Victoria and David Beckham secretly renew their marriage vows

Victoria and David Beckham seem to have one of those rare celebrity marriage that appears to be pretty stable. Though the two have weathered a few storms (accusations have occasionally popped up regarding David's possible cheating on Victoria) all and all they seem to be pretty solid. This could be because they have a lot in common – an intense passion for shopping and acquiring “stuff,” sticking their names on various perfumes, buying houses, and being seen at trendy events. I didn't say it was a deep relationship. But it seems to work pretty well for them. The Mirror and The Daily Mail are reporting that their relationship is stronger than ever, and the pair secretly renewed their wedding vows.

David and Victoria Beckham have secretly retaken their marriage vows - and got matching tattoos to celebrate the romantic occasion. Only a handful of friends and family were invited to watch them remarry in the grounds of Beckingham Palace. One said: "We were in tears. It was beautiful and very non-showbiz." The couple marked the big day by tattooing the ceremony date on their wrists in Roman numerals.

Romantic David Beckham arranged his secret second wedding to Victoria without even telling her - springing the surprise on the big day itself. He flew her to their sumptuous Beckingham Palace estate then went on one knee to pop the question for a second time. Stunned Posh gasped: "Yes!" - and the couple were soon retaking their vows attended by sons Brooklyn and Romeo as page boys and watched by a handful of close friends and family.

He organised the ceremony and secretly invited a handful of close friends and family. He even had a beautiful white dress made in Posh's size. A friend said: "David was meticulously planning the big day for months. It was a huge undertaking to keep it all under wraps. He was desperately excited but had had to keep quiet with everyone but his and Victoria's closest family.

[From The Mirror]

The Mirror reports that they took a second honeymoon together in Paris, and David took Victoria shopping at her two favorite stores, Azzedine Alaia and Colette. He told her to pick out whatever she wanted as a second-wedding gift. While that's really sweet, I think what's more special is all the work and thought David put into it. A guy planning a whole quasi-wedding ceremony on his own? And managing to keep it a secret from his wife? That's a pretty big deal, and it sounds like Beckham put a lot of care and thought into trying to make it as special as possible.

A lot of people think it's tacky to renew vows, since a couple already had a wedding and all. Frankly I think that - considering how many marriages end in divorce or fall into a state of unhappiness – there's much worse things than celebrating your successful union, and loving your spouse so much that you want to do it all over again. It sounds like this was a very thoughtful tribute to their relationship and the life they've created together.

Paris Hilton leaves fart sound phone messages for Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan tried to offer an olive branch to Paris Hilton, leaving her nice phone messages in her 55 year-old heavy smoker's voice. Lohan said she wanted to make peace with Paris after their longstanding feud over swapping Greek shipping heirs back and forth, re-infecting each other with various strains of communicable diseases.

Instead of ignoring Lohan or maybe sending her a text or voice message back saying all that was stagnant water under the bridge, Paris did the mature thing - and had her assistant leave fart sound messages on Lindsay's voice mail:

Lindsay Lohan tried to make peace with Paris, leaving voice mails explaining that she wanted to call a truce.

But Paris refused to call back. Finally, she responded in her usually classy way.

"She had her assistant call Lindsay and leave fart sounds on her voice mail," a close source told The Enquirer.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, February 25, 2008]

Paris Hilton is such a nice, caring, responsible person. She even takes in countless animals and gives them a loving home outside the chi chi pet shops where they were confined in misery before she swooped them up for a life of luxury as her living accessories.

After Paris told Ellen DeGeneres on her show on Monday that she had a whopping 17 dogs, the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services paid a visit to her home. It is illegal to have more than three dogs in the city of Los Angeles without a breeder's permit. There was no one at Paris' place and it was under construction. The animals weren't there either, though, they have their own nannies and pet whisperers, which seems like a much better existence than having to wait like last year's Balenciaga bag for Paris to pick you to accompany her to an event.

Header image is an older one of Paris and Lindsay. The image below of Paris dressed like her dog is from July of last year.

Big Brother?s Adam under fire for on-air autism slur

The U.S. version of the reality show "Big Brother" is under fire today after one of the show's contestants, Adam Jasinski, referred to people with autism as 'retards' during a nationally aired episode Tuesday night.

On the show, a contestant named Adam, who said he works for an autism foundation, said he would spend his winnings on a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities "so retards can get it together and get their hair done." The Web site for the show describes him as a 29-year-old public relations manager from Del Ray Beach, Fla.

His remark shocked his partner, Sheila, who replied, "Don't call them that."

Adam responded by saying, "Disabled kids. I can call them whatever I want. I work with them all day, OK?"

[From NY Daily News]


In response, John Gilmore, the director of Autism United has issued a letter to CBS executives demanding an apology for the remark and has asked that the show be canceled, or at the very least, the contestant who made the slur be removed from the show.

In episode 2, Jasinski describes his plans to open a hair styling business catering to people with autism who he refers to as "retards."

We believe that Jasinski's [sic] should be terminated immediately, and that the show should be canceled. Further, we expect an apology to people with autism, developmental disabilities and their families from Jasinski, Big Brother and CBS and National Amusements. While Jasinski's comment displayed gross ignorance, the producers of the show chose to use his comments to further the show's storyline. This displays a conscience choice on their part to demean and hurt a large group of people to further their own commercial goals.

[From TMZ]

I think it's safe to say that this contestant will not have a job waiting for him after this show is over. Working with disabled people doesn't give anyone the right to call them names. I think if Don Imus got fired for his racial slur, this clown should get the boot from "Big Brother" over his equally insensitive slur. I don't know what the show's producers were thinking broadcasting that comment- except that maybe all this controversy will make people watch the show. I can tell you this- I don't watch it, and if this Adam guy is a reflection of the contestants on this show, I will never watch it.

Note by Celebitchy: When I first read this article, I did some research and initially suspected that Adam was personally responsible for the controversy over his on-air slur. It seems he's started a group called "The United Autism Foundation" to make people vote for him on Big Brother and think he's this great guy. Mindless Mommy mentioned that the domain was just registered and that the fact that it focuses primarily on this Adam douche without much other content make it obvious that he's behind it.

The group that is criticizing Adam, "Autism United," does seem legitimate though. It has a similar name to Adam's front charity, but it's distinct with its own purpose and doesn't seem to have any affiliation with him.

How ironic that this guy who created a fake autism charity to further his own purposes managed to sabotage himself by putting down the very group he claimed would benefit if he won "Big Brother." He can certainly "call them whatever [he] wants" but we, in turn, can call him an asshole and a bigot.

Bai Ling says she shoplifted because of a bad breakup

Bai Ling is one of the few people I hate more than Paris Hilton. In fact if you tossed Paris, Britney, and Lindsay into a sack, threw that sack in an industrial sized blender, and then baked whatever came out of that blender in the oven, you would have Bai Ling. I have no idea what this woman claims to do for a living – I know there's some vague thought that she's an actress, but for the life of me I can't remember seeing her in anything. What she seems to do for a living is show up to every event on either coast dressed in the most asinine, ridiculous, slutty outfit known to man, and then warble some incoherent gibberish. Bai got arrested the other day for shoplifting two magazines and two packs of AAA batteries from one of those crappy travel stores at LAX before her Southwest flight. Her explanation? Bad breakup. Honey, if the rest of us thought that was a legitimate excuse to commit crimes, 50% of the world would be grabbing fistfuls of Skittles from grocery stores twice a year.

She was dealing with the "huge problem of breaking up [before] Valentine's Day" when she was arrested for shoplifting, Ling said, adding, simply, "Wrong boyfriend."

Damon Elliott, a close pal of Ling's, says she was definitely not herself yesterday. "She was kind of in a mentally unstable state of mind yesterday," he tells E! News. "She had some relationship issues going on. She wasn't in the right frame of mind."

Ling added several prosaic postings to her personal blog later in the afternoon—none mentioned her arrest but all could theoretically be attributed to someone who's nursing a broken heart. An entry posted at 4:43 p.m.: "Delayed the flight, [wandering] again in the airport like a ghost, why can't I just be the sun smile?" it read. "Life is a sad song sometime but still sings the beauty for their loved ones"

"She was very spacey and that was pretty much what happened," Elliott said. "She was distracted and had a lot of things going on."

[From E! News]

I don't know Bai, why can't you just be the sun smile? Has anyone ever tested this woman to see what kind of medication/illegal drugs/mental illness issues she's got? I'm guessing it's a complicated mixture of all three. Look, breaking up with someone sucks, but when you're an adult, it doesn't make a big difference that it's close to Valentine's Day. That's not the thing that pushes you over the edge from handling your breakup like a rational person to stealing $16 of crap from an airport convenience store.

Things really aren't going well for Bai Ling. There's the breakup, the arrest, the shame but what I'm most worried about is someone who's supposedly famous taking a Southwest flight? That costs all of $72 each way. And on top of that, she's still so broke that she had to shoplift batteries? Maybe it's time she stop dressing like a clock or a frog at public events and spend a little more time working.

Bai Ling's greatest hits. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to all play Heath Ledger?s last character

When I first read this story I thought it must have been something cooked up by a journalist with an overactive imagination, and it very well might be, but movie site Ain't It Cool News is reporting that the director of the film Heath Ledger left unfinished when he died, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, has three big names in mind to take over for his character. Since the film is a fantasy in which Ledger's character could easily change into someone else, all three replacement actors may pay tribute to Heath with performances:

Have I mentioned how much I love this idea? Because I do. I think it’s beautiful that the script loaned itself to this sort of idea, that we’re going to see Heath Ledger’s work in Terry Gilliam’s new film, and that we’re also going to see three very interesting actors step up to offer interpretations of him as a way of paying one final tribute to this actor whose career was cut so sadly short.

We’ve heard rumors about who might be stepping in, but now we’ve got the names verified. Count on it.

JOHNNY DEPP.

JUDE LAW.

COLIN FARRELL.

Nice choices, Gilliam. Can’t wait to see what happens inside the IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS, and I’d love to get a look at the script they’re going to use as they start this next stretch of shooting on the film.

[From Ain't It Cool News]

Ain't It Cool News has a good reputation for getting insider information on films and this could be true. About three weeks ago unreliable British source The Sun wrote that Imaginarium director Terry Gilliam wanted Johnny Depp to take over Heath's part. There's a scene in which Heath's character falls through a magic mirror, and Cinematical quotes a studio source as saying "He could change into another character after that and that is where Johnny would come in."

Back when that story came out, the movie was in shutdown mode following the death of Ledger, and workers on the film thought it wouldn't come back. The star of the film, Christopher Plummer, has said that Heath's final scenes would be created using CGI imagery, and he did suggest that other actors would be used. He is quoted as saying that "Because the film deals with magic, there is a way of turning Heath into other people, and then use stills and computer generated imagery."

Maybe Heath's character will get turned into three other top actors. It's exciting to think that Depp, Law and Farrell might play in this film. I bet Daniel Day Lewis would be happy to be involved too, as he dedicated his SAG Award to Heath and seemed to be very affected by his death.

The evocative header image was created by /film.

Cancer victim humiliated on Tyra Banks? show

We just got an e-mail from a guest on The Tyra Banks show who said that she was treated very rudely by Tyra's staff and had an awful experience. She said:

Just found your Webside and read about how cheap Tyra Banks is..and I have to agreeMy 11 year old daugher and myself have been on her Show last week,and we got lied to and humiliated.Tyra is a fake and very mean,she is so cheap we did not get to meet her befor or after the Show and my Child who idolises her did not even get an Autograph!!!!! How rude.

[Sent via e-mail. We will not publish the sender's first name until we get confirmation that it's ok.]

This guest of Tyra's isn't the only one who was left feeling used and humiliated after an appearance on Tyra's show. Despite all the female empowerment Tyra preaches, there are other guests who also felt hurt and betrayed after an appearance on her daytime talk show, one of whom was a cancer victim who was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement when she complained to staff.

39 year-old single mother of two, Jodi Hughes, has stage 4 cervical cancer and Lupus. She was on Tyra's show for a scheduled makeover set up by her children. Her kids were not allowed in the studio when she was getting the makeover, and were left to sit on the curb for hours without ever being fed or checked up on. Her ten year-old boy is even legally blind. Hugh's makeover was just a new dress, makeup and very painful hair weave that left her with severe complications. She was told exactly what to say about how Tyra made her feel like a woman again, but all she felt was tired and used. Then she got dropped off at the airport with her kids eight full hours before her plane left.

Jodi, who lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, says things went bad the minute they stepped off the plane in Los Angeles to tape the show.

Jordan, 17, and Nick, 10 - who is legally blind - were left sitting on a curb outside the studio lot for hours with no food, no phone and no money while Jodi underwent her "transformation" - which included nothing more than the services of a professional makeup artist, a new dress and a cheap, painful hair weave, she says.

Tyra's producers scripted her lines for the show, Jodi says. "The producers told me to say: "Thank you, Tyra, for making me feel like a woman again.' That was the most humiliating part."

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, February 18, 2008]

Hughes had to get the extensions surgically removed in the emergency room when her scalp became infected. She said she spent months growing out her hair after chemo and that the extensions ruined it. She may not have had it the worst though, there was another makeover recipient on the show with her, a woman with handicapped arms. Her prize for going on the show was a purse! Hughes is quoted as saying "All they kept telling her was: 'You should be grateful - that's a $500 purse!'"

Hughes was a guest on Tyra's show in 2006, but she wasn't able to tell her story until now. When she complained about it, she was served with a gag order from Tyra's lawyers that kept her from talking about her terrible experience for a full year.

This makes me so mad I cannot tell you. It only takes some common courtesy to make sure people are fed and comfortable before they go on your stupid television show. Just talk to the kids, make sure they get subs or some soda and sandwiches, and let them sit inside. Ask the guests if they want extensions in their hair before you do it. And for God's sake don't give a purse to a woman without arms! That's asinine.

Tyra Banks is shown at fashion week on 2/4/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Britney?s father will remain in control; Britney tried to run away several times

Yesterday JayBird reported on the anticipated hearing in which Jamie Spears, Britney's father, was to ask that his control over her estate be continued. The Commissioner ruled in his favor and Jamie will remain as Britney's conservator until another hearing March 10, which means he still has control over who she sees and how she spends her money. Britney's brother Bryan and an attorney are named as co-trustees and will take over for her father if he is unable to manage her estate.

While some question Jamie's motives, he's been working as a chef to pay the bills and seems to have cleaned up his act considerably since his earlier problems with alcoholism. Britney needs someone who will make sure she stays safe who isn't going to use, drug, and/or emotionally abuse her. Her father seems like he has her best interests at heart and is keeping her safe at home with a staff and occasional trips to the dance studio. She was taken advantage of by Sam Lutfi, who disabled her cars and phones, and bragged to her own mother about how he would routinely mash up medication and slip it into her food without her knowledge. Lutfi is now shut out of her life by restraining order, although no one has been able to serve the papers directly to him.

There have been a lot of stories in the tabloid papers about how Britney freaked out while she was in the psychiatric ward at UCLA's medical center, and I didn't cover them because I felt like I didn't need to know those details. One thing that both Star and The National Enquirer reported this week is that Britney was also diagnosed with schizophrenia along with bipolar disorder. That is incredibly serious and brought a kind of reality and depth for me to this situation that all the "Britney's freaking out!" stories failed to do.

I just got the new National Enquirer, and they claim that Britney tried to run away from the bodyguard that her father hired several times. Since she's tailed by so many paparazzi who would be able to see this, it sounds likely:

An enraged Britney Spears got into a violent brawl with her new bodyguard as she made a desperate attempt to escape from her home - and her father's control.

With her dad Jamie and the bodyguard in hot pursuit, Britney made it only two houses down the street in her exclusive Beverly Hills neighborhood before the bodyguard caught up with her.

"She was screaming at both men at the top of her lungs," said a source. "Britney was in a rage, cursing them as she was dragged and carried back to the house"

After a recent dance rehearsal, she begged her bodyguard not to take her straight home. When he refused, she began screaming and tried to jump out of the car at a red light, but he hit the gas and began moving before she could flee, said the source.

She again tried to make a run for it as the car stopped in front of the gate to her community.

"Britney was irate," said the source. "As the gate was opening, she jumped into the front seat and opened the door."

But Britney changed her mind when a photographer pulled alongside the car, and the bodyguard took her straight to the house.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, February 25, 2008]

The Enquirer also reports that Lynn doesn't approve of the tough love that Jamie is showing their daughter, and that she would rather take her back to Louisiana. Along with Sam Lutfi, Britney's "cousin" Alli Sims has also been shut out of her life. Alli has been hanging out with Lutfi, and that's enough to show that she's a bad influence on her.

Britney has bipolar disorder and according to reports was diagnosed with schizophrenia too. She can't care for herself and her father is trying to make sure she's ok and is able to stay at home and go on occasional outings. If she knows what's good for her and wants to see her children again she'll buck up and figure out how to make it work. We're not holding our breath, but at least she's safe.

Here's Britney outside Millenium dance studio yesterday. You can see her mom Lynn in the background and TMZ reported that she left yesterday to go back to Louisiana. She's got that helmet hair cut that everyone is sporting lately, and it's not that bad on her.