Archive for February, 2008

Hollywood star Tori Spelling has started work on a tell-all memoir in a bid to set the record straight about the events of her life.

The actress has lived much her life in the public eye she was just 16 when she was cast as Donna Martin in her father Aaron Spelling’s hit show Beverly Hills 90210.

Kiss star Gene Simmons is taking legal action after a video allegedly showing him having sex with a model was posted on the internet.

The rocker, who has been dating his long-term partner Shannon Tweed for over 20 years, reportedly made the tape while carrying out promotional duties as a spokesman for Frank’s Energy Drink.

The film, showing a man who appears to be Simmons, has been posted on website AVN.com, which is selling the raunchy footage as a download.

Natalie Portman has no qualms about stripping off onscreen if a movie requires it, despite previously insisting she would never go nude.

The Star Wars beauty appeared naked in director Wes Anderson’s short film Hotel Chevalier, which acted as a prologue to 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited.

The 13-minute movie attracted criticism because it featured Portman in her first nude scene - but she now insists she would be happy to do it again.

Billy Joel’s decision to perform a second ‘final concert’ at New York’s famous Shea Stadium has angered fans who paid to watch him close the venue.

The rocker’s 16 July concert at the home of the New York Mets baseball team - due for demolition this year - sold out in just an hour, so he added another date two days later.

Kravitz Kept On Rocking

Lenny Kravitz’ music career almost floundered before it had begun, because record labels refused to accept a black man could rock.

The Are You Gonna Go My Way singer is proud he stood firm and refused to let music bosses push him into R+B.

Steven SpielbergThe Chinese state-run media has criticised Steven Spielberg as “naive” and “unreasonable” after the filmmaker quit as artistic director to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Oscar winner announced his decision not to take part in the upcoming Games on 12 February, accusing China of not doing enough to help end the genocide in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

On 14 February, the Chinese government issued an official response, expressing “regret” at Spielberg’s move.

Super producer Mark Ronson has invited his parents along to the Brit Awards in London - in a bid to portray himself as a sensible, family man.

The 32-year-old Grammy-winner has been nominated for Best Male, Best Album and Single Of The Year at the prestigious event - but has made cunning plans to save his reputation if celebrations get out of hand.

Pink has urged her fans to go easy on estranged husband Carey Hart, after announcing the couple had split on Tuesday.

The Stupid Girls singer insists she still loves motocross racer Hart, who she wed in January 2006, very much, and that the sportsman remains her best friend.

Super producer Mark Ronson has denied reports Sir Paul McCartney “practically lived” at his childhood home - insisting he has never met the veteran musician.

The Grammy winner - whose stepfather is Foreigner rocker Mick Jones - insists rumours McCartney would stay with his family in New York were invented by the media.

“My mum and dad knew him but I don’t remember meeting him,” he said. “There are these huge myths made-up about my childhood.”

Mark Ronson

Simmons Sex Tape

Kiss star Gene Simmons has been left fuming after a video allegedly showing him having sex with a model was posted on the Internet.

The rocker, who has been dating long-term partner Shannon Tweed for over 20 years, is alleged to have made the tape while carrying out promotional duties as a spokesman for Frank’s Energy Drink.

Zac EfronHigh School Musical star Zac Efron has confessed to a secret passion - he loves US TV show American Idol.

The teen actor loves the talent contest so much he often hides at the back of studio shows - and watches the wannabes perform live.

Suchet To Retire Poirot

David Suchet will quit as his infamous character Hercule Poirot when filming on the forthcoming Appointment With Death wraps.

The 61-year-old has portrayed Agatha Christie’s fictional Belgian detective in numerous TV films since the early 1980s, but reveals he is already planning his retirement from the murder mystery franchise.

Stephen Fry is to undergo further surgery on his broken arm next week after shattering his bone in Brazil last month.

The Gosford Park star, 50, was on location in the South American country filming BBC documentary Last Chance To See when he slipped on a rock and severely fractured his right arm.

He received treatment for the injury in a local hospital in Tefe before being flown to the US to have a metal plate and 10 screws fitted along the broken bone.

Natalie Portman only accepted the role in new movie The Other Boleyn Girl after learning she could share the big screen with Scarlett Johansson.

The actress was initially reluctant to take the part in the movie documenting the relationship between British monarch Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, but agreed after the producers met her request and offered a part to Johansson.

Pop star Pink has split from her husband of two years, motocross racer Carey Hart.

The Stupid Girls singer, 28, married 32-year-old Hart in January 2006 at a ceremony in Costa Rica.

The star - real name Alecia Moore - recently denied reports her marriage was in trouble but has now confirmed the split.

Moore’s publicist Michele Schweitzer insists Pink and Hart have ended their relationship on amicable terms.

Billy Joel has been forced to add a second historic concert at New York’s fabled Shea Stadium after selling out his first show in under an hour.

Joel will become the last artist to perform at the baseball mecca, but now fans who rushed to buy tickets for his 16 June concert won’t witness history - because the rocker will play the last ever Shea concert two days later.

Rachel BilsonActress Rachel Bilson was so terrified of filming a sex scene with Hayden Christensen, she drank shots of alcohol to calm herself down.

The former The OC star was wracked with nerves before stripping off for new movie Jumper - insisting it goes against nature to simulate sex on a film set.

Super producer Mark Ronson has turned to pal Amy Winehouse for support after splitting from his girlfriend of three years.

Grammy-winner Ronson had been dating American Cosi Theodoli-Braschi since 2005, but the couple parted ways earlier this month.

And the star admits he has been relying on friends like Winehouse to cheer him up.

Actress Natalie Portman is set to make her directorial debut - with a film in Hebrew.

The Israeli-born star - who also speaks French and some Arabic, besides English and Hebrew - will helm the screen adaptation of A Tale Of Love And Darkness, Amos Oz’s memoir of his childhood in Jersualem in the 1940s, reports the New York Post’s gossip column PageSix.

Howard Writer Dies

Howard The Duck creator Steve Gerber has died of complications arising from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60.

Gerber passed away in a Las Vegas hospital on Sunday.

He is best known for Howard The Duck, the bad-tempered, cigar-smoking Marvel Comics character he created in the 1970s.

The 1986 film version of the comic strip, which he had nothing to do with, is notorious as one of Hollywood’s biggest flops.