Gossip/Celebrity News

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Madonna Planning to Adopt African Boy

Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie are planning to adopt a 1-year-old boy from Malawi, her rep says.

The couple "have been granted custody of their son David," the singer's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed. "Final legal arrangements are being made to bring him home to his new family."

Last week, the singer arrived in the southern African country, where she has been involved in humanitarian work. "Madonna is in Malawi on a private visit," Rosenberg told PEOPLE at the time. "She is building an orphanage and child care center and is involved in other initiatives geared toward helping children orphaned by AIDS through the Raising Malawi organization."

Madonna told Time magazine in August that she feels responsible for helping kids worldwide. "For the last few years – now that I have children and now that I have what I consider to be a better perspective on life – I have felt responsible for the children of the world," she said.

David will be Madonna's third child. She and Ritchie, who married in 2000, have a 6-year-old son, Rocco. Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes, who turns 10 on Oct. 14, from a prior relationship.

Children have been central to Madonna's work in recent years. She has authored several children's books, and she's often said that motherhood has changed her life. "Our whole life is based around the children," she told PEOPLE in 2003.

[Rasputin]

Movies Fit for a President

The idea of Robin Williams running for President – the plot of his new movie, Man of the Year, which opens this weekend – isn't preposterous. After all, we've had a genuine Hollywood star in the White House before, and not just sleeping over in the Lincoln Bedroom. Ronald Reagan, whose movie career stretched from the late 1930s through the early '60s, occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for two terms.

Of course, Williams isn't running in real life – just on the screen in Year. The movie is an uneven comedy about a John Stewart-like comedian (Williams) who decides to see if his big mouth can win at the ballot box. While the movie scores when Williams's character lets loose with comic zingers during a debate or press conference, mostly it's an ungainly hybrid: part comedy, part cloak-and-dagger thriller.

What Year does bring to mind are a host of other good recent film comedies that featured White House settings. All the movies here are available on DVD. Here's the list:

• Dave (1993) This is one I watch every time it shows up on TV. Kevin Kline plays a presidential look-alike who secretly – only a few top advisors know – takes over for the Commander in Chief when the real President lapses into a coma. The movie is funny, sweet and Kline and co-star Sigourney Weaver, who plays the first lady, have great chemistry. Best scene: Kline swiping White House souvenirs.

• The American President (1995) Can a single guy President find love in the endless glare of the spotlight? Michael Douglas plays a widower in the White House who becomes smitten with a lobbyist (Annette Bening). The first half of the movie, encompassing their courtship, is a blast, but the film slows during the second half as it turns political and serious.

• Dick (1999) An overlooked treasure. This comedy, costarring ***sten Dunst and Michelle Williams as two teenagers who accidentally stumble upon the Watergate burglary while it's in progress, is a hoot. The airhead pair ends up hanging out at the White House, where Williams' character develops a serious crush on President Richard Nixon (Dan Hedaya), and serving as Deep Throat to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

• Chasing Liberty (2004) Mandy Moore plays the rebellious daughter of a President (Mark Harmon), who takes off for Europe and finds love. Distinctly minor.

• First Daughter (2004) Inspiration strikes twice. Katie Holmes plays the rebellious daughter of a President (Michael Keaton) with equally formulaic results.

[Rasputin]

Actress Mel Harris Files for Divorce

Actress Mel Harris, best known for her role as Hope Murdoch Steadman on the hit 1980s TV show thirtysomething, filed for divorce from her investment-banker husband of five years, Mike Toomey, in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 3, PEOPLE has learned.

In the court filing, Harris, 49, cited irreconcilable differences and requested that the "court's jurisdiction to award spousal support" to her husband be terminated. The couple has been married since 2001.

Harris and Toomey have no children together but the actress (most recently seen in guest-starring roles on House and Cold Case) has a son, Byron, 22, and daughter, Madeline, 16, from previous marriages.

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Project Runway Picks a Winner!

Who will win Project Runway – Uli, Jeffrey, Laura or Michael? Find out Wednesday when Heidi Klum gives the good news to the last designer standing. PEOPLE takes a look at the hit Bravo show's finale, plus other events to watch for in the coming week:

SUNDAY, OCT. 15: Tick-tock! Flavor Flav has to make a choice: Will it be Delishis or New York? We'll find out in the season finale of Flavor of Love 2. Of course, if he chooses Delishis he might just have a shot at a normal relationship (she's definitely got his back). But if New York is his pick (and her scary mother comes with the package), he'll never have a dull moment – to say the least (VH1, 10 p.m. ET).

TUESDAY, OCT. 17: Everybody's been seeing a lot of Sean "Diddy" Combs lately, thanks to his off-the-cuff YouTube videos (including one where he brought the camera into the bathroom with him). But the hip-hop star plans to get revealing in a different way on Press Play, his new album. Calling it his most personal record, Diddy admits that he drew inspiration from his real-life girlfriend Kim Porter (with whom he's expecting twins) and, yes, even famous ex Jennifer Lopez. Juicy!

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18: Of course, everyone wants to know who'll win the third season of Project Runway. But the burning question on everyone's mind is whether Jeffrey cheated by getting help sewing his final collection for Fashion Week. Find out the answer and who'll walk away with $100,000 to start their own line in the season finale of Runway. Well, at least there's still Lost on Wednesday nights.

Oscar winner Halle Berry may just scoop up yet another honor – this time at the second annual Black Movie Awards (TNT, 10 p.m. ET). The event, which honors the best of African-Americans working in cinema past and present, will have plenty of star power with Oprah Winfrey on board as a presenter. And though host Tyler Perry won't be dressed as his female alter-ego Madea, don't be surprised if she makes an appearance.

NEW THIS WEEK:
•Movies (now in theaters): The Grudge 2, starring Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen, Sarah Michelle Gellar; Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams, Laura Linney and Lewis Black; The Marine starring John Cena, Kelly Carlson and Robert Patrick; Infamous, starring Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig and Toby Jones; Little Children (limited), starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson
•Music (in stores Tuesday): Badly Drawn Boy, Born In the U.K.; Diddy, Press Play; Vince Gill, These Days (box set); Gipsy Kings, Pasajero; JoJo, The High Road; Patti LaBelle, The Gospel According to Patti LaBelle; Sarah McLachlan, Wintersong; Ruben Studdard, The Return; Xzibit, Full Circle
•DVDs (in stores Tuesday): The Break Up; Over the Hedge; Charmed – The Complete Sixth Season; Reds (25th Anniversary Edition); Alfred Hitchcock Presents – Season Two; That '70s Show: Season 5

[Rasputin]

Country Singer Freddy Fender Dies at 69

Three-time Grammy-winning country musician Freddy Fender, best known for his '70s country hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," died at noon Saturday at his Corpus Christi home with his family at his bedside, according to a spokesman. He was 69.

In August, Fender's wife and manager, Vangie Huerta, had announced that her husband had inoperable cancer and was "hoping for a miracle" after being told by doctors in June that he had multiple tumors on his lungs, reported the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

"I feel very comfortable in my life," the Texas-based singer told the paper. "I'm one year away from 70 and I've had a good run."

Often one to speak frankly about his battles with drug and alcohol abuse, Fender also had longtime health issues, struggling with diabetes and Hepatitis C – and requiring a kidney transplant in 2002, using an organ donated by his then-21-year-old daughter, Marla Huerta Garcia. In 2004, he also received a liver transplant.

It had never been an easy life. As Fender told PEOPLE in 1979, he was born Baldemar Huerta and hailed from south Texas, specifically the poor farm town of San Benito. It's a region that has long mixed its music, where Bob Wills blended big-band sounds with country and Marty Robbins grafted mariachi guitars onto Nashville ballads.

Fender, whose career started when he returned from service in the Marines in the late 1950s, took his stage name from the brand of guitar. Initially pursuing a rock-country-Latin sound, he recorded Spanish versions of hits by Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte. But that early start was interrupted by a three-year prison stretch for marijuana possession in Louisiana during the early 1960s. Upon his release he took work as a mechanic.

Success finally arrived in the next decade, when he was persuaded to record "Teardrop" on an independent label. His other hits included "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" and "You'll Lose A Good Thing."

More recently, he played with Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez and others in two Tex-Mex all-star combos, the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven. "You've heard of New Kids on the Block?" Fender, then 54, told PEOPLE in 1991, at the time of the Texas Tornadoes. "Well, we're the old farts in the neighborhood."

In 1999, Fender received his own Hollywood Walk of Fame star after being personally recommended for the honor by then-Texas governor George W Bush, and in 2002 he won his last Grammy, a best Latin pop award for his album "La Música de Baldemar Huerta."

Besides daughter Marla and wife Vangie – whom Fender married in 1957, divorced around 1993 and then remarried in 1995 – two other children also survive Fender.

[Rasputin]

Calista Flockhart Gets Back to Work

Returning to a full-time job isn't an easy decision for any mom to make. So when Brothers & Sisters executive producer and director Ken Olin approached her, Calista Flockhart had many, many questions.

"She loved the script," Olin tells PEOPLE, "but then she'd go, 'What is the schedule going to be? And what are the expectations?'"

Olin patiently waited for her to decide – the role was written with her in mind – but was just about ready to begin searching for someone else when Flockhart finally said yes.

She was intrigued by the role: a conservative talk show host at odds with her liberal family. And she could not resist the challenge of playing someone "whose political views are fundamentally different than mine," she said in July. "That definitely attracted me to the part." Plus, she told Olin, "I miss acting."

After all, Flockhart, 41, had all but retired since Ally McBeal – the TV show that had made her a Mary Tyler Moore for the new millennium – went off the air in 2002. Her post-Ally acting work has been very limited; a play here, a couple of indie films there.

Away from the cameras, she settled into a new life with Harrison Ford, 64, whom she met at the Golden Globes in 2002, and her now 5-year-old son Liam.

It was a much-needed break. During her Ally McBeal years, the spotlight burned bright – and hot. Her controversial character on the show, a brainy attorney, was criticized for also being neurotic and boy-crazy. And speculation over whether Flockhart was getting too thin also provided years of media fodder. Then there was the nonstop schedule.

"She worked her a-- off 24/7 on Ally," says Elizabeth Stewart, her stylist and pal of eight years. "Now she's in a great relationship and she has an amazing kid. She's much more relaxed. Her life is more balanced."

But after being a stay-at-home mom for the better part of four years, Flockhart liked the idea of going back to work. "I love being a mom, but as any mother will tell you, if you stay home with a (toddler) 24/7, you get mush brain," Flockhart said. "You start wishing you were working. Then when you're working, you’re wishing that you’re home. It's a tough dilemma."

Flockhart still finds time for the things she loves: cooking at her and Ford's L.A. home, taking piano lessons, reading (she's currently into Fiasco, a critique of the Iraq war by Washington Post correspondent Thomas Ricks) and spending a lot of time outdoors with her son.

And when she’s stuck on-set for those long days of shooting, Flockhart gets a piece of home delivered to her when Ford comes to visit. "He and Calista are fantastic together," says Dave Annable, who plays Flockhart's brother Justin on the show.

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Human Rights Group Tries to Halt Madonna's Adoption

The Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), a grouping of 67 human rights NGOs in Malawi, tells PEOPLE they hope to halt Madonna's adoption of a 13-month old baby boy for the moment.

Justin Dzonzi, HRCC's chairman, says the group wants to make sure Malawi's laws "are not bent" for the 48-year-old singer.

"The laws of Malawi are clear that if one wants to adopt a child one has to stay with the child for at least 18 months for assessment," he said.

On Monday the group will apply to Malawi's High Court to be included as an "interested party," and then get a stay of the temporary order Justice Andrew Nyirenda granted Oct. 12 allowing Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie to take the baby. (In the end, the couple could not take the boy – named David Banda – when they left Malawi early Oct. 13 because his passport was still being processed. The procedure could take up to two weeks.)

The U.S. Department of State's Web site warns prospective adoptive parents of Malawi orphans that the country requires 24 months' "fostering the child" in country. Just seven children have been adopted from Malawi by U.S. citizens in five years, according to State Department figures.

But Morderchai Msisha, a senior constitutional lawyer from Malawi, tells PEOPLE that Malawi's law clearly bars international adoption. "If Madonna wants to adopt this baby she has to stay here," he said. "Someone is bending the laws for Madonna." Madonna – through her charity Raising Malawi – is establishing an orphanage for underprivileged children, mostly AIDS orphans. She is also funding six existing orphanages.

"Madonna and her legal counsel have been working on her plans to adopt a baby from Malawi for quite some time. She had hoped to keep this very private and a family matter, but things didn't go that way," the singer's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, tells PEOPLE. "I was not made aware of many of the chapters in this ongoing process. Hopefully Madonna and family will soon be reunited once everything goes through."

And Madonna's local lawyer in Malawi, Alan Chinula, told PEOPLE: "I have no instructions yet from my clients; what I have done is to file the adoption papers … if some people want to challenge it (the adoption process) we will deal with that later."

Upon hearing the news of the adoption challenge, baby David's biological father, 31-year-old Yohane Banda, was indignant.

"As David's father I have no problem (with the adoption), so what is their concern? Are they jealous or what? What I want is good life, a good education for my child," he told PEOPLE. David's mother died a week after he was born, and Yohane gave him to the orphanage because he was unable to care for him.

But some family members say Banda, a farmer, is being exploited. Pofera Jefremu Banda, a cousin of Yohane's, told PEOPLE that Yohane doesn't fully understand what's happening.

"My cousin is illiterate, he doesn't understand a thing; he was made to sign papers he didn't understand," Pofera Banda, 21, told PEOPLE.

Pofera said some family members think Madonna will just raise baby David and bring him back later.

"They don't understand that adoption means he is Madonna's child and will even change his name," he said.

Madonna and Ritchie – who spent eight days in Malawi – left the country to be back in London for Madonna's daughter Lourdes's 10th birthday on Saturday. The pop star spent an hour at Pilates class, then met up with 6-year-old son Rocco at her Kabbalah center. She spent about three hours there (Rocco left before she did) before returning home.

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Kevin Federline Gets Body Slammed at a WWE Event

Kevin Federline made his acting debut on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Thursday, and on Sunday, he made his debut as a WWE wrestler – sort of.

Federline, 28, turned up at L.A.'s Staples Center for the taping of a match due to air on the USA Network's Monday Night Raw on Oct. 16. Introduced as the "A-list friend" of bad guy Johnny Nitro, Federline played the villain as he walked to the ring amid boos from the crowd.

"Same people who are booin' me now buy my picture on the cover of magazine," he told the audience. "Y'all want to hear my rap?" When the boos continued, he replied, "Well, you're going to have to wait until my record drops in October."

At that point, WWE champion John Cena came out, taunting Federline in classic wrestling smack-talking style with such lines as, "The album is called Playing With Fire? They should call it The Biggest Scumbag on Earth!" and "You're less talented than Paris Hilton!"

In response, Federline made a comment about wanting to see Cena's rear end dragged around the ring. Then the 6' 1", 240-lb. Cena pretended to shake Federline's hand before lifting him in the air and dropping him to the mat in a body slam.

Federline writhed on the canvas while a team of referees rolled him out of the ring and then helped him backstage, but by the time he exited, he was walking just fine.

Also in attendance at the match were Nick and Aaron Carter and members of the bands ZZ Top, Three 6 Mafia and Motörhead – none of whom were body slammed.

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Sara Evans to Husband: Don't Spend Our Money

Sara Evans has been granted a restraining order against her estranged husband, Craig Schelske, that prohibits him from withdrawing money from their joint accounts, PEOPLE has learned.

Evans's attorney, John Hollins Sr., filed for the restraining order Monday, along with an amended divorce complaint that alleges Schelske transferred a total of $275,000 from his and Evans's joint personal and business bank accounts into an account in his name only, on Oct. 12 – the same day Evans filed for divorce.

Schelske's rep had not yet seen the filing when reached by PEOPLE for comment.

However, a source close to Schelske tells PEOPLE: "Craig is going to drop a bombshell this week. He will be telling his side of the story."

The recent restraining order stops Schelske from withdrawing money from his and Evans's business checking account, joint personal tithe checking account, personal checking account, or other financial accounts, including a personal checking account in Schelske’s name. He’s also prohibited from liquidating any of their marital assets.

In the original divorce filing, both Evans and Schelske were barred from transferring, assigning, borrowing or concealing any of the couple's marital assets without court permission.

The amended divorce complaint also asserts that during the couple's marriage they accumulated substantial assets earned almost exclusively by Evans whose financial advisor, it says, paid all their living expenses.

After announcing last week that she's quitting ABC's Dancing with the Stars to deal with matters in her personal life, the country star accused her husband of adultery and inappropriate conduct, according to court papers. Schelske said in a statement over the weekend that he adamantly denies the allegations against him.

Evans, 35, and Schelske, 43, married in 1993 and have three children ranging in age from 2 to 7.

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Lindsay Lohan Gets Served in Beverly Hills

Lindsay Lohan got a shock when a woman posing an as autograph-seeker instead served her with legal papers on Friday.

The actress was at the 21st Annual American Cinematheque Award Gala honoring George Clooney in Beverly Hills, when on her way out, she was met with the usual throng of fans and photographers – including a legal processor who was there to present Lohan with a subpoena.

"The processor ran up and acted like a fan. She handed her a pen and paper. The pen was a decoy to get her to think she was a fan who wanted an autograph," an observer told PEOPLE on Monday. "When Lindsay took the papers, the processor said loudly, 'You’ve been served.'"

According to the observer, Lohan dropped the papers and attempted to catch up with the processor who left the scene immediately.

"Lohan kept saying 'Wait, wait!' and yelling after her, but the processor kept going. She never caught up with her," said the observer.

Lohan was served with a subpoena to compel the actress to give a deposition in a fraud lawsuit against her mother, Dina Lohan, according to the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Mitchell Chait and Antonio Almeida.

"Lindsay was served a deposition subpoena because she's a witness in a case in which her mother is a defendant," the attorney, Charles Coate, told PEOPLE.

Chait and Almeida allege in their lawsuit that Dina signed her daughter to a record deal with them, but did not comply with the contract.

"The plaintiffs are suing for compensatory and punitive damages for breach of contract fraud and the breach of fiduciary duties," said Coate.

As for the method used to serve Lohan, Coate said, "I can't comment on the method in which she was served, but we're glad it was finally carried out. We had been trying unsuccessfully to serve Lindsay for some time, as her mother knows."

Representatives for Lohan could not be reached for comment.

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Wesley Snipes Indicted for Tax Fraud

Wesley Snipes was indicted Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., on conspiracy to defraud the IRS and failing to file income tax returns.

The Blade actor and two other men, Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas P. Rosile, are charged with six counts of failure to file taxes.

Snipes, 44, is also charged with two counts of filing fraudulent tax returns. Prosecutors told the Associated Press that Snipes fraudulently claimed refunds totaling nearly $12 million in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid.

He faces a maximum of five years in jail for each conspiracy charge and up to a year on each failure to file charge.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest, said Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Tampa.

According to the indictment, Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators and its successor, Guiding Light of God Ministries, both of which conducted business from an office in Florida. It is alleged that ARL and GLGM were for-profit, commercial businesses that promoted and sold fraudulent tax schemes.

The indictment says Rosile was a CPA whose Florida license had been revoked but who continued to practice, preparing, for a fee, fraudulent tax returns for ARL members and collecting a portion of any tax refunds the returns generated.

Snipes, Kahn and Rosile are accused of trying to make it appear as if Snipes had no liability for federal income taxes, when in fact he did.

Snipes's lawyer has not been reached for comment.

This is not the first time Snipes's involvement with Rosile has been questioned. In 2002, a lawsuit was brought against Rosile claming he filed false refund claims, including a $7.3 million demand for Snipes, though Snipes was not named as a defendant in the suit, the Associated Press reports.

And last year, the actor experienced further legal troubles when he tried to enter South Africa with a forged South African passport. He was allowed to return to the United States but was deemed an "undesirable person" by the African country, meaning he will have to apply for a visa should he wish to visit South Africa again.

Snipes is best known for his role in the trio of action-adventure Blade films and also starred in movies such as Jungle Fever and White Men Can't Jump.

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Madonna Says She Followed the Law in Adoption

The same day the Malawian boy she is hoping to welcome into her family arrived in London, Madonna issued a statement defending her adoption.

In a message titled "An Open Letter from Madonna," the singer says: "My husband and I began the adoption process many months prior to our trip to Malawi. I did not wish to disclose my intentions to the world prior to the adoption happening as this is a private family matter.

"After learning that there were over one million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family."

Some human rights groups are protesting the adoption, charging that Malawi's laws governing international adoption have been bent for the singer.

"We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child," Madonna says in her statement. "Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate. The procedure includes an l8-month evaluation period, after which time we hope to make this adoption permanent. This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly."
The singer and husband Guy Ritchie traveled to the southern African nation, where Madonna is funding humanitarian efforts through her Raising Malawi organization, early this month and were granted temporary custody of 1-year-old David Banda. David's mother died a week after his birth, and his father, Yohane, told PEOPLE, "I have no problem (with the adoption). … What I want is good life, a good education for my child."

Madonna concludes her statement saying she is "overwhelmed and inspired" by her trip to Malawi and hopes it can bring attention to the plight of African children. "My heartfelt thanks for all the good wishes I have received," she says, "and I hope the press will allow my family some room for us to experience the joy we feel to have David home."

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Bobby Brown Pays Up for Child Support

Bobby Brown has paid the back child support he owed to Kim Ward, the mother of two of his children, the Associated Press reports.

Earlier this month, a Massachusetts judge ordered the singer, who owed $11,000 – two months of support – to be arrested if he stepped foot in the state after Brown skipped a court hearing over his delinquent payments.

Of the missed court date, at the time, Brown's lawyer Phaedra Parks, called it a "very difficult time," referring to his pending divorce from Whitney Houston.

Patrick McDermott, the registrar of probate for the Norfolk Probate and Family Courts, said Tuesday that although no paperwork has been filed, both sides have said Brown appropriately settled the child support issue.

"I have at least been given the word that Kim Ward is satisfied that payment has been made and she's good to go, for now," McDermott told the AP.

Brown has a history of missed child support payments, and was even jailed in March 2004 for one day after missing several payments, which he subsequently paid.

In September, Houston filed for legal separation from Brown. The couple were married for 14 years, and have one daughter, Bobbi Kristina, 13.

"I'm really saddened by the whole situation," Brown told PEOPLE in September.

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Paul McCartney Reacts to Heather Mills's Allegations

Lawyers for Paul McCartney said Wednesday he'll defend himself "vigorously" against allegations reportedly made about him in legal papers by his estranged wife, Heather Mills McCartney, and leaked to the British press.

On Wednesday, U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail published charges of bad behavior against the former Beatle in what it claimed were excerpts from Mills's legal filing, which was in response to McCartney's July divorce petition.

McCartney's law firm, Payne Hicks Beach, issued a statement on Wednesday reading, "Our client would very much like to respond in public and in detail to the allegations made recently against him by his wife and published in the press, but he recognizes, on advice, that the only correct forum for his response to the allegations made against him is in the current divorce proceedings. Our client will be defending these allegations vigorously and appropriately."

The statement also says, "Since the breakdown of his marriage, Sir Paul McCartney has maintained his silence in not commenting on the media stories, believing that it was best for all concerned, particularly his children, for there to be some dignity in what is a private matter."

McCartney is represented by Payne Hicks Beach solicitor Fiona Shackleton, who worked for Prince Charles during his 1996 divorce from Princess Diana, while Mills has retained Diana's attorney, Anthony Julius.

Julius's firm, Mishcon de Reya, said in a statement that it "will not comment on leaked or allegedly leaked documents. The law firm can, however, confirm that Lady Heather Mills McCartney stands by everything that has been filed at Court on her behalf and intends to prove its truth in due course, should this be necessary."

Mills's rep, Phil Hall, had no comment, saying the matter was a legal issue and he was referring it to her lawyers.

McCartney and Mills announced their split in May after nearly four years of marriage. They have one daughter, Beatrice, who turns 3 on Oct. 28.

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Lance Armstrong & Matthew McConaughey: We're Not Gay

Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey are laughing off questions about their sexuality and rumors that they're anything more than just pals.

"We tried it. Wasn't for us," McConaughey jokes to Details magazine in a new interview that addresses rumors about them – and pal Jake Gyllenhaal – being gay.

Armstrong says his newly-close relationship with McConaughey grew out of the fact that they were both suddenly single at the same time. McConaughey had broken up with actress Penelope Cruz and Armstrong had called off his engagement to singer Sheryl Crow.

"Our friendship just kind of developed," the cycling champ tells the magazine for its November issue. "He got out of a relationship; I'd just gotten out of a relationship."

Armstrong, who has known McConaughey for eight years, stresses that despite the raised-eyebrows they've gotten due to photos of them – often shirtless – biking, running and partying together, they are just buddies.

"I think people see pictures and they think we're these overgrown frat guys, but we all have those kinds of relationships – and relationship isn't a bad word," says Armstrong. "I mean, we all have buds, we all take guy trips, but you take something very normal and you put it in a magazine, and people start talking. "

He goes on to say, "It's like, either you sleep with anything that moves or you're gay. They can't figure it out."

McConaughey goes further to defend their relationship saying, "A lot of people don’t understand friendship and brotherhood. I have a great friend in him. I’d do anything he asked me to, even though he’d probably never ask me to, and he feels the same way. It’s fun going out and living life and doing things at the drop of a hat. LiveStrong just happens to be the most deliberate guy I’ve ever met."

Armstrong, 35, calls McConaughey, 36, the "Redneck Buddha," and says the actor's laid back style has been a good influence on him – especially when it comes to gossip. "His idea is like, 'Look, it is what it is, so go out there and have fun.' He’s truly carefree – which is to say, he truly doesn't care."

The seven time Tour de France winner also admits in the interview that he hasn't quite yet recovered from his split from Crow, especially the public's reaction. "We couldn't get it right, we couldn't get it wrong," he says. "Just a lot of back-and-forth. But we had a love for each other, and I think we still do."