This August Bravo is introducing its fifth “Real Housewives” city: Washington, D.C. And it will include alleged White House Party Crashers Michaele Salahi and her husband, Tareq, who are expected to be the biggest draw.
Especially since it’s believed that Bravo’s cameras followed the couple as they sneaked in to the White House State Dinner in 2009. Spoiler alert: there’s no footage of that evening.
Throughout the press materials, the only mention of the incident appears as a toss-off in a short group bio: “Michaele Salahi, who became the focus of media attention following the White House state dinner last November…”
The couple, finally confirmed as part of the cast, was already set for the series before showing up at a state dinner last year, Bravo executives said this week. (The Salahis contend they were invited; state and federal investigations have yet to finish.)
The lead-up to the alleged gate crashing, by the way, will be part of the show, focusing on the Salahis as they primp for the special night. What happened inside the White House gates, where “Housewives” producers weren’t credentialed, will not.
The series, part of the franchise that includes Orange County, New York, New Jersey and Atlanta, revolves this season around “connected D.C. power players,” the network says. Some media and D.C. insiders have taken issue with that characterization, saying that there’s no one in government or politics in the cast and that most are affluent suburbanites with tenuous links to the power elite.
As crowds gathered in South Africa to watch the World Cup this week, Kelly Preston debuted her baby bump off the field.
John Travolta‘s wife, who is four months pregant, was in Johannesburg as she joined her husband on a visit to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
The expectant couple donated $10,000 to the organization during their trip, People reports.
Preston, 47, announced her pregnancy earlier this this year, over a year after her 16-year-old son Jett died of a seizure in January 2009.
“We are over the moon,” Preston’s mom, Linda Carlson, told UsMagazine recently. “I’ve been praying that this would happen, especially since Jett’s death.”.
The couple also have a daughter, Ella Bleu, 10.
Movie reviewer Roger Ebert received the Webby Award for Person of the Year.
He needed only three words to respond.
“Veni, vidi, vici,” Ebert said as he claimed the Webby for Person of the Year. That’s Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered . . .”
Often called the Oscars of the Internet, the Webbys — presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences — honor the best in a wide range of Internet-related categories.
The 14th annual ceremony took place in New York City.
Ebert was cited “for his contributions to the craft of online writing and journalism.”
The Chicago Sun-Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic earned praise for his insightful online journal and for making the Internet “a more thoughtful, engaging and self-aware environment.”
In introducing him to an extended standing ovation, comedian Jimmy Fallon spoke of Ebert’s “moving online meditations on life, communication and the world around him.”
Among the “weberati” at the ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street were the band OK Go (Film & Video Artist of the Year); Amy Poehler, who won a best actress Webby for her online series “Smart Girls at the Party”; Arianna Huffington; Ne-Yo; Buzz Aldrin; Lisa Kudrow; Isabella Rossellini, and “This American Life” host Ira Glass.
Anne Hathaway is stepping into a new Cinderella story.
The star of “Ella Enchanted” and “The Princess Diaries” will appear in the film adaptation of David Nicholls’ popular novel “One Day,” about a working-class woman’s romance with a charming rich man, played by Jim Sturgess.
The movie begins filming this summer. It will be directed by Lone Scherfig, an Oscar nominee for “An Education.” The project was announced Tuesday by Focus Features and Random House Films, which have a partnership.
“One Day” was a No. 1 best-seller in England. It was released Tuesday as a paperback by Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House, Inc.
Nicholls has written the script for the film, scheduled to come out next year.
— The Associated Press also contributed to this report
lsmith@denverpost.com
