Halle Berry wants the world to know: Friends don't let friends drink Diet Coke and drive.
Berry was slapped with three years of probation, a $13,500 fine and 200 hours of community service after she pleaded no contest on Wednesday to leaving the scene of a traffic accident.
It was amnesia from her head wound, she says, that made her hightail it back to her house without stopping to check on the injured driver of the car she'd just crushed.
"In my right mind, I would never do that. I would never leave," she told Diane Sawyer on ABC's "20/20."
So what was it, drugs? A couple of cocktails? "The truth is I was at my girlfriend's house, catching up, having chips and Diet Coke, left her house to go back to my house, which was just five minutes away," said Berry.
Maybe next time she should try the Diet Sprite.
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"American Psycho" was cake
"I had nightmares the whole time."
-- Christian Bale on the terror of playing Jesus in a TV movie.
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Oh, brother
Those of you who've been worried about how Angelina Jolie's brother is taking the news that she's promised her tongue kisses to another for life can breathe easy.
James Haven apparently believes he has nothing to fear from his sister's new hubby, Billy Bob Thornton.
When Jolie called from Vegas to let him know she and Thornton were tying the knot, Haven recalls in the upcoming issue of Us Weekly, "I asked her if she was happy. She said, 'Yes, this is it.'" Then he got a message from Thornton saying, "Brother, I can't wait to meet you."
"I'm totally elated for them," Haven gushes. "If Angie is happy, I'm happy."
Then again, his blessings are not without reservation. "Marriage is special," he opines. "I believe it's forever. Billy Bob's been married a lot, and my sister has been married once. So I want to say 'Prove me right, guys. Make the happiness stay.'"
Sour grapes?
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Lecter lecture
"This will add nothing to Florence's world prestige. We believe that instead ... the city would become the setting for morbid thrills and vulgar horror."
-- An open letter from local politicians urging the mayor of Florence, Italy, to cancel permission for "Hannibal" to shoot a gory scene inside the ornate Salon of the Lilies in the city's Palazzo Vecchio.
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Rocky MCXII ... for real
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the multiplex ...
"Rocky 6" could be on its way. According to Entertainment Weekly, Sylvester Stallone has squeezed out one more script about the Italian Stallion and is hoping to get MGM interested in spending big bucks on it.
"We need at least 20 or 22 million dollars to do it," Stallone says. "I mean, you gotta pay Talia Shire [aka Mrs. Rocky] something."
Stallone describes this latest installment as grittier than "Rockies" past. Round six features a down-on-his-luck boxer returning to the ring to raise money for a Christian youth association.
"I've tried to emulate a few things in reality, such as the George Foreman story," he says, admitting that, at this point, Rocky is "probably going to lose."
Still, the 53-year-old actor told EW, "It's already been 10 years since 'Rocky V.' What are you going to do, wait 20 years? It's now or never."
Never sounds good.
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Juicy bits
The Darva Conger nudie pictorial is officially a wrap -- or rather an unwrap. On Wednesday, Playboy CEO Christie Hefner told company shareholders that pics of Rick Rockwell's ex are in the can and "beautiful." Now, it's just a matter of milking it. "Darva is meeting with Hef right now to work out a schedule for promoting the issue," said Hefner. And as soon as that's over, she'll really want her privacy back.
Whitney Houston's husband does not have her luck with the law. Bobby Brown is cooling his heels in a Florida jail after he was arrested in New Jersey on Wednesday on an outstanding probation violation. According to the Associated Press, Brown was nabbed by customs officials at Newark Airport as he and Houston returned from a trip to the Bahamas. The warrant for his arrest was issued last June, when Brown's probation officer reported that the singer's urine test showed evidence of cocaine use. Brown refused to repeat the test. Well, that's one way to piss off the authorities.
Have Angelina and Billy Bob kicked off a Tinseltown trend? Puerto Rican pop star Marc Anthony and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres hopped on a private jet to Las Vegas on Tuesday night and got hitched in a hurry. "They've been engaged seven months, and had joked about getting married this week," Anthony's publicist told the press. "Meantime, he was planning this surprise for her." That sure is a surprise.
Body slam this -- Jesse Ventura: The Musical. The New York Daily News reports that the Minnesota gov has forged a deal with veteran producer Pierre Cossette to bring his life story to Broadway. "The Body Ventura" is slated to premiere next year. But wait, it gets worse. Cossette is said to have offered the lead role to David Hasselhoff. "It'll be like 'Rocky,' only with music and dance," says Cossette. Maybe they should call it "Dumb as a Rocky."
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