Category: People

Pam Anderson Calls It Quits
Beleaguered beauty Pamela Anderson declares, “I’m never going to work again. I’m retired. I’m just being a mom.”
The former “V.I.P.” star and reigning sex symbol of the six-pack set said earlier that she planned to take time off while undergoing medical treatment for hepatitis C, which will leave her in a weakened state for nearly a year. As you may recall, she believes she contracted the potentially fatal ailment from her ex-husband, rocker Tommy Lee.
And she says that other than “all my merchandising stuff,” she intends to do “hopefully, nothing, ever” work-wise. Believe it — or not.
Pam and her offspring were on hand for the weekend’s “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams” premiere — enjoying the post-screening party’s carnival rides and games in a lot across the street from Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theater. “I’m just going to come to these little premieres.”

Voice of the Lakers, Hearn, Has 2nd Operation
L.A. Lakers sports announcer Chick Hearn was in critical but stable condition late on Saturday in a California hospital after undergoing two operations for a serious head injury stemming from a fall at his home, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Hearn, 85, who for four decades has been the “Voice of the Lakers” and is credited with coining the phrases “air ball” and “slam dunk,” first underwent surgery early on Saturday for intracranial bleeding at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after falling down on Friday evening.
Doctors ordered a second operation to relieve further bleeding later, and doctors completed the second surgery Saturday afternoon, according to the hospital’s spokeswoman.
Firefighters and paramedics were called to Hearn’s home in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino Hills at 7 p.m. after the play-by-play announcer injured his head in a fall in the back yard of his home.
Hearn, born in Illinois, began his Lakers broadcasting career in 1961 and amassed a streak of calling 3,338 consecutive games until undergoing heart surgery in December last year. He returned to work in April in time to watch the Lakers win their third consecutive NBA championship.

Marilyn Monroe Tour Draws Crowds
Marilyn Monroe still draws a crowd.
Close to the 40th anniversary of her death hundreds of fans paid homage on Saturday and soaked up a bit of the screen siren’s legend.
Leslie Kasperowicz, who runs the online Immortal Marilyn Fan Club, led a tour of “Marilyn Homes and Haunts.” More than 30 reverent fans visited 22 sites from Hollywood to Beverly Hills.
“She’s just so beautiful. She’s timeless,” said Monroe look-alike Rebecca Staley, of England. “I just wanted to see it all.”
A Monroe look-alike contest and party were scheduled Sunday in Hollywood, followed Monday by an annual service at the Westwood Memorial Park cemetery.
Monroe died Aug. 5, 1962, at 36 due to an overdose of sleeping pills.

Voight, Daughter Jolie Go Public with Estrangement
Two weeks after Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from husband Billy Bob Thornton, her father revealed on Thursday in a televised interview that she has split with him as well.
In a tearful appearance on the syndicated TV show “Access Hollywood,” actor Jon Voight said his daughter has “carried a lot of pain” for years, adding he was “broken-hearted … because I’ve been trying to reach my daughter and get her help, and I have failed and I’m sorry.”
Jolie responded with a brief statement acknowledging her estrangement from her father but offering no apologies or explanations.
“I don’t want to make public the reasons for my bad relationship with my father,” she said. “After all these years, I have determined that it is not healthy for me to be around my father, especially now that I am responsible for my own child.”
The 27-year-old actress adopted a Cambodian-born baby boy just months before she filed for divorce July 17 from Thornton, 46, her husband of two years, citing irreconcilable differences.
Voight, 63, an Academy Award winner for his 1978 role as a Vietnam War veteran in the film “Coming Home,” said his own “greatest pain” was not being able to see his adopted grandson, named Maddox. “I’d love to help out with the baby,” he said.
Voight traced his strained relations with his daughter to his own separation from Jolie’s mother, former actress Marcheline Bertrand, and his departure from the family home when Jolie was less than a year old.
He said he and Jolie enjoyed a brief rapprochement when they worked together on the set of “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” but had since become estranged again.
Jolie and Thornton, who met while working on the 1999 air traffic control comedy “Pushing Tin,” separated in June, according to her divorce filing. The breakup of one of Hollywood’s most high-profile and eccentric marriages had been the subject of frenzied gossip and tabloid headlines for weeks.
Jolie, who studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York, gained widespread attention, critical raves and an Emmy nomination for her performance as the drug-addicted, AIDS-stricken model Gia Carangi in the 1998 HBO television movie “Gia.”
She went on to win an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her role as a young, institutionalized sociopath in the 1999 drama “Girl, Interrupted” and box-office success as an action heroine Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider.”

Comedians Raise Cash for Cancer Study
Ray Romano will be delivering punchlines to raise money for a study examining laughter’s effect on ailing children.
Romano, star of the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” is the headliner at a Sept. 27 benefit for the UCLA Jonsson Cancer study.
Kevin James of CBS’ “The King of Queens” and standup comedian Wendy Liebman also will entertain, concert co-sponsor Comedy Central announced Wednesday. Tickets went on sale Thursday.
The study, Rx Laughter, is testing whether laughter can help children and adolescents deal with the pain of treating life-threatening illnesses including cancer.
The five-year study, lead by Drs. Margaret Stuber and Lonnie Zeltzer, began in February 2000 with a $75,000 seed grant from Comedy Central.

WHO’S BITTER
The former wife of late Who bassist John Entwistle slamming her ex-husband in an interview with Australia’s Melbourne Herald Sun. She said Entwistle was an emotional and financial mess, and that he and his bandmates (Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend) were not friends.

MODEL MOMMY
Claudia Schiffer is pregnant with her first child, her publicist confirmed Monday. The supermodel has reportedly made it through her first trimester–coincidentally three months after marrying film producer Matthew Vaughn.
MODEL MOMMY II
Supermodel Daniela Pestov gave birth to a daughter July 21 at New York Hospital. The girl, named Ella, weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and is the first for Pestov and boyfriend Palo Habera. She also has a six-year-old son, Yanick, from a previous relationship.

Spears Abruptly Walks Off Mexico Stage, Ending Tour
Britney Spears ended her world tour on a controversial note as rain showers cut short her final show in Mexico City on Sunday night, adding insult to injury after she made an obscene gesture upon arrival here last week.
Concert organizers OCESA said in a statement on Monday that Sunday night’s thunderstorm and lightning posed a significant enough safety concern to call off the show after less than five songs.
The 20-year-old pop princess sang four songs in the last show of her Pepsi-sponsored world tour, but during the set’s fifth song, “Stronger,” left the stage, saying only “I’m sorry Mexico. I love you. Bye,” according to a report in local daily Milenio.
Boos and jeers rained down on the stage when a public announcement asked fans to leave the Foro Sol stadium. Some concert-goers began throwing pop diva paraphernalia and chanting “fraud, fraud,” the newspaper reported.
OCESA also announced in its statement that beginning Thursday fans, who paid anywhere from $14 to $190 for tickets to Sunday night’s show, could get a full refund.
In the organizers’ statement, Spears said she was sorry the show was canceled. “The Mexican fans are some of the best in the world. However, for the security of my company and the audience, as well as for the show’s quality, I had to suspend my performance,” she said.
Mexico City was the last leg of a “world tour” that began in the United States and Canada.
Spears, who rocketed to fame with her 1998 hit “Baby, one more time,” spent less than a week in Mexico City, but attracted plenty of attention during her visit.
The pop star was caught by cameras extending her middle finger in a universally recognized insult after she arrived last Tuesday night at an airport in Toluca, some 40 miles from Mexico City.
Spears later said the gesture was an angry response to paparazzi, who she said nearly caused a wreck with the vehicle in which she was riding.

Britney Spears Says Her Middle Finger Was Not Meant for Mexico Fans
Pop diva Britney Spears, under fire for making an obscene gesture shortly after arriving in Mexico City for the last stop on her world tour, said on Friday she was only reacting to intrusive paparazzi.
Spears was caught by cameras extending her middle finger in a universally recognized gesture on Tuesday night as she left the airport in Toluca, some 40 miles from Mexico City.
“I’m human too. I get mad like everyone else,” Spears told reporters, saying photographers and camera crews were driving recklessly around her vehicle, nearly causing a wreck as she left the airport.
Spears is slated to finish her world tour at Mexico City’s Foro Sol baseball stadium on Saturday and Sunday in front of 52,000 fans, her biggest crowd yet.
“The fans are so amazing, the 20-year-old pop princess said. Dozens of fans braving rain outside the posh Four Seasons Hotel where she is staying did not seem fazed by Spears’ initial greeting in Mexico.

IT’S OFFICIAL
Jennifer Lopez filing for divorce from her hubby of 10 months, Cris Judd. Lopez and Judd, who confirmed their breakup last month, have already filed their settlement agreement, and lawyers say all of their issues are resolved. The divorce becomes official in six months.
BEN’S TURN?
The New York Post reporting that Lopez and Ben Affleck “kissed, cuddled and made goo-goo eyes at each other” during her surprise 32nd birthday party Wednesday at the Park restaurant in New York.