Friday, December 7, 2007
Abbie Cornish Wears A Christmas Wreath On Head As Peace Offering To Witherspoon-Phillippe Children
5:27PM Clem Bastow | Our Abbie Cornish has been at the centre of many people’s “Why did my favourite seemingly-perfect celebrity couple break up?” moans for some time now, after rumours emerged that an on-set fling between herself and Ryan Phillippe was the catalyst for Reese Witherspoon’s seeking a divorce from the former actor.
“Those in the know” have been suggesting for ages that Phillippe and Cornish continued their dalliance off-set and post-divorce, but it only now seems that these “friends” and “close sources” may actually be correct.
(Incidentally, points to News Ltd for their choice of title here: “Ryan Phillippe out of monastery, into Abbie Cornish”. EH, EH!?)
The Crash star was seen Christmas shopping with Abbie Cornish – the woman he was accused of cheating on ex-wife Reese Witherspoon with – and his two kids with Reese, Ava, eight, and four-year-old Deacon.
An onlooker told Us Weekly magazine: “Ava seemed very comfortable with Abbie. Ava picked a wreath and Abbie put it around her head as a joke. They were both laughing.”
Sources claim Ryan and Abbie – who have previously denied claims of an affair – are smitten with each other.
One said: “They have a ton of chemistry. Abbie is a free spirit. She indulges a side of Ryan that he’s kept under wraps for years.”
Using our powers as professional tabloid whisperers, we can “exclusively reveal” that calling someone “free-spirited” means one of two things: either that they are a crazy yet lovable hippie, or that they’re a home-wrecking slut who doesn’t believe in the sanctity of marriage and will get what’s coming to them soon in the form of a devastating accident with an electrolysis pen and a glass of water that “just happened” to tumble onto their valuable face.
In the case of this piece, we are of course assuming News Ltd and Us Weekly mean the former. More » 
So You Think You Can Dance Australia Contestants Spotted, Judged, At Airport
5:22PM Clem Bastow | Defamer Australia just received an excited text from one of our many moles (not in that way), who was waiting for a flight in Sydney. She was seated next to the Australian So You Think You Can Dance finalists and can confirm the following details:
One curly-haired blonde girl, three Idol-style ‘ethnics’; one wearing pork-pie hat, all with ‘fro.
Names include Mac, Maddie and Steph. Maddie went shopping and made Steph cry because she nearly missed flight.
All tired, all making jokes; ‘So you think you can sleep’.
So there you have it! Remember those names, they’re gonna live forever etc.
Come next year you’ll just be gagging for a bit of Maddie, Mac and Steph action. As we can see from their HILARIOUS jokes, they’re obviously going to be totally memorable and lovable, and sure to parlay their SYTYCD appearances into career longevity and respect. More » 
Amy Winehouse: Snowstorm Reported In London
5:10PM Clem Bastow | If it wasn’t already obvious that Amy Winehouse never listened to Pat Cash’s sincere hopes for kids to ’say “no” to drugs’, the latest Winegums pictures have put paid – again – to any question of whether or not she was taking her doctors’ advice and getting off the sauce/junk/toot.
Gobsmackingly, she seems to have deemed another rehab stint unnecessary, and just keeps partying. In fact, you could say she said “No, no, no” to it, but you’d be a dickhead, and we’re not in the business of being dickheads.
Troubled Amy Winehouse continued her erratic nocturnal antics for the fourth consecutive night, roaming around London’s Soho until 5am with a mystery white powder smeared across her nostrils.
The Rehab star, whose behavior has become increasingly troubling in recent times, played a secret gig at the Jazz After Dark club in Greek Street.
In slightly happier news, Winegums has nabbed six Grammy nominations, including Best Album, Best New Artist, and Song Of The Year, with only Kanye West gaining more noms (with eight in total).
We reckon she’s got a good chance of at least picking up a couple, but whether or not she actually makes it to the ceremony, at the rate she’s going, is anyone’s guess.
More » 
News Ltd Make The Baby Jesus Cry With Most Unnecessarily Tragic Photo Montage In History
9:00AM Clem Bastow | Fans of ridiculously cute animals would be familiar with the orphaned polar bear cub, Knut, whose troubled early days at the Berlin Zoo – animal experts decreed it would be more humane to kill him than have him live a half-life in a zoo with no hope of ever surviving in the wild – caught the hearts of pretty much everyone except maybe Saddam Hussein and Angela Bishop.
Well, he’s turned one, the plucky “little guy”, and to celebrate, News Ltd put up a slideshow of notable Knut moments.
All well and good and cute, until you stumble upon THIS:
Our initial reaction was something like, “OH MOTHER OF GOD, CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED!” followed by floods of tears. But then, those emotional abusers at the News Ltd dungeons one-upped themselves by reminding us (a few photos down the track), “Poor Knut is an orphan. Lucky Ernst still has his mum,” and the sobs re-entered stage left.
What did we do to deserve all this? Did we laugh at a fat kid in Grade 2 who was actually Buddha? Were we never nice enough to our parents? Did the paper enter into a lucrative Kleenex sponsorship that we don’t know about?
For the love of cute, fluffy, cold-blooded man-eaters everywhere, this blatant emotional torture needs to stop! More » 
Billie And Chris Evans Continue To Show Up Every “Let’s Stay Friends” Break-Up Ever By Actually Staying Friends
8:16AM Clem Bastow | We love Billie Piper, and we love her even more because of the ridiculously civilised way in which she and her ex-husband, radio star Chris Evans, ended their five-year marriage.
She said at the time, in refusing a pay-out or any sort of divorce settlement – remember, Evans is a millionaire – that they’d had a good relationship and as such, “I’m not taking a penny from him, I think that’s disgusting.”
So, it’s probably not surprising that the duo – who promised to stay friends – are still thick as thieves. So thick, in fact, that Billie is holding her upcoming wedding to actor Laurence Fox at one of Evans’ pubs – and he’s overseeing the reception!
Miss Piper and 41-year-old Evans were divorced in June after five years of marriage, but remain good friends.
Shortly after their separation, the actress declared that she and the controversial multi-millionaire DJ would be “best mates for life”.
In August, when Evans married his new love – professional golfer Natasha Shishmanian – and later held a reception in Portugal, Miss Piper and Mr Fox were among the guests.
And during much of this year the two couples have often made a foursome in the White Horse pub in Midhurst, enjoying burgers and beer.
All of a sudden your casual email, occasional coffee or shuffling bar-room encounter with your ex – who you make sure to tell everyone you’re still on great terms with – seems pitifully inadequate, doesn’t it?
Perhaps Billie and Chris can cash in by writing a book on breaking up like grown-ups? Hey, if Mr “He’s Just Not That Into You” can do it!
More » Larry King To Family-Building Brad Pitt: Don’t You Think Four Kids Is More Than Enough?
8:00AM Defamer Hollywood | “I’m here with Bart Pitt – Brad – Pitt in tornado-ravaged New Orleans, a city that Brad – Brad! Wait, I got it right that time, stop correcting me in the earpiece – here has pledged to help rebuild. So, Brad. The kids. How many are we up to now? Fifteen? Four. Now some of these children…you didn’t father all of them. The Zahara one and at least one of the Asians, am I right about that? Before we get to why we’re sitting here in this empty lot where so many houses stood before Sabrina blew through town, the question begs to be asked: How many more kids do you think you and the wife are going to have? Because, you know, four, that’s a lot. Probably enough. Most people quit around one, maybe two. You want more? What do you say to people who tell you, let’s cool it with the orphans already, maybe make some movies instead? Anyway – Toldeo, you’re on the line with Brad Pitt. Tell the guy enough is enough. Oh. I’m being told we don’t have the phones out here. Still, my point stands.” Larry King Live [CNN.com] More »
Donald Trump And The $10,000 Tip
7:55AM Defamer Hollywood | In his tireless quest to be regarded as the Greatest And Most Generous Tipper In The World, billionaire reality TV host Donald Trump bestowed a $US10,000 gratuity upon a lucky server at Santa Monica’s Buffalo Club on Monday night (for a bill of a mere $82 – a markup our quick mental calculations put at 4 million per cent), shattering the waiter’s personal record once established by Hollywood’s best-remunerated producer of blowing-shit-up fare. Derober.com has the receipt (click the photo for the larger version) from the transaction and the server’s appreciative blow-by-blow of how The Donald came to make his year: “What’s the biggest tip you ever got?” “Jerry Bruckheimer comes in a lot. He tipped me $500 on a $1000 check once.” Trump nodded his head. More »
Grammys Single Out ‘Umbrella,’ Daughtry, T-Pain For Musical Excellence
7:50AM Defamer Hollywood | Our complete and utter disinterest in the Grammys has become something of a Defamer tradition, with the mainstream music industry’s most celebratory night of public self-diddling requiring of us zero emotional investment, thus greatly reducing the risks being forced to launch a mug of Kahlua at our TV sets after a particularly unjust upset. The Dixie Chicks are the best band on the planet? Sure, why not. That said, the 2008 nominees have been announced: The big winner was Kanye West, whose eight nominations we predict will do much towards reining in the rapper’s tyrannosaurus ego, and Motown throwback Amy Winehouse, nominated four times in the big categories, with each opportunity exponentially increasing the chance that the sobriety-averse chanteuse might reach into her beehive and magically produce her speech, an eight-ball, and a hand mirror. Nominated for five each were Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and something called T-Pain, while four each went to Akon, Dierks Bentley, American Idol’s Chris Daughtry, Feist, Tim McGraw, John Newton, Ne-Yo, Rihanna and, finally, Bruce Springsteen, for whom surely just knowing he’s in the same company as that girl who goes “ella, ella, ella” will come as one of the highlights of an already legendary musical career. 50th annual Grammy Awards nominations [Variety] More »
The Race Is On To See Which Staff-Supporting Late Night Talk Show Host Goes Broke First
7:45AM Defamer Hollywood | Now that all of the networks’ late-night talk show stars not named Carson Daly have put themselves on the hook (even a straggling Jay Leno!) by agreeing to personally sign their laid-off staffs’ paychecks during at least the next few weeks of the strike, the game of “host chicken” has begun in earnest. With their generous pledges expected to cause a weekly low-to-mid six-figure drain on their bank accounts, who’ll be financially broken first and have to bring their money-train to a screeching halt? Who’ll blink and grudgingly return to work to save the jobs of their employees, even if that means taking a big PR hit and enduring untold months of coaxing stultifying anecdotes from the handful of B-listers willing to cross the picket line? The NY Times reports: “There’s obviously going to be a limit to how long the hosts can continue to pay out of their own pockets to keep their staff together,” the late-night representative said. That limit could vary greatly from host to host. Mr. Letterman is the best paid among them, making about $US35 million a year. Some of the other hosts are making single-digit millions – still a lot of money, but obviously not enough to pay out hundreds of thousands a week indefinitely, especially while the hosts themselves are going without pay during the strike. Mr. Letterman announced to his staff that his company would write checks for them at least through Jan. 7; but one company representative said that did not mean that the host would not return to the air before then. [...] More »
