harsh words left Richie visibly shaken and in tears. She later decided to confront the photographer and walked directly up to his car. Richie tells American publication Us Weekly, "You don't scream at people that are overweight, so what makes people think that they have the right to scream at me that I am underweight? It's upsetting and mean. I am not anorexic. At that moment, I was just sick of everyone constantly bothering me about how I look. I walked up to the photographer and told him, 'What if I really had anorexia? What if I had a disease? How would you feel about saying such horrible things?' He probably just wanted to get a rise out of me, but I'm a human being and he hurt my feelings."
Spears Desperate To Give Birth
Pop star Britney Spears is counting down the days until she gives birth next month, because back-to-back pregnancies have wreaked havoc on her body. The exhausted 24-year-old has been pregnant for nearly 18 months out of the past 21, and insists it's time to give her body a break. She tells American publication People, "I feel like I've been pregnant for 10 years!" Spears, who has gained 40 pounds during her pregnancy, was once renowned for doing 3,000 sit-ups a week. The singer is desperate to get her body back into shape and is determined to do whatever it takes to lose the baby weight. She says, "I'm so excited to sweat like I used to - now I can't because you're always kind of scared, just kind of protective. I'm so excited about getting my body back and getting a routine scheduled. I'm definitely going to start working out in a huge way."
Lopez To Settle With Ex-Husband?
Latina superstar Jennifer Lopez is close to settling her legal battle with her first ex-husband Ojani Noa before it goes to court. The singer/actress filed suit against the former waiter in April, after Noa announced plans to detail his one-year marriage with the Latina beauty in a tell-all book. She also obtained a restraining order barring Noa from revealing intimate details of their sex life. Noa and Lopez signed an agreement last year, ruling he could not disparage the Maid In Manhattan star or make money from disclosing intimate details from their brief marriage. In court papers, Lopez claimed Noa said he would continue to market his book The Unknown Truth: A Passionate Portrait Of A Serial Thriller, unless the star paid him $5 million, however Noa denied these claims. At a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, lawyers for Lopez and Noa said they hoped to settle their differences through arbitration. This is second legal dispute between the former spouses - last year they settled a lawsuit filed by the Cuban-born model, who claimed he was fired "without good cause or reasons" from his position as manager of her Pasadena, California restaurant Madre's. The couple divorced in March 1998 after 13 months of marriage.
Arquette Stunned by Weight Loss Request
Patricia Arquette was outraged when she was asked to lose her baby weight for her role as psychic detective Allison Dubois in TV series Medium - because the character is a mother of three. The True Romance star, sister of David Arquette and Rosanna Arquette, refused to slim for the motherly role, insisting the request simply didn't make sense. She says, "When I started Medium I'd gained a stone and a half from having my daughter Harlow. The producer said, 'Honey, you've got to lose some weight.' I felt like saying, 'I don't want to do this job then,' because, to be honest with you, I'm trying to make little changes in the world. If it made any sense for this part - if this part was a supermodel or anorexic - then okay. But DuBois is a mother of three in a long-term marriage. It doesn't make sense."
Timberlake Backtracks Over Hicks Criticism
Justin Timberlake insists he has "great affection" for Taylor Hicks, after telling Fashion Rocks magazine the American Idol winner "can't carry a tune in a bucket." The former 'N Sync heart-throb told the American publication of his disdain for the TV talent show, declaring he didn't see a long-term music career for Hicks, who won the Fox show in May. Timberlake said, "People think he looks so normal and he's so sweet and he's so earnest, but he can't carry a tune in a bucket. If he has any skeletons whatsoever - if, God forbid, he's gay - and all these people in Mississippi who voted for him are like 'Oh, my God, I voted for a queer!' It's just too much pressure." However, the hitmaker's publicist Ken Sunshine insists Timberlake wasn't trying to criticize Hicks, insisting, "These comments are taken completely out of context. Justin only wishes him well. He has great affection for anybody that puts himself out there the way he did."
Rock and Anderson Marry for Third Time
Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson married for the third time in three weeks when they exchanged vows in Nashville, Tennessee, yesterday. Rock - real name Robert Ritchie - wed former Baywatch babe Anderson for the first time on a yacht in St Tropez, France, last month, and they exchanged vows again in Detroit, Michigan, last week. The bride and groom both wore white at their latest nuptials - Anderson donned a white Juicy mini-dress and Ritchie wore a white tank top. After the ceremony, Ritchie took to the stage and sang Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition." Ritchie's Nashville-based publicist Kirt Webster says, "It was a good time. All the people that were there, the fans, they had a good time."
Dina Lohan Develops Own Talk Show
Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina Lohan is developing her own talk show for US television. Dina, who acts as her daughter's manager, claims she is the perfect host for a show because people feel comfortable telling her their problems. She says, "Lindsay's friends call me the 'white Oprah (Winfrey)' because they all come to me with their problems. I'm like the mom of these kids in the business. I love to talk. I have a talk show in the works. It's more of an Apprentice-type game show thing. I would host it and co-produce it. We're shopping it around."
