Know who's not happy about Britney Spears trying to clean up her act, get her custody situation in order, and perhaps record some new music? The paparazzi. It's sort of been their job, and their windfall, to chronicle all of Ms. Spears antics (attacking a SUV with an umbrella, anyone?). Agencies would have entire crews stalking her around Hollywood, hoping she'd run someone over (perhaps a photog) trying to escape from a parking lot, stop by a public bathroom without shoes, or lay by the pool in her backyard as helicopters hovered above. Now? Now she might as well be Jessica Frickin' Biel: Girl is a waste. CONTINUED »
Here we go! The latest and greatest Obama attack ad out of John McCain’s camp not only juxtaposes the Democratic nominee with wearying tarts Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, it also resorts to one of the oldest scare tactics in the book: reminding everyone that Obama wants to raise taxes (possibly to fund his wife’s Black Panther arsenal? Nobody knows!).
It’s still only July, kids.
If TMZ's shtick is breaking courthouse news, then FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman's beat is charity scandal. More than happy to dig through the non-profit records of Scientology and Kabbalah, Friedman turns his attention to the Britney Spears Foundation, the pop star's erstwhile attempt at doing good for humanity. But like Ms. Spears' personal life in recent years, the foundation is suffering its own troubles. Tax filings from 2006 show the charity was nearly $200,000 in the red; some $150,000 came in as revenue, but $345,000 went out as expenses. Some red flags, in case you were looking for them: $50k was earmarked for Britney's summer camp for kids, but that's all but closed down; some $214,000 for grants are listed, but without any specifics for what those grants are for; and one of two people listed on the foundation's payroll is a former cop previously embroiled in a charity scandal. CONTINUED »
Miley Cyrus‘ Good Morning America performance today in Bryant Park further cemented the theory that she is a miniature Britney Spears in the making. The choreographed dance moves, the giggly interviews — she’s a pro at the ripe age of 15, which means she’s due for a rehab stint within the next three years.
Uh oh! Just one day after we were called “assy” for daring to suggest that Britney Spears should focus her energy on things other than making a new pop album, the perennially hysterical singer has lost a long-standing custody dispute with her ex-husband, self-styled pimp Kevin Federline (of the Fresno Federlines).
This is the first time in who knows how long that we’ve looked at a photo of Britney Spears and didn’t feel the urge to bathe.
Mel Gibson isn’t the only person interested in Britney Spears‘ love life as of late: TMZ has been keeping tabs on the pop star and her secret rendezvous with a mystery man. Sadly, that mystery man is all too recognizable — it’s Adnan Ghalib, former paparazzo and Spears hanger-on.
TMZ’s “sources” have reported that over the last few months Adnan has been entering the gated community where Brit and father Jamie live, but no one can say exactly what’s going on. But we can! Adnan missed the spotlight, Britney missed her enabler, and it was time for a special reunion. And yes, there are text messages involved.
The endless back and forth speculation about YouTube crack smoking star and amateur fighter Amy Winehouse, back when she was expected to perform at the Grammys – but, uh, wasn't exactly "healthy" enough to do so — accomplished at least one thing: Incredible interest from the American public (and British tabloids) in the broadcast.
In the end, of course, Winehouse couldn't make it to the stage, phoning in her performance via satellite; and while the blogs and trades were abuzz with rumormongering, three million fewer viewers bothered tuning in to February's show.
Just imagine what those audience numbers could've looked like without the Winehouse gossip. So it makes sense that producers of the show, while of course concerned about the health of the celebrity music acts they invite to perform, are at least equally as interested in the buzzworthiness of their headliners.
Which explains why MTV Networks Music president Van Toffler is already speculating on a certain blonde pop tart who may, or may not, be ready for a repeat appearance at this year's VMAs. CONTINUED »
These photos of Britney Spears at the Ritz-Carlton gym show that she's not dead-set on her Bally's membership. [Celebutopia]
With Britney by their side, Jamie Lynn Spears and fiancé Casey Aldridge welcomed a baby girl Maddie Briann this morning. This is bad news for brother Bryan, who was enjoying his first 3 minutes of fame. [People]
That photographer whose foot was supposedly run over by Britney Spears in the middle of a paparazzi scrum? Yeah … so he purposefully had his foot crushed by her car as she tried backing away from the camera madness, it's been decided. Why would a photog do such a thing? Because lawsuits are easy to follow, and fame is easy to come by. But the district attorneys office wasn't buying it: After reviewing footage of the incident, they concluded, "There was much commotion and noise at the time and there is no proof that the suspect was aware of what had happened." So Britney is off the hook, and, for once, she has the paparazzi's footage to thank for it. Or blame for it. Or both!
That harshly criticized issue of The Atlantic, featuring Britney Spears on the cover and a paparazzi expose inside, that had the magazine's loyalists aghast at how owner David Bradley could bring his well-respected title to such a low, was a newsstand disaster. It moved just 24,000 copies at the newsstand, or less than half what it moved in previous months. Lesson learned? Leave the celebrity shlock to the tabloids. Thankfully editor Justin Smith denied that the story had anything to do with an attempt to boost circulation, make the magazine profitable, and increase newsstand sales, because that defense is going to come in handy right about now.
When staffers at UCLA's Medical Center were fired in March for snooping on Britney Spears' medical records, and then selling tidbits about the pop star, like details of her giving birth so Sean Preston in 2005, one teensy weensy other revelation floated to the surface: The practice was nothing new.
Plenty of other celebs had their privacy violated, including Maria Shriver, George Clooney, and Farah Fawcett.
Now, tapes of conversations between tabloid The Globe and a score of hospital employees, from 1992-93, show how editors there regularly paid off sources inside various hospitals' walls for dirt on Tom Cruise, Liz Taylor, Billy Crystal, Kelsey Grammer, Magic Johnson, Roseanne Barr, Al Pacino, Paula Abdul, Frank Zappa, and Vanna White. From plastic surgery procedures to eating disorder treatment, every tidbit was available for the right price. CONTINUED »
Well isn't this the feel good story you were looking for to take your mind off last week's tragic crane collapse?
Tatum O'Neal – who won an Academy Award at age 10 for Paper Moon, though the Oscars would probably like you to not include its trademark while mentioning this story – was arrested yesterday after being spotted buying crack on the Lower East Side, nearby her apartment.
When police nabbed her, she insisted she was just researching an acting role. Then they found a baggie of crack, a baggie of coke, and a crack pipe on her. And so she tried this line: "I've been clean for a long time. Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?" [NYDN]
They did not. She was booked on charges of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
And yes, it was just eight months ago that she told Britney Spears to seek "recovery and get her disease of addiction together."
There have been those rumors about Michael Jackson taking up residency in Las Vegas, clearing tens of millions of dollars with a high-profile show a la Cher or Prince. But whether the gossip was simply made up or based in truth, the murmurs of a deal would always fizzle, owing in part to Jackson's inability to be a reliable performer, thus shortchanging any possibility his act could be insured.
And now, Britney Spears. She's been seen, very publicly, dining with George Maloof, the billionaire owner of, among other things, the Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. All of which is helping fuel rumors that she is in talks for a Vegas house show, with sums of $10 million being floated around. [SBS]
Maloof, meanwhile, is also behind the insidious production of E!'s Living Lohan, a project that is less about celebrating a manager mama and her celebrity offspring than it is about promoting his corporate interests while ruining a Long Island family. His exploitation of Ms. Spears, then, shouldn't be anything less.
[Photo: WENN]
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