Gossip/Celebrity News

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The 19-year-old man arrested Sunday in the case of Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance has been ordered to remain in custody for another eight days, authorities in Aruba said Monday.

The teen will appear before a judge on Tuesday, Aruban prosecutors said in a written statement. He is not necessarily a suspect, but in Aruba authorities can, with a judge's approval, hold someone without charges for questioning, CNN reports.

Authorities have so far identified the detainee only by the initials G.V.C., as is customary in Aruba when an arrest is announced, according to the Associated Press. But according to the New York Post, the suspect is Geoffrey van Cromvoirt, who works as a beach patroller to prevent crime against tourists.

Holloway, 18, was an honors student from Mountain Brook, Ala., who disappeared May 30 on the final night of a high-school class trip to the Dutch Caribbean island.

On Monday, a lawyer for Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch teen who'd previously been held in the case, said that his client didn't know the latest person arrested by Aruban authorities. "My client doesn't know him at all," Joseph Tacopina told the AP.

However Tacopina said the suspect was detained because police recovered a T-shirt belonging to him with "relevant forensic information." The lawyer, whose investigators have been in contact with Aruban authorities, did not give any other details.

Holloway's father, Dave, said Sunday he had been told the arrested person's identity but did not recognize the name. "We're hopeful that something will come out of it," he told CNN.

He added that he is still suspicious of Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who were the last to be seen with Holloway.

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Eva Longoria is a relationship kind of woman – and says she expects to stay with her beau, San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker "forever."

"I'd much rather be in a relationship," the Desperate Housewives star tells PEOPLE. "There's no way in the world I would rather be single. Tony is too. I've said the only reason Tony and I are going to stay together forever is because we're too lazy to look for someone else."

Longoria, who appears in the upcoming film The Sentinel, also sets the record straight on a recent interview with Allure in which she said of her relationship with Parker, "I'm the teacher, especially about love."

"In the article, I explain it very clearly," she tells PEOPLE. "How I'm the experienced one because I've been married, divorced, I've been in several long-term relationships. Tony's been in one long-term relationship and he's 23. I'm 31. I don't know where they got 'teacher of sex.' " (Longoria was married to actor Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004.)

Longoria says she's learned to ignore rumors that she's dating other men, such as pal Jamie Foxx and her Sentinel costar Kiefer Sutherland. "I don't really pay attention to it," she says. "Tony and I are really secure. Plus, Tony doesn't have a jealous bone in his body. Kiefer is friends with Tony and me. Jamie is friends with Tony and me. Anybody who's in my life is a friend of mine is also a friend of Tony's."

Of having her love life scrutinized, she tells PEOPLE, "It's a shame because you can't be private about your life and you can't be public. If people say, 'How are you and Tony?' and I say, 'I don't want to talk about my personal life,' they're like 'Trouble in paradise: Eva doesn't speak about it.' Then you talk about it, and they're like: 'Trouble in paradise: Eva speaks out.' You can't win."

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Oprah Winfrey on Monday put to rest rumors that she's throwing a lavish $8 million wedding for Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn.

With the help of Aniston, who called into The Oprah Winfrey Show to set the record straight, Winfrey said that there is no party, let alone a "wedding of the century" as some reports would call it.

Winfrey also denied reports that she's giving the couple a $1-million wedding present. ("It sounds like you're giving me Santa Barbara," Aniston joked to Winfrey of tabloid reports.) And the talk show host said she's not hiring celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma to perform at the alleged nuptials.

"(The rumors) are so unbelievable," said Aniston, adding that she first heard the wedding rumor when she was asked about it earlier this month on the Today show.

"For us," Aniston told Winfrey, "I guess, at a certain point, you have no other choice but to think it's funny."

Winfrey, however, said she didn't think it was funny that a news program like Today was reporting such fodder.

Thumbing through a supermarket tabloid that Winfrey said also wrongly reported that she and longtime companion Steadman Graham were splitting, Winfrey referred to a published account that she's helping Aniston hunt for a house near hers.

"I do want you near me," Winfrey told Aniston, "but you can live where you want to live, honey."

Yet, is Aniston house hunting? "No, I have my house," she said.

Anything else she wanted to talk about, asked Winfrey. "No wedding, no moves, no no," said Aniston. "I'll keep you posted."

During the Today appearance earlier this month with two of her Friends With Money costars Aniston was asked about the alleged wedding.

"I thought you weren't going to go there," Aniston's costar Catherine Keener snapped at the morning program's entertainment reporter, Jill Rappaport.

Rappaport acknowledged Keener's instinct to protect Aniston, but said she was still curious about the rumors because she herself had never been to an $8 million wedding.

"And now you won't be," said Keener, as Aniston remained tight-lipped.

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Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise "joyously welcomed the arrival of a baby girl, Suri, today," Cruise's rep said in a statement after PEOPLE first broke the news Tuesday afternoon.

"The child weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length. Both mother and daughter are doing well." Suri was born in an L.A.-area hospital.

The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew meaning "princess," or in Persian meaning "red rose," the rep added.

Holmes, Cruise and baby Suri are back home and doing well.

Last October, barely six months into their romance, an ecstatic Cruise and Holmes revealed that they were expectant parents.

Cruise, 43, and Holmes, 27, had made no secret of their desire to start a family together: When asked by PEOPLE last June if they were planning to have children, Holmes smiled and said simply, "Yes."

Friends of the Toledo, Ohio-bred Holmes called her perfectly suited to her upcoming role. "She almost seems born for motherhood," said Oliver Hudson, actress Kate Hudson's brother and an old pal who costarred with Holmes in Dawson's Creek. "She's a nurturer. She's got mother qualities a lot of girls her age don't have."

Cruise, meanwhile, is "a great dad already," according to his pal, actress Leah Remini. He has two children from his marriage to Nicole Kidman: Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11, whom Cruise and Kidman adopted as infants. Remini told PEOPLE that both kids are "so cool…You can sit and talk to them about life."

As for marriage, Cruise and Holmes plan to tie the knot soon, Cruise said on the German TV program Wetten, dass..? on April 1. "In summer we want to get married. I won't let this woman get away."

Immediately ahead for the new dad: the May 5 release of Mission: Impossible 3. Holmes stars in the recently released satirical film about Washington politics, Thank You for Smoking.

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Brooke Shields gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Grier Hammond Henchy, on Tuesday, her rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.

The baby, who was born in Los Angeles, weighed in at 7 lbs., and measured 20 inches.

Shields, 40, and husband Chris Henchy, 42, who wed in 2001, also have a daughter, Rowan, who will be 3 next month.

Just last month, the couple celebrated the impending birth of their second child at a Moroccan-themed baby shower hosted by actor Steven Weber and his wife, Juliette Hohnen, at their L.A. home.

"Brooke was simply glowing all evening," her friend, event planner Jo Gartin, who organized the fete, told PEOPLE.

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The marriage of Eddie and Nicole Murphy officially ended Monday, court papers reveal.

The comedian will pay child support to his ex-wife, with whom he has five children. Their youngest daughter, Bella Zahra, is 3 years old. Their eldest, Bria, is 15.

Attorneys for Murphy had no comment. Nicole Murphy's lawyers could not be reached.

Nicole Murphy, a 37-year-old former model, filed for divorce on Aug. 5 in Los Angeles after 12 years of marriage.

"The welfare of our children is our main concern and their best interest is our first priority," Murphy, 44, said in a statement issued by his rep, Paul Bloch, after the filing.

The couple met in 1988 and wed in 1993.

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Julia Roberts made her official Broadway debut Wednesday night in the play "Three Days of Rain," and her fellow celebrities turned out in droves.

"I'm so excited," Oprah Winfrey exclaimed on her way into the theater, the Associated Press reports, while Susan Sarandon called Roberts "gorgeous and confident." Tim Robbins told the New York Daily News, "I think she did great."

Also in the audience: James Gandolfini, Diane Sawyer, Dave Matthews, Rosie Perez, Marcia Gay Harden, Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr.

"I'm very happy," Roberts said at a post-show party at the restaurant Cipriani on 42nd St. "I think it went really well, but I don't want to use the word relieved."

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Ace Young was cut from American Idol Wednesday night after making his fourth appearance in the bottom three.

"I've had a blast," the 25-year-old from Denver said after Ryan Seacrest delivered the news. Ironically, Young's song choice that led to his ouster was "That's All."

Simon Cowell had praised Young's performance on Tuesday night, calling his rendition of the standard "charming" – even if his voice was "a little nasally."

Rounding out the bottom three were Chris Daughtry, 26, and Paris Bennett, 17.

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Jessica Simpson has resumed wearing her wedding ring – though on a chain around her neck.

"You can still move on and have the memories," a source close to the pop star tells PEOPLE, noting that Simpson, 25, still speaks to her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Nick Lachey, 32. "Nick will always be an important part of her life."

Also on the chain with her 3.5 carat bauble are two crosses – one that her parents gave to her, and another that is identical to a cross worn by both her sister, Ashlee and mother, Tina.

The jewelry pieces represent "a combination of things that are important to her," says the source.

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Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and his wife, Jordyn Blum, welcomed their first child, Violet Maye, on Saturday, April 15, in Los Angeles, Grohl's rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Named for the singer's grandmother, Violet weighs 6 lbs., 15 oz., and measures 21 inches.

Grohl, 37, wed Blum, 29, a former MTV producer, at their Los Angeles home on Aug. 2, 2003, before guests including Clive Davis and Grohl's former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic.

It was the first marriage for Blum and the second for Grohl, who was divorced from photographer Jennifer Youngblood in 1997.

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins first revealed that the couple were expecting in an MTV interview early this year. "We're going to be touring Europe in January and February, but we've got to be home by March, because Dave and his wife are having a baby,'' Hawkins said, adding, "but I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that.''

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With Gisele Bündchen out of the picture since November, Leonardo DiCaprio has been quietly seeing another babelicious blonde – 20-year-old Israeli swimsuit model Bar Refaeli.

DiCaprio, who has been filming the drama The Blood Diamond in Africa for the past few months, met up with Refaeli in Paris for a romantic getaway last weekend. (The two had also rendezvoused there in January.)

The couple held hands while strolling along the Champs-Elysées, window-shopping along Avenue Montaigne and noshing at a Lebanese restaurant. Said one observer at the eatery: "They were very close to each other. They seemed to enjoy being together very much."

DiCaprio’s rep had no comment.

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is spending a low-key Friday at Windsor Castle, where she is celebrating her 80th birthday.

The day will include a walkabout among her subjects in Windsor – a tradition she first adopted in 1970 while touring Australia and New Zealand – and a private family dinner hosted by her eldest son, Prince Charles, Reuters reports.

Her subjects have not overlooked the landmark birthday of the queen, who was rated the most popular royal in a recent British survey. Buckingham Palace reports that it has received 20,000 birthday cards and 17,000 e-mails, to which the queen responded in a statement: "I would like to thank the many thousands of people from this country and overseas who have sent me cards and messages on my 80th birthday.

"I have been very touched by what you have written and would like to express my gratitude to you all for making this day such a special one for me."

She is declining presents, having told her subjects that all she would like on Friday is a bit of sunshine.

The monarch, who took the throne in 1953, has only 10 years to go before she rivals Queen Victoria's 64-year reign. And she's got good genes on her side: Her mother died at 101.

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Brad Pitt has a longstanding passion for architecture – and now he's putting it to good use by helping New Orleans as the city rebuilds after Hurricane Katrina.

Pitt and the environmental organization Global Green USA are sponsoring the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans, a contest to find an Earth-friendly plan for housing and community centers in neighborhoods ravaged by Katrina.

"This competition asks the question, can this catastrophe be turned into opportunity?" Pitt said in a statement. "Can we create for these neighborhoods and its families something even better than they had before? We encourage anyone with an idea to get involved."

The actor along with Global Green president Matt Petersen came up with the idea for the contest at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City last fall.

Although Pitt, 42, is currently in Namibia – and awaiting the birth of his first child – with Angelina Jolie, 30, and kids Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 1, he will serve as chairman of the jury when the winner is selected in August.

Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Morgan Freeman have also been involved in Global Green's efforts to rebuild New Orleans.

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Hey, Tom, nice job on name

BY ETHAN SACKS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tom Cruise may be an expert on Scientology, but he's not an expert on his infant daughter's name.

Cruise and his fiancée Katie Holmes named the girl Suri, which Cruise's publicist explained means princess in Hebrew and red rose in Persian or Farsi. Wrong on both counts.

"I think it is a mistake," said Prof. Hooshang Amirahmadi, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University.

"In Farsi, it means red, like a fiery color, but there is no such a thing as a 'suri' that means 'red rose,' I can promise you that," said Amirahmadi. He added that the word also can mean "a party or celebration."

In Israel, there was similar confusion.

"Nobody here has ever really heard of it," an announcer on Israel's Army Radio said yesterday.

Avshalom Kor, an expert on the intricacies of the Hebrew language, told Army Radio there is a tenuous connection. Kor said Suri is a nickname for Sarah as pronounced by Jews from Central Europe.

In ancient Hebrew, Sarah is the feminine form of the word for lord. "We seem to have learned a new Hebrew word - and from Tom Cruise, no less," said a Channel 2 TV anchorman.

In India, Suri is more likely to be a boy's name than a girl's, according to several baby name Internet sites. It comes from the Sanskrit word for "sun" and is an epithet for the Hindu god Krishna.

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Suri, the Persian rose
Or Surrey, Scientology's headquarters?

Manouchehr Saadat Noury, PhD
April 21, 2006

On April 19 actress Katie Holmes, who is engaged to movie actor Tom Cruise, gave birth to the couple's first girl who was named Suri. The name may have different meanings:

1. Cleveland Evans, president of American Name Society, told the reporters that the baby girl Cruise's name was so obscure that it didn't make it into his book. Evans’s book, “The Great Big Book of Baby Names” includes of roughly 10,000 names. But he did find “Suri” in The Complete Book of Muslim and Persian Names where it was defined as "a beautiful red rose".

2. According to the statement published by Cruise's publicist, Suri would also have an association to Sarah, which is Hebrew for princess.

Suri as a flower in Persian Culture is actually one of the members of Rose family and most Iranians call it as Gol-e-Mohammadi. Its scientific botanical name is Rosa damascena Mill (RDM). On the basis of various documents, the flower was firstly originated in Iran and it was possibly called simply as Rose. It is speculated that after Iran became a part of Muslim world, the Arab invaders became familiar with the rose and they introduced it to the gardens located in Damascus in Syria (in Persian: Suri-eh). Later, the Westerners called it as Rosa damascene (a part of scientific name) and Suri (as a local name).

Hurst et al in studying on Rose family explained the Persian origin of the flower and he referred to RDM as well as to some other varieties. In their “Notes on the Origin of the Moss-Rose”, the researchers wrote,

Notwithstanding these records we are inclined to believe that the Rose has been cultivated in the fields and gardens of Asia from time immemorial, and that its native country can only be surmised. The fact of its sterility suggests an origin under cultivation, and it is worthy of note that R. centifolia L, does not "stool" so freely as R. gallica L., nor does it root so well from cuttings and layers as R. damascena Mill, so that its chances of survival and increase in a wild state would be very small. The fact that the habitats given are on the borders of or in Persia is also significant, for Persia is a country which has been famous for its fragrant Roses from the earliest times.

Fluckiger (1862) refers to a Persian document in the National Library in Paris which states that in the year 810, the province of Fars was required to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 bottles of Rose-water (in Persian: Golaab) to the Treasury of Baghdad. The most important cultivations of Roses for distilling Rose water were near Shiraz, and are "even to this day" (Fluckiger, 1883). Lindley (1820) in commenting on the celebrated Roses of Shiraz, praised so enthusiastically by Kaempfer (1712) suggests that the Rose of Shiraz may be the Cabbage-Rose (a. centifolia L.) or possibly R. damascena Mill.

It was at Shiraz that one of the masterpieces of the Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam was transcribed in 1460. The immortal Persian poet and philosopher, who flourished in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was a passionate lover of the Rose, as well of the Wine, and red, white, yellow and flesh-colored Roses are referred to in the Rubaiyyat. It is related by Fitz Gerald (1859) that one day in a garden Omar Khayyam said to one of his pupils that his tomb shall be in a spot where the North wind may scatter Roses over it, and it was so, for on his grave at Naishabur a Rose tree was planted.

In Persian literature, Suri flower (in Persian: Gol-e-Suri) has been also called as Gol-e-Nowruz (New Day Flower). Manouchehri Damghani, the famous Iranian poet of 11 th century, refers to Suri as it appears when Iranian NewYear (Nowruz) arrives: Here is his poem in Persian:

Aamad Nowruz maah baa Gol-e-Suri beham.
Baadeh-e-Suri beggir, bar Gol-e-Suri becham.

In present-day Iran, Suri or Gol-e-Mohammadi is mainly cultivated in the central province of Esfahan (Isfahan). Other important cultivation sites of the flower are known to be in Shiraz, Kerman, Kashan, Golpayehgaan, and Natanz!

It should be noted if the name of Tom Cruise’s daughter spells as Surrey that would be a town in South East of England where Lafayette Ron Hubbard's home was and where the Scientology's headquarters is built. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard, was a prolific American author and founder of the controversial Church of Scientology. In addition to the books on Scientology, he wrote science fiction, business management texts, essays, and poetry. Tom cruise is known to be a member of the Church of Scientology.

Surrey as a county town in England, Surrey was the surname of a British Poet, Henry Howard Surrey who with Thomas Wyatt introduced French and Italian forms into English verse. Surrey was also a late 19 th century four-wheeled two-seated carriage used in the United Kingdom.

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In court papers filed Friday, Denise Richards claims that her estranged husband, Charlie Sheen, threatened to kill her.

"I am filing now because I can no longer accept (Sheen's) abusive and threatening manner and must stop him from the cycle of his abuse toward me and our children and his continued threats of violence and statements that he is going to kill me," Richards, 35, says in papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In her 17-page filing, Richards says that Sheen's gambling, pill-popping and violent mood swings led to their initial separation last year.

Among her allegations: That Sheen abused prescription drugs after the 2004 birth of their first daughter, Sam, and told Richards "I 'better not tell anybody about his using these drugs and better keep it to myself.' I understood by these statements that (he) would physically harm me and our baby."

Richards also claims that, on the way to the hospital for the birth of their daughter Lola last year, Sheen placed a gambling bet by phone, and was checking his pager for the results as she was wheeled into surgery for her C-section.

Things turned violent on Dec. 27, 2005, according to the papers, when Sheen allegedly hit Richards's wrist and shoved her in the stomach after she confronted him about pornography Web sites featuring "very young girls" that he'd been visiting. She claims Sheen told her that "if I revealed anything about his lifestyle, 'You won't lay your head down at night.' I understood this to mean that he would kill me."

Several days later, she claims Sheen pushed her over while she was holding Lola and "said to me that he was going to have me killed."

In his own filing, Sheen, 40, denies claims that he threatened and hit Richards on Dec. 27 and 30, saying, "I deny having engaged in any such conduct."

In a statement issued by Richards's rep on Friday, the actress said, "I am disappointed that the situation has deteriorated to the point that it has become necessary to seek the assistance of the court. However, my primary concern is and always has been the welfare of the children and this action today was taken to ensure their safety as well as mine."

Sheen issued a statement of his own on Friday, calling Richards's allegations "a most obvious immature and transparent smear campaign designed to hurt, embarrass and ultimately extort me."

The statement continues, "I deeply regret (that) her response to my request for the court to decide what’s best for our children has taken the form of baseless allegations that I deny. For the sake of my children, I am electing not to reciprocate in kind.”

Richards originally filed for divorce in March of last year, when she was six months pregnant with Lola, now 10 months old. The pair appeared to briefly reconcile after Lola's birth in June, but on Jan. 4, they requested that their divorce proceed with a private arbitrator.

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Tom Cruise, who had his first child with Katie Holmes on Tuesday, says the birth of their daughter, Suri, "was everything that we wanted."

"It was spiritual. It was powerful. It was indescribable. What words can you use? It's still something that I'm processing and keep reliving," the actor tells ABC News's Deborah Roberts in a 20/20 interview airing Friday.

Cruise made his comments on Thursday night during an interview with the cast of his upcoming movie, Mission: Impossible III, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Keri Russell and director J.J. Abrams.
Asked whether he'd scale back on his movie stunts now that he's the father of a new baby, Cruise tells Roberts, "No. I mean, I have three beautiful children (including Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11, from his previous marriage to Nicole Kidman). And I love the adventure of life and filmmaking. … You can get struck by lightning walking out of your house… I’m interested in life. And, I’m very active and I love it."

In fact, Cruise admits that he suffered an injury while filming M:I 3. "I separated six ribs at a certain point. I never told J.J. or anybody when it happened."

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Dancing with the Stars champ Kelly Monaco is tackling a new challenge: hosting the Daytime Emmys on Friday. PEOPLE looks at the awards show, plus other events to watch for in the coming week:

TUESDAY, APRIL 25: The Tribeca Film Festival opens its fifth year with the controversial film United 93, which details the chaos behind the September 11 flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. In with the indie offerings at founder Robert De Niro's 12-day movie extravaganza, new dad Tom Cruise's mega-budget Mission: Impossible III will make its world premiere on May 3. The festival runs through May 7.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26: Let the conspiracy theories begin anew: Invasion, ABC's sci-fi drama about a town recovering from the aftermath of a hurricane, is back from hiatus (ABC at 10 p.m. ET). In the new episode, park ranger Russell (Eddie Cibrian) realizes his job may be on the line because of his investigation of the alien-human hybrids. And could another storm be on the way?

THURSDAY, APRIL 27: American Idol singer Lisa Tucker didn't make it past the Final 10, but she's not giving up on her showbiz dreams: The 16-year-old from Anaheim, Calif., is guest-starring as – who else? – herself on The O.C. (FOX at 9 p.m. ET).

FRIDAY, APRIL 28: First, she conquered Dancing with the Stars. Now Kelly Monaco is taking on hosting duties at the Daytime Emmys, which for the first time will move from New York to L.A.'s Kodak Theatre. The General Hospital star won't just be helping to hand out awards: She's also up for best actress for her soap opera. The event will be broadcast live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.

NEW THIS WEEK:
• Movies (now in theaters): The Sentinel, starring Michael Douglas, Eva Longoria and Kiefer Sutherland; American Dreamz, starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore; Silent Hill, starring Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean; Standing Still, starring Mena Suvari and James Van Der Beek
• Music (in stores Tuesday): Bruce Springsteen, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions; Goo Goo Dolls, Let Love In; Rihanna, A Girl Like Me; Streets, Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living; Amel Larrieux, Morning; MercyMe, Coming Up to Breathe; Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris, All the Roadrunning
• DVDs (in stores Tuesday): Match Point; Shopgirl; Aeon Flux; Casanova; Tristan & Isolde; Law and Order: Trial by Jury – The Complete Series; Apollo 13

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Save the Last Dance actor Sean Patrick Thomas married actress Aonika Laurent in New Orleans on Saturday, PEOPLE has learned.

The couple, who are both 35, had originally planned their nuptials for the fall of 2005 in the Big Easy – Laurent's hometown – but postponed the wedding due to Hurricane Katrina.

Thomas, who has starred in Barbershop and on CBS's The District, and Laurent (Fantastic Four) decided to wait to get married until they could have their dream wedding in their favorite city.

The couple originally met at a party thrown by Barbershop director Tim Story.

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Charlie Sheen on Saturday called recent accusations made by his estranged wife, Denise Richards, "vile" and "baseless."

"Obviously, what has taken place is vile, is unconscionable, is without merit, is a transparent and immature smear campaign," Sheen said. "She's claiming certain things. It's baseless."

On Friday Richards, 35, filed paperwork in Los Angeles Superior Court that claimed Sheen had threatened to kill her. In the 17-page filing Richards also detailed Sheen’s alleged abuse of prescription medication, violent mood swings, compulsive gambling and use of pornography.

According to Richards, on Dec. 27, 2005, Sheen hit her on the wrist and shoved her in the stomach after she confronted him about pornography Web sites featuring "very young girls" that he'd been visiting. She also said that several days later Sheen pushed her over while she was holding their daughter Lola and "said to me that he was going to have me killed."

A judge on Friday ordered Sheen, 40, to keep at least 300 feet away from Richards and their two young daughters after the abuse allegations were made. Another hearing is scheduled for May 12.

In a statement issued by Richards's rep on Friday, the actress said, "I am disappointed that the situation has deteriorated to the point that it has become necessary to seek the assistance of the court. However, my primary concern is and always has been the welfare of the children and this action today was taken to ensure their safety as well as mine."

But Sheen countered the assertion that the filing is about their children. "This has nothing to do with the best interests of the children, protecting them from this twisted ogre of a father," Sheen told PEOPLE at the launch of his Sheen Kidz children’s clothing line. "This is about hurting, this is about punishing.”

In his own short filing on Friday Sheen denied Richards’s claims, but said Sunday: "I'm not going to lower myself to become a mudslinger and enter that cesspool of accusation, because that’s not who I am."

Still, Sheen said he planned to fight the allegations. "I've also got to have a voice in this, a strong voice in this, and a voice that my children one day will realize was absolutely and entirely in their best interest."

Richards originally filed for divorce in March of last year, when she was six months pregnant with their daughter Lola. The pair appeared to briefly reconcile after Lola's birth in June, but on Jan. 4, they requested that their divorce proceed with a private arbitrator.

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Although American Idol host Ryan Seacrest often trades barbs with judge Simon Cowell, now the tension between him and another judge, Paula Abdul, has reached a boiling point.

"It's awkward. I don't know what the deal is. It's very awkward," Seacrest, 31, told PEOPLE on Friday, referring to his relationship with Abdul.

Asked if he was speaking to Abdul, Seacrest answered: "No."

Seacrest, who was in Las Vegas at a groundbreaking event for the new luxury Panorama Towers, said he hasn't yet confronted his fellow Idol cast mate. "You know, I walked past her dressing room the other day and there was a group of people gathered in front of the door, so I can't even talk to her. Simon and I go back and forth with each other, but it's in a different way."

A source close to Seacrest says the Idol host was joking about the feud. But another inside source tells PEOPLE that Seacrest and Abdul’s relationship has been “icy” since they each appeared separately on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno recently.

In Seacrest's March 30 appearance, Leno said that Abdul had seemed "a little loopy" on a recent episode of Idol to which Seacrest replied, "Well, have you listened to her album?" When Leno playfully asked whether Abdul had been drinking, Seacrest answered, "Hey look, I don't look in their cups to see what's sitting before them on that table. But at times I feel like we have reeled her in."

Abdul, 43, had a chance to shoot back when she appeared on the show on April 10. Leno brought out an issue of Rolling Stone magazine that featured the three Idol judges prominently on the cover (and Seacrest in a small photo) and asked whether Seacrest was mad about being excluded. "I heard plenty mad," replied Abdul.

Next, Leno asked whether Seacrest was dating Teri Hatcher since the pair had been photographed kissing. "He only kisses the mirror," said Abdul. "And honestly, do you think Teri Hatcher is that desperate of a housewife?"

In the weeks after Abdul's Leno appearance, Seacrest frequently approached the judges' table during Idol commercial breaks, but usually spoke only to Cowell and Randy Jackson.

Abdul could not be reached for comment.

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On Saturday, Richards, 35, and Sambora, 46, the soon-to-be ex-husband of Heather Locklear, arrived at Le Café in the Westlake Village neighborhood outside Los Angeles at about 5 p.m. in separate cars. In the parking lot, the two kissed then walked hand-in-hand, smiling and chatting the entire way as they headed for the restaurant.

Inside, they shared a table in the covered patio where they gazed into each other's eyes and held hands across the table. Eventually, Richards planted a kiss on Sambora's hand – and he returned the gesture, kissing hers. They then kissed again on the lips.

They left the restaurant at 5:45 p.m. in the same car together. Sambora has a home in Westlake Village.

On Friday, Richards filed a 17-page court document claiming that her estranged husband, Charlie Sheen, had threatened to kill her. The actress also claims that during their marriage, Sheen abused prescription medication, had violent mood swings, was a compulsive gambler and visited pornography Web sites featuring "very young girls." Sheen has called Richards' claims "vile" and "baseless."

Richards originally filed for divorce in March of last year, when she was six months pregnant with the couple's daughter Lola. The pair appeared to briefly reconcile after Lola's birth in June, but on Jan. 4, they requested that their divorce proceed with a private arbitrator.

In February, Sambora – who's the guitarist for Bon Jovi – split from Locklear, his wife of 11 years. The couple have an 8-year-old daughter, Ava.

Richards and Locklear are pals who grew even closer during Richards's split from Sheen. Locklear, who starred with Sheen in Spin City, attended Richards's baby shower before she gave birth to her daughter Lola – and helped take care of the baby after she was born.

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Entourage actor Kevin Dillon married his girlfriend, model-actress Jane Stuart in Las Vegas on Saturday, his rep has confirmed to PEOPLE.

"The couple, who had been engaged for over a year, had been planning a formal wedding date, but Mr. Dillon’s schedule with Poseidon and Entourage had made it difficult," Dillon's spokesperson, Tiffany Kuzon, said in a statement.

"Entourage castmates Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Connolly were present at the ceremony."

Kuzon also said that the couple are expecting their first child this summer.
Dillon, 40, and Stuart, 28, met through a mutual friend, began dating in 2004 and got engaged the following year. "I had to fight a little bit because she wasn't all that interested in me when I asked her out," Dillon told PEOPLE last year. "But she saw things my way eventually."

In HBO's hit comedy Entourage, which begins its new season in June, Dillon plays an obscure actor whose brother is an A-list celebrity – a role that spoofs his real-life relationship with older brother Matt.

Next month, Dillon will be seen in Poseidon, next month's big-screen remake of the ocean-disaster classic The Poseidon Adventure. He has also acted in the movie Platoon and on the TV shows 24 and NYPD Blue.

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Finally breaking her silence about her relationship with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie says the public's interest in the two of them causes her to "giggle."

Describing the curiosity of others as "just kind of funny," Jolie, speaking to NBC's Ann Curry for segments due to air on Thursday's Today show and Sunday's Dateline says, "If (Brad) saw this, he would probably understand why I was laughing. Because I just don't know how to address that kind of thing."

On Wednesday's Today, Curry described her trip to Namibia where she interviewed Jolie as "wonderful."

The actress, along with Pitt and their two children – Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 1 – are in the African nation to await the birth of their new family member while residing at a luxury report.

As Jolie tells Curry, according to excerpts from the interview released to USA Today: "I don't talk about our – my relationship in public. But we also don't talk about it at home. … It's one of those funny things that just happens, and you live your life, and you're a family. But you never actually discuss (it)."

Correcting some reports that her baby is due as early as next week, Jolie, 30, also reportedly announces that she is not quite eight months pregnant. Jolie also says she knows the sex of the impending arrival, but won’t divulge it.

Jolie does tell Curry that the reason she consented to such an interview is to bring awareness to the cause she promotes: educational opportunities for children worldwide. "I just think, especially my daughter, there's no possible way she would have gone to school. She is so smart and so strong. And her potential as a woman one day is great," she says.

"Hopefully, she will be active in her country and in her continent when she's older. And because she'll have a good education, she'll be able to do that much more."

She goes on to say: "My life is very full. I'm very proud when I see my children – already Mad, just how he adjusts to different places in the world and different people and his views and the kind of man he's going to be. I'm very lucky."

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Teri Hatcher’s right eye was injured when a light bulb exploded on the Desperate Housewives set on Tuesday, PEOPLE reports.

“Glass lodged in my right eye and proceeded to scratch my cornea," the actress tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I was taken to a wonderful eye doctor, and now am wearing a most glamorous eye patch over the right half of my face. I like to look at the positive and the good news is, the cornea is the fastest healing tissue in the body."

Hatcher says she should be back to production in two days and explains, "I'm in some pain, but trying to see the humor in the oddity of it all. No one was at fault.”

The Housewives star was scheduled to appear at the AmberWatch Foundation launch party in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, due to her injury, she was unable to attend the event. Hatcher is the new spokesperson for the organization which is dedicated to the prevention of child abduction and molestation. PEOPLE was one of the sponsors of the launch event.

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Paula Abdul is laughing off talk about an ongoing feud between her and Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

"Reports of a feud are ridiculous," Abdul, 43, said in a statement to the Associated Press. "We are one funny dysfunctional family. There's nothing but love."

On Friday however, Seacrest, 31, told PEOPLE his relationship with Abdul has been "awkward" lately. "I don't know what the deal is. It's very awkward."

Asked if he was speaking to Abdul, Seacrest answered: "No."
On Tuesday, Randy Jackson weighed in, jokingly telling PEOPLE: "I don't talk to Ryan. " The Idol judge then added: "We love (Paula). I talk to her."

As for Tuesday’s show, during which Abdul broke down in tears after Elliott Yamin’s performance, Jackson said, "It was a very emotional night for Paula... I don't know why (she cried) You got to ask her."

He jokingly added: "I think I saw Simon choke up a little bit too."

As for the tension between Seacrest and Abdul, it all started when each of them separately appeared on The Tonight Show.

In Seacrest's March 30 appearance, Jay Leno said that Abdul had seemed "a little loopy" to which Seacrest replied, "Well, have you listened to her album?" When Leno playfully asked whether Abdul had been drinking, Seacrest answered, "Hey look, I don't look in their cups to see what's sitting before them on that table. But at times I feel like we have reeled her in."

Abdul shot back when she appeared on the show on April 10. When Leno asked whether Seacrest was dating Teri Hatcher since the pair had been photographed kissing. "He only kisses the mirror," said Abdul. "And honestly, do you think Teri Hatcher is that desperate of a housewife?"

In the weeks after Abdul's Leno appearance, Seacrest frequently approached the judges' table during Idol commercial breaks, but usually spoke only to Cowell and Randy Jackson.

In a statement to the New York Post on Tuesday, Seacrest's spokesman said the Idol host was kidding about the feud, saying: "At the core they all love each other and are thrilled to be on the show together. … Just like all families, sometimes they do have their days."

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Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are no strangers to Las Vegas, so it was business as usual when they were in town on April 21.

That night, Federline, 28, attended a listening party for his new single, "America's Most Hated," at the nightclub Pure. But Spears was a no-show at the gig, PEOPLE reports in its new issue.

The absence of Spears, 25, was made all the more evident when Kathy Hilton – Paris's mom – grabbed a microphone in the club's VIP area and yelled, "Mrs. Federline, come up here! Britney!"

A solo Federline told PEOPLE his brothers and sisters were in the crowd to support him. Asked whether his son with Spears, 7-month-old Sean Preston, liked his music, Federline said, "He loves daddy more than anything."

Later, when "America's Most Hated" came on, Federline held up a mic and sang along with the track. After the song ended, he shouted, "Where my ladies at? I love the ladies!"

As for Spears, by the next morning, her travel agent had called to book her a room (without Kevin) at the Red Rock resort across town, where she showed up poolside.

Was there a spat? Reps for the couple wouldn't comment.

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On Monday, George Clooney and his father, Nick, returned from a weeklong trip to Darfur, a war-torn area of Sudan. Their mission: to bring attention to the tragedy occurring there.

The idea started with a conversation, PEOPLE reports in its new issue. "We can make it a higher-profile story," Clooney told his father. "Why don't we just go over there and find out what's happening?"

With that, father and son, plus a cameraman and a Darfur expert, traveled to the African nation, where an estimated 180,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in three years of political unrest.

"We were freelance," says the elder Clooney, 72, of the journey, which the group documented on film.

Clooney Sr., a columnist for a Cincinnati newspaper, also plans to write about the trip. "It was difficult," he says. "It's been a long time since I've slept in a mud hut and had a tarantula over my head."

Father and son split expenses: "George paid for the transport and lodging. I paid for the cigarettes and coffee."

The actor, 44, plans to detail the trip at an April 27 press conference with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who support aiding humanitarian missions, and attend a Darfur rally in D.C. on April 30.

As for the trip, Obama appreciated the Clooneys' efforts. "George combines celebrity with real knowledge and commitment," he tells PEOPLE. "He does his homework and he takes this stuff seriously."

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Ryan Seacrest and Paula Abdul seem to have finally patched things up.

The saga began when Seacrest told PEOPLE on April 21 that things had been "awkward" between them after Abdul joked about him on The Tonight Show. Days later, Abdul said in a statement, "Reports of a feud are ridiculous," and Seacrest's rep said the American Idol host had been joking.

But on Seacrest's KIIS-FM morning show on Wednesday, he admitted he hadn't been kidding around. "I spoke the truth," he said. "There were some awkward moments in the last week or two between Paula and I. … And before the show last week I went down to try to talk with her and I couldn't get in."

Seacrest and Abdul discussed the situation in an on-air phone interview.

"You made a couple of jokes about me, which I love," Seacrest said. "But then on the show that week, we weren't in sync. You and I. I just felt like, for us, it was a bit awkward and uncomfortable. Would you agree?"

"Actually, I thought you would be laughing hysterically," Abdul replied, "and then when I came out to see you, I don't know if you were preoccupied but Simon goes, 'You're in the dog pound tonight, baby.' "

After Paula complained that she'd felt left out when Seacrest and Simon Cowell teased each other, Seacrest held out the olive branch. "So it's safe to say that we can move forward," he said. "We can poke fun at each other and when we do it, we're not feuding."

"I'm trying to catch up with you and Simon!" Abdul replied.

"Ryan, I have nothing but love for you," Abdul said later in the show. "Remember, I'm the one who told you when we first started that I had a crush on you. … (You) ignored me so I had to move on."

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Jessica Simpson is said to be "devastated" by a recent tell-all interview that her ex, Nick Lachey, gave to a magazine about their relationship.

In the published interview Lachey said he still loved Jessica, felt "blindsided" and "sucker punched" by her decision to divorce and that she refused to try counseling.

Jessica's reaction? "She was devastated, heartbroken," says an insider. "She didn't think he would do that."

Friends gathered at Simpson's house on the day the article came out to console her. And Lachey himself even called to check in. "He wanted her to hear it from him," says a Lachey friend. "He felt bad that she was upset. (But) Nick didn't apologize, because the things he said (in the article) only demonstrate that he loves her."

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Blaming her hormones on the fact she can't stop giggling, Angelina Jolie addressed the serious topic of Global Education Week on Thursday's Today, in a segment that was taped in the African nation of Namibia – which interviewer Ann Curry described as "the edge of nowhere."

While the topic of helping the world's children go to school was the focus of the sit-down, Curry did bring up how Jolie and Pitt are awaiting the birth of their child, intimating that Namibia might be a strange place to have it.

"We just don't know where it's going to happen or where it's going to be," Jolie conceded.

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The ax fell Wednesday night on American Idol hopeful Kellie Pickler – despite judge Simon Cowell's one-time earlier prediction that she'd make it all the way to the final three.

"I've definitely learned a lot since I've been here," the 19-year-old North Carolina native said after show host Ryan Seacrest delivered the news. He also said that 47.5 million votes were cast this week, an all-time high outside of the show's finale tallies.

Pickler's exit brings the number of Idol contestants down to five: Paris Bennett, Chris Daughtry, Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks and Elliott Yamin. The winner will be named May 25.

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Paris Bennett is out, while Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee and Elliot Yamin are still standing on American Idol.

On Wednesday night's show, Ryan Seacrest told Bennett, 17, of Fayetteville, Ga., that she'd drawn the least number of votes among the nearly 46 million cast.

"I love you," Bennett told her family in the audience, including her grandmother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Ann Nesby.

The other member of the bottom two was Yamin.

On Tuesday night, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul had praised Bennett's funky rendition of Prince's 1988 hit "Kiss," though Simon Cowell considered it "screechy" and "annoying." Bennet fared better with her second performance, a cover of Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You." "I think she did rather well with that," Cowell admitted.

Of Yamin's delivery of "On Broadway" on Tuesday's show, Cowell found it "disjointed." Cowell also said he was "just a little bit concerned" following Yamin's cover of Michael Buble's "Home." "I'm not sure I would have chosen the lyrics, 'I want to go home,' " Cowell pointedly advised the 27-year-old.

In other Idol news, American Idol Season 5 Encores, a compilation CD of songs by this season's top 12, will be released May 23.

Songs on the disc will include Chris Daughtry's take on Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," Kellie Pickler's version of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight," Taylor Hicks's cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets," Paris Bennett's update of Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Kevin Covais's cover of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love."

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What is it about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt that inspires such tall and twisted tales? While the power couple lie low in Namibia, PEOPLE – with the help of a connected source – sets the record straight on the most widely circulated myths.

• Jolie has not signed on for Tomb Raider 3 and has no plans to play video-game heroine Lara Croft any time soon.

• Pitt is not trying to convince Jolie to join the cast of Ocean's 13. (Sorry, George.)

• Jolie is not looking to adopt a Namibian infant – at least not right now.
• The actress is not planning a "water birth" for the couple's baby-to-be, or to name the baby Africa.

• Jolie's ill mom, Marcheline Bertrand, is not near death and did not ask Jolie to give birth in France as a "dying wish."

• Pitt did not purchase for Jolie a "fidelity necklace" as a pre-baby wedding gift. In fact they currently have no plans to marry.

• Finally, Jolie is not planning to buy a small African nation of her own.

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Tiger Woods's father, Earl Woods, died at his Southern California home early Wednesday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer, the world's top golfer stated in a message on his Web site, saying he was "saddened to share the news." Earl Woods was 74.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life," his son, 30, says in his posting. "He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend."

First diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, Earl Woods was said to have been in frail health in recent months as the cancer spread. He was too weak to attend the grand opening of the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 10.

Woods said he spoke to his father the night before the opening, and "he kept telling me how proud he was of what I was able to do, and proud of me for thinking of this. It's hard on all of us," ESPN reported.

Just last month, Woods took a self-imposed break from the PGA tour to be with his dad, saying: "It's kind of up in the air with the situation back home, so I don't know what's going to happen."

Earl, a former Green Beret, and his son had always been close, with Tiger first learning to swing from his dad when the toddler was only 9 months old. When Tiger was 2, Earl had the youngster on TV putting with Bob Hope on The Michael Douglas Show, where Tiger scored a hole in one.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring," Tiger says on his Web site.

Besides his son Tiger, Earl is survived by his wife, Kutilda, whom he married in 1969.

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After zipping around Manhattan via helicopter, speedboat, subway train, sports car and fire truck, Tom Cruise arrived in an SUV Wednesday night to his final stop: the Ziegfeld Theater, where his Mission: Impossible III had its third premiere of the day.

Wearing a dark suit and pink shirt, Cruise climbed up through the sunroof to stand on the car, then spent about an hour signing autographs and posing for photos with fans, even as it started to rain.

Once the screening started, he came out of the theater to answer questions, but cautioned reporters, "I'm about to get on an airplane right now and go home."
Asked by PEOPLE what he planned to do first when he got home, Cruise replied, "Kiss. Loads of kisses. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Most definitely." Who will get the first kiss: fiancée Katie Holmes or their 2-week-old daughter, Suri? "It would be Kate first."

Before the Ziegfeld, Cruise attended a premiere at Harlem's Magic Johnson Theater. There, he met up with Kanye West, who produced the movie's song, "Impossible."

"When I met with him in the studio, man, you just can't tell Tom Cruise no," West told PEOPLE of agreeing to do the song.

Later, Cruise told reporters, "Harlem, to me, when I get to New York, that is a prominent part of the New York experience. I was honored to be able to go up there."

At M:I3's first premiere of the day, at the Tribeca Film Festival downtown, Cruise arrived by motorcycle at 4 p.m. and spent 45 minutes signing autographs for teenage fans.

Even at the night's end, at Cruise's SUV started to pull away from the Ziegfeld theater, the actor rolled down his window to provide a few last autographs, and kept waving as screaming admirers hung on his car all the way to the corner.

With the help of police escorts, the car ran a red light and disappeared – presumably to get Cruise home so the kissing could begin.

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On the same day Geena Davis accepted an award for her portrayal of a female President, ABC shelved Commander in Chief for the crucial May ratings sweeps – effectively making the White House drama a lame duck.

Still, Davis, 50, told PEOPLE she has hope for the series: "Naturally, I'm not happy about their pulling it off during sweeps. … But the decision about whether it's going to be renewed will not be made until the 13th of May. So until further notice, I am still the Commander in Chief."

She added, "I think even if they tell me I'm not, I think I still will be. I'll keep showing up to work even if it's not there anymore."

Davis's award – for her portrayal of President Mackenzie Allen – was given to her at the United Nations by the White House Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes voting and political participation among women, with the goal of electing a female President.

"So many countries have had a female head of state before us," Davis told the 500 guests at a dinner in the U.N. Delegates Dining Room on Tuesday night. "So it is certainly time."

By Wednesday, Davis was in Washington, D.C., to call attention to gender stereotypes in children's movies. At a press conference sponsored by Dad's & Daughters' See Jane Program (which Davis started in 2004), the actress said she first became concerned while watching shows with her 4-year-old daughter, Alizeh.

"I was stunned to see that the percentage of female characters was seemingly very low. There was a huge gender imbalance."

A recent study confirmed that children's movies have three male characters for every female character. "The results are pretty startling," Davis said. "The world we're presenting to boys and girls is saying that girls' stories are less important, girls are less important, characters of color are less important."

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Nicole Richie, whose rail-thin frame has been a source of much discussion in the media, is now joining the chorus of voices saying that she is too skinny.

"I know I'm too thin right now, so I wouldn't want any young girl looking at me and saying, 'That's what I want to look like,' " Richie tells Vanity Fair in its June issue. "I do know that they will, which is another reason I really do need to do something about it. I'm not happy with the way I look right now."

Richie blames her severe weight loss on, in part, her December breakup with then-fiancé Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein. "I get really stressed out, and I do lose my appetite," she says. (She and AM have been spotted together again recently.)

In an effort to put on a few pounds, Richie says she forced herself to eat – particularly high-calorie foods like burritos – but eventually sought professional help. "I started seeing a nutritionist and a doctor. I was scared that it could be something more serious."

She is also working with a psychiatrist and a personal trainer. Her medical team characterizes Richie's weight as "in the realm of anorexia," the magazine reports. However, Dr. Jeffery Wilkins, vice-chair of the department of psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, points out, "Our evaluation could change at any time."

Wilkins adds, "We're all concerned, and she's concerned, but it's either going to improve or it won't. If it's not anorexia, she should be able to gain the weight. If it ends up being anorexia, we'll help her with that. I think she's willing to look this in the eye."




CREDIT: X17Still, Richie says she doesn't even know how much she weighs. "I get weighed once a week with my nutritionist, but I don’t ask. Numbers aren't going to mean anything to me."

Ultimately, Richie says her restless childhood, the divorce of her adoptive parents, Lionel and Brenda Richie, plus an adolescence spent partying and fighting drug addiction all contributed to her trouble with her weight.

"I want to be able to take whatever comes to me and not physically break down every time hard things come my way, because hard things are always going to come my way," she says. "I'm really trying to make it so I have the proper tools to deal with life."

Richie, who is working on her first album and a follow-up to her novel The Truth About Diamonds, also sheds some light on the dissolution of her friendship with her Simple Life costar Paris Hilton: "We never had a fight. I just decided I didn’t want to be her friend anymore."

Although she's considered a style icon and media darling, Richie says she's still trying to figure things out for herself. "Part of the reason I don't really talk about being sober is that I don't want to feel the pressure of being a role model," she says. "I am learning so much about myself that for me to tell other people what to do in their lives is something I'm not really fit to do. I'm a work in progress. I'm not 'there' yet. I don't know if I'll ever be 'there.

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Matt Leinart celebrated being drafted into the NFL by partying at a Las Vegas nightclub on Tuesday with Paris Hilton.

For the record, Leinart was joined at the club PURE by more than 200 of his closest friends, including Nick Lachey, Wilmer Valderrama and Danny Masterson – but he spent the better part of the evening with the newly single Hilton, a source tells PEOPLE.

On his way into the bash, the 22-year-old, 6'5", Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, who was recently drafted by the Arizona Cardinals, told PEOPLE, "After this, it's all business, all NFL."

Inside, he danced with Hilton, 25, on the club's VIP beds. She called him "baby" and rested her head on his back, sometimes holding his hand, says the source.

The pair danced the night away – and at one point disappeared together behind closed doors in the club's private suite.

Later, Hilton treated the crowd to an impromptu concert, jumping on top of the DJ booth and belting out several songs from her upcoming album, including a rendition of Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy" – which she dedicated to Leinart.

When not on the dance floor, the pair nestled themselves into the corner of a VIP bed, where they kissed and hugged before leaving around 3:30 a.m.

Hilton and Leinart have been spotted together several times recently. On May 1, Hilton, wearing a brunette wig, shopped at the Grove in Los Angeles with Leinart, PEOPLE reports. That night, they partied together at L.A. club Shag. "They seemed really into each other," said one witness. "He was very touchy-feely."

Leinart's rep denies that they're dating, and Hilton's publicist, Elliot Mintz, says, "She knows Matt, she likes Matt. They are friends. I don't want to go any further than that. They have known each other a while."

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Ten years ago Vili Fualaau, then a sixth grader in suburban Seattle, and Mary Kay Letourneau, his 34-year-old teacher and a married mother of four, began an affair that produced two children and became a national scandal. This month, the couple will celebrate their one year anniversary.

Although Letourneau spent seven years in prison for second-degree rape of a child, she and Fualaau never stopped professing their love. Last May, nine months after her release, they were married at a Seattle-area winery.

In its new issue, PEOPLE offers an exclusive look at their life together after a year of marriage. "We do normal things," says Letourneau, 44, who shares a rented three-bedroom beachside house in Normandy Park, Wash., with Fualaau. Recently "we all went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, then over to Blockbuster to get a movie."

But there are challenges. Letourneau, who lost her teaching license, and Fualaau, who hopes to become a tattoo artist (they rely on the substantial six-figure fee they received for the TV rights to their wedding), are focused on getting full custody of their daughters Audrey, 8, and Alexis, 7.

For now Fualaau's mother, Soona, who raised the girls while Letourneau was in prison, has custody of them, but in June Letourneau and Fualaau hope a Seattle court will give them custody. "It'll be nice to take the girls to Disneyland and not have to ask the state or notify Vili's mom," says Letourneau.

Her four other kids, from her marriage to Steve Letourneau, are slowly re-entering her life. Last October Steve Jr., 21, told his mother he was moving to Seattle from Anchorage and asked if he could live with her. Mary Claire, 18, a freshman at the Art Institute of Seattle, stays over frequently, and Jacqueline, 12, and Nicholas, 14, also visit regularly.

Still, the situation is complicated for Fualaau. "I feel like I don't really have a place except that I'm their mother's husband," he says. His wife's children "had a mom and dad and then I came into the picture and they think, 'I hate that guy; if he hadn't come along this would never have happened.'"

Fualaau's relationship with Steve Jr., who is only one year younger, can be strained. "I feel a bit of competition, like, 'Who deserves Mom's attention more?' " he says. "I back down because she's his mom and I don't want him hating me. But I get so frustrated."

Another strain: Last December, a police officer stopped Fualaau in SeaTac, Wash., for speeding and reported smelling alcohol on his breath. This April a jury found him guilty; his lawyer is looking at options to keep him out of jail.

Despite the arrest, Fualaau's everyday life is, for the most part, ordinary. He and Letourneau devote most of their time to their kids, but every Saturday night is couples night. For their anniversary "Vili has a plan and he's keeping it secret," says Letourneau. Once in a while she envisions having another child. "One more would just be ideal," she says. "If we could have a boy, it would be Vili's dream."


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Ashlee Simpson has learned to slow down and relax thanks to her beau, Braxton Olita – but says she's in no rush to marry young like her big sister, Jessica.
"I'm a lot more peaceful and chilled out," the singer tells Teen People of her life since she began dating Olita. "I honestly couldn't be more content."

Simpson, Teen People's June/July cover girl and one of its Hottest Stars Under 25, tells the magazine she was friends with Olita, the 20-year-old Hawaii native who plays guitar in her band, before their relationship turned romantic.

"He's the yin to my yang; people call him my 'Little Buddha,' " she says. "When he comes around, everything changes. Braxton has taught me a lot."

Still, Simpson, 21, says she's not looking to follow in big sister Jessica's footsteps and get married at a young age. (Jessica was 21 when she tied the knot with Nick Lachey; they split last year.)

"I've watched Jessica go through a really hard time. Marriage is definitely not on my mind," she says. "Sometimes things don't work out the way you thought they would. I'm absolutely in love and in a committed relationship, but we live day-to-day. There's a lot of growing you do in your twenties, and I definitely want to wait until my late twenties or thirties or whenever the time is right."

Next up, Simpson will kick off her summer tour on May 6 in West Palm Beach, Fla. And in the future, she hopes to pursue acting. "I'm reading scripts and looking at films that are more Quentin Tarantino-style," she says. "I'd like to do a really great movie by the time I'm 25."

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When it comes to discussing their relationship, neither Jennifer Aniston nor Vince Vaughn has been very forthcoming. Most questions put to them, in fact, are met with dead silence. Until now.

Taking a direct approach to get his guest to talk, David Letterman tells Vaughn on Friday night's Late Show, according to a preview obtained by the Associated Press: "Hey, nice going on that Jennifer Aniston thing."

Slightly thrown off balance, Vaughn – who costars with Aniston in the upcoming The Break Up – recovers and responds: "It's very nice of you to say that, Dave, thank you. Yeah, it's been kind of interesting for me, and I just choose not to talk about my private life that much publicly."
Letterman then flat out asks if Vaughn and Aniston are a couple. Replies the comic actor: "I'm not saying we are or aren't a couple. I think she's great, but I just don't discuss whether we are."

As the conversation develops, Vaughn, 36, turns to the audience and, referring to Letterman, announces: "Do you like the way he just kind of takes the approach that it's fact?"

Letterman fared much better than Today show reporter Jill Rappaport, who on April 4 was met with silence from Aniston when she inquired about Vaughn (in particular, whether Oprah Winfrey was really about to toss the couple an $8 million wedding, as had been rumored).

Aniston even s***ted the Vaughn issue two weeks later when Winfrey had her on the show to clear up the wedding rumors. When Winfrey asked if there was anything else she wanted to address, Aniston said: "No wedding, no moves, no no. I'll keep you posted."

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A day after crashing his car into a security barrier near the Capitol, Rep. Patrick Kennedy announced that he is entering rehab for addiction to prescription pain medication.

"I know I need help," the Rhode Island Democrat said in a brief statement he delivered at a press conference on Friday.

Kennedy, the son of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, is heading to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for treatment. This is not his first time seeking help with addiction. Last Christmas, Kennedy returned to Washington, D.C., after a stay at the Mayo Clinic feeling focused and in good shape, he said. But, he added Friday: "As in every recovery, each day has its ups and downs."

Yesterday was definitely a low. Capitol police witnessed Kennedy's car accident and cited him for failure to keep a proper lane, unreasonable speed and failure to give full time and attention to the operation of a vehicle.

A police report said Kennedy's "eyes were red and watery, speech was slightly slurred, and upon exiting his vehicle, his balance was unsure."

Kennedy later issued a statement saying he'd taken a sleeping pill and another drug that can cause drowsiness and had told officers he was "headed to the Capitol to make a vote" at the time of the accident, which was about 2:47 a.m.

The officers who pulled Kennedy over were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take him home and no sobriety tests were conducted at the scene, Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, told the Associated Press.

Of the incident, Kennedy said Friday: "I simply do not remember getting out of bed." He said he also did not remember being pulled over, adding, "That's not how I want to live my life."

Kennedy called his struggle with addiction a "chronic condition" and said he is "taking full responsibility" for his actions.

Asked if he planned to resign, he shook his head and said, "I need to stay in the fight."

Soon after the Friday press conference, Ted Kennedy issued a statement reading, in part: "I love Patrick very much and am very proud of him. All of us in the family admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment."

[moonlight79]

thx ;)

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Former Playboy Playmate, reality TV star and U.S. Supreme Court litigant Anna-Nicole Smith may be pregnant, her attorney said on Thursday. Then again, she may not be.

"If Anna Nicole is pregnant she obviously doesn't want anybody to know yet," Howard K. Stern said in a written statement. "If she is not pregnant she's not denying the rumor because she thinks its funny how much of a stir it's causing."

"She'll leave it up to you to guess which one it is," Stern said. "But note to all media: Please stop sending reporters and camera crews to her house because that really does cross the line of being overly invasive."

Published reports surfaced this week that Smith, 38, -- who on Monday won a Supreme Court decision giving her another chance to collect millions of dollars left behind by her late Texas oil tycoon husband -- was pregnant by an unidentified man. Stern declined to elaborate beyond his cryptic statement.

The former Vicki Lynn Hogan from Mexia, Texas met J. Howard Marshall at a Houston strip club and was 26 when she married the wheelchair-bound, 89-year-old billionaire in 1994.

His death after 14 months of marriage triggered a legal battle over his estate between Smith, who gained fame as a Guess? model and Playboy Playmate of the Year, and his son E. Pierce Marshall.

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Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott were married Sunday on a private tropical island in Fiji, PEOPLE has confirmed exclusively.

The non-denominational ceremony was attended only by the bride and groom, both barefoot and wearing white.

"We didn't want to wait another day to get married," Spelling tells PEOPLE.

Adds her new husband, "I've never had as much of a desire to get married and make a woman my wife as I've had with her. The feeling is overwhelming. We're soul mates."

Spelling, 32, and McDermott, 39, met last summer in Ottowa while filming the TV movie Mind Over Murder. At the time, she was wed to actor-writer Charlie Shanian, and McDermott was married to his wife of 12 years, Mary Jo Eustace.

"It just happened," a Spelling friend told PEOPLE about their romance. "No one meant any harm to anyone. You can't help who you fall in love with and who you're right with."

In September, Spelling announced her split from Shanian, and McDermott filed for divorce from Eustace. Spelling's divorce became final last month.

McDermott proposed to the So NoTORIous star on Christmas Eve in Toronto, Canada. His sister put out lights leading to a table for two surrounded by decorated Christmas trees. The couple rode up in a horse-drawn carriage, and McDermott presented Spelling with a diamond and sapphire ring.

"It was so magical. All the stars aligned. I have never been happier in my life," McDermott told PEOPLE at the time.

McDermott has since shown his love for Spelling with tattoos, including one on his wrist that reads "Truly, Madly, Deeply, Tori" and another on his shoulder: a portrait of her.

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Nick Lachey breaks out on his own with his sophomore disc, What's Left of Me, which hits stores on Tuesday. PEOPLE looks at the former Newlywed's return to the music game, plus other events to watch for in the coming week:

SUNDAY, MAY 7: Eva Longoria will leave behind Wisteria Lane to take center stage at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium as the host of the ALMA Awards, honoring Latino achievement in television, film and music. Among the nominees: Jennifer Lopez, Sha***a and Mariah Carey are up for outstanding female musical performer and Benicio Del Toro for outstanding actor in a motion picture (for Sin City). Marc Anthony will also receive an achievement award for his musical contributions. The ALMA Awards will air on ABC on June 5.

MONDAY, MAY 8: David Blaine is testing his limits again. Since May 1, the daredevil has been immersed underwater in an eight-foot acrylic sphere at New York City's Lincoln Center, where he's been breathing through a tube. On Monday, he'll attempt to hold his breath underwater longer than any other human being – the current record is eight minutes and 58 seconds – on the live ABC special David Blaine: Drowned Alive (8 p.m. ET).

TUESDAY, May 9: Fans will finally get to hear all of Nick Lachey's innermost musings when the former Newlywed releases his sophomore solo album, What's Left of Me. In his MTV special, Nick Lachey: What's Left of Me, the singer insisted that though the album's songs refer to his breakup with Jessica Simpson, "It's not in any way vindictive or an assault on her. In a lot of ways, it's more of an assault on me." You be the judge.

FRIDAY, MAY 12: The ladies of The View will have a very special guest when, for the first time, Oprah Winfrey makes an appearance on the morning chatfest (ABC at 11 a.m. ET). Of course, the daytime diva has a good reason to schmooze with Star, Joy, Elisabeth, Meredith and Barbara – she'll be chatting up her May 15 ABC special, Oprah Winfrey's Legends' Ball, featuring footage from a slew of parties she hosted last year with an A-list guest list including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Mariah Carey, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin.

NEW THIS WEEK:
• Movies (now in theaters): Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames; Hoot, starring Luke Wilson; An American Haunting, starring Sissy Spacek; Down in the Valley, starring Ed Norton and Evan Rachel Wood; Art School Confidential, starring John Malkovich; The Proposition, starring Guy Pearce and Emily Watson
• Music (in stores Tuesday): Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium; Neil Young, Living with War; Paul Simon, Surprise; The Isley Brothers, Baby Makin' Music; Mission: Impossible 3 soundtrack; Chris Isaak, The Best of Chris Isaak; Jagged Edge, Jagged Edge; Harry on Broadway: Act 1, Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli O'Hara
• DVDs (in stores Tuesday): Munich; The New World; Rumor Has It…; Nanny McPhee; Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Sixth Season; Scrubs: The Complete Second Season

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After 18 years of touring around the world, Celine Dion has embraced a life of domesticity – sort of.

OK, so she doesn't really do much vacuuming these days. "It doesn't mean I won't do it again, but I'm fortunate that I don't have to do it now," says the singer, who reportedly earned an estimated $38.5 million in 2005 and has sold more than 175 million albums over the years.

Dion and her husband René Angélil have settled into a happy routine in Las Vegas, where they live in a suburban three-bedroom home 30 minutes off the strip with a little guy who is the world to them: 5-year-old son René-Charles. "I love being a mom – it relaxes me to read stories to him, do finger painting, play with Play-Doh," says Dion. "I think people have a hard time imagining I can have a normal life, but I do."

Well, that might be stretching it. Four or five nights a week Dion sells out the 4,148-seat theater at Caesars Palace, where fans pay up to $225 to see the five-time Grammy winner perform songs like her 1998 hit "My Heart Will Go On."

Sunday, May 7 will mark her 500th show. "It's like I blinked and it's 500," says Dion, 38, who has extended the three-year contract, reportedly for $100 million, that she signed in 2001 to the end of 2007. Even fellow stars like Michael Jackson and Britney Spears have been to the show.

Dion's favorite fan so far? Her son, who saw the show for the first time last year. She was a ball of nerves knowing he was in the audience with dad Angélil, 64, who is also Dion's manager. "It was the only time I felt nauseous before a show," she says. "My son was going to be there looking at me as a performer and not as a mom reading stories at bedtime."

After all, a stable routine is the reason she took the gig in the first place; no longer touring the world, the family enjoys that normal life she was talking about. "I am a full-time mom. That's my priority," she says. "Then I go and sing a few songs at night."

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Just two weeks after giving birth to second daughter Grier, Brooke Shields has bounced back into shape. Her secret? "Rent a 3-year-old and make sure you have to run after the 3-year-old and feel guilt all the time that you're not being in two places at once," she says about daughter Rowan. "It's the 3-year old diet."

And despite Shields's concern that Rowan wouldn't be happy about sharing Mom with her new sister, things seem to be going just fine. "She shared her blanket with her so that was a huge step," the actress told us at the Westwood, Calif., premiere of the animated family film Over the Hedge. "She put her blanket in the bassinet and said,' She might need this.' " In fact, Shields made it to the screening with husband Chris Henchy and Rowan (her first major outing since having Grier) at the toddler's request. "It's the only movie I think I would come out to see at this time."

Prom Queen
Though The O.C. star Autumn Reeser got to glam up for the recent prom episode of her FOX show (whose season finale is on May 18), in real life she didn't look nearly as fabulous at her own prom years ago. "I did my own makeup. I did my own hair and my hair didn't turn out well – it sort of fell. I had braces," says the actress, who plays Summer's pesky friend Taylor Townsend. But Reeser got a second shot at helping less privileged teens look their best at Boston's recent Belle of the Ball event, which provided free prom dresses, shoes and makeup to high-school girls in need. "It's fun to go shopping with a group of girls. I never have time to shop."

Caught in the Act


• Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett, snuggling during their lunch at a cafe in New York City's TriBeCa neighborhood.

• Halle Berry, checking out actor Simon Rex's hip-hop group the Dyslexic Speedreaders at the opening party for Chris Noth's new club, The Plumm, in New York's trendy Meatpacking District.

• Debra Messing, getting an airbrush tan at the Ole Henriksen spa in West Hollywood.

• George Lopez, celebrating his 45th birthday at Arnie Morton's, The Steakhouse in Burbank, Calif. The comedian hosted a party for 12, using a gift certificate he received in the official Emmy presenter's gift basket. He feasted on a jumbo lobster tail, chopped salad and polished off his meal with a birthday cake.

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Adam Sandler and his wife, Jackie, have had their first child, according to the comedian’s Web site.

"Kid is healthy!! Wife is healthy!!" says the posting. It did not give any other details, but a source tells PEOPLE the baby is a girl, born yesterday at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

Sandler, 39, and Jackie, 31, wed on June 22, 2003, at Dick Clark's oceanfront Malibu estate before 400 guests, including Jennifer Aniston, Dustin Hoffman, Rodney Dangerfield, Sharon Osbourne and Rob Schneider.

At the Jewish ceremony, Sandler wore a tux and yarmulke – as did his bulldog Meatball, who preceded Jackie down the aisle, bearing her wedding band on his back. (Jackie, whose maiden name is Titone, converted to Judaism in 2000.)

The pair have been together for seven years. Jackie, a model and actress, has a brief role in Sandler's film Big Daddy: She plays the waitress who takes his order for a root beer in the sports bar scene.

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Mark-Paul Gosselaar, 32, and wife Lisa, 34, welcomed their second child, daughter Ava Lorenn, at noon on Sunday in Los Angeles, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

"Mother, daughter and family are all well," says rep Ame Van Iden.

Gosselaar, a star of ABC's Commander in Chief, and Lisa also have a son, Michael Charles, 2.

The couple met when Lisa had a small role on Saved by the Bell, the show that made Gosselaar famous. They married in 1996.

Gosselaar, a former child star who began modeling at age 5 and hit it big on Bell in 1989, also starred on NYPD Blue.

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Despite splitting from Tom Cruise five years ago, Nicole Kidman says that she still considers their 2001 divorce a "major shock" – and confesses that she still loves her ex.

"To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me. And I loved him. I still love him." Kidman, 38, tells the Ladies' Home Journal in a new interview, in which she also reveals a certain premonition about something dire being about to happen.

"I always knew the rug was going to be taken out from underneath me at some stage," says Kidman. "I didn't think it was going to happen in the way it happened. I had seen my mother battle breast cancer, so I had a fear of my health being jeopardized – that was really where I was thinking mine would come.

After 10 years of marriage and adopting two children together – Isabella, now 13, and Connor, 11 – Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001, citing irreconcilable differences.

"I knew I was going to get hit with something," says Kidman, who stars in the upcoming Fur (about photographer Diane Arbus). "But I think a divorce, and the demise of what your family is, is a little death in itself."

Of her relationship with her children, Kidman says: "I feel enormous love for whoever my children's birth parents are. And if my children choose to go find them at some stage, I can't wait. Because – it's the weirdest thing – I actually feel (they're) very connected to us as a big, strange family, and whether they choose to search for them or not, who knows."

Cruise, who currently stars in Mission: Impossible III, recently welcomed his first child with his fiancée, Katie Holmes – a daughter named Suri. Kidman, meanwhile, has been keeping company with country singer Keith Urban.

"I'm pretty careful about who I share my life with," she says. "I surround myself with truthful, kind people, most of whom are not in the business. It's the life I want to have when I'm an old woman with long, gray hair."

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Making good on her vow to go back and finish school, last year's American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is now a college graduate.

The country singer, 23, graduated magna cum laude, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern State University on Saturday, reports the Associated Press.

Underwood was among 1,800 students who walked across the stage at Jack Dobbins to claim their degree from university President Larry Williams.

Shortly before her victory on the FOX talent hunt a year ago, Underwood (who withdrew from school just three credits shy of graduating) told PEOPLE she planned to finish her Northeastern journalism degree – at some point.

"This is my time to see the world," vowed the native of Checotah, in eastern Oklahoma (pop. about 3,800). "Home will be there when I get back."

And back she went, majoring in mass communications with an emphasis in journalism.

Already under the new grad's belt are hits that include "Jesus, Take the Wheel," the video which won her two Country Music Television video awards in April. The song also won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association last month.

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Lindsay Lohan found herself in the hot seat on Monday's Today show, facing a grilling from interviewer Matt Lauer – who introduced the 19-year old actress by saying she's "known these days as much for her night life as she is for her day job."

Lohan, who stars in the upcoming Just My Luck and A Prairie Home Companion, met his questions head on, though she did take issue when Lauer brought up a recent Vanity Fair cover story that suggested she had a problem with substance abuse. "Everything's fine," said Lohan waving off the remark.

Yet concerning what Lauer called the general "package of publicity" that has surrounded her, Lohan said: "What you read about is what you read about, and the only people who really matter to me – their point of view in my life – is my family and the people who work closely with me who I trust and admire and will continue to have in my life."

Regarding reports about her, she said, "There always are so many false accusations in those tabloids, and they manifest all these relationships and stories, yada yada. I just laugh it off."

Stressing that she's "not complaining," Lohan did reply, when asked if she finds it difficult to be her: "It's not that it's harder for me, but I work harder than most of my friends' parents, I think. I'm the hardest working person I know."

Still, she emphasized, she'd have it no other way "Hopefully," she said philosophically, "people will know me for my work – not my car accidents."

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Britney Spears is expecting her second child, she told David Letterman during a surprise visit to his Late Show on Tuesday.

"Don't worry, Dave, it's not yours," the singer joked.

"Oh. Well, I think that's good news for both of us," Letterman responded.

Spears, who walked out onstage unannounced after a commercial break (and then read off the evening's Top 10 List), gave no details about herself, including her due date. She also never mentioned her husband, Kevin Federline – though earlier in the program Letterman and bandleader Paul Shaffer made a wisecrack about him.

"I think that K-Fed is, you know, would have to be getting awful busy at a quick rate," to be expecting another child, said Shaffer.

"Well, what else does he have to do?" Letterman quipped.

After Spears came out, she said of their banter: "I liked the whole prep. It was cool I think you did a very good job."

"So, we've established now that you are, in fact, pregnant, is that right?" asked Letterman.

"Yes sir," Spears replied.

Spears’s appearance was a last-minute arrangment that came about after the singer’s rep called and "said (Britney) wanted to be on the show and this is what she'd announce," a Late Show insider told PEOPLE. "We were psyched."

Spears, 24, and Federline, 28, already have a son, Sean Preston, who was born in September of last year. For Federline, this will be his fourth child. He already has a daughter Kori, 3, and son Kaleb, 1, with actress Shar Jackson.

Of the anticipated addition to the family, "Kevin would love another little girl," a pal tells PEOPLE.

Spears wed Federline in September 2004, and the pair began talking about starting a family soon after. "I can see myself as a mom. Next year at 23, I am so there," she told PEOPLE shortly after the wedding. Just four days short of the couple's first wedding anniversary, she had accomplished that goal.

As for her career, Spears told PEOPLE in February, "I'm going to (get back to work), but I'm going to do it with definite balance for my baby because I want him to have the best of both worlds."

Spears, who lives with Federline and "Sean P" in their newly remodeled home in Malibu, calls motherhood "such an intense experience." Of her domestic life out of the spotlight, she added: "I'm happy. I'm very blessed. I have a beautiful home, a wonderful family, supportive, loving people around me. I have a great life.

Recently, she briefly returned to the spotlight by making a guest appearance on Will & Grace.

Meanwhile, Federline is following in his wife's footsteps: His debut album Playing with Fire is scheduled for release in August.

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Tom Cruise didn't just blindly take up with Katie Holmes – he had the approval of his 13-year-old daughter, Isabella.
After I began dating Kate, Bella looked at me and said, 'Don't let this one go. She's the one,'" Cruise tells Good Housekeeping magazine in its June cover story. (The issue goes on sale May 16.)

Not that the Mission: Impossible III star couldn't sense Holmes's attraction for himself. He says, "I knew almost as soon as I met her. I thought, ‘I'm going to be with this woman.’ And then after a couple of hours, I thought, ‘I'm going to marry this woman.’ I just knew."

Cruise, 43, also says that he didn't think that either one of his previous wives – Mimi Rogers, to whom he was married from 1987-90, or Nicole Kidman, 1990-2001, with whom he adopted Isabella and Connor, now 11 – would mind his being so public about his love for Holmes, 27.

"I mean, look, they're ex-wives," he reasons, adding: "But the happiness I'm feeling, that's absolutely what I wish for them. I really do."

He says he and Holmes haven't married yet because when she got pregnant he was so busy with M:I3, "and neither one of us felt like, Hey, let's just get married." He also says they need some time to make sure the ceremony and celebration will "be something special."

Besides, he says, "in many ways, we feel like we already are married. I know I'm with the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. So the wedding – that's just the party."

He similarly looks forward to his 3-week-old daughter Suri's attendance at the ceremony: "It's going to be really special to have our new baby there."

Cruise doesn’t shy away from some of the debate that surrounds him. Of his fervid stance against anti-depressants, based on his beliefs in Scientology, he tells Good Housekeeping: "I know this is controversial. And people don't have to listen to me. But they should find out about this for themselves. I really do care about people, and I care about the way that lives are being harmed by these drugs."

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Lance Armstrong's ex-wife, Kristin Richard, revealed to Oprah Winfrey on Tuesday that the road she shared with the Tour de France record holder was far from smooth.

Although the 1999-2003 marriage produced three children before it ended in divorce, the union also left Richard feeling "smothered," and turned her from an opinionated career person into a "yes" woman, Richard, 34, said on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"You and Lance looked like you had it all," said Winfrey, noting that Richard was swept off her feet by the stellar athlete, married him, had three children quickly and moved to the French Riviera. Richard, however, said that her role was strictly to cheer on Armstrong, prompting Winfrey to advise women not to make the same mistake.

"It wasn't Lance saying, 'You should be like this' or 'Do this.' It wasn't him making a mandate and me being a mouse. It was me trying to emulate whatever I thought would be the perfect wife or the perfect mother," said Richard, promoting an article she's written for the April Glamour magazine titled "What I Wish I Had Known About Marriage."

"We think we're trying to please somebody for the sake of our marriage, but then if you ask Lance today if he appreciated that, I think he would probably say, 'Well, that wasn't the woman that I fell in love with,'" added Richard.

As for first meeting Armstrong she said: "He had just finished up his chemotherapy. He was bald and cute." But once they were married she surrendered her job and her dog, as well as her independence, said Richard, who admitted also to being blinded by the huge diamond ring Armstrong gave her when they got engaged.

"I paid more attention to the rock on my left hand than to preparing myself for the journey ahead," Richard wrote in the article, which Winfrey said reduced her to tears. "This is why I never got married," said Winfrey. "I just wanted to always be myself."

Richard characterized her current relationship with her ex-husband as "good" – though "it's taken work and effort," she said.

As for her own life now, "I love God, my family, my friends, red wine, fireworks, going for a long, sweaty run, laughing until no sound comes out and taking my time," she said.

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When it comes to discussing the state of her profile, Ashlee Simpson's policy is don't ask, don't tell. But giggling is fine.

Asked about the widespread speculation – on the Web and in tabloids – that's she's had a nose job, the 21-year-old singer giggled and told the Associated Press: "Everybody's already saying it, so I just don't talk about it. I'm like, okay, whatever. It doesn't bother me."

Yet when the news service tried to put her nose to the grindstone and get her to confirm or deny the rumor, Simpson did neither – she just giggled more.

"Maybe," she said. "Who knows!"

Yet, a source tells PEOPLE that part of her new long-and-blonde look is, indeed, a nipped-and-tucked nose.
Simpson – the younger sister of Jessica – was more forthcoming about her love life to Teen People, for which she serves as the June/July cover girl. Discussing her boyfriend, Braxton Olita, the 20-year-old Hawaii native who plays guitar in her band, she said they were just friends before their relationship turned romantic.

"He's the yin to my yang; people call him my 'Little Buddha,'" she says. "When he comes around, everything changes. Braxton has taught me a lot."

Simpson, whose latest album is I Am Me, kicked off her summer tour last weekend in West Palm Beach, Fla.

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In a shocking turn, American Idol frontrunner Chris Daughtry was voted off the show Wednesday night.

As the audience gasped and shouted no, host Ryan Seacrest asked a shell-shocked-looking Daughtry, "Surprised?" "A little bit," he answered.

Judge Paula Abdul grew tearful. The other contestants – Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks – also looked stunned.

Tuesday night, Daughtry's rendition of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" drew unanimous praise from the three judges, prompting Abdul to tell the 26-year-old from McLeansville, N.C.,: "See ya in the finals."
Cowell was his usual self when it came to assessing Daughtry's second song, "A Little Less Conversation," however. Simon Cowell considered it "flat" and "not as good as the first."

Still, before the booted contestant was revealed on Wednesday, Simon said McPhee should be the one to go.

On Tuesday, McPhee, 21, forgot the words to one of her Elvis songs prompting Simon to say: "It hasn't been one of your best nights," said Cowell.

The finalist will be named May 24.

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Playing on the tabloid rumor that Oprah Winfrey was going to throw an $8 million wedding for Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, the comic-actor thanked the talk-show queen on Wednesday for her "very nice gesture" and noted, "I'm expecting a pretty good band for $8 million."

Even though Aniston and Winfrey shot down the report about the expensive wedding last month, Winfrey told Vaughn on her program Wednesday: "One of the things I asked Jennifer is, will $8 million be enough?"

"Yeah", said Vaughn, rolling his eyes for comic effect. "Come on."

As for living with such rumors since being linked to Aniston, Vaughn shrugged and said: "I just don’t pay much attention to that stuff. I find it to be really ridiculous."

Still, for the record, Vaughn and Aniston do not intend to walk down the aisle soon, he said. But he did say of Aniston, who costars with him in the new romantic comedy The Break Up, "Jennifer's great. She's one of my favorite people."

"She's one of mine, too," interjected Winfrey.

"She's just really smart and funny and easy to be with – very considerate," persisted Vaughn. "She's great."

When asked about starting a family Vaughn said he'd like to have children "at some point" – just not quite yet. "I think (having children) takes a lot of focus, takes a lot of attention. I think it would be nice at some point to have a different priority … I think that time would come. But not any time in the near future for me."

And, just in case anyone is wondering: "No, I have not talked about having kids with Jennifer," he said. "First we have to have the $8 million wedding."

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It wasn't only the audience that was stunned by rocker Chris Daughtry's exit from American Idol on Wednesday: Chris himself was "shocked."
It was definitely a gut-wrenching moment," he said Thursday. "I wasn't expecting it, not even a little bit."

If fact, the singer said he thought Ryan Seacrest, who abruptly announced that Daughtry had been cut, was kidding. "I thought he was building it up to be like people thought I was going home and then say, 'Chris you can sit down.' I thought there was going to be some sort of 'just kidding' factor there."

After receiving so much praise from the judges and fans during the competition, Daughtry said it's hard to imagine not being the next American Idol.

"It's weird because you have all these people telling you for weeks now, 'Oh man you're gonna win this thing. You're gonna win this thing. This is your thing to win. ' And when you have so many people telling you that, you automatically assume this is what American wants."

Asked why he thought he got cut, Daughtry said, "The only thing I can think of is maybe everybody just thought I was shoo-in and didn't vote."

The Idol judges – and the other finalists – were also taken aback by the news, said Daughtry. "Everyone was pretty much speechless. Randy was saying, 'Don't worry about it man you're gonna be fine.' Paula was crying too much to really say anything. And Simon was pretty shocked. He said he didn't see this coming and he just wished me the best of luck."

The luck has already started. The band Fuel has offered him a spot as their frontman. They first hinted that they were eyeing Daughtry in March when the group's Web site said they were looking for a singer and liked his performing style.

"He's perfect for Fuel. He has the right voice, the right look. It would be perfect," the band's manager, Paul Geary, told PEOPLE on Thursday.

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Brooke Shields, who suffered from severe postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, was concerned that she’d be in the same state after the arrival of her second daughter – but this time around has been "nothing like the first one," Shields tells PEOPLE.

Since Grier Hammond Henchy's April 18 arrival, the only discomfort Shields has felt is the pain from her C-section incision. Although she was prepared to ask for another prescription of Paxil, the antidepressant that helped her recover with daughter Rowan, now 3, she didn't need it this time.

"I was like, 'You know what? I think I'm okay now,'" she said to her doctor, PEOPLE reports in its upcoming issue.

This should come as good news to Tom Cruise, who admonished the actress last year for taking antidepressants. Speaking of Cruise, although Shields and Katie Holmes gave birth on the same day, on the same floor, of the same hospital, at first Shields wasn't even aware that there was another celebrity down the hall.

"Basically, I was being cut in two, so it wasn't the first thing I was going to ask about," says Shields. "I was just glad that everything for me was going well."

One month later, it still is. Shields, 40, and her husband, sitcom writer Chris Henchy, 42, have slipped into a happy routine, quickly adjusting to life with their littlest addition.

"Now it just really feels like a full-on family," says Shields. "I'd be lucky to just have the one, but with two, I realize they'll have each other after we're not here anymore, and to me, that really settles my mind."

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In a sign that Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen are trying to settle their divorce amicably, the estranged couple agreed to a temporary child custody settlement on Friday.

“Denise and Charlie are working with the Courts to privately resolve their differences regarding their children," the pair said in a joint statement. "They hope to resolve this matter outside of the public forum and will both continue to make every effort in this regard."

Sheen will be allowed supervised visitations one day per week with the couple's two daughters, Lola, 10 months, and Sam, 2. Sheen and Richards also agreed to hire a psychologist to evaluate the custody situation.

This gesture of civility is a change from last month when Richards filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that Sheen had threatened to kill her and had visited pornography Web sites featuring "very young" girls.

Sheen, 40, denied the claims. A judge, however, ordered him to stay 300 feet away from Richards, except during his visitation hours. The restraining order has been extended through June 7.

Richards, 34, originally filed for divorce in March of last year, when she was six months pregnant with Lola.

The pair appeared to briefly reconcile after Lola's birth in June, but on Jan. 4, they requested that their divorce proceed with a private arbitrator.

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Comedian Jerry Lewis is set to return this summer to the Orleans Hotel and Casino for his first live Las Vegas performance since his health took a turn for the worse six years ago, his publicist said on Friday.

Lewis, 80, is booked for a four-night comeback engagement from July 13 to 16 at the Orleans Showroom, where he was a regular fixture before various medical problems sidelined the veteran entertainer, spokeswoman Candi Cazau told Reuters.

His old, 2 1/2-hour stage act featured a combination of singing, comedy, dancing and pratfalls, but Cazau said his new show would likely be somewhat less physically demanding.

"We don't know what kind of show's he doing," she said.

Lewis returned home in January 2004 from a three-month hospital stay where he had been admitted to undergo a managed withdrawal from the steroid prednisone, which he had been taking for a chronic lung ailment, pulmonary fibrosis.

He has not performed at the Orleans since 2000, Cazau said, adding that Lewis had shed all the excess weight he had gained from the steroid treatments.

"He's down to 176 pounds (80 kg)," she said. "He took off every pound from that damned prednisone."

Lewis also plans to bring his annual Labor Day telethon for muscular dystrophy back to Las Vegas, hosting this year's show September 3-4 at the South Coast Hotel and Casino, Cazau said.

He also recently taped two episodes as a guest star on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," for next season, and in March celebrated his birthday in Paris by receiving his second French Legion of Honor medal, that nation's highest civilian honor.

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Paul Simon will hit the road this summer in support of his new album, "Surprise," on which he collaborated with producer Brian Eno.

The trek will begin July 1 at Milwaukee's Summerfest and run through July 29 in Paso Robles, Calif. No dates have currently been booked in Simon's New York hometown.

The itinerary is highlighted by a July 4 show at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Simon will also appear Saturday on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," on which he has guested countless times since performing on its second-ever episode in October 1975.

Simon is expected to return to the road for more dates in the fall.

Here are Paul Simon's tour dates:

July 1: Milwaukee (Summerfest)

July 2: Toledo, Ohio (Zoo Amphitheatre)

July 4: Cooperstown, N.Y. (Doubleday Field)

July 5: Montreal (Place Des Arts Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier)

July 7: Essex Junction, Vt. (Champlain Valley Fairgrounds)

July 8: Manchester, Tenn. (Verizon Wireless Arena)

July 9: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun)

July 12: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion)

July 14-15: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata Events Center)

July 16: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)

July 19: Atlanta (Chastain Park)

July 28: Costa Mesa, Calif. (Orange County Fair)

July 29: Paso Robles, Calif. (California Mid State Fair)

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Aras Baskauskas took the $1 million prize on Survivor: Panama, Exile Island Sunday night, becoming the twelfth winner of the long-running CBS reality show.

Speaking to CBS.com after his victory, the 24-year-old yoga instructor from Santa Monica, Calif., said he felt "awesome" and that he would use his money to open his own yoga studio and "just stay grounded." Offering advice to future Survivor players, he said, "The more real you can be out there, the more successful you'll be at it."

Baskauskas, who briefly played professional basketball in Lithuania, edged out Danielle DiLorenzo, a 24-year-old medical sales representative from Boston whom host Jeff Probst had called one of "the weakest players who've ever played the game."

Still, during the two-hour finale she managed to win the final immunity challenge – a contest that involved balancing on a series of wobbly platforms in the ocean.

The victory allowed DiLorenzo to eliminate one of two players still standing, Baskauskas or ex-Navy fighter pilot Terry Deitz, with whom she'd formed an alliance. So much for the alliance: She sent Deitz, 46, home, thinking he disliked Baskauskas and would vote against him.

But during the final council vote, Deitz voted for Baskauskas.

In other Survivor news, the show's first winner, Richard Hatch, is due