Simon Cowell Offered $144M to Stick With Idol
June 30, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Reality TV, Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell’s American Idol contract is up, and the infamously snarky judge wants more than last year’s $36 million to stick with the series – so Fox has reportedly offered the British national a whopping $144 million per year!
Contract negotiations between Cowell and Fox’s co-producers has been leaked to the press, and the figures involved – a sum too great to comprehend for most of us – are believed to be 100 % accurate.
Fox has declined to comment about the salary negotiations, but a source close to the Idol set has revealed that the sum Cowell is expected to receive is “only a fraction” of the estimated $900 million that the reality television show rakes in yearly. The source labeled Cowell as the “lynchpin of the show,” and said that without his “dramatic tension” with fellow judge Paula Abdul, Idol wouldn’t be the hit it is today.
“[Cowell is] due for a raise,” the source added.
Cowell’s current contract with the Fox-produced reality show expires in May next year.
[Source]
Joan Jett Makes Twilight Starlet Cry
June 30, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Kristen Stewart
Joan Jett had better watch her wrinkly old behind, because after this story hits the news waves, the Twilight fans are going to be out for her blood!
An insider on the set of the new Joan Jett biopic The Runaways has revealed that the aging rocker gave Twilight star Kristen Stewart such a hard time last week that the young actress “burst into tears” on set.
“Joan just wants Kristen to play an authentic version of herself,” says the insider, “so she needled her a little bit too much. But she apologized when she realized how upset Kristen got.”
According to the source, the incident has been smoothed over, and any bad blood that was between the two has been washed away. “They’re like mother and daughter now,” the insider added.
Still, Twilight fans are known to be some of the most ruthless in the entertainment world. I doubt they’ll forgive Ms. Jett as quickly as Kristen appears to have done.
[Source]
Paternity of Jackson Children Still Uncertain
June 30, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Michael Jackson
Earlier in the week, Debbie Rowe broke the news that Michael Jackson wasn’t the biological father of his three children, Michael Jr., Paris, and Prince Michael II. While the Jackson clan have denied the claims, it appears they aren’t as false as first thought; however, Rowe – who says Jackson paid her to have his children – isn’t the biological mother of the two eldest Jacksons, either.
According to “multiple sources” connected to the births of the Jackson children, all three children were conceived in vitro – outside of the womb, courtesy of anonymous donors. The sources say that Michael did not donate his sperm for any of his children, and Rowe, who was until now believed to be the mother of Michael Jr. and Paris, was nothing more than a surrogate carrying another woman’s eggs.
As for the third Jackson child – Prince Michael II, aka ‘Blanket’ – it is not known who his real parents are. The surrogate, it is believed, was never told of the identity of the “receiving parent,” and so didn’t know she was carrying a baby for pop superstar Michael Jackson.
What this news will do for the coming custody battles, no one knows. We’re told this type of case has never been litigated in California courts before, so it’s anyone’s game, basically. Rowe has said that she has no intention of challenging the Jackson’s for the right to raise her children, but with the children’s inheritence on the tables – quite a significant amount of money – there’s no telling whether or not the onetime wife of the Thriller singer will change her mind before the matter has been settled.
[Source]
Public Viewing of Jackson’s Body
June 30, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Michael Jackson
As if the circumstances of his death – and life – weren’t already strange enough, the Jackson family has decided to transport the King of Pop’s body to his former residence, Neverland Ranch, later in the week for a public viewing of his body.
TMZ.com has learned from law enforcement officials that a 30-car motorcade (which includes a herse for Jackson’s body) will be travelling from L.A. to the singer’s infamous residence at 10 a.m. on Thursday (U.S. time).
At this stage, it looks like a public viewing will be taking place on either Friday or Saturday. That should excite the millions of fans worldwide who’ve been in tatters since news of the pop superstar’s death first broke last Thursday, some of which have even started to “commit suicide” in retaliation to his passing.
It is not known when a funeral for Jackson will be held.
[Source]
Ledger’s Colleagues Speak About Actor’s Last Days
June 29, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Heath Ledger
In the wake of pop superstar Michael Jackson’s death, professionals closest to the late Australian actor Heath Ledger have revealed how the star “battled with fame, a failed relationship and insomnia” in the days leading up to his tragic death in 2008.
Gerry Grennell, a vocals coach who worked and lived with Ledger during the filming of one of his last movies, The Dark Knight, has said that while the actor didn’t drink alcohol “once” during that period, the level of his sleeping pill consumption “was a concern.”
“I’d say: ‘If you can possibly bear it to stop taking the medications, do, because they don’t seem to be doing you any good’ – he agreed,” Grennell told Vanity Fair magazine.
“It is very difficult for me to imagine how close he came to not taking them.”
Ledger died in January of last year from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, including a host of sleeping medications, in his New York apartment at the age of 28.
Grennell believes that the sleeping medication – taken for the actor’s incurable insomnia – played a huge part in his shock death.
“[Ledger's death] was a combination of exhaustion, sleeping medication… and perhaps the after-effects of the flu,” the vocals coach said.
Nicola Pecorin, a cinematographer who worked with Ledger on the film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, admitted that the young actor had “dabbled” in narcotics but soon dropped the habit.
“He used to smoke marijuana on a regular basis,” she said, “like probably 50 per cent of Amercians [but Ledger] went clean as a whistle.”
Close friend and agent Steven Alexander said that around the time of his death, Ledger was quite concerned that his role in the “summer blockbuster” The Dark Knight would typecast him and turn him into a “matinee idol,” something the young star had never wanted to become.
“He wasn’t motivated by money or stardom but by the respect of his peers [and moviegoers],” Alexander explained.
“He was striving to become an ‘illusionist’ as he called it – able to create characters that weren’t there.”
[Source]
Jackson’s Autopsy Leaked; Results Shocking
June 29, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Michael Jackson
The first autopsy on Michael Jackson completed by the L.A. County coroner has been leaked to the public, and the results reveal that the singer was “in a shocking state of decline.”
The leaked report suggests the King of Pop hadn’t eaten in some time, and had a cocktail of partially-digested pills in his stomach when he died. Jackson was so emaciated that he weighted just 51kg in the end, despite his height of 178cm, UK’s The Sun has reported.
There is proof of his addiction to narcotic painkillers as well, with the singer’s shoulders and thighs covered in needle marks from his three-times-daily injections. As well as the addiction scars, Jackson was also virtually bald, with little more than a “peach fuzz” covering a scalp.
The singer’s stomach was empty, save for the handful of partially dissolved pills he’d downed shortly before the painkiller injection that sent him into cardiac arrest on Thursday. His face was covered in scars from the numerous sessions under the knife, and the bridge of his infamously disfigured nose had caved in, the pathologist said.
There were also post-death injuries that Jackson suffered at the hands of his would-be rescuers: several broken ribs from the force of the CPR, and four injection wounds near his heart from failed attempts to inject adrenaline directly into the organ.
At this point in time, police have not named Dr. Conrad Murray – the cardiologist Jackson had hired just weeks ago and who was at the scene when the popstar died – as a suspect. They have announced his testimony didn’t “raise any red flags,” and have since turned their investigation towards Jackson’s access to prescription drugs.
[Source]
Britney Spears Makes Light of Recent Celebrity Passings
June 29, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Britney Spears, Celebrity
Pop star Britney Spears has made light of the number of recent celebrity deaths, jokingly posting a notice of her own passing to her official Twitter account moments ago.
The Womanizer singer, who has just announced plans to tour Australia for the first time in her career, posted a picture of a rudimentary black cross via TwitPic, with the caption: “Britney has passed today. It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come.”
This tweet comes hours after American television pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa home, and days after Hollywood lost the shining lights of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon.
UPDATE: The tweet has since been removed from Spears’ official Twitter page. No doubt her management got wind of the tweet and removed it before it could offend any members of those families who’ve lost loved ones over the last week.
UPDATE # 2: It appears Britney Spears’ Twitter account was hacked earlier today, and the offensive tweet was posted by an unknown hacker. Twitter has since disabled the ability to upload mobile photos via TwitPic.
Jackson Not Children’s Biological Father
June 29, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Michael Jackson
Debbie Rowe, the onetime wife of the late pop superstar Michael Jackson, has finally broken her silence on what she calls their three-year “sham” marriage, and reveals that Jackson isn’t the biological father of at least two of his three children.
Rowe, who was expected to challenge the custody of her children in court prior to this announcement, claims that the two eldest Jackson children – Prince (12), and Paris (11) – were artificially inseminated by an anonymous donor. If this statement proves to be correct, it will certainly make any court proceeding pertaining to the kids’ custody a lot more interesting and difficult.
“I was never a good mother [and] I never felt any attachment to them,” she explained.
“It was a better feeling giving them to him than it was keeping them as my own.”
Rowe, a former nurse who first met Jackson in the mid-90’s when he was receiving treatment at a clinic for a rare skin disorder, admits that it was she who approached the Thriller singer with the offer to father his children. She says that she saw how “lonely” he was and how much he “wanted children,” and so offered her womb to him in exchange for payment.
She added that in the three years she and Jackson were married, they “never had sex and lived in seperate houses as a sham couple.”
According to the nurse, she’d been legally bound against speaking publicly about her marriage to Jackson and the true paternity of his two children, but has been freed from the agreement by the singer’s death.
Rowe said: “Michael was divorced, lonely and wanted children… I was the one who said to him, ‘I will have your babies’.
“I was just the vessel — it wasn’t Michael’s sperm.
“I got paid for it and I’ve moved on.”
Rowe claims that the only reason she and Jackson divorced in the end was because of a birth complication that left her unable to bear more children after Paris arrived. She says that Jackson “dumped her cruelly” after doctors revealed she was “all torn up inside” from Paris’ difficult birth.
“He didn’t want anything to do with me … he took the kids,” she said.
“The settlement was written up and he just wanted me to be quiet.”
The final settlement amount was somewhere in the vicinity of $8.5 million for Rowe to walk away from her children, as well as a luxury Beverly Hills home that she had been gifted during her three-year marriage to Jackson.
[Source]
A Private Funeral for Fawcett
June 28, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Farrah Fawcett
It has been announced that a private funeral for actress Farrah Fawcett will be held on Tuesday.
The private service will be held at 4 p.m. (local time) at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, chuch officials have confirmed.
The actress, best known for her role in cult 70’s series Charlie’s Angels, passed away on Thursday after a long and painful battle with cancer at the age of 62.
Fawcett’s longtime partner Ryan O’Neal was at the actress’ bedside when she finally succumbed to the disease.
[Source]
Billy Mays Not Wearing Seat Belt
The autopsy hasn’t even been started yet, and already the FAA is deflecting blame for the death of TV pitchman Billy Mays, claiming that the 50-year-old wasn’t wearing a seat belt when he took a blow to the head during a tyre-blow-out aboard a US Airways flight yesterday.
Mays complained about the landing on his Twitter account last night, with a Tweet that read: “Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air.“
A spokesperson for US Airways did not want to comment on Mays’ death until more substantial information was available; however, an FAA spokesperson told TMZ.com this: “The passenger needs to wear a seat belt during landing and he didn’t.”
Mays was aboard US Airways Flight 1241, flying from Philadelphia to Tampa, when there was a landing malfunction and he was struck in the head by flying debris in the cabin. He went home that night without seeking medical attention and was found dead by his wife a few hours later.
[Source]
