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Naomi Campbell Sued By Another Employee
Supermodel Naomi Campbell, already facing court cases stemming from accusations that she assaulted two of her housekeepers, was sued on Thursday by a third employee who says the British-born beauty attacked her, Reuters reports.
In a one-page summons filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Campbell's former assistant Amanda Brack said she was subjected to a series of "verbal, physical and emotional attacks" by the model shortly after she was hired by her in February of 2005.
"On at least four occasions, Campbell assaulted and abused my client," Brack's lawyer, Gerald McCarthy, told Reuters in an interview, describing a series of tantrums by the supermodel.
In one instance, McCarthy said, Campbell struck Brack in the face with her Blackberry, slammed her against a wall and slapped her repeatedly across the face because a piece of her luggage got left behind during a trip to Brazil.
He said Campbell threw a cell phone at Brack's face during a subsequent outburst at the model's New York apartment.
During an April 2005 photo shoot in Morocco, McCarthy said, Campbell exploded in rage at Brack over a forgotten article of clothing. He said that Campbell left her assistant stranded in Morocco without funds, tore up her passport and threw it into the swimming pool and left her to pay the hotel bill.
In a final incident at Campbell's Park Avenue home, she ripped a sweater Brack was wearing "off her neck" and accused the assistant of stealing the garment, McCarthy said.
Brack, who was 19 when she worked for Campbell, is seeking unspecified damages for "assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, reckless infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment," the suit says.
Campbell's lawyer, David Breitbart, did not return calls seeking comment.
Brack is the latest in a string of former employees who have accused Campbell of abuse.
In March 2006, Campbell, 36, was charged with second-degree assault in Manhattan Criminal Court after authorities said she threw her cell phone at her housekeeper, Ana Scolavino, 42, opening a gash in the back of her head.
In June, a second maid, Gaby Gibson, claimed the celebrity struck her in the head. She has also filed a civil lawsuit accusing Campbell of personal injury, employment discrimination, civil assault and battery.
In February 2000, Campbell to pleaded guilty in a Toronto court to assaulting a former assistant.Comment
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Mike Hammer Creator Mickey Spillane Dies
Mystery writer Mickey Spillane, who created the tough-guy private eye Mike Hammer, died on Monday at his South Carolina home at age 88, a funeral home official said.
The cause of death was not immediately announced.
"Mr. Spillane died this morning at his home here. His family was with him," said Brian Edgerton, funeral director at the Goldfinch Funeral Home in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
Born Frank Morrison Spillane on March 9, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, Spillane grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and began his career as a magazine and comic writer. The first incarnation of his Mike Hammer was a comic book character named Mike Danger.
Spillane wrote more than two dozen books, including 13 in the Hammer series. His books sold more than 140 million copies around the world, according to a fiction writers Web site.
The first book, introducing Hammer, was I, the Jury, which he reportedly wrote in nine days and was published in 1947. Spillane's Hammer books also included My Gun Is Quick, Vengeance Is Mine, Kiss Me Deadly and The Big Kill.
"There's a kind of power about Mickey Spillane that no other writer can imitate," The New York Times once said of his work.
Spillane, a Jehovah's Witness who taught Bible class, occasionally acted in movies and played Hammer in the 1963 film of The Girl Hunters, as well as parodying his gritty image in television commercials for Miller Lite beer.
Spillane had no pretensions about his writing, going about it with the philosophy that "If the public likes you, you're good."
He was known for blunt writing and blunt talk and had no trouble admitting that money was a prime motivator for his writing.
In 1995, when he was named a grandmaster of his craft by the Mystery Writers of America, he recalled the days when he didn't write mysteries.
"I used to write true confessions stories like 'I was a pregnant teen-ager' and 'My boyfriend said we stopped in time,"' he said. "I write when I feel the urgent need for money."
Spillane was immune to critics who thought his style was uncivil, and once said, "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar."
Spillane had lived in Murrells Inlet, which he discovered when he was an Army flight instructor during World War Two, since the 1950s.
Spillane was married to his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson. His first wife was Mary Ann Pierce, with whom he remained on speaking terms. His second was Sherri Malinou, a Los Angeles publicist from whom he split bitterly in 1983.
He had four children from his marriages.Comment
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Twins for Amanda de Cadenet, Nick Valensi
British actress-turned-photographer Amanda de Cadenet and Strokes guitar player Nick Valensi have wed and are expecting twins, PEOPLE has confirmed.
De Cadenet, 34, and Valensi, 25, were married on a beach in the Bahamas during a break from the Strokes' current world tour.
"The two of us went quite alone to Harbour Island in the Bahamas," de Cadenet tells the U.K.'s Hello! magazine. "I'm really pleased it was just me and Nick at our wedding, because I cried the whole time."
The couple, who met five years ago on an MTV shoot, are expecting twins in November. The marriage and children are the first for Valensi. De Cadenet has a daughter, Atlanta, 14, from her previous marriage to Duran Duran's John Taylor.
De Cadenet once co-hosted the British late-night show The Word and had small roles in such films as 1995's Four Rooms and 1999's Brokedown Palace. She is now a photographer for magazines including Vanity Fair, Vogue and Jane. The French-Tunisian Valensi joined the Strokes while still in high school, and is the band's youngest member.
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John Cusack Granted Restraining Order
John Cusack, who has accused a woman of stalking him for the past year and a half, scored a victory in court Tuesday when a judge granted him a temporary restraining order.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered that Emily Leatherman, 31, must remain at least 500 feet from Cusack, his home, workplace, car and any place he does business. Cusack was not in court when the ruling was issued.
In court papers filed in June, Cusack alleges that Leatherman "is showing unusual interest by stalking, throwing long letters of interest over my fence in bags with rocks and screwdrivers inside, making unannounced visits to offices of people I work with in an attempt to meet with me and listing my address as her own during a recent arrest."
Cusack also states that Leatherman, who is identified in the court documents as homeless, "threatens to commit acts of violence against herself if I do not help her."
Cusack, 40, just finished filming Grace Is Gone, a small independent film in which he plays a man whose wife is killed in service in Iraq.
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Jessica & Nick's Close Encounter
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey didn't have to wait until the Teen Choice Awards for an awkward encounter. The newly divorced couple had a three's-a-crowd moment in the early morning hours of July 15 when Simpson crossed paths with Lachey and gal pal Vanessa Minnillo at L.A.'s intimate Hyde Lounge.
As PEOPLE reports in its new issue, Simpson arrived first at the hot spot, where she chatted with friend and hairstylist Ken Paves. "Jessica was having a grand time," a fellow clubgoer tells PEOPLE. "She was totally vibing the music."
Then Lachey and Minnillo arrived hand-in-hand. "Jessica's rhythm totally changed. She was silent and stopped moving," says the witness. "It looked like she was going to shoot out a laser beam and incinerate them." Lachey, on the other hand, "never broke a sweat," says another observer.
While several people at the club tell PEOPLE the two never interacted, close friends of both Simpson and Lachey report that Lachey came over to chat and give his ex a hug. "Let's face it, it's going to be a little awkward, but they both handled it well," says a source close to Lachey. "They behaved like two people moving on."
"There's no hostility between Nick and Jessica," adds a Simpson pal, who says Simpson was nonetheless disturbed when Lachey engaged in a "heavy make-out session" with Minnillo. "She didn't need to see (that)."Comment
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A Love Connection for Chuck Woolery
Veteran game show host Chuck Woolery has gotten married, PEOPLE has learned.
Woolery, 65, wed Kim Barnes, a Michigan native, at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas on Monday, his publicist, Natalie Marion, tells PEOPLE. The couple exchanged vows in a private ceremony before a small group of friends and family.
This is the fourth marriage for Woolery, who wed his first wife, Margaret Hayes, when he was 20. The couple had three children, Cary, Katherine and Chad, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1986 at age 19. Woolery's second wife was The Fall Guy actress Jo Ann Pflug, with whom he had a daughter, Melissa. His third was Teri Nelson, Ozzie and Harriet's granddaughter, with whom he had two sons, Michael and Sean.
Woolery, best known for his 1983-92 stint as host of Love Connection, began his career as a singer. In 1968 his country rock tune, "Naturally Stoned," hit the Top 40 pop charts. He later moved to Los Angeles and took a job hosting Wheel of Fortune.
Woolery has also hosted Scrabble, Greed and The Dating Game.
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