Stacey Elza Speaks Out on The Bachelor, Panties

Posted at March 21st, 2008 2:31 pm

Stacey Elza, who was rejected on the season premiere of The Bachelor on Monday, nonetheless made quite an impression on Matt Grant and viewers.

But she says she didn’t give Matt her “real” panties.

On Monday’s The Bachelor: London Calling, the Chicago graduate student, 26, slipped Grant, 27, her underwear “to spice things up a little bit.”

“I’m spontaneous, outgoing,” she added, “and I figured, why not?”

It didn’t work.

Matt Grant dispatched Stacey Elza as well as nine other would-be ex-fiancees Monday night, remarking that “I don’t give a $h!t what country you’re from, that is not cool.” It’s difficult to argue with that kind of logic.

Stacey Elza’s creative move failed to woo Matt Grant.

But at least they were, um, washed.

“For the record, they were an extra pair,” Stacey Elza added.

“They did not literally come off my body.”

That’s certainly nice to know… and at the same time a little disappointing. Oh well. Also on Monday, fortunately, Shayne Lamas made the cut.

Kevin Federline Celebrates His Birthday in Las Vegas

Originally posted Saturday March 22, 2008 11:45 AM EDT

Even though Kevin Federline seems to have put his partying past behind him, there's one party he's still up for: His birthday bash in Las Vegas.

On Friday night, Britney Spears's ex-husband took a break from parenting to ring in his 30th birthday at Pure Nightclub – the same place he celebrated his birthday last year.

As he entered the club, a dapper-looking Federline – wearing a chic gray suit – said he felt "great" about turning 30. Flanked by a group of 20 pals, including his family and attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline headed straight to his VIP table where he was greeted by ex-girlfriend Shar Jackson.

Throughout the night, Federline and his group sang along to tunes by Jay-Z, Kanye West and other hip-hop artists. At one point, the deejay played Federline's own "Lose Control," a song familiar to the club considering its music video was shot there in 2006. Close to midnight, Federline danced on the couch at his table and held up a California license plate that read "FDRLINE", all while drinking Jack Daniels.

At one point in the evening, the birthday boy grabbed the microphone for a rambling profanity-laced speech in which he encouraged everyone to have "a good time. "

"I lost my voice at the craps tables and I lost all my money," he went on to say in a raspy voice, before a friend dragged him away from the mic.

He left the club just before 2 a.m. and headed back to his Caesars Palace suite. On Saturday, Federline is expected to return home to Los Angeles, where sons Preston and Jayden remained in the care of a nanny and a bodyguard while their dad went to Vegas.

Britney's Sitcom Wardrobe to Be Sold for Charity

Originally posted Saturday March 22, 2008 12:15 PM EDT

Britney Spears's guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother could benefit her career – and the environment.

A least six items of clothing from the pop star's wardrobe on the show will be auctioned off to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council, according to the Associated Press.

The auction will begin Monday, right after the episode starring Spears airs on CBS.

Producers of the show sponsored the sale, which will include a navy print Juicy Couture dress, a yellow Nannette Lepore dress and a cream Nannette Lepore cardigan with blue flower details, all worn by Spears during filming.

Jimmy Kimmel Urged Pal Adam Carolla to Be on DWTS — To Embarrass Him

March 21, 2008

Adam Carolla may have two-time DTWS champ Julianne Hough as his partner, but after a rough first round in which his foxtrot left him in last place, the actor and radio show host is keenly aware that his talents lie elsewhere. “I’m a better potter, and a saddle-maker than I am a dancer,” he deadpanned.

At the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, The Hammer, with wife Lynette and dance partner Julianne serving as his dates for the evening, Corolla also tried to explain his post-dance gaffe, where he appeared to curse at judge Carrie Ann Inaba. “I was shouting it to the heavens, I really was,” he said of the expletive heard around the dance world. “I was juiced. I had just come off the dance floor. I wasn’t directing it toward her, but, in hindsight, maybe not the best strategy.

Faced with climbing out of the DWTS doghouse (and winning over a few miffed judges), at least Corolla can turn to his good friends for support. Well, maybe not all of them. “He may be the first contestant eliminated before the actual voting,” Jimmy Kimmel said, chuckling at the thought of his friend becoming DWTS‘ first “Thursday elimination.”

In fact, Kimmel may turn out to be more foe than friend. “I actually came up with the idea, to be honest with you,” the talk show host said of Carolla signing up for the show. “And it wasn’t to help him. It was really because I wanted to see him in those ridiculous outfits.” Dance moves aside, there is one thing that Carolla can take from this experience: “He needs to learn that I’m never being supportive,” Kimmel said with more than a little pride. “I’m always tricking him into doing something that might potentially be embarrassing.”

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: See Jennifer Lopez's Twins!

Originally posted Thursday March 20, 2008 07:00 AM EDT

World exclusive! Here's your first glimpse of Jennifer Lopez and her twins, Max and Emme, born Feb. 22 in Long Island, N.Y.

This week's issue , on newsstands Friday, features 12 pages of new photos of the pop star with husband Marc Anthony and their 1-month-old bundles of joy inside their Long Island home and nursery.

The happy new parents spoke candidly the pregnancy, addressing everything from Jennifer's weight gain to rumors of infertility. For all the details, pick up the new issue, on newsstands Friday.

Rick Salomon Now Claims Fraud in Pam Anderson Marriage

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 06:30 PM EDT

Pamela Anderson isn't the only one claiming fraud in her brief marriage – now estranged husband Rick Salomon is making the same allegation.

A month after Anderson sought an annulment rather than a divorce, Salomon also filed papers to annul the two-month union.

Like Anderson, he checked the box marked "fraud" as the reason for the annulment, say the Superior Court documents filed Friday.

Neither has explained why the fraud allegation is being made.

After just two months of marriage, Anderson, 40, filed for divorce from Salomon, 39, in December, citing irreconcilable differences.

They were married last October in Las Vegas during a 90-minute break between the magic shows in which Anderson was appearing.

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Gave $8 Mil to Charity

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 02:30 PM EDT

News cameras have captured Brad Pitt building homes in New Orleans, and now federal tax filings for the Jolie Pitt Foundation have documented the good works that Brad and Angelina Jolie are doing behind the scenes.

All told, they gave more than $8 million in donations in 2006, with Pitt putting in $4,402,317, and Jolie donating $4,123,613, the Huffington Post reports, citing newly released federal tax filings. (These latest figures don't include 2007 – in which, among other charitable efforts, Brad's Make It Right Foundation raised $5 million.)

In terms of dispensing their funds, according to records for 2006, the foundation handed out $2,367,935, including $1 million to both Doctors Without Borders (International Division) and to the Global AIDS Alliance.

Additional gifts included $137,935 to the Namibia Red Cross Action Program (their daughter Shiloh was born in the African country); $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation (the late journalist's widow, Marianne Pearl, was played by Jolie in A Mighty Heart); $100,000 to Global Green U.S.A. and to the Epidermolysis Bulloma Medical Research Foundation.

In addition, $20,000 went to an art park in Los Angeles, as did separate $5,000 donations to two orphanages that Jolie had visited.

More Good Works

In terms of Pitt's work in Louisiana, Jolie's costar in the movie Wanted, Morgan Freeman, told at the Pathfinders to Peace Forum and Gala, "We were in contact with Brad about the situation in New Orleans" – and he called Jolie "such a wonderful woman."

Said Freeman: "Aside from all that physical beauty, she's a real person."

David Beckham Gives Anderson Cooper a 'Tattoo Tour'

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 01:35 PM EDT



We all know David Beckham's first two passions (soccer and family), but as the superstar tells Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes this Sunday, the guy is also obsessed with his ink.

"I think everybody's got a way of expressing their feelings, and mine is through my tattoos," Beckham says of his 15 body tattoos. He also shows Cooper the likenesses of wife Victoria Beckham (on his left arm) and the three cherubs on his right arm (for sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz).

Also revealed on the CBS interviewing (airing Sunday): Beckham, 32, has the option to purchase a Major League Soccer team in the United States when his contract with the L.A. Galaxy runs out, sometime in 2011.

But before that, he's got some soccer to play. Beckham wrote on his blog Thursday: "The new MLS season is less than two weeks away and I’m really looking forward to the first game against Colorado Rapids. This is my first full season with the Galaxy, so obviously I want to stay fit and play as many games as possible this year."

Amanda Overmyer: Fame Won’t Be a ‘Unicorn That I Keep Chasing’

March 21, 2008

Getting cut from American Idol on Wednesday wasn’t the end of the world for Amanda Overmyer. The nurse from Mulberry, Ind., is ready for what’s next and she hopes that it’s singing rock ‘n’ roll. But being a star isn’t a priority. Of her 15 minutes of fame, she says, “I’ll take it for what it is and move on.” Overmyer spoke to reporters Thursday, the morning after her elimination, and revealed what she told Kristy Lee Cook up on the Idol stage, what it means to be the “quintessential rocker chick” and whether or not she plans to invite any of the Idols to her upcoming wedding.

You showed a positive attitude about leaving the show. Are you optimistic about where you’re headed?
[Wednesday] wasn’t the most traumatic thing that’s happened in my life. I just got voted off of a TV show. I was thankful to be there and privileged to have millions of Americans vote for me just to keep me on [that long] … I’m cut out of a different mold of everyone else on the competition; I found that very warming that I had that much support.

What did Kristy Lee Cook say to you up there?
She thought it was her and I told her to chill out and stop worrying, that it would be alright.

What were your favorite and least favorite performances?
The two that I did on the big stage were equally my favorite just because I was more in my element there with the crowd in front of me. My least favorite would have been all the group numbers we had to do … I didn’t like performing them and doing all the choreography and stuff but as far as recording them and doing all of that, I actually was very strong at it. I have a choir background from high school.

Do you think the distinction of being a rocker chick hurt you or helped you in the competition?
Being my own personal style helped me as far as being the quintessential rocker chick, I guess, but as far as the competition itself I wouldn’t say that it necessarily helped me because young kids aren’t going to relate to me as easily as they do the other ones.

Now that you’ve had some major exposure, are you motivated to be a big star? Or are you okay with going back and having your old job?
I’m a very ambitious and driven person by nature and I’m going to take calculated risks to achieve success, but … success to me is a strong healthy family and success in whatever job you do and I wouldn’t have it in me if this is just 15 minutes of fame. I’m not going to chase it my whole life trying to get it back. I’ll take it for what it is and move on. Hopefully, it’s not. Hopefully I can make a career out of this, but it’s not going to be that unicorn that I keep chasing.

You have a wedding coming up. When is your wedding and would you invite your fellow contestants to attend and maybe sing?
I’d surely invite at least a couple of them and I don’t have any date at all. It’s been all pending with what happens.

Was your fiancé your rock throughout the whole thing?
I was more his rock through the whole thing because he was home alone and I bet that was pretty hard, being alone in a house while all the excitement is going on 2,000 miles away.

So what’s your plan for the immediate future?
I thought about it as far as what I’d like to do but I haven’t had any talks with management or anything like that on what the best way of going about it will be. I mean, I have zero experience in this industry and I’m completely as green as they come so I’m not going to venture to say this is what I’m going to do because I don’t know what the best way to go about it is so I’ve got to ask some people. But it will definitely be the southern rock genre. I definitely want to get out and tour and do the big biker alleys and things like that, but its just how to get there is what I need to be educated on.

Lindsay Lohan Sex-Tape Rumors: Not True

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 09:15 AM EDT

here appear to be a lot of nude celebrities on the Web this week, but one of them is not Lindsay Lohan.

Earlier this week, celeb blogs began circulating a photo of what some speculated was a screengrab from a video featuring the actress with ex-boyfriend Calum Best – but those rumors are now being debunked on two fronts. A spokesman for Best tells U.K. newspaper The Sun: "it is definitely not Calum," and other celebrity bloggers have found an old X-rated video (not starring Lohan) that appears to be the origin of the video screen grab

Nicolas Sarkozy's Ex-Wife to Wed in New York

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 03:25 PM EDT

France's former first lady, Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, plans to wed her boyfriend, Moroccan-born public relations executive Richard Attias, in Manhattan Sunday.

Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, and Attias, 48, left Paris Tuesday to get ready for the nuptials and settle in at Attias's Greenwich, Conn., home.

Attias is reportedly hosting a Friday night reception – and the couple plan to attend a Saturday performance of the Broadway show Mamma Mia before their wedding the following day.

On Sunday, the couple will wed in a civil ceremony before 148 guests, to be followed by a reception at Rockefeller Center, according to a source.

Among the expected guests are the couple's children from previous marriages – including Ciganer-Albeniz's 11-year- old son Louis, from her marriage to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Both the bride and groom are expected to wear Versace.

Ciganer-Albeniz and Sarkozy divorced on Oct. 18 after 11 years of marriage. The French President wed former model Carla Bruni on Feb. 2.

Celebrity Apprentice: Finalists Piers & Trace Speak!

March 21, 2008

Celebrity Apprentice is down to the final two! British tabloid editor (and America’s Got Talent judge) Piers Morgan, and country music star Trace Adkins have used their business acumen and boardroom battle tactics to impress boss Donald Trump each week to get to get to the final boardroom, where one will be hired and one will be fired. With one week to go before The Donald makes his decision, we up with the two very different contestants by phone to ask them about their chances of winning, how they got to the finals and how the show has changed them.

PIERS MORGAN

Are you surprised to be one of the final two?
I am very surprised. When I think back to day one, I look around the room and I didn’t recognize half of these people who were American celebrities, and they sure didn’t recognize me. It was quite clear that there would be a lot of friction amongst the thespians in the group, who are used to having an entourage telling them how wonderful they are all the time, and me, who was telling them about their limitations in life.

Speaking of friction, are you and Omarosa good friends now?
She’s been emailing me, but I’m not interested at all in having any contact with her again in my life. I’d never heard of her until I came out here. Her only claim to fame is that she is the most unpleasant creature ever unleashed on American TV.

So, you’re not going to be pen pals any time soon?
I’ve got an idea for a reality show, which I’ve suggested to Donald Trump: Celebrity Executions. And Omorosa would have to participate. You choose 10 very annoying, pointless celebrities from reality TV world, and they all scrap it out in challenges. The last one left gets executed on national TV. That would be great! Can you imagine the ratings?

How has the show changed your profile in America?
I’m in various cities, doing America’s Got Talent auditions at the moment, and it’s massively different than what I’m used to. It’s been endless people coming up and saying things like, “I’m so glad you killed Omarosa.” I’ve gone from being this pantomime villain on America’s Got Talent to a national hero purely because I got rid of Omarosa! So I’m quite pleased about that.

What do Americans feel about your, um, frankness?
People see it over here as being ruthless and tough. People in Britain don’t see it that way at all. I’ll go out to dinner with Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsey, and we have a laugh about the way the Americans conceive us to be so vile, because compared to some of the people we know in Britain we’re actually quite nice.

Who do you think will win Celebrity Apprentice?
We’ll see what happens. You’ve got Trace, a classic all-American cowboy who played a very gracious game. He’s a good guy. But I personally believe in the end, this is a business game, and the winner should be the person who has displayed the best overall business skills — winning challenges, pulling in big celebrities, helping the charities. If you add all that up then you have a pretty compelling argument that it should be me.

TRACE ADKINS

Are you surprised you are one of the final two?
You know, I guess, a little. I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t go into this thing with any preconceived ideas or any delusions that I would win the thing. I just did my best.

Why did you sign on for this in the first place?
I actually turned them down when they called me the first time or two. It was really when it was put to me that this was strictly about charity and what an opportunity it would be for me to raise awareness of something I care a lot about. [His daughter suffers from food allergies, and his charity is the Food Allergy Network.]

What was your strategy to keep winning?
Just keep my head down and let them kill each other off. And maybe come up with a decent idea or two every now and then.

What was the most difficult task?
I really had a strong dislike for any of the tasks that required going into your Rolodex and begging people for money. It’s not something I dig doing. That’s what got Piers to the finals. That’s all that got him here, his ability to call in markers. I don’t do business that way. Piers, I guess he’s got a lot of people who owe him money, I don’t know.

Who do you think will win Celebrity Apprentice?
It just depends on how they’re going to judge the thing, and where they’re going to put the most weight. If it’s strictly on the money, then I’ll probably lose.

Do you have a whole new fan base now?
I’ve had a lot more people recognize me. I’ve been at Disneyworld the last two or three days and getting stopped by people in the parking lot. I’m hearing the Apprentice thing a lot. Actually I had a lady in the park today stop me and started crying because she has a kid who has food allergies. So that was a cool thing. This show was a great idea, whoever came up with it.

Lauren Conrad: I Don’t Feel ‘Betrayed’

March 21, 2008

Lauren Conrad is speaking out on claims that she was feeling “betrayed” by her friends Audrina Patridge and Brody Jenner — and insists, “I love them both.”

In a posting Thursday on her MySpace Celebrity blog, Conrad, 22, wrote:

Hey! I just wanted to take a moment to clear something up. I recently did an interview to talk about the show coming back on and what everyone had to look forward to. Unfortunately it was turned into yet another “poor me” story. The article itself is a nice one but it follows headlines that, in no way, represent my words or feelings. I do not feel betrayed by Audrina or Brody. I love them both and said nothing to contradict this. I understand that headlines sell magazines, but I value my friendships above magazine sales any day.

On a more positive note, I got to see some of the first episode yesterday and it looks amazing. I’m sooooooo excited for everyone to see Paris. Best wishes and I hope everyone tunes in Monday.

With The Hills premiering Monday night on MTV, Conrad also reveals a bit more about her family, her image and secrets behind making the show in, of all places, The Wall Street Journal.

In the profile, Conrad acknowledges that she and Jenner “have an odd relationship,” but it works, because “he’s a cute guy who’s okay with filming.”

As for LC’s image, Conrad’s publicist talks openly with the newspaper about building Conrad as a fashion “brand” — and about the need for Lauren to party responsibly when she’s hitting the hot clubs. “It’s the same conversation you’d have as a parent with a child,” said the rep. Conrad’s father Jim adds that they watch the blogs — and if they see her appearing tipsy in a photo, “We will tell her to ratchet it back.”

A.J. McLean: I Can Finally Speak My Mind

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 04:00 PM EDT

Taking a long-awaited side trip, A.J. McLean says his first solo project will let fans know "who I am outside of the Backstreet Boys."

"It feels good, man. It's really been 15 years in the making," McLean, 30, tells .

While he's not leaving the group, and will soon be heading out on a European tour with his band-mates, McLean is stepping out on his own for two concert appearances this Sunday and Monday in California, performing songs from his album that comes out later this year.

"Once I got sober things really kind of kicked into gear for me," says McLean, a recovering alcoholic now six years sober. "Everything I was feeling, I started just putting it down with pen on paper and applying music to it."

Audiences who catch his solo shows (including shows at small venues throughout Europe after the Backstreet tour ends May 15) won't get a boy-band show.

"There are no dancers, no big flashing lights – it's just about the music and about me." he says. " I can speak my mind, say whatever I want to say, and not feel like I have to be censored. It's me being myself and I'm not a kid anymore. If I want to say the S-word on stage I can do that. I'm 30 years old. I can talk about what I want to talk about."

How do the other Backstreet Boys feel about it? "The group is very supportive of him," says a source close to the band. In fact, the source adds, "You will most likely see the group members at the shows in Los Angeles and London."

Tori Spelling: I'd Love To Be in 90210 Remake

Originally posted Friday March 21, 2008 12:00 AM EDT

Tori Spelling would like to return to her old zip code.

The actress has yet to be contacted by the producers of the Beverly Hills, 90210 remake the CW is developing, but Spelling, who played Donna Martin on the original show for 10 years, is ready to step up if she gets offered a role.

"My dad always wanted to do a new version of 90210, so I'm sure he will be beaming from above!" Spelling, 34, tells , referring to her father, the show's producer Aaron Spelling. "And I'd love to somehow be a part of it. That as well would make my dad proud!"

So what kind of role does she envision for herself?

"Well, I am a mom now, proud to say, but obviously too young to have a teenager, so maybe I could be one of the main character's young stepmom," says Spelling, who is expecting her second child. "Playing the funny sex ed teacher at the high school would be funny, too, considering Donna Martin was America's most infamous virgin."

She adds: "The show was a huge part of my life. Ten years! I miss it dearly."

The actress first heard of the remake while doing interviews for her book, sTori Telling.

"I thought ... it's about time," says Spelling, who next appears on television on Friday on HSN with her own jewelry line. "I'm surprised it took this long for them to make a 90210 spinoff."

Source: Mel & Britney Have Been 'Meeting Regularly'

Originally posted Monday March 17, 2008 04:55 PM EDT

Mel Gibson and Britney Spears's dinner over the weekend wasn't their first meeting.

The pair and their families have met a number of times since Spears checked out from her second hospitalization last month, a source tells

"Mel and his wife Robin clearly saw a woman in crisis and wanted to extend themselves in any way possible," the source says.

"There's just a handful of people in the world who understand the kind of intense attention that Britney goes through, and how to raise a family with some semblance of privacy and how to keep one's family intact and out of the limelight," the source adds.

"There are no expectations, there is no agenda. It's simply an act of human kindness – one neighbor reaching out to the other."

Gibson and Spears used to be neighbors when the singer previously lived in Malibu.

Madonna and Guy 'Remain Happily Married'

Originally posted Monday March 17, 2008 06:25 PM EDT

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are not headed for splitsville, according to the singer's rep.

"I am delighted to confirm that Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ritchie remain happily married," Liz Rosenberg said in a statement Monday, countering rampant speculation about trouble in the couple's marriage.

Earlier Monday, a British news service published a story quoting an unnamed source as saying "Madonna and Guy Ritchie are over." Multiple reports also speculated that the couple, who have been working on separate projects, were planning to split up.

Rosenberg, However, denied there was any truth to those rumors. "Though they were in different countries recently – Madonna in the U.S. doing promotion for her upcoming album Hard Candy and Guy finishing up post production on his new film RocknRolla as well as completing a Nike commercial and working on several scripts in England – the family are joyfully back together at home in London."

Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 39, are parents to three children: Lourdes, 11, Rocco, 7, and David, 2 1/2, whom they are in the process of adopting.

Added Rosenberg, "All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household.

Will Smith: I'm No Scientologist

Originally posted Tuesday March 18, 2008 07:45 AM EDT

Just because you're friends with Tom Cruise, doesn't mean you're a Scientologist.

So says Will Smith, who's denying recent reports – including Radar magazine's April cover story – which claim he's been increasingly involved with the controversial religion.

"You don't have to be Jewish to be a friend of Steven Spielberg. You don't have to be a Muslim to be a friend of Muhammad Ali. And you don't have to be a Scientologist to be a friend of Tom Cruise," the actor told the New York Daily News Tuesday.

"I am a Christian," the 39-year-old added. "I am a student of all religions. And I respect all people and all paths."

George Clooney: I’m Not Returning To ER

March 17, 2008

George Clooney denies reports claiming the actor, 46, will return to ER for a 15th season next fall to reprise his role as Dr. Doug Ross.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada airing Monday, Clooney was asked if he is indeed returning to the NBC show. “No, never — we never even talked about it,” he says in the interview. “No one has ever asked me. It’s the funniest thing. The story came out, and I was like ‘Where did that come from?’ It was everywhere — I mean in one day!”

Clooney added that the reports were news to TV execs, as well. “I ran into [ER Executive Producer] John Wells two days ago on the lot … and said to him, ‘What the hell happened?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know where that came from.”

But Clooney isn’t discounting how crucial the role was to his career. “I was 33 when ER hit, so I have a very different outlook on the way things work,” he says. “I don’t think I was supposed to have been famous. I realize how much of this is luck.”

See Britney's Appearance on How I Met Your Mother

Originally posted Monday March 17, 2008 07:40 PM EDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoW-1nYSYA8

You've seen the photos, now see Britney Spears in action! PEOPLE has the first video promo for her March 24 appearance on CBS's How I Met Your Mother. And without further ado, her first scripted words are:

"Can we have sex and then go shopping?"

As you've heard, the pop star plays a receptionist at a dermatologist's office, opposite Josh Radnor. The promo features Spears opposite Neil Patrick Harris (who called Britney "really funny").

It's just the latest promising step in Britney's life post-hospitalization. She also met with Mel Gibson over the weekend – and a source tells PEOPLE the two have been meeting "regularly."

Oscar-Winning Director Anthony Minghella Dies

Posted Tuesday March 18, 2008 11:45 AM EDT

British filmmaker Anthony Minghella, who won a Best Director Oscar in 1996 for The English Patient, has died, his London-based agent confirmed to the Associated Press. He was 54.

He succumbed to a fatal hemorrhage early Tuesday morning at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, west London, his rep tells . Minghella had an operation last week for a growth in his neck, which "seemed to have gone well."

Minghella's other movies included 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley, which made a star out of Jude Law, and 2003's Cold Mountain, which won an Oscar for its Supporting Actress Renée Zellweger.

His most recent movie was The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which he recently finished filming in Botswana, reports CNN.

Minghella was married to Hong Kong-born choreographer Carolyn Choa.

Since 2003, he was chairman of the British Film Institute.

Reports: Heather Soaks Paul's Divorce Attorney

Originally posted Tuesday March 18, 2008 09:15 AM EDT

Heather Mills had more than just cash to splash Monday as she allegedly threw water at Paul McCartney's lawyer during the $50-million divorce proceedings.

Mills claimed she was "so, so happy," with the decision, but events inside the courtroom seem to tell a different story.

According to various accounts in the British press, Mills allegedly lashed out at McCartney's high-powered attorney, Fiona Shackleton, pouring a glass of water over the solicitor's head.

The U.K.'s Daily Mirror declared "Wet It Be" on its front page, breathlessly recounting the splash-and-dash. "[Heather] was so angry, she tipped a glass of water over Fiona Shackleton's head, leaving her with soaking wet hair," one insider told the paper. "Everyone was stunned. That kind of behavior is just not acceptable."

Indeed, pictures from the courthouse show Shackleton arriving Monday morning with a bouncy blonde bouffant and leaving at around 2 p.m. with damp locks slicked back behind her ears.

When the BBC asked Mills about the alleged attack, the Dancing with the Stars vet would only say that Shackleton had been "baptized in court." (Shackleton's office at Paynes Hicks Beach had no comment.)

Soleil Moon Frye Welcomes a Baby Girl

Originally posted Monday March 17, 2008 11:10 PM EDT

Former Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye and her husband, Jason Goldberg, have welcomed their second child, a girl, the actress's rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Jagger Joseph Blue Goldberg was born Monday in Los Angeles and weighed 8 lbs., 6 oz. The couple also have a 2-year-old daughter, Poet Sienna Rose Goldberg.

"Soleil had a wonderful experience, and both she and the baby are doing great," says the rep.

Frye, 31, and Goldberg, 36, the producer of MTV's Punk'd, married in 1998 in Los Angeles. Last October, Frye, along with partners Paige Tolmach and Beth Birkett, opened the eco-friendly baby boutique The Little Seed in Los Angeles.

Frye told PEOPLE last fall that her daughter Poet was already bonding with the new baby. "She talks to the belly all the time and tells the baby she loves it," Frye said.

Halle Berry Boyfriend's Family 'So Happy' About Baby News

Originally posted Tuesday March 18, 2008 06:15 AM EDT

The aunt has spoken – and she's delighted.

"I was so happy when I found out," Eugenie Aubry, 36, tells PEOPLE about the new baby girl born on Sunday to Halle Berry and Eugenie's younger brother, Gabriel Aubry.

"It's been a long time since we've had a new baby in the family," said Eugenie. "It's very exciting."

While she has yet to meet her brand new niece, the Canadian resident was thrilled to hear that new mom Halle has been practicing her language skills.

"I'm a Quebecer, and it's great that she is learning how to speak French," Eugenie says. "I'm glad that the little one will speak French, too."

No doubt, the newborn will have plenty of Quebec cousins to practice with, because mom Halle, 41, and dad Gabriel, 32, try to visit Gabriel's 64-year-old father, Gérard, and eight brothers and sisters as often as possible.

Another rendezvous is just around the corner, according to Aunt Eugenie – who says the Aubry family is planning a welcome party in Montreal for its newest member.

"We're going to have a big party for them," she says. "My father is so happy right now."