Celebrity Unofficial

If you’ve ever wondered why fashion models get hooked on drugs like cocaine and heroine, then you need wonder no more. Just months after getting caught on tape snorting cocaine, Kate Moss has been named Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards.

When the incident happened, the fashion world expressed faux outrage at her behavior and she lost most of her lucrative modelling contracts. But as further proof of just how hypocritical the reaction was, they have rewarded her for her scandalous behavior.

It was a hopeful sign that a recent fashion show in Spain imposed a minimum weight on its models, and there was hope that the industry had turned the corner on condoning the unhealthy lifestyles of its most visible members. So much for all that…

The truth is that Kate Moss absolutely deserves the award. She is after all the poster child for what is really going on in the fashion industry today….

Snoop Dogg has found himself on the wrong side of the law at an airport for the second time in a month.

This time it was a weapons charge related to an incident in September where he was found in possession of a collapsible baton. Snoop is claiming it was a prop for a music video, but I find that hard to believe.

That being said, it’s doubtful that he’ll face actual jail time for either incident. He’ll probably get probation and have to film a public service announcement or face some other kind of community service.

The real problem he’s facing is that he’s getting a reputation with airport security that’s going to mean extra scrutiny every time he travels. These last two incidents are in addition to previous problems which have already led to him being banned from British Airways flights.

Since 9/11, airport security’s tolerance for misbehavior of any kind has diminished rapidly and it seems that they are keeping a special eye out for Snoop Dogg and his traveling entourage. If he doesn’t change his approach to air travel, he may well find himself having no choice but to take the bus instead…

Shakira is probably still pinching herself after the night she had at the Latin Grammy Awards.

She hauled in four awards including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Album. She also managed to wow the crowd with her duet performance of  ‘La Tortura’ opposite Alejandro Sanz.

I have to confess a soft spot for the lady: she seems the genuine article, and she has deserves a lot of credit for bringing Latino music to the forefront of today’s mainstream music scene. She’s a welcome contrast to the immature antics of Kanye West at the MTV Europe Awards - allowing her talent and performance to speak for themselves. Congrats to her on her well-deserved awards.

If there was ever much doubt that Kanye West has the biggest ego in show business, he completely erased it at the MTV Europe Awards. In an industry dominated by narcissists, that’s saying a whole lot…

Despite being named Best Hip Hop Artist, he lost out on Best Video…and that’s when he lost his mind: 

…he crashed the stage Thursday in Copenhagen when the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for “We Are Your Friends.”

In a tirade riddled with expletives, Kanye said he should have won the prize for his video “Touch The Sky,” because it “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.”

“If I don’t win, the awards show loses credibility,” Kanye said.

Well damn, Kanye. That’s just about as compelling an argument as anybody could possibly make. You wasted a lot of money, lined up an actress not exactly known for her acting talent, and you used special effects. Why isn’t obvious to the rest of the world that the only possible end result was the best video of the year? Especially given the obvious fact that you are the only talented person in the entire industry…At least in your own mind, that is…

It’s just another in a long line of incidents where West’s ego drowns out his talent. He should have been grabbing headlines for his win as Best Hip Hop Artist; instead, people get to see the temper tantrum of an egotistical child. Way to go, Kanye…

Just hours after I posted that Sumner Redstone was trashing Tom Cruise’s reputation to disguise a plain old cost-cutting maneuver at Paramount, it turns out that Redstone had more than one reason to try to discredit Cruise: because he’s going to be a competitor.

Paula Wagner, Cruise’s production partner,  is the new CEO of United Artists; and both Wagner and Cruise will have part-ownership stakes in the studio. UA is scheduled to produce four films a year, and he will still have the opportunity to work with other studios.

Hmm…sounds like a pretty sweet deal for both Cruise and Wagner, and Redstone is left looking like a very bitter, poor loser. Deals this big don’t happen overnight, and there’s no doubt that Redstone got a whiff of it some time ago. So this whole charade he has been playing since August has just been a pathetic attempt to save face when his major star jumped ship.

Sorry Sumner, we see through your game…

Could Ryan Phillippe’s infidelity result in a big payday in his split from Reese Witherspoon? Under California law, that just might be the case.

When the couple wed in 1999, neither was a huge box office draw. And Phillippe still isn’t. But Witherspoon definitely is. Her latest project, “Our Family Trouble,” (oh, the irony…) is set to earn her almost $30 million, and without a pre-nuptial agreement he may be entitled to half of it.

California is a “community-property” state which means that all assets and earnings from a marriage are split evenly down the middle when there is no pre-nuptial agreement that states otherwise. The news coming out of Hollywood is that there is no pre-nup, so Phillippe could walk away with half of everything Witherspoon has made in rise to one of being one of Hollywood’s best paid actresses.

Talk about adding insult to injury…

She is…At least if you believe the latest rumors, that is.

According to reports, Angelina Jolie is pregnant with her second child with Brad Pitt. Evidently she been having some bouts with morning sickness and has started wearing baggier clothing to hide the pregnancy.

Reportedly, Pitt is hoping it will be a boy; but I’m sure they’re just like parents almost everywhere: as long as it’s healthy…He’s also been quoted as saying he would like to have at least six children.

Well, with two adopted children and a second biological one possibly on the way, they’re two-thirds of the way there and on track to get to six in record time.

No…not like that…Christina Aguilera is going to be immortalized at Madam Tussaud’s House of Wax later this month - no doubt as part of the publicity generated to promote her current UK tour. 

For those of you who can’t get enough of Her Dirrty-ness, you will be able to visit her likeness any time you like at the world-famous wax museum. It will appear in an evening gown in a special 1920’s-era powder room.

Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom which owns Paramount Pictures, is heaping more scorn on Tom Cruise. But it’s all a smokescreen. Buried in the sensational headlines is real reason he ended the contract with the movie mega-star: Tom Cruise was just making too much money.

All the tabloids, blogs and papers are touting the outrageous headlines that “All Women Hate Tom Cruise!” That’s a bunch of malarkey. If “all women” hated Tom Cruise no one would have gone to see Mission Impossible III. Every move that he and Katie Holmes made wouldn’t be scrutinized by the press. No one would care. The fact that he still makes international news, the fact that anyone even cares what Redstone has to say about Cruise just goes to show that he retains much of his appeal.

Granted some of the bloom is off the rose because of his antics. But movie-goers have short memories, and Redstone knows it. So why fire Cruise? Here’s a hint from Redstone’s own mouth:

“The explosion of publicly ending his contract was good. It sent a message to the rest of the world that the time of the big star getting all this money is over. And it is! I would like to think that what I did, or what we did, has had a salutary effect on the rest of the industry.”

That’s right, folks. It’s all about the money. Redstone thinks that the stars of the films are getting more than their fair share of the profits: he wanted to keep more of the profits for his studio, Paramount Pictures. So he made a big stink about Tom Cruise for one reason and one reason only: to have an excuse to end the contract which paid Tom Cruise a whole lot of money.

I hope that Cruise’s fellow actors are paying attention to Redstone’s conduct and think twice about ever working for Paramount. What Redstone did was trash Cruise’s reputation rather than be honest about what was, in fact, a straight up decision by the studio that it wanted a bigger piece of the pie. Which big star is going to be next on the hit list?

Brad Pitt appears on the cover of the December issue of Vanity Fair, and boy is he mad about it…The question we have to ask is: Why?

He posed for the pictures, he signed a release, and according to the magazine and photographer they notified him before it went to press - a claim he denies.  What strikes me as particularly disingenuous on his part is the statement he issued questioning the “integrity” of Vanity Fair.

Question the integrity of Vanity Fair? C’mon, Brad. That’s a bunch of horsehockey. You may have been in Africa when the letter arrived, but it’s beyond the pale to imply that Vanity Fair is some kind of underhanded publication just because you don’t like the fact that they legally bought the rights to photos for which you posed.

Supposedly Brad Pitt’s lawyers are “weighing their legal options,” but other than filing some kind of frivolous action for publicity’s sake they don’t have any. Quite frankly it’s his statements about Vanity Fair that are more likely a cause for action, and I’m sure a lawyer worth half his salt would tell him so.