Gossip / Rumors

We've learned two of Casey's friends have come forward and said they each received separate calls from the late Johnson & Johnson heiress saying her relationship with Tila was "all for show." The friends say Casey told them she had met Tila only 3 days before the infamous engagement video.

The friends say Casey made it very clear ... she and Tila were not together. And here's the thing ... a friend says Tila was in the room when Casey made the calls.

Our sources say Tiger was very clear on his plan -- go to a friend's estate in Africa and completely disappear from public view. One source believes Tiger left almost immediately.

Almost no one knows for sure, but wherever Tiger is, he's left nary a paw print.

Tiger Fun Fact: He proposed to Elin in South Africa in 2003.

There are a slew of photogs gathered outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City -- all because of a rumor Tiger Woods is inside.

The story goes like this: Tiger checked in on New Year's Day and booked a block of rooms under an assumed name. He allegedly replaced hotel security with his own detail, locking down an entire floor.

This morning, we're told, Tiger had the gym locked down from 4:00-6:00 AM.

So here's where it gets hard to swallow ... Tiger has allegedly been seen going in and out of the hotel with a leggy blonde. He also, allegedly, ordered up 20 bottles of vodka and 15 cases of Red Bull to his hotel room ... after two more women showed up to his room.

Sound like Tiger to you? Us neither.

Question is ...

Skiing the French Alps or walking her dog ... how did Elin Nordegren ring in the New Year?

Option A -- the current Mrs. Tiger Woods has been holed up in a French resort near Chamonix, says the London Sun, since last Sunday. She's there with her sister and a few friends, the paper says, and she's been shadowed by a French security team the whole time.

Option B -- a neighbor of the Woods family in Windermere, Fla. tells TMZ he saw Elin walking her dog last Thursday.

As we've previously reported, Elin is not 100% sure about pulling the plug on her marriage to Tiger.

Yesterday also happened to be Elin's 30th birthday, so for her sake ... let's hope it was Option A.

TMZ has learned Simpson has fired off a nasty letter to Star Magazine over a recent article which explains how Woods "liked what he saw" when the two met at a golf tournament last summer. The article also claims Simpson "decided to have fun with Tiger whether it bothered Tony or not" -- meaning the two exchanged digits and e-mail addresses.

Jess, however, remembers it a bit differently -- and besides the letter, took to her Twitter to call BS, saying "can't believe that I'm on the cover of star magazine with Tiger Woods, what a JOKE! "The Shocking Inside Story" is (insert drumroll) A LIE!"

Porn star Holly Sampson -- alleged mistress #79 -- talked openly about allegedly bedding Tiger Woods on an adult website called Naughty America back in May.

Nobody believed it back then -- but that was before Tiger admitted his "transgressions."

No word if Jess is recording a pop country alternative album anytime soon.

According to a couple of Jeff Beacher's infamous Oompas, the allegedly straying golfer also likes 'em short, orange and topped with green hair.

The pair were reportedly on the same flight from Los Angeles. They did their best to avoid the cameras when they landed, but were then spotted getting in the same car to leave.

David Letterman's people made a bold statement this weekend -- not every supermarket tabloid story about Dave's marriage is true.

One of Dave's reps flatly denied a recent report in the National Enquirer, which explained how Dave's wife threw him out of their Westchester mansion -- over that whole affair/extortion thing -- and is now living in a loft in Manhattan.

Letterman's rep tells the Daily News, "The National Enquirer has it wrong."

Whatever. That alien is totally pregnant with Elvis' love child.

We're sure it was an affair evening to remember.

Steven, who was rumored to have quit the band, put it best: "There's absolutely no validity to rumor that

is breaking up, mutha f**ka!"

And there you have it.

What is Aerosmith without Steven Tyler?Joe Perry and some guys you can't remember the name of.

The unthinkable might be a reality -- Tyler may be on his way out. Joe Perry told the Las Vegas Sun he thinks Tyler has quit, but he isn't really sure.

He says, "Steven quit as far as I can tell ... I don't know anymore than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don't know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don't know."

No word if the two are "officially" dating ... but we're guessing 19-year-old Swifty is just another girl waiting for this piece of underage meat to turn 18.