“The Simple Life” just got complicated.
The Fox network has announced it has picked up the option for a fourth season of the innocuous reality series starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Never mind that the two are not friends any more. Hilton confirmed she and Richie were no longer friends in April and openly lobbied for pal Kimberly Stewart to take Richie’s place. But Fox hopes the fact both Hilton and Richie are engaged to be married will provide ratings gold and is ready to see the sparks fly. No airdate has been determined for the show.
The Michael Jackson rumor mill spins round and round. The New York Post reported the pop star has purchased a palace in Bahrain. The Post claims Jackson has bought the home on 14 acres in the Middle Eastern nation. Previous reports said Jackson would purchase a home in Berlin.
His next house-hunting trip? How about a two-bedroom, fixer-upper igloo in the Arctic Circle?
Lauren Bacall already has bashed Nicole Kidman; now she’s taking on Kidman’s ex-husband.
In an interview in Monday’s upcoming issue of Time magazine, the 80-year-old actress says, “When you talk about a great actor, you’re not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It’s inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it’s kind of a sickness.”
Bacall obviously was referring to Cruise’s public courting of Katie Holmes just before his new film, “War of the Worlds,” was released.
Last fall, Bacall, promoting her film “Birth,” became irritated when an interviewer described Kidman as “a legend.” “She’s not a legend,” Bacall said. “She can’t be a legend at whatever age she is. … You have to be older.”
According to a new biography, Jimi Hendrix pretended he was gay and was later discharged from the 101st Airborne in 1962. Hendrix then launched a musical career that redefined the guitar. Hendrix’s subterfuge, contained in his military medical records, is revealed in Charles R. Cross’ new biography, “Room Full of Mirrors.” Publicly, Hendrix always claimed he was discharged after breaking his ankle on a parachute jump. The book coincides with the 35th anniversary of Hendrix’s Sept. 18, 1970, death from a sleeping-pill overdose.
Another new biography claims film legend James Stewart worked as a special agent for the FBI, rooting out suspected communists from Hollywood. “Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend,” written by Michael Mann, quotes the actor’s late wife Gloria Hatrick McLean confirming the claim.
“Jim went barefoot up the mountain and saw the burning bush – only God’s name was (FBI Director) J. Edgar Hoover … Jim would have done anything to get those gangsters out of town. But he was concerned about how it would turn out for friends like Cary Grant who’d developed friendships with these people.”
Nicole Kidman’s reps meanwhile, have denied rumors the actress is dating country music star
Keith Urban. Kidman and Urban were spotted on his motorcycle near Woodstock, N.Y., last week. Urban is touring with Kenny Chesney, who is married to Kidman’s “Cold Mountain” co-star Renée Zellweger. Kidman’s spokesperson said, “They are friends, and no, they are not dating.”
– Compiled by Greg Henry from wire and Internet reports
