Long Beach, Calif — Maria Shriver says she won’t resume her TV news career, citing media coverage of the late Anna Nicole Smith.
Shriver, speaking Tuesday at a women’s conference, noted the media circus surrounding Smith’s accidental drug overdose death in February.
“It was then that I knew that the TV news business had changed and so had I,” she said. “I called NBC News and told them I’m not coming back.” Shriver took an extended leave from the network when husband Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor in 2003. After his victory, she made two appearances as an anchor for “Dateline NBC.” In 2004, she announced she was leaving NBC News because she was unable to juggle her work as a journalist with her duties as California’s first lady.
Shriver’s remarks Tuesday came during the annual California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women. Schwarzenegger, preoccupied by the wildfires sweeping Southern California, made only a brief appearance via satellite at the conference.
Nothing makes a problem disappear faster than money. But did David Copperfield really offer a Seattle woman $2 million if she’d drop her rape charge against him?
The famed illusionist allegedly promised that much in cash to his accuser, a friend of the woman tells The National Enquirer.
This week, the FBI denied a Las Vegas TV station’s report that federal agents seized the same amount in cash during a raid on Copperfield’s Vegas warehouse.
Copperfield yesterday declined to say whether he had $2 million on hand or made a settlement offer to his accuser. “We are respecting the process of the investigation and the confidentiality that surrounds it,” he told the New York Daily News.
Copperfield also held fire on other claims in The Enquirer, in which a “friend” of the unnamed woman describes the alleged attack.
According to the friend, Copperfield invited the 21-year-old beauty to a “lavish party” at his remote compound in the Bahamas. But when she got there, on July 27, she discovered “there was no party – and no other guests,” according The Enquirer source.
“She got nervous and wanted to go home right away, but David convinced her to stay, saying she could leave the next day if she really wanted to,” the friend claims.
It’s the rags-to-riches story that could make even Cinderella jealous.
A few years ago, Joanne Rowling was a struggling single mom living on $140 a week in a tiny apartment.
Now she’s worth an estimated $1 billion thanks to her Harry Potter books. Said to be richer than the Queen of England, it’s little wonder that the 42-year-old Rowling looks better than ever.
“She says she feels a million dollars,” a friend of Rowling’s told Britain’s Daily Mail recently, claiming the writer’s glamorous new look is the result of healthy living and professional makeup artistry. The friend claims that Rowling has kicked bad habits including regular fried breakfasts and black coffee, resulting in weight loss and better skin.
“She has cut out all saturated fats, E-numbers and red meat from her diet and has cut right back on drink,” the friend told the newspaper. “And she is jogging and doing yoga and Pilates at home.”
New York cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Paul Frank says that diet and exercise alone “can’t reverse the signs of aging for a woman in her early 40s.”
And, though experts don’t see any tell-tale signs of plastic surgery in recent photos, Frank says there are plenty of noninvasive options offering dramatic results.
“Some clients spend as much as $5,000 to $10,000 a year on noninvasive treatments to maintain youthful skin, which may include Botox and Restylane to eradicate wrinkles and laser treatments such as the PhotoFacial to reverse sun damage,” says Frank, who hasn’t treated Rowling.
Rowling’s friend didn’t deny the writer may have had Botox treatments, saying simply, “Who hasn’t, after all?”
Celebrity stylist Mary Alice Stephenson says Botox is a common tool among high-profile women over 35, combined with the best hair and makeup money can buy.
“With fame and money, you basically get to find out who the fashion and beauty insiders are. You’re surrounded by people in the know,” she explains.
The friend says that Rowling’s magic ingredient is “good makeup, applied professionally,” and that doesn’t come cheap, according to Stephenson.
