The news of Britney Spears' upcoming appearance on How I Met Your Mother shocked not only the public, but the show's stars as well.

"I was shocked that Madame Spears was willing to come and do some acting! She hasn't acted in a while," Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the womanizing Barney, tells Entertainment Tonight.

Nevertheless, the Emmy-nominated actor thinks Brit would do well on the sitcom with her "very interesting role." Confirming early reports that the 26-year-old is playing a worker at Ted's (Josh Radnor) doctor's office, Neil provides a tad more detail.

"She plays the secretary to another girl that Ted is after," he says. "It will be very unlike any Britney we have seen before, and we have seen a lot of Britney recently."

But don't expect to see a lot of Britney on set. Because the CBS hit films on a closed set, the 34-year-old doesn't expect to deal with the swarm of paparazzi that follows the pop star everywhere.

However, he does consider the idea that the onslaught of paps and her year-long erratic behavior are not at all what they seem to be.

"What if she shows up on set and she is absolutely, totally normal and that whole thing has been a big ruse? She is smoking a cigarette and [says], 'Oh yes, it is all a big bit. I have a master plan.'"
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Britney Spears Shopping at Intermix Boutique in Beverly Hills

Lynne Spears is in Los Angeles to visit with her grandchildren, a source close to the family tells Access Hollywood.

Lynne Spears will see Britney's boys with Kevin Federline - Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

The grandmother is currently dividing her time 50/50 between Los Angeles, where Britney lives, and Kentwood, Louisiana, where daughter Jamie Lynn Spears, is holed up, preparing for the birth of her first child.

Lynne has been splitting her time between the two locales in order to support Britney, who is currently under a conservatorship and 16-year-old Jamie Lynn.

As for Britney, the family feels that lately, there has been an "upswing," in how things are going for the embattled pop star, the source told Access. The family acknowledges however, that they have a "long way to go," the source added.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Britney will appear in the primetime sitcom, "How I Met Your Mother."

She has also been teaching occasional dance classes to children at the Millennium Dance Complex in Los Angeles.

Britney and her father, Jamie Spears, who is co-conservator over his daughter, are getting along "OK," the source added, and the pop singer is said to be more "stable," of late.

The family is "hopeful for the first time in a long time," the source added over Britney's condition.
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Jamie Lynn Spears sporting around

Lindsay Lohan's friends and family are reportedly desperate to keep her away from 28-year-old lesbian Courtenay Semel.

Friends of the troubled actress - who completed a two-month stint in rehab last year for drink and drug problems - are said to be worried about her new friend, and are scared Lindsay will be susceptible to other "bad influences".

A source close to Lindsay's family told the New York Post newspaper: "They are all just leeches, and they are trying to drag Lindsay down and use her for her fame."

Meanwhile, Lindsay intends to have nothing to do with 'Living Lohan' - the E! channel reality show her sister Ali and mother Dina are starring in.

The 'Mean Girls' star was overheard blasting the program last week at a party.

A source said: "Lindsay looked like she was having a really good time, but she got annoyed when someone bought up the Lohan reality show, and snapped, 'I'm not going to have anything to do with it.' "
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Janet Jackson is sick—but not in the good way.

The reigning chart queen was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center late Monday after coming down with a nasty—again, not in the good, patented Miss Jackson way—virus.

"She's been battling this flu like everyone else," Jackson's rep, Patti Webster, told E! News, adding that the singer otherwise boasts a clean bill of health.

The 41-year-old has since been released, Webster said, but will not be appearing as the musical guest on this weekend's Saturday Night Live, as scheduled.

News of the singer's trip to the sick bay was first reported by Us Weekly, which claimed Jackson was admitted after experiencing "shortness of breath."

The ailment comes in the wake of some good news for the singer, whose new album, Discipline, debuted atop the Billboard album charts last week, her sixth disc to hit number one. She will tour later this year.

Not one for a lack of projects, Jackson also recently confirmed that she is in the process of cowriting a book about weight loss with her nutritionist, in which she will discuss her history of being an "emotional eater."

The as-yet-untitled tome will include tips on a healthy approach to eating (feed a cold, hospitalize the flu?) and is due out by the end of the year.

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A man who sent Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster threatening letters for several years was arrested on Tuesday on charges of mailing a bomb threat to a Los Angeles airport.

Michael Smegal, 42, of Holliston, Massachusetts, was charged in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts with mailing a threatening letter to Van Nuys Airport in early December.

The letter was one of more than 100 nearly identical letters with references to Foster mailed to celebrities, business executives, airports and other locations around Los Angeles from September 2007 to January 2008, an affidavit said.

Foster, a two-time Oscar winner who won her first Academy Award playing a rape victim in 1988’s “The Accused,” received anonymous letters from Massachusetts beginning in 2004. In 2005, Smegal admitted to police he had sent the letters and promised to stop, the affidavit said.

If convicted, Smegal faces up to 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
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Dennis Hopper's teenage son is furious with Oscars host Jon Stewart, after he mocked the actor's drugs past during this year's ceremony.

During his monologue, Stewart joked the 'Easy Rider' star "didn't know" where he was - citing Hopper's years of addiction for his alleged memory loss.

But Hopper's guest at the bash, his 17-year-old son Henry, hated watching his father being teased.

The veteran actor says: "I think Jon's terrific. I think it's better to be noticed than not. My 17-year-old son was upset by it. He said: 'Don't they know you?' He's never experienced that with me since I've been sober for 24 years. It's not exactly a new joke."
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Patrick Dempsey unveiled a cancer center in his name at the Central Maine Medical Center in his hometown of Lewiston, Maine, on Monday.

The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, which opens March 31, will offer education and support programs for cancer patients and their families.

The Grey’s Anatomy star, 42, says he was inspired after his mother successfully overcame ovarian cancer at the hospital.

“For a family to get a cancer diagnosis is devastating, and all the information out there can be overwhelming," he said. "A lot of the Web sites I went to just didn't have enough information.”

Dempsey, who provided a seed grant for the center, will also take part in the center’s public education campaign about cancer prevention and detection. His sister, Mary, a hospital employee, will run the center.

Dempsey has been wed to his wife Jillian for eight years. They have twins, Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick, and a daughter, Tallulah.
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