Let's Get This Party Started: Top Stories for Tuesday 6/20/06
The considerable attention currently being devoted to Nicole Kidman's abdomen – i.e., is she pregnant or isn't she? – is an entirely fruitless enterprise, it seems.
Plus Jacko, Angelina, and other top stories.
Nicole's Wedding No Shotgun Affair
The considerable attention currently being devoted to Nicole Kidman's abdomen – i.e., is she pregnant or isn't she? – is an entirely fruitless enterprise, it seems.
Kidman's spokeswoman Catherine Olim tells Rush & Molloy this morning that the actress, who turns 39 today, is definitively "not pregnant. This is a rumor that comes around every month...Believe me on this one: She is religious, and that would never do." Kidman has two adopted children – Isabella, 13, and Conor, 11 – with her ex-husband Tom Cruise.
Kidman and her fiancé Keith Urban arrived in Australia yesterday to begin preparations for their wedding, but, according to Rush & Molloy, they're going to be spending their nights apart before the big day on Sunday. What's more, London's Daily Mirror reports that the couple will be shelling out $300,000 to put their guests up in 120 rooms at Sydney's Intercontinental Hotel.
Jacko's Finances Laid Bare, Including Leased Cows
More than a year after his acquittal on child molestation charges, Michael Jackson – or his rather byzantine financial dealings – will be the subject of scrutiny as another trial begins this week to settle a lawsuit brought by one of his former business associates.
Marc Schaffel is suing Jackson for $3.8 million worth of what he claims are unpaid loans, expenses, and salary, and Schaffel's lawyers are attempting to paint Jackson as a highly profligate cash sieve who had little or no idea where his money was coming from or going to. In one deposition taken for the case, according to the AP, the Gloved One says that his spending money was derived from the leasing of the cows of his Neverland Ranch. Jackson's counsel counters that Schaffel is "an unsavory character" and a "professional swindler."
Meanwhile, Jacko's nanny, Grace Rwaramba, can't get married to the King of Pop, as Fox News' Roger Friedman reported yesterday, even if she wanted to – because she's married herself. Friedman clarifies his Monday story on Rwaramba, who's been married for more than a decade, and adds that she is now the "go-to person" in Jackson's camp for anyone who has dealings with him -- and has a much bigger professional role than just taking care of the kids.
Angelina Impresses Anderson in Interview
Angelina Jolie tells Anderson Cooper she's going to adopt another child in their interview tonight on CNN, and he apparently came away from their taped session very impressed, according to his blog.
"I'm not sure what I expected before I met her, but...she is smart, funny, self-deprecating, and intensely passionate," writes Cooper, who adds that neither he nor his network paid for the exclusive interview. What's more, he says, he didn't make overtures to Jolie – they came to him.
And if viewers are expecting a dishy tell-all gabfest about the birth and Brad and baby Shiloh, they are likely to be disappointed: the two-hour broadcast will focus on "the plight of refugees."
K-Fed Frolics in Clubs, Ignores Charity Work
These are some of the things that Kevin Federline did while on a recent trip to Miami with his wife Britney and son Sean: Frolicked in the ocean, jet-skied, watched a basketball game, and drank Cristal directly from the bottle. Here's something he didn't do, even though his rep claimed he would: Visit a children's charity.
Lloyd Grove reports in his column this morning that K-Fed' spokeswoman had announced that the "awesome" dad would be helping a children's charity on each stop of the promotional tour for his yet-unreleased album "Playing With Fire," "handing out toys to children at hospitals or whatever." Apparently, there wasn't time for the kids – but there was for lolling around in a golf cart.
Madonna Cleans Up Act for Papa
Madonna recently sanitized her act for her father's consumption during a stop in Chicago on her Confessions tour, reports MSNBC's Jeanette Walls. On other stops around the country, the Material Girl has been "shocking audiences" with a lewd mix of f-bombs, middle fingers, and sexual references to the President.
In the Windy City, however, Madonna, decided that she was a little sheepish about all that behavior, and "gave the crowd the finger only one time and never once said the f-word," according to a source.
Lachey and Minnillo Play Keep Away
At this past weekend's MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto, Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo trawled the give-away bag suite at the show – but, according to Lloyd Grove, completely as though "they didn't know each other."
Nick wanted his whole band to get some swag – at $20,000 per bag – while Minnillo made some cryptic comments about herself and Lachey, pointing out that the two have the same birthday and something along the lines of "It's either going to be great for us or it's going to be a total disaster."
ABC's Free Web TV a Hit
In the first month of a test to see if viewers will watch prime-time shows on the Web, ABC says that its offerings were viewed more than 11 million times, and that viewers' recall of the ads that accompanied the shows was much higher than usual.
ABC experimented with offering its shows for free online but using ads to support their broadcast, much like they are shown on normal broadcast television. The network says that 87 percent of survey respondents could remember the sponsors online, whereas the usual number is 40 percent. What's more, says ABC, their normal broadcast numbers didn't suffer as a result.
