Gossip/Celebrity News

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Hasselhoff: Custody Ruling a 'Bittersweet Victory'

With a custody fight and the controversy over his drunken video behind him, David Hasselhoff says he and his kids are ready to "move on."

"It was a bittersweet victory," the actor said on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show Tuesday morning. "They love their mom, they love their dad, and they just want to get it over with."

But Hasselhoff expressed lingering anger about the release of a video showing him drunk and rolling around on a Vegas hotel room floor while munching on a hamburger.

"A private moment like that in anyone's life should never be exploited like that, especially if your children are involved," he said. "That's when this thing happened – that's when I said: Nobody plays that card."

The tape was leaked just as his years-long divorce battle with Pamela Bach intensified. A judge on Friday granted Hasselhoff sole custody of their daughters Taylor-Ann, 17, and Hayley, 14, with visitation for Bach.

"The wonderful thing was the judge," Hasselhoff told Seacrest. "The judge was so honest and complimentary of how honest my children are. And they say, 'Dad, who cares? Let's move on.' And we are."

Bach, meanwhile, fired her attorney, Debra Opri, on Tuesday. Bach told PEOPLE outside a Los Angeles courtroom after a change-of-attorney hearing: "I had to let her go. What happened on Friday was devastating and puzzling."

In the hearing, Opri kissed Bach on the cheek and wished her luck, then signed a substitution of attorney form allowing Mark Vincent Kaplan to replace her. Kaplan represented Kevin Federline in his divorce from Britney Spears.

The judge set another hearing for Aug. 16 and a divorce trial for Oct. 1.

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Hillary Clinton Spoofs Sopranos Finale

Hillary Clinton has gotten creative with a new online campaign video that spoofs the controversial finale of The Sopranos.

In the video, available on Clinton's Web site, the presidential hopeful sits down at a diner and begins to flip through the jukebox as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" plays – the same song used in the final scene of the HBO hit.

Clinton, who is joined at the table by husband Bill, gets a menacing look from Sopranos actor Vincent Curatola, who played mob boss Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni.

While on the Sopranos finale, Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) ordered onion rings, Clinton instead gets a bowl of sliced carrots for the table. "No onion rings?" her husband asks, to which she answers, "I'm looking out for you."

Bill asks what tune she's selected as her new campaign song – "My money's on Smashmouth," he says – but just as she's about to reveal it, the screen cuts to black, leaving Clinton's song – just like Tony's fate – a mystery.

Unlike The Sopranos, however, with just one more click, Clinton's new campaign theme is revealed to be Celine Dion's "You and I."

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Tom Sizemore Begs Judge to Spare Him Jail

tearful Tom Sizemore begged a judge Tuesday to spare him prison for violating his probation in a drug case.

"If you would please just give me one more chance for myself," Sizemore said, according to City News Service.

The Black Hawk Down actor, 45, faces up to 16 months in prison for allegedly using methamphetamine in violation of his probation in a previous meth possession case.

Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ravis set another hearing on Sizemore's fate for Monday.

Sizemore, who has been jailed since he surrendered on June 5, has a long history of problems with the law. He was convicted of misdemeanor charges in 2003 for allegedly harassing and physically abusing ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss. Two years later, his probation was revoked for trying to fool a drug test.

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Judge Rules on Anna Nicole Smith's Estate

Four months after Anna Nicole Smith's death, a Los Angeles judge Tuesday named Howard K. Stern executor of her estate and Larry Birkhead guardian of his and Smith's daughter, Dannielynn.

Attorneys will return to court later this year to review Smith's assets, which Stern estimated at $710,000 – but which could grow substantially pending the outcome of a battle over the estate of Smith's late husband, billionaire J. Howard Marshall.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff told the lawyers he was concerned about a clause in Smith's will disinheriting any children born after her son, Daniel, who died last September three days after Dannielynn was born.

Smith, who died in February of an accidental overdose, left a will dated July 2001 that states that aside from her (now deceased) son Daniel, "I have intentionally omitted to provide for ... other heirs, including future spouses and children and other descendants now living and those hereafter born or adopted."

Bruce Ross, an attorrney for Smith, said he'll prove at future hearings that the clause is "extraordinary and improperly drafted" and should not stand. He promised to send copies of Beckloff's orders to Virgie Arthur, Smith's mother.

This was the first Los Angeles hearing involving Stern and Birkhead since February, when they clashed in a family law court over paternity of Smith's now 9-month-old daughter, Dannielynn.

Birkhead, shown by a DNA test to be Dannielynn's father, is now living with the child in Smith's former Los Angeles home.

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Josh Duhamel Reveals His Pick-Up Line on Fergie

Josh Duhamel nearly blew his chance with Fergie when the singer and her band appeared on his show Las Vegas, he says.

"After they finished rehearsing, I was walking out, and all of a sudden she was walking toward me," Duhamel, 34, says in the July/August issue of Best Life.

"I was like, Oh boy. She stopped. And this is so sad, but I said, in this desperate voice, 'You're hot!'"

"The crush of a lifetime, and that was my line!" he recalls of the September 2004 encounter. "But then an interesting thing happened. She replied, 'Yeah, I read InStyle. So ... how was I in your dream?"

(Fergie, 32, told Playboy earlier this year: "I had read in a magazine that he had a naughty dream about me.")

Now, the 6'3" actor and the 5'4" Black Eyed Peas singer have a new home together. "It's a big house," Duhamel tells Best Life. "A girl like Fergie comes with stuff – a lot of stuff. And there just wasn't enough room for the stuff."


As for why their personalities mesh, he says, "She's a real total star. I'm more subdued than that. I'd rather sneak up on people. But that's what makes us work. We have similar fundamental values. We both grew up in similar families. She's just got a great soul."

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Tiger Woods's New Baby Revealed!

Photos of the week-old Sam Alexis Woods have appeared on the Web site of her proud papa, golf champ Tiger Woods.

Not surprisingly, she is more beautiful than a hole in one.

In all four snapshots, little Sam is shown sleeping, sometimes alone, sometimes with her father, or with both her dad and her mother, Elin Nordegren. One shot is of the whole family – including dogs Taz, a border collie, and Yogi, a labradoodle.

"This is truly a special time in our lives and we look forward to introducing Sam to our family and friends over the next few weeks," the golf star, 31, wrote in a message on his site on June 18, the day Sam was born.

The couple's first child was born less than 24 hours after Woods finished second in the U.S. Open, one shot behind Angel Cabrera, on June 17.

Woods and Nordegren, a Swedish former nanny and model he met at the 2001 British Open, were married in 2005.

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WWE Star Chris Benoit Asphyxiated Wife, Son

World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit asphyxiated his wife Nancy and their 7-year-old son Daniel before hanging himself, Fayette County Sheriff's Department's Lt. Tommy Pope said at a press conference outside the Benoit home on Tuesday.

Nancy, whose feet were bound, was likely killed Friday night in an office in the home where she was discovered, said Scott Ballard, Fayette's District Attorney. Her death was followed by the boy's murder on Saturday in the child's upstairs bedroom. Daniel Benoit was found in his bed, said police. A bible was near both bodies.

"Then, maybe sometime later," on Saturday or Sunday, said Pope, "Chris Benoit killed himself by hanging himself in the basement area."

The three were found dead inside the family's secluded Fayetteville, Georgia, home on Monday. Pope said that legal prescription medicines were found inside the crime scene. These included steroids, according to Ballard. A toxicology report is due within three weeks.

"We are currently treating this as a double homicide-suicide," Pope reiterated at the conference. "We feel confident that everything is contained within the home."

As far as a motive is concerned, none has been uncovered so far, but as Ballard told PEOPLE, "When you're talking about the death of a 7-year-old boy, what motive could there be?"

Ballard confirms that the circumstances of the deaths appear "quite bizarre," and says, "None of it takes away from the fact that it's just a huge tragedy. I'm just blown away by the fact that a 7-year-old boy has been killed."

Apart from media reports of a divorce petition filed by Nancy Benoit in May 2003 and then withdrawn that August, Ballard says he has no other knowledge of domestic violence or marital discord inside the Benoit household. However, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the couple, after marrying in 2000, experienced a period of turbulence early in their union, with Nancy claiming domestic abuse and filing for divorce, per court records.

Her petition also stated, according to the paper, that Benoit "lost his temper and threatened to strike [her] and cause extensive damage to the home and personal belongings of the parties, including furniture and furnishings." The papers also said that Nancy was feared for both her own and her child's safety.

However, in August 2003, she asked for the divorce petition to be dismissed.

Benoit (pronounced: ben-WAH), 40, a native of Canada, was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles during his career. He had two other children from a previous relationship, reports the AP.

Chris and Nancy Benoit (formerly Nancy Daus), 43 – who managed several wrestlers and used the stage name "Woman" – met when Nancy's previous husband came up with a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of an ongoing story line for World Championship Wrestling.

The tragic turn of events apparently began on Saturday, when, after informing WWE officials of "a family emergency," Benoit was conspicuous by his absence from that night's live event in Beaumont, Texas – and again at WWE's Vengeance: Night of Champions in Houston 24 hours later.

Friends who received curious text messages from the entertainer on Sunday morning contacted the wrestling organization, which in turn asked the Sheriff's office to run a welfare check on the family at their home on the south side of the Atlanta metro area.

After learning of what occurred, the WWE canceled its live Monday Night RAW, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in lieu of the scheduled wrestling telecast.

"WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family's relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy," the federation posted in a statement on its Web site.

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Prince William, Kate Middleton Dating Again?

Following their April split after dating for five years, Prince William and former girlfriend Kate Middleton have resumed their relationship, according to widespread coverage in British newspapers on Sunday.

The two, both 25, attended a party earlier this month at an army barracks where William is posted as an army officer, the reports say.

In addition, William has invited Middleton, who is an accessories buyer at a company called Jigsaw, to the Concert for Diana, in memory of his mother, scheduled for London's Wembley Stadium next Sunday, the Mail on Sunday reports.

The paper also claims the couple kissed at the June 9 army party, and that Middleton will spend time with William, his brother Harry and Harry's girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, backstage at the Diana concert.

Per custom, a spokeswoman for William's Clarence House office declined comment on the stories. "We don't discuss William's private life, it's a matter for him," she said.

Earlier this month, Joss Stone denied a report that she's close friends with the royal – who only last week, on Thursday (his birthday), gained access to the estimated $500,000 to $600,000 annual interest generated by the $13 million left to him by his mother.

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Inside Reese Witherspoon & Jake Gyllenhaal's Split

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal's springtime romance has ended.

"They just recently broke up. It's totally and completely over," a source in Witherspoon's circle tells PEOPLE.

"Reese was the one who had to do it," says the source. "She just got out of a divorce and was so concerned with her family, she just didn't have the time for him and he really demanded that."

Adds the source: "They're still friends. Things are fine, but it was a clean break – [there's] no chance of getting back together."

Reps for both actors did not immediately return calls for comment.

Witherspoon, 31, and Ryan Phillippe, 32, who confirmed their split in October after seven years of marriage, have two children: daughter Ava, 7, and son Deacon, 3. The actress started dating Gyllenhaal, 26, her costar in the upcoming CIA thriller Rendition, in the spring.

Although they were careful to avoid the spotlight, they were spotted March 23 dining with two other couples at L.A.'s Il Sole and "being playful," an observer said at the time.

Although the pair didn't have much screen time together while filming Rendition for eight weeks in Morocco, during a reshoot in L.A., "Jake went and reintroduced himself to Reese," a source close to both actors told PEOPLE.

From there, said a friend of Witherspoon's, "Things slowly progressed, but it was never something she thought would happen from the start. She just kind of developed this little crush over time."

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Usher, Fiancée Expecting a Baby

It's official: Usher is going to be a daddy.

Just a week after his fiancée hinted that babies could be in their future, the pop star and Tameka Foster have announced that they're expecting their first child together, due in the fall.

"We are extremely excited at this point in our lives planning our wedding and the joy that comes with expecting our first child together," the couple said in a statement released to the Associated Press Wednesday. "We hope people will be happy for us and respect our privacy during this happy period in our lives."

Usher, 28, and Foster, 36, first became serious a year and a half ago, she told Essence.com in an interview last week.

"What people don't realize is that Usher and I were friends for nearly seven years and I worked as his personal stylist for five years. I was the only female friend he felt he could talk to."

When asked about plans for babies, Foster added: "Yes, I do plan to have children with Usher. This is the man I love and plan to spend the rest of my life with, so why wouldn't I want to share that bond of bringing another life into this world with him?"

This will be the fourth child for Foster. Usher, meanwhile, is due to release his follow-up to the multiplatinum-selling album Confessions later this year.

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Source: Kevin Resists Signing Off on Britney Divorce

Kevin Federline's camp has resisted signing final divorce papers out of concern over Britney Spears's recent behavior, a source close to Federline tells PEOPLE.

Under an agreement reached in March, the pair – once they sign the documents – would continue their interim arrangement of joint legal and physical custody of their two sons.

"Britney's attorneys are anxious to see Kevin sign off on a divorce," the source says. "But Kevin and his lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan are dragging their heels out of concern over reports of Britney's post-rehab partying."

Federline's camp, the source adds, "wants to make sure that the divorce document makes it simple enough for Kevin to downsize Britney's access to her kids the next time her behavior troubles him."

Spears, 25, who left Promises rehab center in March, has been hitting the nightclub and restaurant scene recently. As PEOPLE magazine reports this week, she was spotted drinking two rum-based cocktails at Benvenuto Caffé on June 21, the same day she bought a $19.99 parakeet and domed cage.

"She had a couple of cocktails," the restaurant's maitre d', Sergio Cobin, tells PEOPLE. "She was in a great mood." (Another employee confirms she drank alcohol and "left a big tip.")

Spears's lawyer Laura Wasser, says: "I do not feel it's appropriate to comment the personal life or legal positions of my client."

Federline's lawyer also didn't comment.

Meanwhile, the producers of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour say that Spears will not be appearing, after all. Spears choreographer had said she'd be performing in the Los Angeles show on June 30.

"We invited Britney to join us in Las Vegas for the tour kickoff (June but never heard back from her representatives. We still haven't heard anything from them," tour producer Jonny Podell tells PEOPLE. "Of course we wish we'd been contacted, but unfortunately, at this point, we wouldn't be able to accommodate another artist in the L.A. schedule anyway."

Lisa Barbaris, Lauper's manager and another tour producer, adds that media reports over performance disagreements with Spears's camp were not true. "The rumors about Cyndi not letting Britney perform due to any performance or lip-sync issues are silly and completely false," says Barbaris.

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Kate Walsh Talks About Her Whirlwind Romance

Unlike her romantically challenged Grey's Anatomy character, Kate Walsh knows love when it finds her – she and Alex Young got engaged in May after dating for just three months.

"[We've been together] since February," Walsh, 39, told PEOPLE at a poolside party for facialist Kate Somerville at the Beverly Whilshire hotel.

"I know – I'm literally living the dream. But you know when you know. I was not expecting it, so it's kind of amazing."

While Walsh says she loves "everything" about her fiancé, a production co-president at 20th Century Fox, she admits she's partial to his looks. "He's pretty handsome," she said, adding with a giggle, "He's ridiculously handsome!"

And it doesn't hurt that he's helping with the wedding plans – well, in his own way: "He's really great. He's there, but he's not in the way! He wants to contribute."

So, she's taken charge. "You start getting into this and you don't want to be a cliché, but then suddenly you're like, 'I'm doing all this stuff!' "
Considering she's also preparing for her new series, Private Practice, which starts shooting in mid-July, her schedule must be packed. "It's insane, yeah," she said. But she has a mantra that keeps her centered when it comes to wedding planning: "Delegate, delegate, delegate!"

To help her manage things, she and Young are taking a quick vacation. "We're going to a balmy island," she said. "This is my getaway, and as soon as I come back we just hit the ground running."

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Diaz Date Criss Angel Sued for Divorce

The estranged wife of Mindfreak star Criss Angel is suing for divorce, saying that the illusionist had an affair with Cameron Diaz and hasn't shared any of his millions in earnings.

According to the New York Post, Joanne Sarantakos of Long Island, N.Y., is accusing Angel, her husband of five years, of mental cruelty and abandonment.

"We're naming Cameron Diaz as his lover," her lawyer Dominic Barbara reportedly told the Nassau County court, where Angel and Sarantakos faced off on Friday. "We will subpoena her as soon as she comes back to New York." Barbara also told the court that Angel kept his wife a "secret" to further his career.

Angel's lawyer, Elliot Weiner, denied the allegations, Newsday reports, adding that "the notion that she's not being supported is simply not accurate."

Diaz and Angel had been spotted out together in Las Vegas several times in May. Two days after they met, they caught a Cirque du Soleil show, where one witness told PEOPLE, "They were snuggling with each other and he was making her laugh." The illusionist himself told PEOPLE, "Cam is an amazing person. I'm so honored to be able to call her my friend."

Angel (real name: Christopher Sarantankos), 39, who resides in and performs in Las Vegas, reportedly has had a 15-year relationship with his wife, 37. At the hearing, Angel – dressed down, and minus his stage makeup – touched his wife's shoulder and tried to shake her father's hand, according to Newsday, but the family rebuffed him.

Judge Arthur Diamond encouraged the two to settle the case out of court, saying a public divorce could take two years. A status hearing was scheduled for Sept. 19, the newspaper reports.

Calls made by PEOPLE to both Angel's and Diaz's reps have yet to be returned.

"He really played the 'Mindfreak' game on her," Michael Winkhart, Joanne Sarantakos's brother, told Newsday. "He reduced her to a role where she occupied less than 5 percent of his life. "

The paper also reported that Angel joked with reporters outside the courtroom. Gesturing toward his wife's lawyer, he said, "I can make him disappear," while Barbara laughed and replied, "I'm going to rip his heart out."

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Prince William S***ts the Kate Question

Prince William deftly sidestepped questions about ex-girlfriend Kate Middleton on Saturday when he and Prince Harry checked out the final preparations for the next day's Concert for Diana.

The sons of Princess Diana were asked about the invitations reportedly extended to Middleton and Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry?s girlfriend.

Taken aback, William responded, "Er, well. Er. I've got lots of friends coming. Everyone's going to be there on the night and it's going to be a very good night."

Harry was quick to admire his brother's response. To laughter, Harry said, "Really well avoided William, very diplomatic."

William split from Middleton in April but is said by those close to him to have been going on dates with her again.

The princes were appearing onstage at Wembley Stadium in London with Joss Stone, whom they watched go through a soundcheck of the songs she will perform, her own "You Had Me," and a cover of Queen's "Under Pressure."

Stone told the princes, "Hopefully she would like it. I wanted it to mean something – every song I wanted to mean something to them when they listen to it."

As they left the stage, Stone gave both princes a hug before launching into a rehearsal of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It."

The July 1 concert takes place on the day that would have been Diana's 46th birthday and also stars her favorites Duran Duran, Supertramp and Elton John, as well as more modern acts like Pharrell Williams, Fergie and Lily Allen.

William, 25, and Harry, 22, were asked what the princess would think about her sons' efforts. "She would be slightly amazed that we'd actually managed to do this," William said, before praising the performers and the workers still putting the final touches to the stage.

Earlier, Harry revealed that the princes asked Elton John to sing "Candle in the Wind," the song he re-worked for a special performance at Diana's funeral in September 1997.

The concert will air live on VH1 starting at 11 a.m. ET, with highlights showing on NBC at 8 p.m. ET. TV viewers will be tuning in from more than 140 countries around the world.

The princes came up with the idea for the gig late last year and have been instrumental in the planning from the start, including chairing meetings (with Harry in his army fatigues on one occasion).

Says Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, "They are pulling out all the stops to try to make things happen."

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GMA Movie Critic Joel Siegel Dies at 63

After a decade-long cancer battle, Good Morning America's film critic Joel Siegel died Friday in New York with friends and family by his side. He was 63.

"He was a brilliant reviewer and a great reporter," said ABC News President David Westin. "From the time he learned of his cancer, Joel demonstrated a remarkable courage and strength in reporting on his own disease in an effort to educate and help others."

As GMA's movie reviewer since 1981, the witty and insightful critic was as passionate with his praise for a good film as he was delivering a barb to a bomb. Rating The Pursuit of Happyness, Siegel said the film deserves "a C for spelling and an A for acting." And he said Matthew McConaughey had "constant ticks, bad hair and strained syntax" in We Are Marshall.

First diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997 – a week after he and wife, Ena Swansea, found out she was pregnant with their son, Dylan – Siegel wrote about his illness in his 2003 book Lessons for Dylan.

"I think of all the things I want to do with Dylan, and what I'd miss if I wasn't able to do them," he once told PEOPLE. "One is taking him to his first ball game. I want to be there for that. I want to be sitting next to him when he watches the Marx Brothers in A Night at the Opera."

Ten days ago, in one of his last public appearances, a frail-looking Siegel took Dylan to a screening of the soon-to-be released film Ratatouille at a Times Square movie theatre.

"He was a gladiator," recalled colleague Diane Sawyer on ABC's Web site. "Brave, wildly funny, passionate about Dylan, Ena and his family – and completely in love with every new day."