Michael Jackson is scheduled to make a rare appearance in the United Kingdom in a few weeks. He’s been laying low for over year, spending time in Bahrain, Italy and France. He’s been keeping out of the public eye since he was acquitted of the child molestation charges.
He’s the recipient of the World Music Award’s Diamond Award. This is a very special award because there are no judges and no voting involved. The only way to win this award is for an artist’s album to sell more than 100 million copies based on record sales world wide. Other artists who have received this award are Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Rod Stewart.

Many are actually surprised that it has taken this long for Michael Jackson to get this award. Though many of the youth today do not know him, his music, artistry and style inspired many of their favorite singers to greatness. It is unbelievable for many that his Albums have only now hit the 100 million mark. As they say though, sometimes it doesn’t matter how long the journey, as long as you get to where you want to go.

This is also the first time that the World Music Awards will be held in the United Kingdom. It was held in Monaco for 15 years before moving to the US in the year 2004 and 2005. This time around it will be in London at Earls Court on November 15.
Lindsay Lohan is scheduled to host the event this year. There will also be performances by Mary J. Blige, Beyonce and Andrea Bocelli just to name a few.

[tags] Michael Jackson, World Music Awards, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Lindsay Lohan, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Andrea Bocelli [/tags]

Hollywood abounds with celebrities with weight problems. A few have the problem of being too heavy. In modern day Hollywood however it is the reverse. Many female stars are too skinny. In fact they are all but skin and bones. In fact quite a number of them have eating disorders. This includes actresses like Kate Bosworth, Mary Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie.

Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie, has voluntarily asked for help with her weight problem. She has checked into a treatment center to get help to gain weight. She has told Vanity Fair that she knows that she is to thin. She says she’s not happy with the way she looks.

In a statement, Spokeswoman Nicole Perna said, “She is working with a team of doctors and specialists whose focus is nutrition. It is important to Nicole that she achieves this goal in a healthy way as this is not a treatment for an eating disorder.”

At 25 years of age, Nicole has changed quite a bit from the girl who first appeared on “The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton. She lost a lot of weight really fast, more than is healthy for most. She said that part of the reason was the stress she experienced over the break-up with her fiance. She does insist that she does not have an eating disorder, no matter how it may seem otherwise.

Hopefully with medical assistance, she will soon be in perfect health and form. It’ll be great to see her in better shape.
[tags] Hollywood,Nicole Richie,Anorexia,weight [/tags]

What do you do when the album you back and produce flops? Normally you can just try to get the next one. In the case of Jermaine Dupri, you resign.

Jermaine Dupri resigned from being president of Virgin Record’s urban music division when his girlfriend’s latest album “20 Y.O.” bombed. The Grammy award winning music producer and rapper took on the position in January of 2005 but apparently feels it is time to walk away. He states, “I was not forced out of the company, I made a decision that it was in my best interest to leave.”

According to Nielsen soundscan, sales of Janet Jackson’s album have hit a mere 443,000 since it was released on Septemer 26 of this year. Dupri and Jackson had been looking to use this allbum to stage Janet’s comeback. Dupri has had previous success with brining back singers as seen when the record sales of Mariah Carey’s multi-platinum award winning “Emancipation of Mimi”.

While he has not explained what led to his decision to leave the recording company, rumors abound that it has to do with the way management and the rest of the company supported the album. As close as the singer is to his heart, he is said to have been frustrated with the way marketing and promotion was handled for 20 Y.O.

At least Janet is still getting a boost from all this. Though no confirmation has been made, people are looking forward to Janet and Justin performing on stage again. Hopefully this time there will be no scandal.

[tags] music,news,Janet Jackson,Jermaine Dupri,resign,Virgin Records [/tags]

A boy! Yes folks, it is finally confirmed. Though many people thought otherwise, Britney Spears had another son last September 12. The birth certificate has been filed at long last reflecting that the child’s chromosomes are indeed XY.

The other question people have been asking is what in the world did the pop superstar name her child. Neither Britney nor her husband, Kevin Federline, have spoken with any media people about the latest addition to their family. Speculation is that they are planning to follow in the footsteps of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with baby Suri and release the much awaited information with a major spread, this one timed to promote the CD of Kevin Federline.

A copy of the birth certificate of Britney’s second child is said to have been secured and it doesn’t reflect Sutton Pierce. It shows the name Jayden James. Will he end up having J.J. as his nickname? Nobody will know for sure until October 31st which is the date when the CD of Britney’s husband is set to be released.
At least Britney has lost the weight from pregnancy and is back to her slim sexy self. She says that she is now a size eight. The singer says that all she did was take out the carbs, eat healthy and follow an energetic dance regimen that is better than going to the gym. There were no doctors involved or any diet pills taken. Could a work out or exercise video be next on the list of possible projects for Britney? Who knows.

[tags] Britney Spears, baby, dieting, lose weight [/tags]

Nicole Kidman was scheduled to have a press conference to promote her latest movie, Furs. The press conference with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association however got cancelled since she chose to be with her husband of four months, Keith Urban, in Nashville as he spent his first 24 hours in the Cumberland Heights.

Urban voluntarily checked into the rehab clinic and is on a 28 day program to help him overcome a relapse into alcoholism. He has battled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol before. In fact he checked into this same clinic in 1990 when his heroine addiction brought him to his knees.

The country music singer says, “I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones that love and support me. One can never let one’s guard down on recovery and I’m afraid that I have. With the strength and unwavering support I am blessed to have from my wife, family and friends, I am determined and resolved to a positive outcome.”

This stay automatically cancelled his expected appearance at the ARIAs in Australia. His slot will not be filled in with a replacement artist according to the organizers. Producer Mark Pope says, “It’s not a cookie-cutter mentality where you can just replace an artist like Keith Urban.”

Keith isn’t the only actor this year who has relapsed into alcoholism. Robin Williams went back into rehab earlier this year after he too succumbed to the vile brew. Mel Gibson also began drinking again this year, which resulted in his so called “drunken ramblings”.

[tags] news,Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Alcoholism, rehab [/tags]

Love has struck Gina Lollobrigida for the second time. She has announced plans to marry Spanish real estate businessman, Javier Rigau Rafols. La Lollo, as she is better known in her home land of Italy, is 79. Her fiance is 45. They are the latest to join the string of celebrity toyboy couples including Demi Moore (43) who married Ashton Kutcher (28), Madonna (48) married to Guy Ritchie and Kim Cattral of Sex and the City (49) with partner Alan Wyse (26).

The couple says that they met in Monte Carlo in 1984. La Lollo says that she has always had a thing for younger men because they are generous and have no complexes. It began as passion and blossomed into love. They have been dating for 22 years and he has given her a 36 carat emerald engagement ring. They have set the wedding for late this year in New York.

This is the actress’ second marriage. She divorced her first husband, Dr. Miko Skofic, in 1971. She had a son, Milko, from that relationship.

She was Luigina but preferred the nickname Gina since it was sexier. She is the second of four daughters. She began her acting career in the 1940s. She starred in The World’s Most Beautiful Woman (1955), Solomon and Sheba, Trapeze, Never So Few and Come September. The latter earned her a Golden Globe. She also appeared in the US television drama Falcon Crest in the 1980s which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress. She has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery and Humphrey Boggart.

[tags] actress, Gina Lollobrigida, The World’s Most Beautiful Woman, toyboy, marriage, dating, wedding [/tags]

Looks like there is a baby on the way for Melanie Brown and Eddie Murphy. The former Spice Girl confirmed that she is definitely with child and currently four months pregnant. She says that the pregnancy is leaving her a bit tired and she does worry that she might be having twins since that runs in Eddie Murphy’s family.

This is Melanie’s second pregnancy. She has a daughter named Phoenix Chi from her previous marriage to guitarist Jimmy Gulzar. This will be Eddie Murphy’s 8th child. He has 5 children with his ex wife Nicole, one son with Tamara Hood and another son with Paulette McNeely.

This relationship actually came as quite a surprise to many. The couple met in June and immediately began dating. Eddie Murphy’s divorce had been finalized just that April, one of the Hollywood marriages that had seemed strong. Melanie Brown is better known as Scary Spice but hasn’t had much luck with her singing or acting career since the group broke up in 2001. Eddie Murphy is a well known Hollywood comedian. She’s from the UK, he’s from New York. They seemed to have nothing in common but they do seem happy.

Eddie Murphy’s brother Charlie says, “Eddie seems very happy with her, and that’s what’s important to me. He’s in a good place. If she does that for him then, that’s great.”

The couple is said to be getting married next month though representatives of Eddie Murphy refused to comment when asked about it.

[tags] News,Eddie Murphy,Scary Spice,Spice Girls,Baby,Pregnant [/tags]

?

Lindsay Lohan has decided to move on from her teenager roles and take on a role that is a little more mature. The movie she has chosen to launch the next stage of her careeer is titled “The Best Time of Our Lives”. The screenplay is written by Sharman Macdonald, mother of Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) who is also starring in the movie. Lohan plays the role of Caitlin Thomas, wife of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Knightley plays the role of Vera Phillips, the childhood friend of Caitlin Thomas.

The story revolves about the strange relationship between the Thomas couple, Vera Phillips and her husband William Killick. Lohan says that there are lesbian undertones to the relationship between Caitlin and Vera but she won’t disclose more. What is confirmed is that it ends up with the real life incident where Vera Phillips and her husband fire at the home of the Thomas’ with a machine gun and hand grenades.What in the world could inspire such anger, fans will just have to wait to find out because the move won’t start production til April next year.

It will definitely be nice to see Lindsey Lohan stretching her wings and see her taking on new challenges. It is about time that she plays roles with more meat to it. She’s more than ready to take them on and show people what she’s got.
The movie will be directed by John Maybury. He was also the director of the Jacket which also starred Keira Knightley.

Country singer Sara Evans was one of 11 celebrities chosen to partner professional dancers in the third season of the show “Dancing With The Stars”. Just when it looked like she was doing better, she suddenly quit the show leaving her partner high and dry.

Why the abrupt departure? The singer apologized to the network, ABC, and to her fans who have been very supportive of her. She announced that she had filed for her divorce from husband, Craig Schelske, ending her marriage of 13 years. She felt that she now needed to devote her time to her kids who are aged 7, 3 and 2.

Evans says that she filed for divorce because Schelske cheated on her, excessively drank and watched porn in their home. She also said that he has pictures of himself having sex with other women. Plus he also used their computer to watch more porn and access the internet to find and solicit sex with multiple partners.

Speakers for Schelske’s camp says that Schleske was taken completely off guard by the accusations and would prefer not to discuss this with the media. He said he has decided to forgive Sara and her publicity team for this. He says that they had struggled to come to terms with the changes in Sara over the past year as she dramatically became a different person. He says they failed to deal with it and all he can do is ask people to please pray for her and for his family in this difficult time.

To bad that their laundry couldn’t be handled more discreetly. It would have been nice if Sara Evans could have kept on dancing but everyone does understand that family comes before anything else.

[tags] celebrities,Dancing With The Stars,Sara Evans,divorce [/tags]

Months after being arrested for driving under the influence, actor/director Mel Gibson has made his first public interview. He chose to make his appearance on the Good Morning Show with Diane Sawyer.

The actor says that he has been sober for 65 days but that each day is a struggle. The actor appeared shamefaced as he talked about the “despicable” (as he calls it) words that he uttered to the police officers as they arrested him last July 28 in Malibu, a day that Mel Gibson will definitely remember. He said that his anti-semetic words were nothing more than the stupid ramblings of a drunken idiot which unfortunately was made into world news.

Mel Gibson had been having problems with alcoholism for years. He had one previous DUI arrest in 1984 when he rear ended a car. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1991. He claims that he had been sober for years until about two months before that unforgettable summer day he uttered his bigoted words.

He agreed to the interview because he says he didn’t want to be that kind of monster. He says that he will continue to make films and work to heal himself and those he offended. He knows that there will be many in Hollywood who will refuse to work with him because of the incident.

“I feel sad because they’ve obviously been hurt, frightened and offended enough to feel they have to do that”, he says. “Um, and it’s their choice. there’s nothing I can do about that”.

Mel Gibson’s latest directorial offering entitled Apocalypse is scheduled for release in December. He is sure to be hoping that enough people will be non-judgemental or forgiving enough to still watch his film.

[tags] entertainment,news, Mel Gibson, Drunk Driving, Diane Sawyer, The Good Morning Show [/tags]