David BeckhamA Chinese firm is using soccer star David Beckham's name to promote its brand of condoms - without his permission. The firm is claiming men who use the Beckham contraceptive - which has become the best-selling in China - will score in bed like the L.A. Galaxy star does on the field.

But fans in the country are calling for a ban on the condoms - because they don't want to offend the British sportsman.

A fan explains, "We do not want Beckham to think the Chinese people are disrespecting him. We love him here."

A spokesman for Beckham says, "It's not an official brand."

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The musical will open for a 10-week run at the Hammersmith Apollo in June, with actors still to be cast.

It will be based on the first movie, which turned Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens into global stars.

Two High School Musical films have been made, with a third in production. A separate stage show is already touring UK theatres.

The first two movies were made for US TV, with the new installment aimed at cinemas.

The stories follow teenage couple Troy and Gabriella, played by Efron and Hudgens.

Disney executive Steve Fickinger said: "I think the reason High School Musical has been so successful is that kids really enjoy aspirational stories.

"Like Buzz Lightyear saving the day or Cinderella going to the ball, kids can really relate to that."

Disney has already enjoyed stage success in London with Mary Poppins and The Lion King.

The touring High School Musical show, which opens in Bromley, south London, on Monday, has already sold £9m in advance sales.
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The director of "Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?" was in Park City to promote his film. He chatted for a little bit about preparations for his movie and his video game love.

Q: This is your first feature released since “Super Size Me.” How difficult was it to decide on another idea?

A: Right after “Super Size Me,” we sold the TV show “30 Days” to FX, so the summer of ’04 we shot the pilot for that while I was still out promoting the movie. We shot the Muslim episode as the pilot, and then they ended up picking up the series January of ’05, then we had the Academy Awards and right after the Academy Awards I flew to Columbus, Ohio, and lived on minimum wage for the first episode of the series. The show’s a monster to produce, it takes about eight months to make six episodes. We were done with that show around July, August. We were into the next term of the president, and there was a tape or something released from Osama bin Laden and suddenly he came back into the news. Suddenly, everywhere you looked on TV people were saying “Why haven’t we found him? What’s going on? This guy has to be brought to justice. Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?” And I’m like, that’s a great question. That’s what lit the fuse for the idea.

Q: But prior to the spark of inspiration, were you casting about for an idea for a follow-up?

A: We’d talked about things, but nothing that really resonated. “Super Size Me" blew up in a way that nobody could have ever thought. That movie played in 75 countries. I’d meet people in the United States who were from China or Korea who had seen the film. It was amazing. So I knew that for my next film, I wanted to make sure it would be something on a global scale, that it wouldn’t be just an American-centric idea but something that really would get out of the U.S. a little. When we honed in on this, this is exactly what I wanted to do.

Q: When you were in Afghanistan in the film, you were going out in a dangerous area, writing your blood type on your clothing and you seemed quite scared. But you also put your body through so much punishment on “Super Size Me” and lived on minimum wage, so on some level you must be enjoying all this.

A: I enjoy the process. And it is exciting. But being in a situation like that where you’re going out in a region where there’s IEDs... When we were out embedded with the military, there was an IED planted in the road and they had to stop our convoy and took a different route back to the base. And there was a rocket attack on the base while we were there. No one was killed, but it still exploded inside the base. There are Taliban snipers and ambushes that were happening constantly, so there’s a part of it where I enjoy being there, but at that moment when you’re war targets, it’s incredibly scary.

Q: How much did you plan this movie? Did you head overseas with a passport and no idea who you were going to talk to?

A: We had some idea of who we wanted to talk to. In a lot of countries, we hired local producers, called fixers. These people have ins with a lot of people you wouldn’t as a Westerner. If I picked up the phone, they’d say, “Who are you?” Click. Not to mention the language barrier in a lot of places. We had a hot list of people we wanted to get access to or try to speak to and then we’d work with the producers to see who we could get to actually go on camera.

We had a general idea, but for me, documentary films are incredibly organic. You have to go with the flow and let things lead you where they go because that’s what life does. They say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. One interview will lead to three more will lead to three more.

When I made “Super Size Me,” there was a filmmaker who I asked for advice on how to make a documentary. He said, “If the movie that you make at the end is the same movie you envisioned at the beginning, then you didn’t listen to anybody the whole time.” And I think that’s great advice. I try to always heed that.

Q: Do you start off with an outline?

A: I start off with an A. A is “I’m going to go look for Osama bin Laden” then let’s see what happens. I’m going to go get training, then I’m going to go find out about him and see what makes him tick and here are the places we want to go. So you have a general idea, but for me you have A and B and some ideas of where it’s going to go, but from here on out it’s whatever happens.

Q: The fixers in the foreign countries, did they arrange with the governments for all your military protection?

A: When we were in Afghanistan, our fixer contacted the governor of the Kandahar province and he provided the escorts that took us out to Tora Bora. Because that’s a road where just the week before, there was an IED that exploded under a car of Westerners that was going out there. There were some journalists who were kidnapped just a couple months before in that same area. He provided the military escort who took us all the way out to Tora Bora and all the way back. And they said, “No, it’s not dangerous at all.” And yet, here’s all these guys. And they say, “No, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Q: In dealing with these foreign governments, did they know who you are?

A: Not really. Especially in Afghanistan. There’s so few people who have access to outside information, like through televisions. Once you get out of Kabul, you’re in a Third World country. Some people have radios, but there’s next to no television.

Q: You’re an affable guy with a very American sense of humor. In your interviews with foreigners, you’re sometimes teasing. Did that always translate?

A: I think it always translated. So long as I have a smile and they know that I’m joking with them. Most of the fixers would relay, here’s what he said and he’s making a joke about it and he means for this to be funny. And they would understand. It wasn’t like they would say, “What are you talking about?”

Q: You put a lot of personal moments on screen, such as the birth of your son. Was the inclusion of that ever in debate?

A: For me, it’s such a cornerstone of the story. It’s such an important part of what I’m feeling emotionally and what I’m trying to find out. I’m trying to find out what kind of a world am I about to bring a kid into and what does that mean? Alex [his wife] was kind of against it in the beginning, but especially after I got home and she was like, “Absolutely. We have to have it.” We weren’t sure if it was going to be in the film, but we should shoot it and see.

Q: You put your house in the movie. You’ve got your son in the movie. You put so much of your life on screen that people must feel that they know you.

A: What you see on screen is me. It’s not like the camera goes off and I’m like “[Expletive] these people!” What you see is what you get. That’s me. People come up to me. They see how I am on television, which is how I am in real life. People are generally very nice. No one comes up and throws tomatoes at me.

Q: Has notoriety been an adjustment for you? Does seeing yourself on screen make you more self-conscious?

A: I say more stupid things when the camera’s not on, maybe that’s it. I’m not very self-conscious. A lot of filmmakers ask me, “I want to make a movie. What should I do?” It doesn’t matter what it is, if you’re writing it or you want to make a doc or go on a personal journey to find something out. Whatever it is, you gotta be true to you. You gotta be true to your voice. That’s what I try to do and I think that’s what comes off in everything that I’ve done so far.

Q: Do you swap ideas and tips with other documentary filmmakers?

A: Oh yeah. Completely. I just had dinner with Eugene Jarecki the other night. Alex Gibney had a party and I’m psyched for him that he got nominated again. There’s a lot of people that I have so much respect for, like Jarecki and Gibney are such smart filmmakers. These guys are geniuses. There’s people like Steve James, who I idolize. Errol Morris. Michael Moore. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even have a career. I wouldn’t be able to put movies in theaters. That guy really did blow up the doors.

Q: What kind of tips do you give each other? Especially the other on-camera documentarians.

A: I haven’t talked to Michael about this, but with other filmmakers we’ll just talk about form and function. We’ll just talk about why things work or don’t work in movies. Most of the time I’ll ask somebody’s opinion what they think about an idea. But more often than not, we don’t like to talk about our own movies, we like to talk about everyone else’s movies.

Q: At what point in the planning process for “Where in the World” did your wife get pregnant?

A: About two or three months into pre-production.

Q: Was there some question of whether you would put the trip off?

A: Yes. There was a lot of talk about if we shouldn’t do this. This could potentially be a very bad idea. This could be a very dangerous idea. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it was important for me to do it now, because I was so affected by the news of her being pregnant and this responsibility. There is a tremendous responsibility that comes along with that and I thought that this film and this journey was a great way to address that and a great way to address this whole myth of Osama.

Q: So when you came back, she was a couple months away from delivering?

A: When I came back, she was a couple weeks away from delivering.

Q: Lots of people have pointed out the video game structure of the film and the use of machinima. How did that idea get added?

A: The whole idea that we say in the beginning about why haven’t we found him? Maybe if he’s alive, he’s a 9-foot-tall bionic ninja with X-ray vision and the power of flight. And in the video game sequence, that’s what he becomes. I’m somebody who loves video games. I’m a child of the video game generation. I remember when the Atari 2600 first came out, and I had “Pong” when I was a little, little kid when my brother got it. That’s been a part of my life my whole life. And it’s been a part of my friends’ lives. From every platform that comes out, from Nintendos to Segas, to Collecovision I had back in high school, to Atari 2600s, to Atari 5200s to Xbox to Xbox 360 to Playstation 1, 2 and 3. This is something I love. I love video games. It’s a big part of our world and our popular culture and I really wanted that cultural element to be part of this movie, to help tell this story. To make it accessible. And I think it does. There were two girls who came up to me and told me how much they loved the movie and how much fun it was. I don’t want to make movies for certain people. I want to make movies that transcend generation gaps and that are for a lot of people.

Q: You’re very much a showman. This movie could have been a grim slog through the worst countries on Earth, but it seems like you must have been working overtime to make it accessible and fun.

A: You try a lot of things. Some of them work and some of them don’t. One of the things I want to do with the DVD for this is show stuff that didn’t work.

Q: How many cuts do you have of a movie?

A: Oh my gosh. Well, the first cut that we showed to Harvey Weinstein in July of last year. Then we would have internal cuts about every two weeks. And we would show him a cut about every six weeks. Dozens and dozens and dozens of cuts of this movie. And the whole time you’re working on it, it’s “Well this is too fun. We need to bring a little more serious information back into it.” Or “This isn’t fun enough. This is a little too dry. How can we fun it up?” That’s a dialogue that constantly happens between myself, Jeremy Chilnick, who was my co-writer and our editors. We would sit and talk for hours about scenes and elements and we’d bring in the graphic artists and animators and talk about how would we do this. What do you guys think? One of the things I try to do is surround myself with really smart, talented people and let them do their job. And let them come up with ideas. The one thing I’ve learned as director is that being a director also means letting other people bring something to the creative process. I don’t want to steer everything. Everybody on this movie generated some sort of an idea or element that made it infinitely better.
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NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says that Mary-Kate Olsen won't be interviewed in connection with the death of Heath Ledger -- just as TMZ first reported on Friday morning.

Internet and print reports have insisted that MK would be questioned by cops, insinuating that Ledger's masseuse, Diana Wolozin, called her to hatch a plan to hide illegal drugs in Heath's apartment. If that were true, we're told, cops would have to interview Olsen, but as TMZ has reported, that simply isn't the case.

"There is absolutely no indication that investigators were going to speak to Mary-Kate Olsen," said Kelly, as the New York Daily News reports. "They determined that they had all the information needed, by the witnesses who were on the scene."
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Marion Cotillard, who was nominated for an Oscar for her star turn as Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose," is in negotiations to join Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in the Depression-era crime drama "Public Enemies."

An adaptation of Brian Burrough's book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43," the story follows the government's attempt to stop the criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. Depp is playing Dillinger to Bale's famed FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

Cotillard will play Billie, Dillinger's torch singer girlfriend.

Michael Mann ("The Insider," "Collateral," "Miami Vice") is directing for Universal. Mann wrote the script with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman.

"Enemies" is not Cotillard's first English-language feature. "A Good Year" and "Big Fish" are among the English-language productions the French actress has appeared in.
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One night, as I'm standing on LaSalle Street in Chicago, trying to line up a shot for "The Dark Knight," a production assistant skateboards into my line of sight. Silently, I curse the moment that Heath first skated onto our set in full character makeup. I'd fretted about the reaction of Batman fans to a skateboarding Joker, but the actual result was a proliferation of skateboards among the younger crew members. If you'd asked those kids why they had chosen to bring their boards to work, they would have answered honestly that they didn't know. That's real charisma—as invisible and natural as gravity. That's what Heath had.

Heath was bursting with creativity. It was in his every gesture. He once told me that he liked to wait between jobs until he was creatively hungry. Until he needed it again. He brought that attitude to our set every day. There aren't many actors who can make you feel ashamed of how often you complain about doing the best job in the world. Heath was one of them.

One time he and another actor were shooting a complex scene. We had two days to shoot it, and at the end of the first day, they'd really found something and Heath was worried that he might not have it if we stopped. He wanted to carry on and finish. It's tough to ask the crew to work late when we all know there's plenty of time to finish the next day. But everyone seemed to understand that Heath had something special and that we had to capture it before it disappeared. Months later, I learned that as Heath left the set that night, he quietly thanked each crew member for working late. Quietly. Not trying to make a point, just grateful for the chance to create that they'd given him.

Those nights on the streets of Chicago were filled with stunts. These can be boring times for an actor, but Heath was fascinated, eagerly accepting our invitation to ride in the camera car as we chased vehicles through movie traffic—not just for the thrill ride, but to be a part of it. Of everything. He'd brought his laptop along in the car, and we had a high-speed screening of two of his works-in-progress: short films he'd made that were exciting and haunting. Their exuberance made me feel jaded and leaden. I've never felt as old as I did watching Heath explore his talents. That night I made him an offer—knowing he wouldn't take me up on it—that he should feel free to come by the set when he had a night off so he could see what we were up to.

When you get into the edit suite after shooting a movie, you feel a responsibility to an actor who has trusted you, and Heath gave us everything. As we started my cut, I would wonder about each take we chose, each trim we made. I would visualize the screening where we'd have to show him the finished film—sitting three or four rows behind him, watching the movements of his head for clues to what he was thinking about what we'd done with all that he'd given us. Now that screening will never be real. I see him every day in my edit suite. I study his face, his voice. And I miss him terribly.

Back on LaSalle Street, I turn to my assistant director and I tell him to clear the skateboarding kid out of my line of sight when I realize—it's Heath, woolly hat pulled low over his eyes, here on his night off to take me up on my offer. I can't help but smile.
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The 20-year-old Brit - who has spent recent years working in the U.S. - was ridiculed by the tabloid press after she stepped to the stage at the 2007 Brit Awards and debuted a new hairstyle and American accent.

But while the soul star admits she was shocked by the public's reaction, she maintains she doesn't mind if her native Britain rejects her.

She says, "At the end of the day, I don't give a f**k if people have a problem with my accent. That's all I can say about it. The words I say do not change.

"If the way that it sounds is skew-whiff and you don't like it, don't listen. I'm not being a cruel person by sounding a different way.

"I made my album with a bunch of Americans. When people go to Australia for two weeks they come back sounding Australian - but the whole world doesn't turn round and say, 'Well, f**k you.' Which is basically what England had done.

"Obviously not everybody in England. But the big press people. They were just like, 'You know what? We've decided we don't like you anymore.'"
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Oscar-winning British actress and screen writer Emma Thompson says she has loved working with Dustin Hoffman on her new film, Last Chance Harvey.

"It's a grown-up love story," she said, while attending the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland. "Sometimes you just have a proper chemistry with some actors and I had it with Tony Hopkins and I have it with Dustin," she said.

The film, likely to be released later this year, isn't the first time the pair have worked together. The last time was the 2006 film Stranger Than Fiction, with Thompson playing a writer.

It's a role the British actress is familiar with, given that she received an Oscar in 1996 for best adapted screenplay for her adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Thompson also adapted author Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books into the 2005 film Nanny McPhee.

The 1992 best-actress Oscar winner was drawn to the books, and made the film, because it provided her the opportunity to work on a movie that appealed to children and their families, too.

"I think there are very few good movies you can take everyone to," she said, adding that some were "either post-ironic" and went straight over the heads of children, denying them the chance to enjoy it.

"Children are very, very sensitive creatures and we owe them our best shot as actors and writers," said Thompson, who has completed the script for the second film in the Nanny McPhee trilogy, and has an eight-year-old daughter.

"It will be called Nanny McPhee UXB which stands for unexploded bombs," she said, adding that shooting is expected to start this autumn.

But she has not forgotten her older audiences, either.

"I did a new version of Brideshead Revisited which I loved playing the deep, very, very repressed Catholic mother," she said of Lady Marchmain, the manipulative matron in Evelyn Waugh's novel.
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The boyfriend of Britney Spears has recorded six deranged video diaries of the faded star -- hoping to flog them for $2 million.

Her conniving Brummie lover ADNAN GHALIB has been filming the Piece Of Me star crying and babbling on about her recent breakdown.

Now he plans to sell the YouTube-style clips to the highest bidder.

The 35-year-old paparazzo reckons he can pocket over £1 million by exposing troubled Britney, 26, who was snapped last night in LA struggling to dress herself properly.

But a source who has seen four of the recordings told me: "It's like something out of a horror movie. Britney spends the whole time ranting, raving and weeping. It's not entertainment.

"Adnan is just determined to wring as much out of Britney as possible before their relationship burns out.

"But these videos are a step too far. They're sinister and disturbing and show Britney at her very lowest."

CLIP No1 shows Britney sitting on her bed wearing a nightie. She talks about herself in the third person and rambles about her childhood. She's heard saying:

"When Britney was a child, she had to work really hard. When she was 13 years old, she won all the beauty pageants."

CLIP No2 shows Brit wrapped in a white bath towel, again perched on the edge of the bed. Talking to thin air, she mumbles:

"Britney has an angel looking out for her, don't you, angel?"

CLIP No3 sees a Britney talking to Adnan, who's holding the camera, and calling him by his pet name Bubba.

She smiles: "I'm really happy. Bubba's here for me now. It's all good."

Adnan is still withholding CLIP No4 and CLIP No5 but CLIP No6, filmed last week, shows Britney crying hysterically after a night out.

Mascara stains her cheeks as she wails: "Britney wants to live. I'm not crazy. I miss the kids and I did love Kevin."

The source told me: "Adnan's sunk lower than ever. He's proved himself to be a manipulative rat by making these tapes and he's convinced they're worth at least £1 million."

The couple have been together for less than a month, but Adnan has already tried to flog intimate pictures of Britney and hopes to make £5 MILLION from their relationship.

It has also been revealed that the Birmingham-born snapper is listed as a reviewer on sexual health products website SexHealthReview which says it aims to help men being "drained where it hurts the most" through stress, work and poor diet.
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The paint was barely dry on his portrait when actor Heath Ledger was pronounced dead.

Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo had been putting the finishing touches on his painting of the star at his Docklands studio on Tuesday.

A day later, his subject was found dead in his New York apartment, from what authorities say may be an accidental drug overdose.

Fantauzzo painted Ledger with the intention of entering the portrait in the prestigious Archibald Prize later this year. But the newly finished work got an early showing yesterday, when, with the approval of the Ledger family, Fantauzzo released the image to the media.


Ledger sat for Fantauzzo on his last visit home to Perth in December.

The painting depicts the notoriously private actor as three separate images.

The central, and largest, image is of Ledger, bare-chested, looking straight ahead, appearing pained and exhausted.

The two background images are of Ledger wearing humorous expressions, whispering into the ears of his foreground image.


Fantauzzo said he felt privileged to have worked with Ledger.

"Heath was a very private person, which is one of the reasons I was so honoured that he allowed me to paint him," Fantauzzo told reporters. He was so easy and professional to work with. He didn't need any direction, (he was) absolutely focused. Once done, he was back to his usual charismatic self."

Ledger's childhood friend, hip hop artist N'fa, told Channel Ten News the actor couldn't wait to see the finished work.

"He was very excited about it. He was very excited to see the finished product," N'fa said.

N'fa said the picture had captured Ledger perfectly.

"This is the way he always was. He was always a thought ahead. He was the hardest person to play chess against."
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Lindsay Lohan and Brody Jenner avoided being photographed together Friday night as the two hit night clubs in New York, but while inside they got pretty cozy, sources tell PEOPLE.

The pair were spotted "all over each other" at Beatrice Inn. They stayed about 30 minutes and then headed to another celebrity hot spot, The Box, along with buddy Frankie Delgado. Reportedly, they both lingered until 3:30 a.m.

"She likes him. It's early, but they are more than friends," a source says of Lohan. "He seems to like her back. They're actually sweet together, it would be nice if she kept him around."

On the other hand, Brody recently told PEOPLE that his "new girlfriend" Cora Skinner had "met the parents" and "She's part of the family."

It's getting hard to keep up!

A rep for Jenner did not return calls for comment.
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Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has been to visit stabbed Lancashire schoolgirl Jessica Knight in hospital.

The 14-year-old was attacked as she walked through Astley Park, Chorley, on Monday evening.

Halliwell, who is currently on tour with the Spice Girls, visited Jessica in the Manchester Children's Hospital in Pendlebury on Friday.

Jessica's father Richard said the family were "delighted" by the visit as Jessica is a "big" Spice Girls fan.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the attempted murder of Jessica.

Halliwell visited Jessica in the hospital's intensive care unit and chatted to her for 30 minutes, a police spokesman said.

The Spice Girls are playing their last UK tour date in Manchester on Saturday.



Jessica is critically ill and sedated, but her parents said she had responded to the visit.

Mr Knight said: "We were delighted when Geri agreed to come and visit Jessica and she was really generous with her time.

"Although Jess is unable to speak at the moment you could tell she was really excited as she kept moving her arms and her legs as Geri was talking to her.

"She is a big Spice Girls fan and I'm sure this will help her on her road to recovery."

French national Kristofer Beddar, 21, of Daisy Hill Drive, Adlington, Chorley, had appeared in court charged with Jessica's attempted murder.

He was remanded in custody by Chorley magistrates until 4 February, when he is to appear at Preston Crown Court for a preliminary hearing.

Lancashire police want people to come forward with information which may help their investigation.
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After months of speculation and rumor, the Kids are coming back. A well-placed source tells PEOPLE exclusively that New Kids On The Block are indeed getting back together.

The band's Web site, www.nkotb.com, which had been dormant, is now back up and running in anticipation of the official announcement, which the source says will be made in the next few weeks.

The site currently features a television graphic with a fuzzy, flickering photos of NKOTB in their heyday, and a link inviting fans to sign up for info.

The boy band, which made legions of tweens swoon in the early '90s, selling more than 50 million albums, became a worldwide phenomenon before calling it quits in 1994.

Eighteen years later, they're still "Hangin' Tough." The oldest "Kid," Jonathan Knight, now a real estate developer, will turn 40 later this year. Since the band's demise, former members Donnie Wahlberg, 38, and Joey McIntyre, 35, have seen acting success, while Danny Wood, 38, has worked as a music producer and Knight's brother, Jordan, 37, has continued to record.

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Christian Brando, the eldest son of the late legendary actor Marlon Brando, died this morning at 1:47 a.m. at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. On Monday, Christian's attorney Benjamin Brin announced that the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia. "The prognosis is for a complete recovery," Brin said, "He's going to be OK." Christian was 49 years old.

Christian Brando was born May 11, 1958 as the result of an affair between his father and actress Anna Kashfi. Christian pled guilty to manslaughter in 1990 for killing his sister's boyfriend Dag Drollet.

In 2001, actor Robert Blake claimed that Christian was involved in the murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley. Bonnie had been dating Robert Blake and Christian when she became pregnant and initially claimed Christian to be the father until a DNA test later proved the father to be Robert. Robert was charged with her murder and acquitted, then was later found liable in a civil case.

Christian dabbled in acting, and had small roles in Yentl and I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! but never achieved the level of fame as his Academy Award winning actor father.
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Hayden Panettiere will lead a rally against a resumption of commercial whaling at 1 p.m. this Sunday, January 27, in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle. The event kicks off a whirlwind trip to the Nation’s Capital for Hayden, who will later speak with policymakers and students to encourage increased whale protection.

The 18-year-old Heroes star is a spokesperson for the Save the Whales Again! campaign, which is calling on the United States to stand up for whales at the International Whaling Commission and take diplomatic and economic action against whaling countries. After the rally, she will speak at Georgetown University. On Monday, she will meet with representatives from the embassies of Japan, Norway and Iceland to question their outdated whaling practices.

“Whales face increasing threats from climate change, ship strikes, entanglement in nets, and chemical and noise pollution, yet Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to kill them in increasing numbers,” Hayden said. “I am looking forward to talking with officials who actually make and carry out our policies, as well as fellow young people who will be voting in the upcoming election—I want our voice to be heard.”

On Tuesday, Hayden will speak at a 1 p.m. press conference hosted by House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick Rahall (D-WV). She will be joined by Rahall and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in urging the US Government to reinstate its former leadership role protecting whales from commercial slaughter. An evening reception with Members of Congress and their staff is the final stop on her trip.

JOIN HAYDEN AND SAY “NO” TO COMMERCIAL WHALING!
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New parents Nicole Richie and Joel Madden head to her manager/talent agent Benny Medina’s house to celebrate his 40th birthday in Los Angeles on Friday.

Looks like Nicole is already back in shape, showing off her post-pregnancy body in a black hip-hugging dress.

Grandfather Lionel Richie, 58, was also seen at the party with his girlfriend.

Earlier in the day, Joel, 28, and Nicole, 26, were spotted stocking up on nursing supplies at The Pump Station earlier in the day.

Daughter Harlow Madden turned two-weeks-old yesterday.
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MARY-Kate Olsen obviously moves on quickly - just days after being the first person called upon the discovery of her "friend" Heath Ledger's body, the actress has been spotted steaming up the dance floor and hooking up with a mystery fella.

Olsen, now back in New York after spending the week in Los Angeles, reportedly gyrated sexily at a hip downtown club before kissing a male friend in her entourage.

The New York Daily News today revealed the night of frantic partying came just hours before Olsen made a brief public statement about Ledger.

Released by her publicist, the statement was the first word from Olsen since the Australian-born actor's death. In its entirety it reads:

"Heath was a friend. His death is a tragic loss. My thoughts are with his family."

It's also been a tough week for masseuse Diane Wolozin. First she found Ledger’s body - then she had to handle the controversy surrounding her three phone calls to Olsen before she rang for an ambulance.

Now she could face charges. The New York Education Department notified the NYPD yesterday that she does not have a license to practice in New York.

Under state law, anyone not authorized to practice a licensed profession could be charged with a felony.
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Britney Spears may have dumped Adnan Ghalib, but he won't get off the stage. The pap says Britney could be the next Princess Diana and he is her Dodi Fayed. Adnan, like Lady Di's last lover, is of Arab descent and fears that the paparazzi hounding his true love could lead to a tragic end.

Britney's latest ex is spilling the details of his relationship with the popwreck (via Showbizspy) and admits he was falling in love with Brit Brit and wanted to marry the stumbling star. The papo insists that her behavior is completely normal (including her newly adopted British accent) and that people want to see a scandal and not the "fairytale happy endings."
[source]

Mel Gibson has called Heath Ledger's death this week a "tragic loss." But in recent years, Gibson had distanced himself from the risk-taking actor, it's been claimed.

Gibson turned cold toward Ledger after the Aussie star ignored his advice not to play a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," according to private investigator Paul Barresi.

Ledger and Gibson had grown close while filming "The Patriot," in which Ledger played Gibson's son.

"Ledger asked Gibson whether he should take the role of Ennis Del Mar in 'Brokeback,'" Barresi says a "major Hollywood producer" told him. "Gibson strongly counseled against it. The role apparently ran counter to Gibson's morality. And he felt that it would ruin Heath's career."

"When Gibson parted ways with Heath, it broke his heart," contends Barresi.

Of course, the role ended up winning Ledger critical cheers and an Oscar nomination. Speaking with London's Evening Standard in 2006, he said he took it because "it was kind of a reaction against the comparison that I'm the new Mel Gibson."

Gibson was accused of gay-bashing because of a scene in "Braveheart," in which a homosexual character is thrown out of a window. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) branded Gibson as homophobic after a December 1991 interview in which he told Spanish newspaper El País: "[Gays] take it up the a-." Gesturing toward his posterior, he added, "This is only for taking a s-."

When the interviewer recalled that Gibson had expressed fear that people would think he is gay because he's an actor, Gibson answered, "Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them? I think not."

Asked about GLAAD's criticism, he told Playboy: "I'll apologize when hell freezes over. They can f- off."

Later, though, Gibson joined GLAAD in hosting lesbian and gay filmmakers for a seminar.

Gibson's rep called the story "a complete crock of s-." Ledger's rep had no comment by deadline. Gibson also said of Ledger this week: "I had such great hope for him. He was just taking off."

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Cheryl Cole yesterday kicked cheating husband Ashley out of their home.

The devastated Girls Aloud singer is said to be "seriously considering" ending their 18-month marriage over his boozy fling with a hairdresser.

Tearful Ashley, 27, begged to stay but she sent the Chelsea star packing telling him she needs "time to think". A friend said: "She is angry."

Friends of Cheryl say she is absolutely devastated by husband Ashley's cheating - and feels utterly betrayed because they have been making plans to start a family.
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One friend said: "Cheryl is in total shock. She thought she had found the man of her dreams in Ashley. But now those dreams have been crushed.

"The worst thing about it all was that it was totally unexpected. She is angry, but mostly stunned by his betrayal.

"No one can believe Ashley has done this to Cheryl. Everyone thought their relationship was rock solid and are as shocked as Cheryl is. It is a horrible, horrible mess."

Chelsea and England star Ashley bedded single mum Aimee Walton before Christmas at a friend's flat after meeting her at a West End nightclub while drunkenly celebrating a Premiership victory.

But stunned Cheryl, 24, only learned of his infidelity on Thursday after Aimee, a 22-year-old blonde hairdresser, sold her sordid story. The Girls Aloud singer spent a sleepless night rowing with the 27-year-old defender at their £3.5 million home in Oxshott, Surrey.

Finally she ordered him to temporarily move out of the house - saying she "needed some time" to think about the future of their 18-month marriage.

Cheryl's sense of betrayal has been fuelled by the fact that she and Ashley have recently been discussing trying for a baby next year.

Her friend added: "Cheryl needs to make some difficult decisions about her future.

"She's got some serious thinking to do. She has always been very outspoken on the subject of infidelity.

"Now she has to decide whether she wants to stay with Ashley or end their marriage.

She has been through a lot of bad relationships in the past where the men have treated her badly.

"She had no idea this news was about to break and she is utterly devastated.

"She has always been happy for him to go out with his mates and other footballers.

"She never worried about what he was getting up to as she had total faith in him, 100 per cent trust."

Cheryl and Ashley were at home together when they learned that Aimee was cashing in on her drunken romp. Ashley broke down in tears as furious Cheryl ripped into him.

The friend said: "Ashley was crying and begging for her forgiveness and promised her it was a one-off. Cheryl was crying too. But it is difficult to see where they go from here."

Ashley was late for football training yesterday - turning up at 11.30, a full hour after teammates Frank Lampard and John Terry . He had left home looking tired and sheepish but still wearing his diamond-encrusted platinum wedding ring.

The former Arsenal left-back later prepared to head to the North West for today's televised FA Cup clash against Wigan.

Cheryl was consoled yesterday by mum Joan, who was already on a visit from the family's home in Byker, Newcastle. She is expected to stay with Cheryl over the weekend. Girls Aloud band members Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh also phoned to comfort her.

Cheryl has been taking a break from her Girls Aloud duties over Christmas and is due to begin work again next week.

Aimee, from Morden, South London, has boasted of having "wild sex" with Ashley after they met in the club.

She told how he downed vodka cocktails then threw up on the car journey to his mate's flat in Friern Barnet, North London.

Aimee claimed he slapped her so hard his wedding ring marked her bottom - then threw up again as they had sex.

Aimee said the £90,000-a-week star told her Cheryl "would not mind" him cheating as long as he kept it secret.

But Cheryl's brother Gary, 17, claimed Ashley would not have slept with Aimee - because she was too ugly. When he was shown her photo yesterday, he asked: "Is that who he's supposed to have sh****d? She looks like a bewer to me."

Bewer is Geordie slang for an unattractive girl who looks old beyond her years.

Gary added: "Mam is in London visiting Cheryl at the moment. She will make sure she's OK.

"I don't know about this story, I don't believe he would do that to Cheryl. I am sure they will be fine.

"I've met Ashley loads of times and I think he is a really canny lad."

Neighbours of Aimee yesterday described her as a "WAG wannabe" who would do anything to achieve fame.

They also said she was a fanatical Chelsea supporter who loved to swan about in designer labels.

Alison Bridger, 45, said: "She acts just like a footballer's wife.

"I'm not surprised she has got herself a Chelsea player, she's a big fan."

Alison told how Aimee adopted a party-mad lifestyle after dumping her boyfriend, a soldier who served in Iraq.

The couple lived together in a house for army personnel and had a young son Rhys before splitting.

Alison added: "After they split up she became a party animal. She was a neighbour from hell.

"Most of her friends are also WAG wannabes - she acts like she's Posh Spice. She's always wearing Gucci or Prada."

Ashley and Cheryl married in 2004 - two years after they met while both living in the apartment block where Ashley bedded Aimee, They couple were paid £1.5million by OK! magazine for the rights to cover their wedding.

Cheryl has often spoken in glowing terms of her relationship with Ashley.

She recently said: "We are really, really happy. We spend every minute together.

"He is not into showbiz parties or flashy restaurants, he just likes staying home with me.

"He is just an amazing, genuine man. I really want a baby and so does Ashley."
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Maria Sharapova's acceptance speech was as polished as her game at the Australian Open. A year after being on the wrong end of one of the most-lopsided losses in a Grand Slam final, Sharapova wrapped up her third major title with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Russian didn't drop a set in seven matches at Melbourne Park, including wins over three of the top four ranked players, erasing 12 months worth of painful memories in the wake of her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Serena Williams last year.



After Ivanovic sprayed a forehand wide on match point, Sharapova dropped to her knees and appeared to be fighting back tears as she waved and blew kisses to the crowd.

Then she dropped her racket in her chair before heading to shake hands and exchange high-fives with her father and supporters.

She clasped her hands and swayed as she stood, waiting to receive the Daphne Akhurst Trophy, then told the Rod Laver Arena crowd that she'd received a text message from tennis great Billie Jean King telling her that 'Champions take chances and pressure is a privilege.'

"I took mine," Sharapova said.

Sharapova wished her mother, Yelena, a happy birthday and told her how she planned to spend some of her $1,207,790 prize money.

"With this big fat check, I'm going to send you a bunch of roses," she said. "Last year I lost on her birthday and this year I said I'm going to make it up to her, and I did."

Sharapova said she "wasn't even close to winning last year."

"It's incredible. If somebody would've told me during the middle of last year I'd be here I'd have said, 'Forget it.'"

Sharapova, seeded fifth, struggled with a shoulder injury last year and slipped from No. 1 to outside the Top 5. She rallied to make the final of the season-ending championship, losing in three long sets to top-ranked Justine Henin.

The Russian star said when her coach and hitting partner Michael Joyce's mother died, it helped her put her cope with the hard times.

Every time she went out to play or practice "Jane was the name we were thinking about," Sharapova said. "I want to dedicate this win to her because after the loss (Joyce) suffered, I got a whole lot of perspective with my injuries and setbacks.

"It helped me prioritize so many things that were outside of tennis."

Ivanovic is projected to rise to No. 2 in the rankings despite the loss, while Sharapova will remain at No. 5 when the new list is released next week.

Sharapova leads their head-to-heads 3-2, avenging a straight-sets loss to the Serbian player in the French Open semifinals last year.

Ivanovic, also 20, is 0-2 in Grand Slam finals after losing the French Open championship match to Henin.

"I'm very emotional and you guys made it a very special experience for me," she told the crowd as tears welled in her eyes. Ivanovic said she expected more big Grand Slam encounters between she and Sharapova in future.

"I really feel I'm also improving my game and I'm learning how to be a top player. These situations help me," she said. "So I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to play against each other in the final of a Grand Slam."

Sharapova was aggressive from the start and, apart from one bad service game in the first set that allowed Ivanovic back to 4-4, controlled the important points against a Serbian player for the second consecutive match.

She beat No. 3 Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals after ending top-ranked Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova set up triple match point and waited patiently as Ivanovic saved two before the Russian could add to her titles at Wimbledon in 2004 and the 2006 U.S. Open.

On a hot, sunny day with temperatures touching 93 degrees, people in the crowd were fanning themselves, and Sharapova retreated to the shade behind the baselines to gather herself between points.

It was Australia Day, so organizers put small national flags at each seat. But there were plenty of Serbian and Russian flags, too.

Most of the signs scattered around a packed arena were pretty clear, including one that said "Quiet please Maria," referring to Sharapova's high-pitched grunts that get louder and louder as pressure rises.

Both players showed some nerves in the first set, with Ivanovic particularly shaky, committing 19 unforced errors to just six winners.

Serving at 2-2, Ivanovic set up double break point with a double fault, then sent a forehand long.

After holding serve the first three times at love, Sharapova returned the favor, committing three double faults while serving at 4-3, the last two at deuce to hand the game to Ivanovic.

But she shrugged off the setback, running off the last three games, breaking to go ahead 6-5, then pumping her fist and shouting "Go Maria! Come on!" Taking every second possible between points, Sharapova then held at love.

From 3-3 in the second set, Sharapova ran off the last three games again, breaking Ivanovic twice.

The advice from King, who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, was a great help, Sharapova said.

"When I was playing junior tennis she'd turn up and talk to my parents and give them advice and talk to me," Sharapova said. Now she's always someone to give me advice

"I woke up this morning to her text ... I had those great words in my mind during the match."

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Kylie Minogue has offered her condolences to fellow Aussie Heath Ledger as she flew into her "adopted" home yesterday.
Kylie, looking tanned and relaxed after spending the Christmas period at her home in Australia and a brief spell in the United States, chatted and joked with Heathrow airport staff as she arrived to squalls of wind and rain and single digit temperatures.

But she stopped to offer her sympathies to the Ledger family.

"It's very sad, it is a very sad thing," she told the Herald Sun yesterday.

It was the first time back to London for the 39-year-old singer since the Queen awarded her an OBE for services to music.

Describing the UK as her "adopted home", she said she was touched to be honoured in such a way and thanked Britons for their support professionally and personally when she was battling cancer.

"I'm honoured and pleased," she beamed yesterday when asked about the award.

Despite some British criticism about the handing out of awards to celebrities and stars, the OBE seals Kylie's reputation as one of the music industry's most enduring icons with more than 20 years of consistent Number 1 hits.

Kylie said it has been a difficult two years but she was looking forward to 2008.

Meanwhile, Kylie and Robert de Niro were yesterday honoured by receiving Germany's top showbiz honour the Golden Camera.

De Niro will receive a lifetime achievement award, while Minogue will be honoured as best international music act.
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Miley Cyrus was "upset" to learn a mother of a Hannah Montana fan faked a competition to win tickets to a sold-out show by pretending the girl's father had been killed in Iraq.

The 15-year-old pop sensation was shocked to hear that Texan Priscilla Ceballos had submitted the fictional, contest-winning essay earlier this month.

Competition organizers withdrew the prizes that were awarded to Ceballos' daughter Alexis, including a Hannah Montana make-over and an all-expenses paid trip to a concert in Albany, N.Y., when the untruth came to light.

The opening line of Alexis' essay read, "My daddy died this year in Iraq."

But Priscilla confessed, "We did the essay and that's what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win."

In an interview set to air on "Good Morning America" on Monday, Cyrus says, "I was really kind of upset. I mean, that's just not a cool scenario.

"But it just shows what people will do for a ticket."
[source]

Scarlett Johansson returned from the Persian Gulf with a whole lot of soldiers' trinkets and a delusion of her own engagement — to Barack Obama.

"I am engaged ... to Barack Obama," Johansson joked in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. "My heart belongs to Barack, and that is who I am currently, finally, engaged to. Yes."

Johansson, who showed her support for the Democratic presidential candidate at the Iowa caucus earlier this month, was really just deflecting a question about rumors she might be engaged (to actor-beau Ryan Reynolds).

The 23-year-old actress talked about the warm welcome she received while visiting troops stationed in the Persian Gulf last week. Johansson dropped by U.S. bases in Kuwait on Jan. 17 and Jan. 18 as part of a USO tour in which she met about 3,500 men and women in uniform.

"Everybody that I met there was so incredibly friendly and polite and genuine and generous," she said. "They were so, so sweet. I mean, I was just amazed."

Johansson said some people ripped patches off their jackets as gifts and handed her challenge coins from their military units. One Marine offered up his St. Christopher medal. Another starstruck guy gushed: "You made my whole deployment!"

Johansson has a full plate for 2008, with the release of films including "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "He's Just Not That Into You," as well as the arrival of her debut album on May 20.

The disc, called "Anywhere I Lay My Head," features Tom Waits cover songs and one original track. "It was a really, really sort of inspired process to make this CD, and it was something I'd never done before," said Johansson, who said the album has a dreamy, ethereal quality.

On a far more serious note: Johansson was still speechless Thursday over the death of fellow actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead Tuesday in his Manhattan apartment. "I'm really just so very shocked," she said. "He was an incredibly sweet, kindhearted and enthusiastic person. And, you know, he loved his daughter — I mean, that was like the light of his life. It's just a terrible loss."
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Having achieved major success on the stage and screen as a singer and as an actress, Beyonce, who starred in 'Dreamgirls', will be singing again on the big screen for her next big role. While speaking to Cedric the Entertainer on his latest film, 'Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins', he mentioned to blackfilm.com that Beyonce has been cast to play famed singer Etta James on his next film, 'Cadillac Records'.

The story is about Leonard Chess, the legendary founder of the South Side Chicago blues label Chess Records. The period piece follows the rise and fall of Chess Records, which launched the careers of such R&B greats as Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry. Chess, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, scoured the South, checking out the various blues scenes and selling records from the back of his Cadillac. Cedric the Entertainer will play Willie Dixon, who wrote most of the hits records and was part of the famous company. One of his most famous songs was "Hoochie Coochie Man".

Oscar winner Adrien Brody has also joined the cast to replace Matt Dillon as Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records. Dillon had to drop out of the project due to a scheduling conflict.

As previously reported, Jeffrey Wright will portray Muddy Waters in the film set in 1950s Chicago. Also new to the cast are Emmanuelle Chriqui, Columbus Short and Tammy Blanchard.

Darnell Martin ("Their Eyes Were Watching God") penned the script and is directing. Sony/BMG's Sofia Sondervan and Andrew Lack are producing.

According to Allmusicguide.com, James landed at Chicago's Chess Records in 1960, signing with their Argo subsidiary. Immediately, her recording career kicked into high gear; not only did a pair of duets with her then-boyfriend (Moonglows lead singer Harvey Fuqua) chart, her own sides (beginning with the tortured ballad "All I Could Do Was Cry") chased each other up the R&B lists as well. Leonard Chess viewed James as a classy ballad singer with pop crossover potential, backing her with lush violin orchestrations for 1961's luscious "At Last" and "Trust in Me." But James' rougher side wasn't forsaken -- the gospel-charged "Something's Got a Hold on Me" in 1962, a kinetic 1963 live LP (Etta James Rocks the House) cut at Nashville's New Era Club, and a blues-soaked 1966 duet with childhood pal Sugar Pie De Santo, "In the Basement," ensured that.
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Kelly Osbourne wiped away tears last night as she helped her friend Amy Winehouse check into rehab.

The 23-year-old was on hand to support the Back To Black singer as she settled into the Marylebone treatment facility to try and kick her addiction to drugs.

Along with Amy's father Mitch, Kelly arrived laden down with Amy's belongings, which she'd collected for her from her flat in Bow, east London.

She brought two suitcases and two large holdalls, suggesting that Winehouse, 24, might be staying at the centre for quite some time.

A statement from her record company, Universal, said Amy had entered the rehab clinic "to continue her ongoing recovery against drug addiction".

Amy, 24, sought help after her father admitted her family have looked into getting her sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

She has been at the centre of a police inquiry after being caught on video last week, apparently inhaling from a crack pipe.

"Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors," Universal Music Group said in a statement.

"She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction," the statement said.

Ironically, Winehouse - who has been nominated for a six Grammys - made her name with a hit song entitled "Rehab".

She has subsequently cancelled her appearance at a French awards ceremony this Saturday and it is said her decision comes in a bid to prepare herself for the upcoming Grammys.

Winehouse was spotted in London's Regents Park today wearing a fitted black shirt, and matching miniskirt, exposing her painfully thin legs.

In an interview with Vanessa Feltz on BBC London father Mitch complained the authorities don't regard her drug-taking as a danger to herself.

But, he said, they needed her to agree to treatment. The family were helpless to intervene without her consent because the authorities don't see her drug addiction as harmful.

"The moment she says she wants to be in a facility, in half an hour she will be in a facility," said her father, Mitch, 57.

He said psychiatric help was "something we have looked at, and Amy is no way near in a position to be sectioned".

He added: "But unless she wants to do it of her own accord, it's pointless. You can't lock the key and say 'you can't come out before you're better'. That's called abduction."

Mr Winehouse described the pictures from the drugs video as "horrible", adding: "Her intake had been much reduced, but there are people around her which I have no control of. I can't physically remove them. She doesn't think she's got a problem. She thinks she can do what she does recreationally and get on with her life."

Mr Winehouse called a family meeting last night to discuss keeping a close eye on Amy to try to save her from self destruction.

And it appears he may have hired a fearsome looking balaclava-clad bodyguard to assist him in his efforts.

The powerfully-built man was seen earlier yesterday in the courtyard of Amy's east London gated apartment building dressed in black clothing and army fatigues.

Amy appeared in the background, dressed in a blue minidress as he patrolled the courtyard's perimeter.

And chillingly, he made a shooting gesture at the army of photographers who follow her every move.

On Tuesday Mitch took Amy to the Capio Nightingale Hospital, a drugs clinic in Marylebone, for a two-hour appointment in an attempt to get her to clean up her act.

Police are viewing the video footage of Amy apparently smoking crack.

The troubled stars' frantic parents have been forced to intervene following the latest revelations of the depth of Amy's drug-taking.

Her desperate father Mitch who has been driven to the end of his tether has taken matters into his own hands because he is terrified her continued drug use could kill her.

The former taxi driver has demanded that his 24 year-old daughter move home with him to keep her away from the influence of her junkie friends.

A friend of the family said: "As any father would be, Mitch is terribly concerned about Amy's latest brush with drugs.

"She has been making good progress up until this setback but for Mitch it's the last straw - if she doesn't sort herself out and get her head straight, who knows where it will end.

"Mitch is terrified about the people she associates with and thinks that by taking these low-lifes out of the equation, Amy will face less temptation.

"He's asked her to come and live with him until she's back on the straight and narrow - or ideally, until Blake comes out of custody.

"If Mitch is by her side almost 24/7 he can monitor exactly who she hangs out with and where she does it.

"Amy may be 24 but as far as Mitch is concerned, she is never too old for a good dose of family TLC."

The 19-minute video released on Tuesday showed the dishevelled singer seen snorting powdered ecstasy and cocaine before heading to her bedroom, where she inhaled crack cocaine in front of her wedding photo.

Taken in the early hours of Friday morning it showed Miss Winehouse taking drugs just hours before appearing in court to support her husband Blake Fielder Civil who appeared on charges connected with a violent bar brawl.

Police are investigating the footage before deciding whether to press charges.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Officers will be viewing the footage when we receive it. "We will then assess the footage to ascertain whether any action needs to be taken."

Aside from taking a toll on her health the drug-taking revelations could ruin Miss Winehouse's successful career.

It has been reported that her record company Island Records will consider dropping plans to promote her in the US because of the latest scandal.

There was a question over whether the US authorities will grant her a visa to go to the Grammy awards next month.

Miss Winehouse's family are hoping they will succeed where professional intervention has failed.

Miss Winehouse has made three brief and unsuccessful visits to rehab in the past year.

She made the first visit to the Causeway Clinic in Essex in August 2007 with husband Blake Fielder Civil but the pair discharged themselves after a few days.

She then checked in just weeks later after publicly overdosing on a cocktail of drink and drugs.

She spent two days at the same addiction centre - which costs £10,000 a week - before storming out and vowing never to return.

In November last year Winehouse pulled out of a concert in Bournemouth, after stumbling and slurring her words on stage, and promised to seek help for drug addiction after being jeered off stage by fans.

She was seen by doctors at the London Clinic in Harley Street before being admitted back into the Causeway Clinic.

Amy has moved in with her father Mitch Winehouse and left the North London home she shared with husband Blake Fielder Civil - the scene of the infamous crack-smoking video.
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Geri Halliwell has been secretly dating comedian David Walliams since the New Year, according to a report.

The Spice Girl has been friends with the Little Britain star for a few years but they have only recently become an item.

"They have been secretly dating since the New Year and nobody knows," a source told the Mirror, adding: "They are very tactile with each other and he's such a gent.

"Geri just can't stop smiling... They will be gutted when news of their relationship leaks as until now they've been able to carry on without anyone knowing."

Meanwhile, Geri's bandmates have suggested that George Clooney ask her out following his recent praise for her charity efforts and admission that she was his favorite Spice Girl.
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