Kevin Federline‘s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, is on his way to court this morning to ask the Commissioner to strip Britney of her visitation rights because of her melt-down last night.
We’re told there may not be much of an argument and it’s almost certain the Commish will see Kaplan’s point.
Attorney Tara Scott from the law firm of Trope and Trope will represent Brit — awkward, since the firm has asked to withdraw as counsel.
As Allie is Wired reported, Britney is at Cedars-Sinai on a “5150 hold,” meaning there’s evidence she’s a danger to herself and/or others — others as in her kids. She was overheard screaming at the top of her lungs,
“I would rather die, than let him have my babies.â€
Here’s what’s really interesting. For several months now, it’s been reported that Britney doesn’t have a drug or alcohol problem — that her instability is mental, not chemical. She’s even passed several court appointed drug tests.
What happened last night is not drug related, her mental state has deteriorated. to the point that what happened last night was actually expected. It was reported that she has not slept or eaten in three days. Basically, she’s gone mental.
“They had to strap her down like a mental patient and she was going between laughing and hysterics,†the source adds, calling it “a total psychotic breakdown. She just went crazy.”
Britney Spears will remain in the mental ward for 72 hours. It’s reported that she will be booked for unnamed offensives after 24-hours. Get ready for the courtroom drama.
VIDEO:
CLICK HERE for video from TMZ that has footage from both CNN and Fox News.
British model/actress Elizabeth Hurley is planning an alternative career as a TV celebrity chef.
That’s right Rachel Ray… and she’s much hotter than you! Can’t you just picture this woman holding a nice, juicy, golden brown turkey leg?
The British 42-year-old, whose resume includes actress, model, film producer, bikini designer and businesswoman, now has her sights set on fronting her own cookery show.
And Hurley plans to use the program to teach women how to get a super-slender body like hers.
She says,
“I really want a television show on healthy eating. Maybe you’ll see me in front of the stove soon.”
source: Hurley sets sights on cooking show [fox news]
A month to the day after its release, Britney Spears’ “Blackout” album is over and out.
Even with the enthusiasm of the holiday sales, fans have pretty much turned their back on the CD after buying 430,000 copies.
On Friday morning, “Blackout” stands at No. 59 on Amazon.com. It’s also No. 13 on iTunes, which means that its downloading days are dwindling as well.
A new single, “Piece of Me,†is getting some airplay including on the nation’s top pop station, New York’s Z-100. But that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference.
“Piece of Me†is registering as only the 37th most downloaded single on iTunes, the place where anyone who wanted it would get it at this point if they didn’t want the whole album.
Initial sales were the result of rubber necking. You know… cranking your head back to check for injuries.
What others said:
Popsugar says, “Ouch. Well hey, maybe her new single “Piece of Me” (which is my favorite track on the album) will push her back up the charts for the holiday season.”
Rumor has it that Rosie O’Donnell is in talks with MSNBC to host her own prime time show, according the New York Times.
NBC execs would not confirm a timeslot or any other details because negotiations are still in progress. It’s possible she’d be up against “Larry King Live” on CNN and “Hannity and Colmes” on Fox News at 9 pm.
The girl brings ratings – you can’t argue with that.
Source: “Rosie O’Donnell to Host New Show on MSNBC?” [ET Online]
Lindsay Lohan must have taken a liking to the dorm-style living in rehab. Supposedly she is turning her back on acting and heading to college to study psychology.
According to a Fox News source:
“Despite what so many people think, Lindsay is an incredibly smart girl and always wanted to have that college experience.
“She has looked into a few institutions on the east coast and will most likely major in something like psychology. At this stage, New York University is a hot favourite.”
But some think the career switch is because she won’t be able to act anymore anyway.
A high-profile Paramount producer revealed:
“It will most likely take years of perfect behaviour before Lindsay will work again.
“It will literally cost a network millions to insure her for a movie and as talented as she is, it is highly unlikely that studios will be quick to get her back on the set.”
If she thought coke was easy to score in Hollywood, wait ’til she gets to college. Switching careers is probably not a bad idea, but a college campus is not a good place to be if your trying to stay sober.
Source: “Lindsay Lohan’s college plans” [Female First]
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were in court today, and before her lawyer walked out on her, some things went down in the courtroom. Fox News reports that in the end, Britney will temporarily lose custody of her two sons. The boys will be turned over to Kevin based on information the court received over the weekend about Britney.
During the hearing, Britney’s former bodyguard accused her of having “issues of nudity and drug use” since returning from rehab, and reports of a planned hit on Kevin surfaced.
The bodyguard was not cross-examined, and his declaration to the court went “unrefuted and unchallenged”, according to his attorney Gloria Allred.
The bodyguard started working for Britney when she got out of rehab, and was fired on May 17 because, according to Allred, “He did not hear her when she asked to pick up her hat.”
The “official” ruling was supposed to come down this afternoon, but no word yet.
And because Britney’s day was just bound to get worse, now her manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, has dumped her too.
Kwatinetz told Us,
“It saddens us to confirm media reports that we have terminated our professional relationship with Britney Spears. We have represented Britney for the past month. We believe Britney is enormously talented, and has made a terrific record. But current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job. We wish Britney the best.”
I’m really just feeling sorry for the girl right now.
What others are saying:
dlisted says, “I’m surprised with the week this girl has been having she hasn’t completely blown up into a million pieces yet.”
Source: “Sources: Britney Spears Will Temporarily Lose Custody of Her Children” [Fox News]; “Manager Dumps Britney” [Us Weekly]
Image courtesy of Picture Perfect, for use on Gone Hollywood
Reports are saying that Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred has a secret witness coming to court tomorrow in the Britney Spears/Kevin Federline custody battle. And the witness “could blow Spears’ chances of keeping little Sean Preston and Jayden James. The likely observations from the witness concern drug usage by Spears in her home and in front of her kids.”
Allred says about the witness:
“You may recognize him as we walk into court. But maybe not. He is not famous. He’s just someone who’s concerned about the kids.â€
Sounds like K-Fed better get a full time nanny hired and Britney better get her tubes tied.
Source: “Britney Bombshell: Custody of Kids Imperiled” [fox news]
UPDATE (Allie): Here is the supposed, ‘secret witness‘. I can’t even fathom which direction this battle is going to go, but if Britney Spears ends up losing her kids – it will more than likely push her over the edge.
The witness, who from the look of him could have worked as a bodyguard, walked into the courtroom, ostensibly to testify in the ongoing Britney Spears/Kevin Federline child custody case.
As of now, the court has been closed by the judge, and this “secret witness” is sitting in the hall with his attorney, Gloria Allred.
Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dogfighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.â€
The complaint also alleges that Vick would need those missiles because he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in February of this year.
“Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,†Riches writes in the complaint.
Riches wants $63 billion dollars “backed by gold and silver “ delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina. Riches is an inmate at the facility serving out a wire fraud conviction.
source: South Carolina Inmate Hits Michael Vick With ‘$63,000,000,000 Billion Dollar’ Lawsuit Alleging Al Qaeda Ties. [fox news]
After six years at CNN, Paula Zahn has been asked to leave due to sluggish ratings.
She will be replaced by recently departed NBC newswoman Campbell Brown.
Paula Zahn is leaving CNN, turning her prime-time slot over to Campbell Brown. Zahn’s final program will be Aug. 2. Others will fill in until November, when Brown — newly hired from NBC News_ will start, CNN said Tuesday.
Zahn has been at the network for nearly six years since jumping from Fox News Channel — her first day on the job Sept. 11, 2001. She said she expects to stay in television after taking some time off.
“For the first time in 30 years, I’m going to take a break here,” said Zahn, 51.
Although her ratings are up this year, Zahn has had a tough time competing in a time slot dominated by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News Channel and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC. Rumors have spread for months that CNN was looking to make a change.
Let me tell you, based on experience, television can be rather brutal.
Although no custody issues were hammered out Friday in the Bahamas, Howard K. Stern used the downtime to justifiably go after Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith‘s mother.
Stern filed a federal slander lawsuit against attorney John O’Quinn, who represents Smith’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, accusing him of suggesting to reporters that Stern was responsible for Smith’s death.
According to court documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach and obtained by the Associated Press, O’Quinn appeared on several national TV shows to discuss the case in the days leading up to the medical examiner’s announcement of what killed Smith.
In an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, O’Quinn said that Arthur believed that Stern had murdered her daughter. He also implied on MSNBC that Stern was a little to eager to get a glimpse at Smith’s will in the days leading up to her death, the lawsuit states.
“The public airwaves should never be used to promote personal agendas or vendettas,” Stern’s attorney, L. Lin Wood, said in a statement Friday.
Stern himself was in the Bahamas today, where a custody hearing attended by him,
Arthur and confirmed baby daddy Larry Birkhead was adjourned before a ruling could be made. The presiding judge said that he wanted to give Arthur, who is fighting for custody of granddaughter Dannielynn, and Birkhead more time to reach an agreement themselves.
O’Quinn told reporters outside the courthouse that his client and Birkhead would have a face-to-face meeting, just the two of them, on Saturday “to figure out what’s in the best interest of the child.”
Stern, who is listed as the father on Dannielynn’s birth certificate and had been taking care of the infant since her mother died, has said that he will not fight Birkhead for custody and, he said Friday, if it were up to him, he would have given the Los
Angeles-based photographer sole custody of Dannielynn that very day.
Smith’s longtime lawyer-turned-lover has also said that he will remain in the Bahamas, where Smith and her beloved 20-year-old son Daniel are buried–also the result of a drawn-out legal battle over who deserved custody of Smith’s remains.
While it was eventually determined that Smith died of an accidental overdose of prescription medications, including the sleep aid chloral hydrate, all sorts of Kennedy-esque conspiracy theories surfaced as to the cause of her death, including speculation as to whether foul play was involved.
Florida and Bahamian authorities maintained throughout their investigation, however, that they were not approaching Smith’s death as a homicide and eventually announced that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on Stern’s part.
Stern is seeking unspecified damages from O’Quinn on accusations of slander and invasion of privacy.
TMZ.com reported last week that Stern was on the verge of hooking up with Lin Wood, a defamation case specialist, and was gearing to go after some of the media outlets and reporters who were repeating the theory that Stern was a shady player in Smith’s death, accusing him of a variety of unflattering behavior.
In all honesty, I’m unsure of how I feel about Howard. On the other hand, I am certain as to how I feel about Virgie. I hope he kicks her ass!
Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis was arrested Tuesday in Florida.
The U.S. Marshal’s Office in Panama City, Florida said that Francis, 34, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at the Panama City airport on a warrant seeking his arrest for criminal contempt of court.
He is currently being held at the Bay County jail, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshal’s Office says.
Although Francis told Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera on Monday that he would surrender to authorities, the arrest was carried out by airport police who recognized him before he could present himself to the Marshal’s Office.
A judge ordered Francis’s arrest last week after Francis reportedly changed the terms of a settlement deal stemming from a 2003 lawsuit in which seven women accused him of victimizing them by filming them in sexual situations while they were on spring break in Panama City.
Francis was ordered by U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak to surrender to authorities in Panama City by noon Thursday to begin serving jail time for contempt of court, the city’s News Herald reported. But sources told PEOPLE that Francis missed the deadline.
According to the News Herald, Francis told Rivera on Monday: “I’m not trying to hide at all. I’m on my way to Florida right now to turn myself in and comply with the judge’s order. I would never run from justice.”
I would venture to guess, that he’s a pretty big one. Don’t be surprised, if we soon discover that he killed Anna Nicole Smith, and that he’s stolen their combined property from their Bahamas home, himself. Too bad he wasn’t smart enough to edit out his comments.
A stunning video shows a barely functional Anna Nicole Smith, stammering and stuttering, as Howard K. Stern rhapsodizes about how much money the clip will be worth.
The tape, which aired Monday night on Greta Van Susteren’s show on FOX News Channel, shows an eight-months pregnant Smith, her face painted like a clown and clearly stoned out of her mind. As she talks to a doll in a baby carriage as if it’s real, Stern repeatedly says, “Is this a mushroom trip?” He then adds, “I’m kidding.”
Another part of the tape shows Smith even more out of it. Stern’s comment: “This footage is worth money.”
Just hours after her death, and he’s already in attack mode. He needs to remember, regardless of whether she’s his daughter or not, she will be able to read and understand all of this, one day.
The lawyer for the man claiming to have fathered Anna Nicole Smith‘s baby daughter vowed to file an emergency court order Friday to have the late ex-Playmate’s DNA tested before her body is released to her family.
Lawyer Debra Opri told FOX News hours after Smith’s death Thursday that she’d step up the paternity fight of her client, paparazzi photographer and onetime Smith boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who claims to be the father of 4-month-old Dannielynn Hope Marshall.
It’s the latest twist in a list of bizarre legal battles that entangled the now-deceased, larger-than-life model from Texas.
Click here to view FindLaw’s list of Smith’s court cases.
“Now it’s time to put up or shut up,” Opri said. “This is despicable what’s been happening, and it’s got to end. Anna Nicole Smith is dead at the age of 39 because of a lifestyle. I do not want that child anywhere near [Smith's partner] Howard K. Stern, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
Dakota Fanning will turn 13 next month, and she has a short answer for anyone who questions her decision to play a 1950s girl who gyrates in her underwear, wakes up as her naked father climbs into her bed, demands that a prepubescent boy expose himself to her in exchange for a kiss and, finally, is raped by a teenager who lures her with tickets to an Elvis concert:
She’s growing up. Get used to it.
Ms. Fanning, best known for leading roles in children’s movies like “Dreamer†and “Charlotte’s Web,†thrillers like “Man on Fire†and “War of the Worlds,†and the horror film “Hide and Seek,†now is starring in “Hounddog,†an independent film that is to have its premiere on Monday at the Sundance Film Festival. It has already won attention far out of proportion to its budget of less than $4 million.
When “Hounddog†was still shooting last summer near Wilmington, N.C., rumors about the rape scene kicked up a storm on the socially conservative end of the Web spectrum. Some suggested that Ms. Fanning was being exploited by the filmmakers, her parents and her agent. Hundreds signed a petition to persuade a local district attorney to prosecute the filmmakers under a law banning simulated sex with a minor.
The furor hampered the production, and it continues on Fox News and on Web sites like A Minor Consideration (minorcon.org), run by Paul Petersen, an advocate for child actors. Mr. Petersen, himself a former child actor who played Donna Reed’s son on her 1960s sitcom, said in an interview that Ms. Fanning should never have been allowed to play the victim in a rape scene, no matter how much she wanted to or how sensitively it was filmed, and that her doing so violated the letter of federal child-pornography law.
“Nothing excuses it,†he said. “The plain cold fact is this is illegal, the statutes are what they are, and Hollywood chose to ignore it. If they’d made the character 15, and hired a 19-year-old, they wouldn’t have heard a peep out of me.â€
But the Wilmington district attorney, who was shown a cut of the movie, said no crime was committed, and the film’s writer and director, Deborah Kampmeier, said Ms. Fanning was treated more than appropriately: Though her character, Lewellen, disrobes under duress, for example, she is not seen nude, and Ms. Fanning was always clothed during the production.
Ms. Fanning, for her part, says she is mystified by the outcry. Anyone who sees the film, she said on Monday in her first interview on the subject, would understand that the rape scene wasn’t the point of the movie.
“That’s not who Lewellen is,†she said, sitting in her agent’s office in Universal City, braces on her teeth and a small crucifix over her sweater. “Because that has happened to her, that doesn’t define her. Because of this thing that has happened — that she did not ask for — she is labeled that, and it’s her story to overcome that and to be a whole person again.â€
“There are so many children that this happens to, every second,†she added. “That’s the sad part. If anyone’s talking about anything, that’s what they should be talking about.â€
Her mother, Joy Fanning, waited outside, and her agent, Cindy Osbrink, sat in, but it was Ms. Fanning who fielded the questions, and who made clear that her choices were, well, just that.
You know, I’m an actress,†she said. “It’s what I want to do, it’s what I’ve been so lucky to have done for almost seven years now. And I am getting older. February 23 is my birthday, I’ll be 13 years old. And I will be playing different kinds of roles. I won’t be able to do the things I did when I was 6 years old when I’m 14. And that’s what I look forward to — getting to play new roles that aren’t too old for me and aren’t too young for me, that are just at the right time.â€
She added: “Lewellen is still very innocent, she’s still a child, but she’s also a little bit wise beyond her years because of the things she’s seen and been through. So I think that I should be able to do what I feel is at the right time for me.â€
The story of “Hounddog†is about not just rape but also about the cycle of violence: nearly every major character in it is motherless, wounded, repressed and destructive. Lewellen’s grandmother (Piper Laurie) violates her too, if only with her eyes; her father (David Morse ) has been abusing her more directly, and it appears likely that, if nothing changes, Lewellen will become an abuser too.
Ms. Kampmeier said in a telephone interview that she had originally written the character as a 9-year-old, and first signed the actors Robin Wright Penn and Mr. Morse for the project in the late 1990s. But a succession of financial backers withdrew four times in four years, and she set the script aside in 2002 to make “Virgin,†her first feature, about a pregnant girl who believes that she is carrying God’s child; Ms. Wright Penn played the girl’s mother in the film, which received mixed reviews.
When Ms. Kampmeier sent Ms. Fanning the script for “Hounddog†in July 2005, Ms. Fanning said: “The bottom line was, I couldn’t not do it. It’s all I could think about. I knew I was at the perfect age.â€
She had to wait nine months as Ms. Kampmeier hunted for investors; the subject matter remained objectionable to most, even with a proven star in the central role, the director said. (Making the most of that delay, Ms. Fanning said, the director sent her an e-mail message with a new question about Lewellen each morning: Favorite color? Favorite food? “That’s why I was so comfortable in Lewellen’s skin,†Ms. Fanning said, “because I knew so much about her.â€)
Ms. Kampmeier said investors kept balking at the rape scene, demanding that it be shunted off-screen, merely implied or removed from the plot altogether.
About the online petitions to have her arrested, she said that the district attorney’s office in Wilmington was busy prosecuting real sex crimes, like one in which a 10-year-old girl was impregnated by her father. “All these cases are reported in the newspaper, and nobody ever calls them about that,†she said. “But they get 10 to 20 calls a day from people insisting that my movie be prosecuted.â€
Ms. Fanning said the most taxing scene for her was one in which her sleeping character is covered by snakes that slither in through the open window of her tumbledown shack.
But it may be an earlier pivotal scene that draws more critical attention, should “Hounddog†find a distributor. In it Lewellen sings and dances her best Elvis impression — horizontally, on her bed — upon learning that the singer is coming to town. While she does, however, a teenage milkman is in the room, looking on a little too hungrily.
Overly sexual behavior in minors is often a telltale sign of prior abuse, and provocation is, unfortunately, in the eye of the provoked. But to Ms. Kampmeier’s mind, and more important, to Ms. Fanning’s, Lewellen’s dancing in this scene is as innocent as her already corrupted life can get.
“She’s 12 years old,†Ms. Fanning said. “She’s doing that because that’s fun. She’s not going so far as to think, ‘Oh, am I doing something wrong?’ or ‘Is this going to look in a weird way?’ He’s just her milkman. He’s coming to pick up the empties.â€
We’re told there may not be much of an argument and it’s almost certain the Commish will see Kaplan’s point.
On Friday morning, “Blackout” stands at No. 59 on Amazon.com. It’s also No. 13 on iTunes, which means that its downloading days are dwindling as well.
“Despite what so many people think, Lindsay is an incredibly smart girl and always wanted to have that college experience.
Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dogfighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.â€
Paula Zahn is leaving CNN, turning her prime-time slot over to Campbell Brown. Zahn’s final program will be Aug. 2. Others will fill in until November, when Brown — newly hired from NBC News_ will start, CNN said Tuesday.
Stern filed a federal slander lawsuit against attorney John O’Quinn, who represents Smith’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, accusing him of suggesting to reporters that Stern was responsible for Smith’s death. 
The U.S. Marshal’s Office in Panama City, Florida said that Francis, 34, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at the Panama City airport on a warrant seeking his arrest for criminal contempt of court. 
A stunning video shows a barely functional Anna Nicole Smith, stammering and stuttering, as Howard K. Stern rhapsodizes about how much money the clip will be worth. 
The lawyer for the man claiming to have fathered Anna Nicole Smith‘s baby daughter vowed to file an emergency court order Friday to have the late ex-Playmate’s DNA tested before her body is released to her family.
