Celebrity Gossip

Actress Tori Spelling has pulled out of the forthcoming Beverly Hills 90210 spin-off amid rumours of a salary row.

The star has reportedly walked away from the revamped TV show after discovering she is to be paid $10,000 to $20,000 per episode - less than half the figure former co-stars Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty are picking up to reprise their roles.

Spelling’s representative has confirmed the actress’ decision, telling Usmagazine.com, “At this time, there are no plans for Tori to appear in the 90210 spin-off.”

The move comes just two months after bosses at U.S. TV network CW announced Spelling would return as Donna Martin - now the owner of one of the coolest stores in Beverly Hills.

The actress took the part, stating, “I am excited about it. In some way, every show that followed 90210 was a remake of 90210. For the fans’ sake, I am really happy for them.”
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‘Give It 2 Me’ singer Madonna is desperate to adopt a second child from Malawi, two-year-old girl Mercy James.

Madonna is desperate to adopt a second child from Malawi.
The ‘Give It 2 Me’ singer wants to give a home to two-year-old girl Mercy James - whose mother died in childbirth and lives in an orphanage - but the child’s family have said they are “not interested” in the proposition.
Madonna, 49, tried to push the adoption through last year, but Mercy’s uncle John Nglande blocked it.
The star reportedly renewed attempts to adopt the toddler in May by sending aides to speak to her family, but they are only prepared to go ahead with the plan if Mercy is returned to them when she is six years old.
Mercy’s grandmother Anaphiri is quoted by Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper as saying: “When Mercy is no longer a baby we want her back. I do not want the money they said they’d give me.”
Madonna’s adoption of two-year old Malawian David Banda - a process she began in 2006 - was finalised earlier this year.
It was claimed the singer had received special treatment as laws which ban non-residents from adopting children in the country were ignored.
She was widely criticised when it was discovered that while David’s mother had died, his father was still alive and had been visiting him in his orphanage.
It was confirmed yesterday (11.08.08) that Asienti Mwale, the women who raised David in Malawi, died on Sunday night (10.08.08) of pneumonia.
Madonna - who has two other children, Lourdes, 11, and eight-year-old Rocco - recently said the adoption process was like “natural childbirth”.
She said: “It was painful and a big struggle and I didn’t understand it. In the end, I rationalised that when a woman goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount. I went through my own kind of birthing pains.”
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Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie admits she still hasn’t decided who to support in the forthcoming U.S. presidential election.

A variety of stars are using their high profiles to publicly endorse the candidate of their choice, with Halle Berry and Beyonce Knowles wearing their message across their chest with t-shirts featuring the face of Democrat Barack Obama.

And Jolie insists that despite the election looming in November, she still hasn’t made up her mind whether to support Obama or his Republican rival John McCain.

She tells Variety.com, “I have not decided on a candidate. I am waiting to see the commitments they will make on issues like international justice, refugees and how to address the needs of children in crisis around the world.”

‘Desperate Housewives’ star Eva Longoria has revealed her French husband Tony Parker has started to lose his accent since living in San Antonio, Texas.

Eva Longoria says her husband Tony Parker is starting to lose his French accent.
The ‘Desperate Housewives’ actress - who lives with basketball player Tony in San Antonio, Texas - doesn’t like the fact that her sportsman spouse has begun speaking with an American twang.

In a joint interview with Tony on US TV show ‘Extra’, Eva told him: “You’re sounding more American and I’m not liking that! I’m missing the French accent. He’s losing the French accent.”
Eva, who was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, also revealed she is trying not to speak with a full Texan drawl.

She added: “The only thing I say that sounds Texas is y’all!”
The 33-year-old actress - whose ‘Desperate Housewives’ character Gabrielle Solis has been padded out with stomach and butt cushions in the new series of the hit US TV show - took the opportunity to deny rumours she is expecting her first child.
She said: “No, I’m not pregnant. Ask my husband!”
When Tony claimed he “didn’t know” if Eva was pregnant, the actress joked: “Why not? Are you not involved in the process?”

It turns out Brad Pitt really is a no-holds-barred fighter – as a member of the Australian Olympic boxing team.

The Aussie Pitt, 25, quit his day job as a painter to train as a heavyweight boxer for the 2008 Games. And while he still gets the occasional taunt about his name, he’s learned to put up with it.

“Mate, I’ve been living with that other bloke’s name for years, it doesn’t worry me at all,” he told Australia’s Herald Sun while practicing.

His mother said he found out about his more famous counterpart during elementary school, when a child brought in a newspaper clip about the actor during show and tell.

“He likes to be known for his talent, not his name,” his mother Leanne told Australia’s The Age.

Talent he has. Ranked 33rd in the World Championships in Chicago in 2007, he’s gearing up for a medal run in Beijing after a grueling training session in Thailand to acclimate himself to Chinese conditions, and is ready to make a name for himself – his own name.

“I’ve always been Brad,” he tells the Daily Telegraph. “Let him change his name.”
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Hayden Panettiere’s father, Alan, was released from custody on $50,000 bail Monday afternoon after being arrested for allegedly striking the actress’s mother.

Panettiere, 49, was arrested at 3:15 a.m. at the family’s West Hollywood home and spent about 10 hours in Los Angeles County sheriff’s custody. He was booked on a charge of felony domestic violence following a fight with wife Lesley Vogel, 52, deputies said.

On Sunday evening, the couple attended a Hollywood charity benefit for the Whaleman Foundation hosted by their daughter at Beso restaurant, and the pair were seen arguing.

A sheriff’s spokesman says that Alan struck Lesley one or two times on the cheek causing bruising. Another sheriff’s official says that alcohol was involved in the incident.

An observer at the party tells PEOPLE: “When they were both about to leave, they had a heated argument outside the restaurant. They were doing a good amount of yelling.”
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Paul Stanley, the legendary co-founder and frontman for KISS, and his wife, Erin, are expecting their second child together, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

Erin, 36, an attorney, is due this winter.

“Erin and I are thrilled and can’t wait to meet our newest addition,” Stanley, 56, said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We’ve been extremely blessed and we’re excited to see what the future holds. I often joke that I’ve traded the Viper Room for the diaper room, and it looks like my tour’s been extended!”

The couple, who married in 2005, live in Beverly Hills with their son Colin, who turns 2 in September, and Paul’s 14-year-old son, Evan, from a previous marriage.

News of the pregnancy comes as Stanley recently completed the European leg of The Kiss Alive/35 World Tour, which encompassed 30 sold-out shows in seven weeks.
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You can believe your eyes – that’s really Britney Spears joking with MTV’s Video Music Awards host Russell Brand in new ads for the upcoming show.

“You are Britney Spears, right? I’m not dreaming this am I,” asks the British comedian in the ad, which also includes a 9,000-lb. elephant in the background.

“No, this is real,” Spears assures the show’s host – and pinches him to prove it.

In the second spot, Brand, who is well known in the U.K. but not in the U.S., presses Spears to remember his full name – which she doesn’t.

“You will remember that name because I think pretty soon it’s going to be your surname,” he quips. “Britney Brand.”

While MTV cannot confirm whether Spears will appear on the show airing on Sept. 7, Spears’s promo appearance is a promising sign. The singer, who has been nominated 17 times, has yet to walk away with a win and is nominated for two this year. She is up for best female video and best pop video.
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n the wake of the untimely death of Bernie Mac Saturday morning at age 50, fellow entertainers fondly remember the standup comic and actor as a quintessential funnyman – and a warm guy.

George Clooney, who starred with Mac in 2001’s casino caper Ocean’s Eleven and its two sequels, says, “The world just got a little less funny. He will be missed dearly.”

Said fellow Ocean’s colleague Brad Pitt, “I lament the loss of a ferociously funny and hardcore family man. My thoughts are with Rhonda and their family. Bernie Mac, you are already missed.”

Mac, who died at a Chicago hospital of complications from pneumonia, will be seen this fall in the comedy feature Soul Men opposite pal Samuel L. Jackson, who says, “It goes without saying that Bernie was one of the preeminent comedians of our generation.”

The actor added, “He was also an attentive husband, a great father and loving grandfather. I feel blessed to have shared years of friendship with Bernie Mac, and I’m honored to have finally co-starred with him in what I consider to be his finest cinematic acting achievement.

“My sincere prayer is that his family will be comforted by the warmth of love from all of us who knew and respected this man.”

George Lopez, Luke Wilson Remember
To fellow comedian George Lopez, “He was one of those comics that was unique because of his approach, his look, his voice [and] the content of his material.”

Admitting that at times Mac’s material might have sounded a little rough, especially to the ears of younger people, Lopez, during the press junket for Henry Poole Is Here, told PEOPLE, “Bernie fell into that category of people who were inherently different like when you saw them, you knew they were different and when they spoke, you knew they were different .”

Admiring Mac’s gifts, Lopez also said, “As comics, we’re all brothers. and I’ll miss him a lot. He was a good friend of mine.”

Henry Poole star Luke Wilson, Mac’s costar in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, told PEOPLE, “He couldn’t have been a nicer guy. He just seemed like a real family man and just a nice guy on the set, just very kind of normal guy.”

Actress-comedienne Niecy Nash, who played Mac’s sister on The Bernie Mac Show, recalls his knack for making fellow actors feel at home on the set.

“When I showed up to work, he said something to me that had never been said to me on a set before,” she says. “He said, ‘Baby girl, the script here is not the Bible. Do you, and I’ll follow. I got mine, you get yours.’ When he said that, I knew everything was going to be all right. I was happy to have the freedom to make up some funny with him. It was simply delicious.”

Adds Nash, “My working experiences with Bernie were so amazing, that from that point on, I wouldn’t have cared if he called me in the middle of the night to come and be in a scene where I didn’t have anything to do but sit in the background and eat cereal. I would’ve just done it because I loved him like that.”
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