Tiger Woods’ return to golf is likely to send television ratings through the roof.

The AP reports that CBS Sports president, Sean McManus, expects the Woods comeback from the depths of sex rehab and adultery to be one of the “biggest media spectacles in recent memory”.

CBS will televise Woods’ return in next month’s Masters.

McManus said [...]]]>

Tiger Woods’ return to golf is likely to send television ratings through the roof.

The AP reports that CBS Sports president, Sean McManus, expects the Woods comeback from the depths of sex rehab and adultery to be one of the “biggest media spectacles in recent memory”.

CBS will televise Woods’ return in next month’s Masters.

McManus said he suspected only President Barack Obama’s inauguration ranked higher as a media event.

Woods’ return to competitive golfing was annouced this week and follows a four-month break from golf, set off by a car crash he had outside his Orlando, Florida home last year.

The first two rounds of the Masters [April 8-11] at the Augusta, Georgia National Golf Club, will be aired on ESPN, the report notes.

Source: Splash News

Extra host Mario Lopez has said he won’t get “too creative” with a name for his unborn baby.

Lopez, 36, recently announced he is expecting a baby with his actress girlfriend Courtney Mazza, 28, and said he’s already thinking about names for the child.

He said to Ryan Seacrest’s radio show on KIIS-FM: “I don’t know [...]]]>

Extra host Mario Lopez has said he won’t get “too creative” with a name for his unborn baby.

Lopez, 36, recently announced he is expecting a baby with his actress girlfriend Courtney Mazza, 28, and said he’s already thinking about names for the child.

He said to Ryan Seacrest’s radio show on KIIS-FM: “I don’t know what to do about the name thing. I like names that mean something. I don’t want to get too creative.”

The pair are not planning to find out the sex of the baby before the birth and said their family origins are making the naming process more difficult.

He said: “I always tease her because she’s 100 per cent Italian, and I thought she would have some exotic name like Isabella or Francesca. And it’s Courtney. That’s what you get when you’re born in the ’80s.”

Source: Splash News

Robert De Niro has struck a $14,000 deal to reclaim six works of art painted by his late father.

The Godfather star will pay the cash to the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, according to the New York Post.

The artworks, which include Nude Still Life and Figure in Orange Shirt, represent half of [...]]]>

Robert De Niro has struck a $14,000 deal to reclaim six works of art painted by his late father.

The Godfather star will pay the cash to the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, according to the New York Post.

The artworks, which include Nude Still Life and Figure in Orange Shirt, represent half of the pieces gallery founder Lawrence Salander is accused of stealing from De Niro’s father, also named Robert.

The Hollywood star filed a lawsuit against Salander in 2007, amid claims he had sold some of the paintings to settle his gallery’s debt.

The 12 paintings at the heart of the suit were valued at more than $1m.

Salander declared bankruptcy in 2007 and is awaiting trial on charges he ripped off clients for $88m.

Source: Splash News

Tiger Woods changed his phone number five times in the space of a year, according to a PGA golfer who knew nothing of his affairs at the time.

The golfer, Mark Calcavecchia, has claimed that he and the disgraced golf star often exchanged text messages over the past year, but that it didn’t occur to [...]]]>

Tiger Woods changed his phone number five times in the space of a year, according to a PGA golfer who knew nothing of his affairs at the time.

The golfer, Mark Calcavecchia, has claimed that he and the disgraced golf star often exchanged text messages over the past year, but that it didn’t occur to him why Woods kept changing his number.

He said: “I didn’t really think about it, but in the course of last year he changed his number five times. The last time he did, I said, ‘Man, you change phone numbers more than I change underwear.’”

Calcavecchia also claimed that Woods was seeing another woman while he was engaged to wife Elin Nordegren.

He said: “I did know of a girl he was seeing in Phoenix. But I didn’t know the timeframe. I didn’t know if it was before or after he was married that he was with her.”

He added: “I knew it was close. It was 2004 sometime. I didn’t think much of it then.”

Source: Splash News

The 35-year-old funnywoman told Shape magazine: “I told my nutritionist: ‘I’m not going to quit drinking. I love to hang out with my girlfriends and have cocktails and dinner. It’s how I relax’.

“He explained that calorie-wise, [...]]]> US comedienne Chelsea Handler has revealed how she got her flat stomach without having to give up her favourite cocktails.

The 35-year-old funnywoman told Shape magazine: “I told my nutritionist: ‘I’m not going to quit drinking. I love to hang out with my girlfriends and have cocktails and dinner. It’s how I relax’.

“He explained that calorie-wise, vodka isn’t so bad, as long as you drink it with soda.”

She added: “Knowing I could have a drink made it easier to stick to the programme.”

The stand-up comedian and TV personality shows off her slimline body on the cover of the US fitness magazine, wearing a tiny red bikini and a big smile.

The Chelsea Lately host revealed that she hired a nutritionist once she decided to get serious about being healthy, after years of yo-yo dieting.

“I was born with a French-fry in my mouth,” she said and admitted that she grew up munching on Doritos in between meals.

Now the late-night chat-show host has swapped junk food for healthier options and is feeling better for it.

But despite all her efforts to shape up, Handler revealed that her family thought she had actually packed on the pounds when they tuned into her chat show.

She said: “I went home to visit my family after my show first started and my sister said to me, ‘Oh, you look good. We were going to say something about your weight because you look so big on TV’.

“And then I looked at their TV and I realised they had it on wide-screen. I’m like, ‘Of course I look big. Take it off wide-screen you losers!’”

Source: Splash News

George Clooney’s girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has landed a role in US drama Leverage, according to reports.

The Italian model and TV personality, 31, will appear in five episodes of the TNT drama when it returns for a third season later this year.

Canalis, who will star opposite Timothy Hutton, will be playing a mysterious woman known [...]]]>

George Clooney’s girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has landed a role in US drama Leverage, according to reports.

The Italian model and TV personality, 31, will appear in five episodes of the TNT drama when it returns for a third season later this year.

Canalis, who will star opposite Timothy Hutton, will be playing a mysterious woman known only as “the Italian”.

Canalis began dating Clooney, 48, last year and is a popular actress and TV presenter in her native country.

She first appeared on Italian TV 10 years ago, on the satirical news show Striscia La Notizia, and has since appeared in various movies and TV shows, including this year’s Fratelli Benvenuti.

Source: Splash News

The usually heavyweight actor stunned fans with his new slim-line figure when he appeared at this year’s Oscars.

“I’ve been trying to take care of myself,” the actor told talk show host Rachael Ray on [...]]]> Forrest Whitaker has spoken about his amazing weight loss, saying: “I just wanted to be able to live a really good life.”

The usually heavyweight actor stunned fans with his new slim-line figure when he appeared at this year’s Oscars.

“I’ve been trying to take care of myself,” the actor told talk show host Rachael Ray on Friday.

“I met with a nutritionist and I shifted the way I was eating, the way I was living, and I started working out.

“I just wanted to be able to live a really good life.”

He also told of his secret for staying married for 14 years, a rare feat in Hollywood circles, saying they let each other “continue to grow, continue to go after the things they believe and dream in”.

“I really support everything she wants to do,” he said of wife Keisha.

Source: Splash News

Corey Haim will be buried in his native Toronto, US Weekly reports.

The Canadian Lost Boys star who died in Los Angeles this week of a suspected pill overdose will be laid to rest in Toronto, Ontario, the city of his birth, his manager Marc Haislip confirmed today to UsMagazine.com.

Haislip said Haim’s family want to [...]]]>

Corey Haim will be buried in his native Toronto, US Weekly reports.

The Canadian Lost Boys star who died in Los Angeles this week of a suspected pill overdose will be laid to rest in Toronto, Ontario, the city of his birth, his manager Marc Haislip confirmed today to UsMagazine.com.

Haislip said Haim’s family want to “do it back home. But there will be a memorial in LA”.

Haim, 38, was discovered by his mother in a collapsed state on Wednesday at the low-rent apartment they shared near Burbank. He was on and off the rehab wagon with a serious prescription drug dependency, according to friends and a former fiancee.

No dates have been settled for the funeral or a memorial, the website notes. The family plans to reach out to the Hollywood community to help fund the services, the website reports.

The Los Angeles County Coroner carried out an autopsy on Thursday that cited pulmonary congestion in its preliminary findings. The final cause of death will be announced in six to eight weeks’ time following full toxicology and histopathology reports.

Source: Splash News

Inglorious Basterds star Christoph Waltz has appeared in a bizarre viral video – humping things.

The actor, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor, shot the comedy clip for US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

In the ‘Der Humpink’ video, in which he wears traditional Austrian lederhosen, Waltz pretends to have sex with a lamp, [...]]]>

Inglorious Basterds star Christoph Waltz has appeared in a bizarre viral video – humping things.

The actor, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor, shot the comedy clip for US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

In the ‘Der Humpink’ video, in which he wears traditional Austrian lederhosen, Waltz pretends to have sex with a lamp, a guitar and a flock of sheep!

Source: Splash News

Disgraced Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier spent Oscar Sunday being feted.

Nicolas Chartier was the guest of honour at a party for 300 in the Malibu home of reality television producer Mike Fleiss.

Nicolas Chartier, a Frenchman who was banned from the awards ceremony for promoting his film in voter e-mails, is pictured here with Kathryn [...]]]>

Disgraced Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier spent Oscar Sunday being feted.

Nicolas Chartier was the guest of honour at a party for 300 in the Malibu home of reality television producer Mike Fleiss.

Nicolas Chartier, a Frenchman who was banned from the awards ceremony for promoting his film in voter e-mails, is pictured here with Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal. At the party, he staged his own acceptance speech.

Indiewire reported the crowd at the party was “clearly biased in favour of The Hurt Locker” and cried out in uproar when it took the Best Picture laurel.

After the acceptance speeches, Chartier stepped onto a footstool to make his own faux acceptance with a small plastic statue.

He told those gathered: “Everyone in this room, keep trying, keep pushing, keep knocking on doors if you believe you have something. If you have talent, keep writing, directing, producing. Keep fighting for your projects. Making films is tough, but we’re so lucky, we do something we love. It’s not about the girls, money, and fame. It’s about the movies. This is what we live for, to tell stories, to make people laugh and cry. To entertain and sometimes to make art.”

Source: Splash News

Hollywood star Johnny Depp has revealed he doesn’t want to hang up the hat of his biggest blockbuster movie character – Captain Jack Sparrow.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star told UK Star magazine: “I can’t wait to get back in costume. Some people will say: ‘Aha, Depp sold out by doing the sequels’. But [...]]]>

Hollywood star Johnny Depp has revealed he doesn’t want to hang up the hat of his biggest blockbuster movie character – Captain Jack Sparrow.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star told UK Star magazine: “I can’t wait to get back in costume. Some people will say: ‘Aha, Depp sold out by doing the sequels’. But it was never an issue for me. I love Captain Jack so much I’d do Pirates 7 if they asked me.”

The 46-year-old star – who is reportedly earning £21 million to appear in the fourth instalment of the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – realised he was obsessed with the character while he was shooting the first movie.

Depp added: “Sometimes you fall in love with who you’re playing. As filming winds down, you hear the clock ticking because you know you’re going to leave your character behind and a kind of odd separation anxiety kicks in. You get irritable and just sort of melancholy. That’s what happened to me when we wrapped the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

“I realised I was going to miss Captain Jack. I had felt so comfortable being him and being in that skin. Suddenly you go: ‘Am I ever going to see him again?’”

Source: Splash News

Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he would like to have made hit movie Kill Bill in 3-D.

The Oscar-nominated film-maker, 46, said that he would have liked to have made the Kill Bill flicks in 3-D after watching movies such as Avatar.

He said: “I’ve always liked 3-D. If I had the right story, [...]]]>

Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he would like to have made hit movie Kill Bill in 3-D.

The Oscar-nominated film-maker, 46, said that he would have liked to have made the Kill Bill flicks in 3-D after watching movies such as Avatar.

He said: “I’ve always liked 3-D. If I had the right story, say, if I was making Kill Bill again, I’d be tempted to do it in 3-D.”

Asked if there will be another Kill Bill movie, he said: “Well, I haven’t killed off The Bride, so Uma Thurman’s character is still in the Kill Bill universe waiting to get her revenge. That could happen.”

Source: Splash News

Robert “Joe” Halderman, 51, is expected to be sentenced to six months in jail, as well as ordered to do 1,000 hours of community service.

And he is likely to have to serve four-and-a-half years probation as part of [...]]]> A TV producer has pleaded guilty to extorting $2m from US talk-show host David Letterman, according to reports.

Robert “Joe” Halderman, 51, is expected to be sentenced to six months in jail, as well as ordered to do 1,000 hours of community service.

And he is likely to have to serve four-and-a-half years probation as part of a last-minute plea deal with prosecutors.

In Manhattan Supreme Court today, Halderman said: “In September of 2009, I attempted to extort $2m from David Letterman by attempting to disclose private information against him, whether true or false.

“I feel extremely remorseful for what I have done. I sincerely apologise to Mr Letterman and his family.”

The CBS producer reportedly tried to blackmail Letterman after learning that his then-girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt, 35, was sleeping with the chat-show host, who was her boss at the time.

The deal was hammered out just hours before Halderman, who had been charged with first-degree grand larceny, was due to appear at a court hearing.

As part of the deal, he agreed to not disclose any of the material he had threatened to release, according to reports.

It means married Letterman, 61, will now avoid a potentially embarrassing and messy trial that would have focused on his affairs with women on his staff.

Halderman will begin his sentence in about two months, according to US reports.

A spokesman for Letterman was not immediately available for comment.

Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, declined to comment.

Source: Splash News

Oscars co-host Alec Baldwin thought he and Steve Martin were “great” as presenters of the Oscars.

The 51-year-old actor recently hosted the 82nd Academy Awards along with Martin, 64.

Talking about how they got on, he said to UsMagazine.com: “I think it went great! I think it went really well. We decided it wasn’t about Steve [...]]]>

Oscars co-host Alec Baldwin thought he and Steve Martin were “great” as presenters of the Oscars.

The 51-year-old actor recently hosted the 82nd Academy Awards along with Martin, 64.

Talking about how they got on, he said to UsMagazine.com: “I think it went great! I think it went really well. We decided it wasn’t about Steve and me, it’s about the nominees and the presenters. You don’t need to see us!”

The two actors received praise for their hosting duties. Linda Stasi, from the New York Post, wrote that the “two seriously funny guys got seriously funny”.

Source: Splash News

Avatar director James Cameron stands accused of plagiarism by a Chinese author, according to a report.

Sky News reported that Beijing writer Zhou Shaomou claims the screenplay for the 3-D blockbuster was lifted from his novel, which he put online via a contract when he could not find a publisher.

He told the China Daily he [...]]]>

Avatar director James Cameron stands accused of plagiarism by a Chinese author, according to a report.

Sky News reported that Beijing writer Zhou Shaomou claims the screenplay for the 3-D blockbuster was lifted from his novel, which he put online via a contract when he could not find a publisher.

He told the China Daily he spent seven years writing the 1.2 million-word book. He said: “Eighty per cent of the plot and the key elements of Avatar are similar to my 1997 science fiction novel Tale of the Blue Crows.”

Shaomou was reportedly unable to file a $146.5 million lawsuit against Cameron in China. The book reportedly tells the tale of the epic journey of six astronauts to a distant planet occupied by blue beings. Zhou said:”I wrote in my novel that their space journey took them six years, but in Cameron’s movie the journey takes them five years, nine months and 22 days. I was shocked when I first saw that. It is too close.”

He said he was seeking to file the lawsuit for breach of copyright but had been refused by two Chinese courts. “I realise that no one knows me in China, but I insist on fighting for my copyright. Over 10 million people have read my book over the internet.”

Of his refusal by the local courts, he said:”Nobody was supportive and many asked why someone as famous as Cameron would copy an obscure work from a little-known author. I really wanted to argue back, ‘why not?’”

According to a Beijing lawyer, Yang Huipeng, Zhou would have better luck filing his lawsuit in the US.

Source: Splash News

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her stand-up comedy debut by performing a monologue on Jay Leno’s chat show.

The politician-turned-media pundit made gags about politics, her home state of Alaska and her critics – and seemed to go down well with the studio audience.

As she prepared to perform the monologue she poked fun [...]]]>

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her stand-up comedy debut by performing a monologue on Jay Leno’s chat show.

The politician-turned-media pundit made gags about politics, her home state of Alaska and her critics – and seemed to go down well with the studio audience.

As she prepared to perform the monologue she poked fun at herself for being recently caught with notes written on the palm of her hand, joking: “I’m not even using cue cards. I know these jokes like the front of my hand.”

Palin opened her routine with: “This is the thrill of a lifetime. And Alaska being so different from Los Angeles. Here, when people have a frozen look on their face I find out it’s Botox.”

With Winter Olympics snowboarder Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White also on the show, Palin joked: “It’s great to be on the same show as Shaun White. Last time I was this close to a Flying Tomato was when somebody threw one at me at that book signing.”

Source: Splash News

Oscar favourite Sandra Bullock has been named the worst actress of the year at the Razzie Awards.

The star picked up two dubious honours for her role as a straggly-haired stalker in comedy All About Steve. She also took the Golden Raspberry for Worst Screen Couple with Hangover hunk Bradley Cooper.

But Bullock, who is hotly [...]]]>

Oscar favourite Sandra Bullock has been named the worst actress of the year at the Razzie Awards.

The star picked up two dubious honours for her role as a straggly-haired stalker in comedy All About Steve. She also took the Golden Raspberry for Worst Screen Couple with Hangover hunk Bradley Cooper.

But Bullock, who is hotly tipped to win the Best Actress prize at the Academy Awards for The Blind Side, does not appear to be too upset by the Razzie.

She said recently: “I’m more comfortable with criticism than I am with goodwill, because I’m more familiar with it, and I’ve made friends with it. The Razzies are a great honour.”

Other Razzie winners included Brit actress Sienna Miller, chosen as Worst Supporting Actress for her portrayal of The Baroness in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Box office blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was Worst Picture. The John Travolta flop Battlefield Earth had the unwanted honour of being voted Worst Picture of the Decade.

Source: Splash News

Dempsey, 44, has been married to wife Jill for 10 years and they have three children together – Talula Fyfe, eight, and twins Darby and Sullivan, three.

Asked if he is romantic, he said: “I am romantic, but I think it takes more than [...]]]> Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey said that romance ‘takes more than just flowers’.

Dempsey, 44, has been married to wife Jill for 10 years and they have three children together – Talula Fyfe, eight, and twins Darby and Sullivan, three.

Asked if he is romantic, he said: “I am romantic, but I think it takes more than just flowers. Marriage is great and blissful, but it takes work and understanding.

“You have to make time to spend together and to work through your issues. The more we grow and learn, both as individuals and as a couple, the closer we get.”

Source: Splash News