Gossip/Celebrity News

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Paul McCartney: I'm Keeping My Dignity by Keeping Quiet

Paul McCartney spoke Friday night about remaining dignified amid his ongoing painful divorce from Heather Mills.

"I think when you're going through difficulties, the thing to do for the sake of all the people concerned is to keep a certain dignity and remember that it is a private affair, and that way you'll probably get through it better," McCartney told BBC's Radio 4 at the debut performance of his new classical music album, Ecce Cor Meum, in London.

"You'll put less noses out of joint, and I think it's a more dignified way to go about it, so that's what I try to do," he continued.

"I don't hold grudges against anyone, I don't blame anyone for the sadnesses that have happened to me. I'm sad about them because it would stupid to be otherwise. But I think life goes on, and it is what you make of it, so I am pretty optimistic."

The optimism showed at the packed Royal Albert Hall, where the 64-year-old ex-Beatle smiled, waved and blew kisses to the audience. Several fans held up homemade signs that read "You have my heart," a play on the album's title, which means "behold my heart" in Latin.

During the performance, McCartney sat next to his daughter, designer Stella McCartney, 35, and her husband Alasdhair Willis.

After a standing ovation for the performers – the St. Martin's in the Fields Orchestra, a boys choir and soprano Kate Royal – he strode onto the stage, excited and beaming, and said it was "a privilege to be in the presence of such fine musicians.

"This has been such a long labor of love for me," he told the audience. "And so many great people have helped me that I can't begin to name them. And I have so many wonderful people – my family, my friends from forever – who are here tonight."

He has said that the album was inspired by his first wife, Linda, who died from breast cancer in 1998.

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Charlie Sheen Says He's Glad Denise Richards Is Dating Richie Sambora

In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show airing Monday, Charlie Sheen talks about working things out with his estranged wife, Denise Richards, for the sake of their kids – and says he's happy he knows her new boyfriend, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.

Asked by DeGeneres how things are going with Richards, 35, Sheen, 40, says, "We're trying to put all that nonsense aside and just do what's right for the children and just be good responsible parents." The pair have two daughters: Sam, 2, and Lola, 1.

"It's hard enough to have a relationship that doesn't work out, and who knows what everyone's life is privately, but it's even harder when it's in the public eye and you see them with somebody else in magazines," Degeneres says.

Sheen replies, "Well, at least I knew the guy that she wound up with, Richie. To know that it's somebody decent and smart and a good parent to be around your children, that's a good thing."

Richards and Sheen formerly lived in the same Southern California neighborhood as Sambora and his then-wife, Heather Locklear.

Richards and Locklear, who filed for divorce from Sambora in February, were previously pals, but Richards has said their friendship had already ended before she and Sambora began dating in February.

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Inside Shanna Moakler's Las Vegas Divorce Party

Shanna Moakler made the best of her split from Travis Barker on Friday with a divorce party at the Las Vegas nightclub Light at the Bellagio.

"I've been to past friends' divorce parties so I'm not the first person (to have one)," she tells PEOPLE. "I'm not groundbreaking or anything. I'm really doing it for myself to have closure and celebrate being single again and start a new chapter in my life."

The former Meet The Barkers star and Dancing with the Stars contestant hung out with a group of girlfriends all night, moving to various tables all around the club to get different perspectives.

Finally settling on a corner booth, Moakler joined an existing party's table to hang for the night. Wearing a short black dress, she was clearly having a good time as she drank vodka and did shots with her newfound friends.

The highlight of the evening came at dinner, when the Ballagio's Fix restaurant brought out a "divorce cake" for Moakler. The three-tiered cake featured a miniature knife-wielding blonde in a wedding dress on top, with a trail blood leading to a tiny groom sprawled at the bottom.

On hosting the oddly themed bash, Moakler tells PEOPLE, "I don't have any regrets about doing it. I am who I am and I make my own decisions. I totally respect people's opinions. I never thought I would be getting a divorce. I never thought I'd be here. At the end of the day, this isn't the worst thing in my life. People go through it every day. I respect people's opinions, but this is my opinion. This is how I'm showing the world that divorce is okay. I doesn't have to be the end of your life."

Barker, 30, the former drummer for blink-182, filed for divorce from Moakler, 31, in August.

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Kellie Pickler's Wild Ride

Hang out with Kellie Pickler long enough, and a few things are bound to happen:

1. She will gush about her biggest obsession: shoes. "There's a new brand – how do you pronounce it? Christian Loo-boo … " – Louboutin? – "Yeah! That is my favorite brand right now. I just got my first pair the other day. Black leather boots."

2. She will eat – a lot. "I like my food," she says over a lunch of fried chicken fingers, french fries and fried mozzarella sticks. "I can't eat healthy for one day."

3. She will belch, proudly and loudly. "My grandma always told me to be a lady, but I'm guessing I have not fulfilled that wish," she says.

At 20, the joke-cracking blonde with the honey-dipped drawl and the hard-grit youth is making good on plenty of other big wishes. After finishing sixth on last season's American Idol, Pickler is out to prove herself as a country singer with her debut album, Small Town Girl.

Inspired by her North Carolina roots, the album features five songs cowritten by Pickler, including the boot-scootin' first single, "Red High Heels." "She grew up in this music," says Joe Galante, chairman of Sony BMG Nashville. "And she brings an energy that you're just happy to be around. When you know the things she's been through, this woman has the right to be grumpy, moody, whatever. But that's never there."

As fireplug-perky in person as she was on American Idol, Pickler is also more focused and mature than her fizzy persona might suggest. "I'm only 20, but I almost feel like an old woman," she says. "I grew up fast."

Idol viewers may recall her story: Born in Albemarle, N.C., Pickler was 2 when her mother left (she later briefly regained custody of Kellie); her father, Clyde "Bo" Pickler Jr., was in and out of jail; and her grandparents, Faye and Clyde Sr., raised her.

Looking back on all of that, Pickler says the hardest thing she has had to endure was the death of her grandmother from lung cancer when Kellie was 15. "I called her Mom; she was my best friend," says Pickler. "We would always sit together on the front-porch swing. She had all these hymnals – with 'Amazing Grace' and 'Jesus Loves Me' – and I would sing to her on the swing."

Pickler cries at the memory of their final moments together. "The last thing she said to me was, 'I love you. Be careful.' "

Today she says that she and her father – who was most recently released from prison last May – "haven't really had time to catch up." Although she has no idea of her mother's whereabouts, "I think about her all the time," says Pickler. "Did she watch American Idol? How odd would it be if she had picked up the phone and voted for me?"

Says her close friend Summer Miller, who met Kellie when she was a teen pageant hopeful: "I remember asking her, 'Honey, where's your mom?' She said, 'Your guess is as good as mine.' No child should ever have to go through that."

Having just moved to Nashville – she made the drive herself in a U-Haul – Pickler is focusing on her new life. She has a boyfriend in Albemarle, but "we're more like best friends," she says. Marriage will come "maybe when I'm like 80!"

For now, she is enjoying her success. "After my grandma passed away, my dreams were all I had," she says. "I lived to accomplish them." One more she'd like to check off: pairing with her idol, Dolly Parton. "Everyone always tells me that we should do a sitcom," she says. "Kellie and Dolly: Two Blondes Out of the Bottle!"

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Diddy Says He Loves Being a Young Dad

Sean 'Diddy' Combs turned 37 on Saturday – and he's expecting twin girls with girlfriend Kim Porter – but he's still a kid at heart.

At Paper nightclub in central London to celebrate his birthday and promote his new album, Press Play, Diddy told PEOPLE that he likes being a young dad. "I can relate so well to my kids," said the father of Justin, 12, and Christian, 8. "I mean, we like the same sneakers and listen to the same music and go to the same movies, so there's not that generation gap. So it's like being a parent, but also being a friend."

Dressed in a gray three-piece suit and dark sunglasses, Diddy presented a birthday surprise to the 200-plus crowd: A duet performance with Kayne West.

The two looked like best friends as they danced and sang side-by-side under blue strobe lights until the wee hours.

At one point, when West broke into his hit "Gold Digger," Diddy threw stacks of mock $100 dollar bills, with Diddy's picture in place of Benjamin Franklin's, into the air.

He did cough up real coin when he asked the bar staff to "break my pockets" by offering "a $1,000 tip" to pour tequila and lemon drop shots for everyone.

As the birthday bash drew to a close, Diddy told the crowd: "If you wake up tomorrow and your head is spinning and you wake up with five young ladies in bed – or ladies, you wake up with two men beside you, then call your man Diddy and say, 'Thank you, Diddy. I love you, Diddy.' "

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Gymnast Dominique Moceanu Gets Married

Dominique Moceanu, who won a gold medal at the 1996 summer Olympics as part of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the Magnificent Seven, wed longtime beau Michael Canales in her hometown of Houston on Saturday afternoon.

Three of her Olympic teammates – Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes and Kerri Strug, a bridesmaid – were among the 175 wedding guests, along with Olympic greats Paul and Morgan Hamm, Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci.

"This is the best day of my life!" a gleeful Moceanu told PEOPLE following the traditional Romanian Orthodox service, which was presided over by three bearded clerics. "I'm marrying the best person for me."

Moceanu, 25, and Canales, 29, a former nationally ranked collegiate gymnast who is now a resident in podiatric surgery in Cleveland, started dating in 2001.

They first met in 1994 at the Junior National Championships when she was a precocious 12-year-old star. They became a couple after meeting again years later, and Canales served as her coach as she trained last year for a planned return to competition.

The American-born daughter of Romanian immigrants, Moceanu started gymnastics at 3 1/2. She later worked with the legendary Bela Karolyi, who had coached Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

In 1996, Moceanu was the youngest member of the Magnificent Seven, which along with Borden, Dawes and Strug also included Jaycie Phelps, Amy Chow and Shannon Miller.

She made headlines in 1998 when she became legally emancipated from her parents, Dmitry and Camelia, in a dispute over control of her finances. The family later made up, and a beaming Dmitry escorted his daughter down the aisle on Saturday.

Conner and Comaneci, who have been married for 10 years and welcomed their first child in June, served as honorary godparents for the newlyweds.

Moceanu, who did most of the wedding planning herself, wore an off-the-rack strapless satin dress from Oleg Cassini, while her bridesmaids were clad in plum-colored satin sheaths and stoles. Canales wore a white tie and tails with white gloves.

Sunday morning, after an early breakfast with their parents, the couple departed for a weeklong cruise in the Caribbean.

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Kevin Gets Fired Up in NYC – Without Britney

Kevin Federline hit New York City this weekend to promote his new album, Playing with Fire – and show audiences he's more than Mr. Britney Spears. And in fact, even though Spears was in town, the couple didn't appear once together in public, and she didn't attend any of Federline's events.

Federline's Big Apple weekend kicked off on Thursday, when he made an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live in the afternoon and later hit a launch party for designer Tom Ford's new fragrance, Black Orchid.

Friday night was his album release party at the Manhattan hotspot Stereo. Federline stayed until 3 a.m., hanging with his entourage and sending text messages on his Sidekick.

He told PEOPLE he makes music because he loves it, adding "(it's) not for the money. I have enough money." He also shot down rumors of strife in his marriage, saying "I don't waste any energy thinking about these things. I don't get caught up in it."

Saturday he kicked off his promotional tour with a concert at Webster Hall, where he gave a shout-out to the crowd of New Yorkers: "I love you to death. You've got love for a West Coast Dude and I appreciate that."

He was scheduled to play a second set at 11 p.m., but took the stage at 1:35 a.m. to tell the audience there would be no second act, citing equipment trouble, and suggested that "Everyone get drunk! That's what I'm going to do."

Next up: A performance on Canada's Much Music on Monday, followed by shows in Chicago, Virginia Beach, Anaheim, Calif., and Los Angeles.

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Beyoncé: My Lyrics Aren't About My Life

Beyoncé's lyrics take a darker turn on her new album, B'day, but she says they aren't based on real life.

"Even though I'm very happy and I don't have any drama in my life, I didn't want to do another album full of love songs. I did that last time. It's boring," the 25-year-old singer tells Elle in its December issue.

The album includes several songs about a cheating boyfriend. One song, "Resentment," includes the lines, "I've been crying for too long/ What did you do to me?/ You lied, you lied, you lied."

But Beyoncé insists the songs aren't about her longtime boyfriend, Jay-Z. "I'm sure people will read into that," she tells Elle, "but there's nothing to read into. Sorry to disappoint you!"

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Man Charged in Slaying of Indie Actress

Police have charged a construction worker with the murder of actress Adrienne Shelly, who was found hanging from a shower rod in her New York apartment last week, the Associated Press reports.

Diego Pillco was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, according to New York Police Detective Kevin Czartoryski.

It was reported earlier that Shelly had likely committed suicide, however police had not ruled out foul play. No note was found at the place of her death, and sneaker prints that did not match her shoes were found in the apartment's bathtub.

Shelly, who appeared in The Unbelievable Truth, was renovating her Greenwich Village apartment, and Pillco, who was one of the workers, was one of the last people seen going into her apartment, according to police

Pillco, 19, was picked up early Monday and was questioned for several hours until "he made statements," Czartoryski told the AP. He would not elaborate on the nature of the statements.

Shelly, 40, was born Adrienne Levine in Queens and raised on Long Island. She and her husband, Andy Ostroy, had a 3-year-old daughter named Sophie, her agent, Rachel Sheedy, told the AP.

She had worked steadily acting in film, theater and television, but later turned to writing and directing and made her feature-film directorial debut with 1997's Sudden Manhattan. She recently wrote and directed a film called Waitress, starring Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto.

"She was so psyched about the film," Sheedy told the AP. "She gathered an amazing cast, and she was really happy and excited to hear back from Sundance about it."

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Britney Spears & Kevin Federline: Separate Lives

Britney Spears, who filed for divorce from Kevin Federline on Tuesday, has rarely been spotted out with her husband over the last six weeks. Here's a look at the couple's separate lives:

• Sept. 12: Spears gives birth to her second son with Federline, Jayden James. Two days later, their son Sean Preston turns 1.

• Oct. 12: Federline tells Extra his "children come first."

• Oct. 15: Spears makes her first post-baby public outing – to L.A.'s trendy Planet Blue Boutique – looking sleek and fit in low-slung jeans, a fitted sweater vest and peep-toe pumps.

• Oct. 16: Federline makes an appearance at the WWE Monday Night RAW event at L.A.'s Staples Center, where wrestler John Cena slams the would-be rapper onto the canvas amid a chorus of boos from the crowd.

• Oct. 18: Spears – sans Kevin – heads to Las Vegas to work on her own album and enjoy some downtime. She catches the midnight show at Pure Nightclub's Pussycat Dolls Lounge, and the next day grooves until the early wee hours with a gal pal and two male dancers at the Venetian's Tao.

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Madonna Bruised By Paparazzi

Madonna is sporting a bruise on her cheek after getting jostled by the paparazzi at Heathrow airport over the weekend – while she was holding her adoptive son, David, a source close to the singer tells PEOPLE.

"She had the baby in her arms when it happened," says the source. "When she landed in London, there was a lot of pushing and shoving. She was jostled around. She got hit in the paparazzi's commotion."

David, the 1-year-old she is in the process of adopting from Malawi, was not hurt in the scuffle. "Thank God the baby is OK," says the source.

Over the weekend Madonna returned to London from New York, where she'd spent the week promoting her newest children's book, Too Good to Be True, and her upcoming NBC TV special Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live from London, as well making several media appearances to respond the controversy surrounding David's adoption.

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Kevin Federline Seeks Custody of Kids

In what may signal a custody battle to come, Kevin Federline filed a response Wednesday to wife Britney Spears's divorce claim in L.A. Superior Court.

In the surprisingly quick reply, Federline, like Spears, has made a claim for sole custody of their kids, Sean Preston, 1, and Jayden James (born Sept. 12), with visitation rights for Spears.

"It's not that unusual, but if you want to send a message that you want to be amicable, (both parties) would seek joint custody," says Lynn Soodik, an L.A. family law specialist.

"That he's seeking sole custody leads me to believe they're heading to a costly battle over the kids," she adds.

Federline also asks for spousal support.

According to a statement from his lawyer: "Kevin is prepared to go the distance in order to do what he feels is necessary to protect and safeguard the children and will not be intimidated or dissuaded from pursuit of those goals."

In coming days, Federline and his lawyer will have to decide whether to contest the couple's prenuptial agreement, as well as negotiate a temporary support and custody arraignment.

Reps for both sides had no comment.

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Reese Witherspoon Files for Divorce

Reese Witherspoon has filed for divorce from Ryan Phillippe, citing irreconcilable differences, PEOPLE has confirmed. Papers were filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In the court papers, Witherspoon, 30, asks for joint custody of the couple's two children, Ava, 7, and Deacon, 3. The actress also seeks physical custody of her kids and that Phillippe, 32, be granted visitation rights.

Witherspoon also requests that the court not grant spousal support for Phillippe.

A rep for the couple first announced their separation on Oct. 30.

Though Phillippe hasn't commented on reports that he and Australian actress Abbie Cornis (who costars with him in an upcoming film) had a relationship, he issued an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday, saying, “I’m not a perfect person, but I’m not guilty of a lot of the things I have been accused of. My priority is and always has been the health and safety of my family." Reps vehemently deny other allegations of hard partying and drug use.

The couple first met when a mutual friend brought Phillippe to Witherspoon's 21st-birthday party. Two years later, after they had costarred in 1999's Cruel Intentions, he proposed. They married in June 1999 and had Ava three months later.

Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for her role in last year's hit Walk the Line, is next expected to appear in the drama Rendition. Phillippe is currently starring in the WWII drama Flags of Our Fathers.

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Nick & Jessica: One Year Later

Thanksgiving eve will make it one year since Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey announced their split, after three years of a high-profile marriage chronicled on the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

Since then, Simpson, 26, and Lachey, 33, whose divorce became final on June 30, have clearly moved on, PEOPLE reports in its latest issue.

Simpson decamped to her own Beverly Hills mansion and has kept busy with music and movie work. "She's doing great," Simpson's stylist and BFF Ken Paves, tells PEOPLE, while Simpson says that this Thanksgiving will be spent with family in Texas.

"I'm going to Waco with my family. I look forward to just seeing my grandparents and giving them a big hug and cooking with my grandma and my family," she tells PEOPLE. "And just kind of being normal for a little bit."

Asked what she's most grateful for this Thanksgiving, after all that has happened since the last one, Simpson replies: "My family is always No. 1 on my thank-you list. Their support and love (are) unconditional. Nothing can rock it."

And Simpson has a new plan for reeling in men: DVDs, she says (the singer is working on a new promotional campaign for Blockbuster Video). "You ask a guy to bring over a movie they want you to watch, and I think it would tell a lot about them," she says, though she notes: "It hasn't worked yet."

Overall, though, she's "really good," she says, and she'll soon starting shooting her new movie, Blond Ambition, with Luke Wilson. It's about "a small-town girl moving to the city and making it in the corporate world, and she never expected to make it there," she says.

Meanwhile, Lachey, who is renovating a Bel Air bachelor pad, has amped up his music career with a gold-selling album and nationwide tour. He's also found love again with MTV's TRL host Vanessa Minnillo, 26, whom he's been dating for seven months.

"The first few months were hard," a pal of Lachey's tells PEOPLE of Nick's life after his split from Simpson. "But Nick finally realized he was in a better place."

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Cameron Diaz: I Want My Nose Fixed

Cameron Diaz, whose quirky good looks made her a star, wants a nose job. And it's not for cosmetic reasons – it's because she can't breathe, the actress says in an interview with W magazine.

"I'm getting it fixed. I can't take it. I cannot breathe at all," says Diaz, who broke her nose for the fourth time while surfing a few years ago. "One side of my nose is totally shattered – my septum is basically like a train derailed."

Another aspect of her life that she wishes would change is the constant attention she gets from the paparazzi. "Something happened in our industry, in our society, and there was an explosion of this really aggressive group of people," says Diaz, who noticed the increase in attention about two-and-a-half years ago.

Diaz, 34, along with her boyfriend of three years, Justin Timberlake, have developed a reputation for being especially prickly with photographers after having several run-ins with them. In September, they filed a police report charging a photographer with assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly trying to hit them with his car.

"I'm a very private person," she tells W. "My dad taught me how to fight when I was a kid. When somebody comes at you, you defend yourself."

The actress – who costars with Jude Law in the upcoming romantic comedy The Holiday – also admits that getting older has had one major drawback: She can no longer scarf down junk food with wild abandon.

"I used to be able to eat anything I wanted and then go right to bed. Fried chicken, onion rings, half a bottle of wine," she says. "As you get older, your insides rebel. You've asked so much of them for so many years, and then they just go, 'Uh-uh, bi-atch! Gonna eat cheese fries? See how you sleep!' And you're tossing and turning all night."