Sandra Bullock is coming to the MTV Movie Awards.
The network says the 45-year-old actress will attend the ceremony on Sunday to accept the MTV Generation Award, its highest honor.
The Oscar winner, who has kept a low profile since her public split from husband Jesse James, is the first woman to receive the award. Past recipients include Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers and Jim Carrey.
MTV General Manager Stephen Friedman says Bullock is “adored by our audience as both an actress and a role model.” Hosted by Aziz Ansari, the MTV Movie Awards will be broadcast live from the Gibson Amphitheatre. Presenters include Sandler, Cruise, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Chris Rock, Steve Carell and Cameron Diaz.
Simon Monjack, who died recently of an apparent heart attack at age 40, has been laid to rest next to his late wife Brittany Murphy in Los Angeles’ Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
About 75 friends and family — including Murphy’s mother Sharon and Monjack’s mother Linda —- attended the private orthodox Jewish service in the Chapel of the Hills on Thursday. It is the same spot where, less than six months ago, Monjack eulogized Murphy after her shocking Dec. 20 death at age 32.
“His wish was that he would be by Brittany,” family spokesman Roger Neal told UsMagazine.
A photo of Murphy and Monjack was placed close to his coffin during the ceremony, Britain’s Daily Mail reports.
The ceremony closed with a recording of Murphy singing “Smile” accompanied by Monjack on the piano.
Before his death, Monjack had been establishing a Brittany Murphy Foundation dedicated to supporting youth in the arts. Murphy’s mother Sharon will now take over.
The likes of Uma Thurman, Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone and Al Pacino were the victims of a rip-off that targeted celebrities.
A “Scammer to the Stars” allegedly operated a Ponzi scheme that bilked $30 million from those stars as well as playwright Neil Simon, directors Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese and Nora Ephron, illusionist David Blaine, and celeb photographer Annie Leibovitz.
And though some of the luckier stars suspected the scheme and got their money out in time, on Thursday federal prosecutors arrested so-called financial adviser Kenneth Starr, 66, in his $7.5 million Manhattan condo – where he was hiding in the closet, until federal agents spotted his shoes underneath the door, according to The New York Times.
Initially, Starr’s wife, Diane Passage, a former dancer at the Scores strip club, told the agents that Starr was not home. But then, reports the New York Post, quoting the agents, she pointed upstairs and whispered, “He’s upstairs.”
“News of Ken Starr’s arrest does not come as a complete surprise to me, and I will follow this story with great interest,” photographer Leibovitz said in a statement. “Ken Starr no longer represents me and has not for some time.”
Thurman, according to the Post, was forced to confront Starr personally about $1 million that had mysteriously gone missing from her account. The money was then replenished, says The Times, when Starr took it out of the account of another client, a talent agent and his wife.
The Post reports that word of the Thurman incident spread through Starr’s celebrity roster like wildfire.
Not only are private power couple Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz engaged to be married, they are having a baby.
The announcement comes after the two, together since fall 2008, attended Thursday night’s Black Ball in London, which benefits Keys’ Keep a Child Alive charity.
“They’re very happy,” says a friend of the couple, and reps told People the nuptials will take place “in a private ceremony later this year.”
Rapper Swizz Beatz (real name: Kasseem Dean), 31, has produced music for Keys, 29, and worked with artists including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani.
It will be the first marriage for Grammy-winner Keys – and their first child together. Swizz Beatz is father to Kasseem Jr., 3, and son Prince Nasir, 9, both from previous relationships.
–The Associated Press also contributed to this report
lsmith@denverpost.com
