Could Scientology Have Saved Anna Nicole?
It's all over but the crying for Anna Nicole Smith, with her burial planned for Friday, but John Travolta thinks that she might've lived if only she had let Scientology heal her.
The super Thetan, who appeared with Smith in "Be Cool," proclaims that if Anna Nicole had gotten help at Narconon, the drug detox program "inspired" by the writings of L. Ron Hubbard and associated with the Church of Scientology, all would be different today. "It's so sad," said Travolta to MSNBC. "We could have helped her with Narconon but didn't get a chance."
Meanwhile, Smith's farewell will be, as her life was, "over the top," said a friend who's organizing the memorial. About 300 guests, reports the AP, will gather at a church in the Bahamas, and Anna will be dressed in a custom-made gown. What's not certain is whether her casket will be open or closed, and whether her mother, Virgie Arthur, who dropped her bid to bury Anna in her native Texas, will attend.
Is Taylor Hicks the Biggest "Idol" Flop?
Looks like Taylor Hicks' gray hair might have been a liability after all, as his debut album is tracking to be the first by an "Idol" winner to fall short of 1 million units sold, which some music industry wags blame on Hicks' soul-lite stylings being too "old."
The unlikely Season Five champ has sold 640,000 copies of "Taylor Hicks," which was released in December, but the album is languishing below 100 on the Billboard charts, while fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry has already sold over a million copies of his debut disc. What's more, fellow "Idol" winners Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, and Carrie Underwood all did much better in their first couple months.
An exec from J Records, in an interview with the AP, blames the record's "longer burn" on the fact that the music is "much more adult."
ABC to "Grey's" Heigl – We Own You
Katherine Heigl might not be so happy with her contract negotiations to re-up for "Grey's Anatomy" but ABC doesn't really care – they've got her sewn up for years anyway. After the blonde bombshell – who plays Izzie – took her contract-whining to People yesterday, ABC shot back, saying that it had already made her a new offer and that the network was "surprised to see this gesture reported negatively in the press." And just to put her firmly in her place, her bosses said, "Fortunately, we have a long-term contract to ensure she'll be with the show for several years to come." Way to piss the boss man off, Katie.
Party Favors: Mess USA – The End is Near! ... Beyonce and Jay-Z Still Hangin' On ... Big Pussy Whacks Himself Off "Dancing"
Saucy Miss USA Tara Conner tells the Lexington Herald-Leader, a paper in her homestate of Kentucky, that she's "always going to be an alcoholic addict," but points out that, hey, she's off the clock starting March 23, when the next Miss USA is crowned. Tara adds that appearing in Broadway's "Chicago" is a "possibility." ... Despite rumors of their relationship's demise, Beyonce and Jay-Z were spotted at a basketball game this week, report Rush & Molloy, and don't appear to be dunzo. ... Vincent Pastore, "Big Pussy" from "The Sopranos," has, ahem, dropped out of this season's "Dancing with the Stars" because it was too "physically demanding." Think the other goodfellas will ever let him live down that he wimped out of a competition before an amputee?
