Marilyn Manson: Nice guy?
A certain concert security guard probably doesn't think so, but a mother in Scotland insists the Goth rocker is just a big ol' softy. Rona Raphael, whose teenage daughter Nicola committed suicide after being teased for her goth style, said she was "touched" by Manson's invitation to meet her after a Glasgow concert over the weekend.
"Despite all the controversy about him and his shows, he just seemed like a normal man to me," Raphael told the Scottish Daily Record. "He was very caring and considerate."
Raphael said she was anxious to tell Manson how much his music had meant to her daughter, who was buried with her ticket to the Glasgow concert, and found the experience of meeting him "incredibly helpful."
"When I walked into his dressing room he just got up from his seat, shook my hand and gave me a big hug," she said, adding that Manson, who dedicated a song to Nicola from the stage, "had removed all his makeup but I noticed he still had his weird contact lens in."
I guess some antichrist superstar habits die hard.
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Are you listening, Catherine Zeta-Jones?
"I think you do great violence to yourself as a woman by lying about your age, because it undermines your self-esteem."
-- "Once and Again" star Sela Ward, 45, on aging gracefully, in Ladies' Home Journal.
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Friends 4-ever
Quick, someone hand Jennifer Aniston a hanky.
The poor dear is all choked up about the end of "Friends" being nigh. After all, despite all that "I'll be there for" stuff, this season is reportedly the show's last.
"It's heartbreaking," Aniston sniffles to TV Guide Online. "If I think about it, it chokes me up to realize that this will be over. It's been a pretty intense eight years for this group of people, experiencing a lot together. It's a major crossroads we're at together in our lives. So it's very, very sad."
Bring on the reunion shows. "A Very 'Friends' Christmas," anyone?
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The anti-Sally Field
"At the Oscars you either get two seconds to thank God or you get to be an extra in this terrible TV show. I'd be embarrassed to be there."
-- Sean Penn saying "No thanks" to the Academy, on Ananova.com.
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PETA patrol
Animal rights activists Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson and Alec Baldwin are set to host the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' 21st annual Humanitarian Awards on Sept. 8. This year's honorees will include Charlize Theron, Bill Maher, Russell Simmons and Chrissie Hynde.
But one pseudocelebrity seems to have fallen off the PETA bandwagon: Kimmi Kappenberg, the whiney meat-eschewer from "Survivor II."
The New York Daily News reports that the Long Island bartender made an appearance last weekend at a party sponsored by Coach leather goods. But she swore she did not snap up the $200 Coach bag the sponsors sent her way.
"I realize it's odd that I'm here," Kappenberg said. "Coach is a good company and their bags last a long time, but I don't wear leather."
Not a very heartfelt endorsement. Maybe the hosts should have invited boar killer Michael Skupin instead.
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