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Those born with a thirst for fame as well as an unfortunate (or boring) moniker face a tougher road to the A-list. So it’s no wonder that many celebs choose to drop their given name for something a bit more… catchy.
Of course, the gawking public isn’t dumb. They know the odds are slim that Sting was born with such an evocative handle. Each week we see an avalanche of searches for celebrity “real names.” Folks look up the obvious stage names (Larry the Cable Guy) as well as some that are a tad more subtle (John Wayne). Some of the lookups are met with disappointment. Madonna’s real name is, in fact, Madonna. Same deal with Prince.
Below we list the 20 top “real name” searches from the past week. Madonna and Tiger top the list, but you’ll find all sorts of actors, athletes, and musicians in the mix. Most people stick with the name they’re given. Celebrities are not “most people.”
We all know that Oprah is the shiz when it comes to making money. She commands the minds of underground armies of housewives everywhere. The Queen reclaims her perch at the top of the Forbes Power List for the second year in a row. Her minions sitting below fell short of the $275 million marker.
The Forbes Power List Top 10
1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Tiger Woods
3. Angelina Jolie
4. Beyoncé Knowles
5. David Beckham
6. Johnny Depp
7. Jay-Z
8. The Police
9. J.K. Rowling
10. Brad Pitt
Tiger Woods, not even making half of what Opie made, secured his second place spot at $115 million. Angelina Jolie is up there because her uterus is Brad Pitt’s playground and for bringing home $14 million.
I bet Obama is maniacally laughing on top of Mount Oprah thankful his diabolic plan of garnering the African American version of She-ra on his side is all going according to plan.
Source: Oprah, Brad and Angelina Top New Power List [People]
Miley Cyrus at the tender age of 15 earned $18.2 million last year, according to Parade magazine’s annual “What People Earn” issue.
Oprah is the biggest bread winner in the celebrity realm. She took in $260 million last year.
And the most humorous goes to, Jessica Alba. Even Leona Helmsley’s dog made more than her!
• Miley Cyrus: $18.2 million
• Katherine Heigl: $11 million
• Jessica Alba: $9 million
• Dr. Phil McGraw: $90 million
• Steven Spielberg: $110 million
• Ryan Seacrest: $12 million
• Mariska Hargitay: $7 million
• Trouble (Leona Helmsley’s dog): $12 million
• Tiger Woods: $115 million
• Jeff Foxworthy: $10 million
• Oprah Winfrey: $260 million
• Mary-Kate Olsen: $17 million
• Gisele Bundchen: $33 million
• Scarlett Johansson: $5 million
• Eli Manning: $11.5 million
• 50 Cent: $33 million
• Carrie Underwood: $7 million
How much did you make?
source: How Much Money Did Singer Miley Cyrus Earn Last Year? [us magazine]
Inverted Celebrities are Scary - City Rag
Milo Ventimiglia is a Cradle Robber - Ninja Dude
Lynne Spears Has Failed - Fatback and Collards
Bride Gets a Wedding Cake Shaped Like Herself - Best Week Ever
Tiffany Pollard, What Will She Do Now? - Celebrity Smack
David Letterman Gets Shaved On-Air - Seriously? OMG! WTF?
Alessandra Ambrosio in Victoria’s Secret Swim 2008 Catalogue - The Bastardly
Pete Wentz is a Hypocrite - Dlisted
Amanda Lepore Dabblin’ in Acting Again - Popbytes
Someone Gave Paris Hilton a Black Eye - Flisted
Kelly Tilghman Thinks Golfers Should Lynch Tiger Woods - Bumpshack
Jenny from the Sty - Celeb News Wire
Katherine Heigl Has Pit Flaps Too - Celeb Warship
Tara Reid is Back to Being a Nasty Drunk - Pop On The Pop
Kelly Brook is Showing Her Breasts Again - Egotastic
Rachel Bilson Wants Your Jeans - Hollywood Tuna
Kate Bosworth Sans a Bra - Popsugar
Is Britney Spears the Next Anna Nicole Smith? - Defamer
Critics Choice Awards 2008 - Winners List and Pictures - Allie is Wired
Carrie Underwood is a Spice Girls Fan - [site nsfw] Drunken Stepfather
Spice Girls Take #2 - Popbytes
Just How Big is Brad Pitt? - Dlisted
WIN! Project Runway Season 3 DVD! - Celebrity Smack
I Spy Lindsay Lohan’s Nipple - Ninja Dude
Celebrities Unite Over Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Butt - Fatback and Collards
Tiger Woods Wife Wins Her Lawsuit Over Fake Nude Photos - Bumpshack
Britney Spears Breasts Craddle Kittens - City Rag
Tommy Lee Attempts to Lick Another Man - Seriously? OMG! WTF?
Renee Zellweger Starves for Attention - Bricks and Stones
Tara Reid Works the Docks - Splash News Online
Is Mischa Barton Wearing a Push-up Bra? - Celeb News Wire
Win!! The Wreckers Live CD and DVD Contest - Pop On The Pop
Do People Really Buy Paris Hilton’s Perfume? - A Socialites Life
[you'd have to chase me down in target]
Madonna Wants to Adopt Another Kid from Malawi - Hollywood Rag
Madonna and Angelina are Best Friends? - Celebitchy
Ricky Martin Forced Out? - Mollygood
Adriana Lima - Blue London Jean Catalog - The Bastardly
Katherine McPhee Whores it Up - Jordan is Your Homeboy
Fergie Desperate to Be a Bond Girl - Allie is Wired
Those endorsement deals just keep rolling in for Tiger Woods - the latest is with Gatorade, and it’s a deal that could net him $100 million. Gatorade will introduce “Gatorade Tiger” in March, and more products will follow. Tiger picked the flavors, cherry blend, citrus blend, and grape, himself.
Tiger said in a statement,
 “Gatorade has been part of my game plan for years, whether I’m training or competing, so this is an ideal match. I’m eager to launch my first signature product in a few months and look forward to developing additional sports performance beverages with Gatorade in the coming years.”
Tiger is getting awfully close to hitting the $1 billion mark in endorsements. What can you say - the guy can sell anything.
Source: “Tiger gets even richer!” [In Touch]
Image courtesy of Picture Perfect, for use on Gone Hollywood
I enjoyed the ESPY’s last night with LeBron James and Jimmy Kimmel, but Best Week Ever now brings us the awards they didn’t give out, although they should have.
“Best Actor: Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers for his performance in “Fathead Commercial.” (Breaking Fred McGriff’s seven-year run for his performance in the Tom Emanski Defensive Drills commercial)
Best Arrest: Pacman Jones of the Tennessee Titans for “Makin’ it Rain,” narrowly edging out Tank Johnson of the Chicago Bears for “Possesin’ six illegal firearms.”
Best Male Athlete, Dogfighting: Tiger Woods, actually, in a shocking upset.
Best Physique, Photoshopped: Andy Roddick, for his cartoonish Men’s Fitness cover.
Best Bridge Burning: Willis McGahee, for his T.G.I. Friday’s-inspired anti-Buffalo tirade
Best Evidence That The MLB Postseason Is Completely Based On Luck: The St. Louis Cardinals (accepting the award - David Eckstein)
Best Sound Byte: (Ex-)Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green advises the media to crown the Bears’ asses.
Best Female Athlete: Venus Williams, I guess? Did Danica Patrick do something this year? Whoever.
Least Regrettable Personnel Move: The New York Knicks giving Coach/GM Isaiah Thomas a multiyear contract extension.
Best Role Model: Tom Brady, for dumping Bridget Moynehan while she was pregnant with his baby and immediately dating supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
But I’d like to point to BWE that they actually did award a Best Female Athlete award, and that pitcher from Arizona won. I don’t remember her name.
Source: Best Week Ever
Mike Douglas, longtime host of an eponymous talk-variety program, died today on his 81st birthday.
 Mike Douglas, who drew on his affable personality and singing talent during 21 years as a talk show host, died Friday on his 81st birthday, his wife said. He died at 5:30 a.m. in a Palm Beach Gardens hospital, said his wife, Genevieve Douglas. She wasn’t sure of the cause, but said he had been admitted Thursday. Douglas became dehydrated on the golf course a few weeks ago and had been treated on and off since. “He was coming along fine, we thought. It was really a shock,” she said. “We never anticipated this to happen.”
Douglas’ afternoon show, which aired from 1961 to 1982, featured his ballad and big-band singing style, other musicians, comedians, sports figures and political personalities, including seven former, sitting or future presidents. “People still believe ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ was a talk show, and I never correct them, but I don’t think so,” Douglas said in his 1999 memoir, “I’ll Be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest Talk Show.” “It was really a music show, with a whole lot of talk and laughter in between numbers.”
[...]
Douglas was among the “early settlers” in daytime talk shows, said Robert Thompson, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Mike Douglas was an old-fashioned traditionalist, holding down the fort while the culture was changing,” Thompson said. “He was always the very friendly talk show host, nice to everybody. He would lean toward his guest as if he really cared. He owned that territory.”
Hosts Phil Donahue, Dinah Shore and Merv Griffin also found success about the same time. Douglas said in his book that people often confused him with Griffin, another singer of Irish heritage. (Douglas was born Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. in Chicago, Illinois.)
Douglas fondly recalled when Tiger Woods, who as a preschooler was already drawing attention, appeared on the same 1978 show as Bob Hope, an avid golfer. “I don’t know what kind of drugs they’ve got this kid on,” Hope quipped, “but I want some.”
Douglas was genial most of the time — he was nicknamed “the Cary Grant of the coffee break,” according to Allmusic.com — but confided in his memoir that his composure was sorely tested one week in 1972 when former Beatle John Lennon and wife, Yoko Ono, were his unlikely guest hosts. One of the guest celebrities they selected was well-known anti-war activist Jerry Rubin. “He just got on my nerves. It sounded like this guy hated the president, the Congress, everyone in business, the military, all police and just about everything America stands for,” Douglas said. He recalled becoming confrontational with Rubin. But Lennon “picked up the mantle of Kind and Gentle Host, and he did it quite well, reinterpreting Jerry’s comments to take some of the sting out and adding a little humor to keep things cool,” Douglas said.
Douglas also had a number of hit singles, first with Kay Kyser’s big band — he was a featured performer on the radio and eventual television program, “Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge” — and later on his own. “The Men in My Little Girl’s Life” hit the top 10 in 1966.
I recall the show during its final years, when I was a young teenager. I remember an episode where hard rocker Ted Nugent was the guest and how well he and Douglas got along. Looking back, that’s rather remarkable considering the divergence of their musical styles. But I think they had mutual respect for each other’s work ethic and the tribulations of the lifestyle.
OTB News
 The 2006 Indy 500 is over. Danica Patrick did not win. Mario Andretti’s grandson finished second and some guy I’ve never heard of won.
Unlike golf reporters, who at least have the sense to tell us where Tiger Woods finished when he doesn’t win an event, the story does not mention where Patrick finished. She placed 4th last year.
Update: She finished 8th. Not a bad first two Indy 500’s. Incidentally, the winner was Sam Hornish, Jr., who was the 2001 and 2002 IRL champion. That I’ve never heard of him says something about how far this sport has fallen from its heyday. There’s not a pre-1996 CART Champion whose name I’m unfamiliar with; most are household names.
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