Morning Briefing:
Newlyweds no more: Us Weekly breaks with the news (out on the stands today) that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are splitsville and will formally divorce later in the month. In this decidedly pro-Nick report, blame falls squarely on Svengali-father Joe Simpson and Jessica "Jessica's the problem. She's not the girl America fell in love with anymore," whines one source. Tune in for a full recap tomorrow. (Us Weekly via Gawker)
Lohan crashes, again: Last May, Lindsay Lohan famously got into a car accident after being chased by paparazzi, but when she had a head-on collision with a van in West Hollywood Tuesday afternoon, it's not clear if she was being chased or not. One thing that is clear: She was going somewhere in a hurry: "Out of nowhere, this car comes racing down Robertson Blvd.," a witness told PerezHilton.com. "The car must have been going about 60-70 mph." Talking to People, another witness said, "She came up the street like a bat out of hell. She was nailing it. The guy she hit was making a U-turn to get into his parking place." Both cars were totaled, but Lohan and the driver of the other car are, somehow, apparently all right. (Perez Hilton, People)
Miller speaks: Judith Miller's first TV appearance since getting out of jail was Tuesday on "Lou Dobbs Tonight." Some highlights:
Dobbs: It's -- first, the idea of 85 days in jail is something that most of us cannot comprehend. It is -- give us your -- the sense of what you had to endure?
Miller: Well, it was the most soulless place I've ever been. I think we don't realize how much we take things for granted like color, silence, the right to take two aspirin when you feel you have a headache. It was demeaning. It was degrading. It was very lonely.
But it has to be put in perspective. It's not a deadly illness. I knew I was going to get through it one day -- I didn't know how long it was going to last -- and I learned a lot from it. So all experiences of life teach you something ...
Dobbs: There are those liberals who've commented here, obviously in public, and I'm sure to you, saying, you know, she is protecting a conservative White House and really is not protecting sources, or upholding the public's right to know by doing so. She's really providing benefits to the conservative -- this from the liberals -- the conservative enemy. How does that make you feel? How do you respond?
Miller: Well, they wrote lots of postcards, saying I should testify, and why wasn't I testifying? Why was I covering for these people? You know, Lou, I knew and I know they wasn't covering for anybody. I was protecting the confidentiality of the source to whom I had given my word. I was keeping my word. And until I knew that that source genuinely wanted me to testify, and I heard that from him, I was willing to sit in jail. I didn't want to be in jail, but I knew that the principle of confidentiality was so important that I had to, because if people can't trust us to come to us to tell us the things that government and powerful corporations don't want us to know, we're dead in the water. The public won't know.
Dobbs: The public is certainly ...
Miller: The public won't know. That's why I was sitting in jail. For the public's right to know.
Read the whole transcript (scroll down). (CNN via Romenesko)
Just in case you haven't seen it yet: The video that sparked the whole ongoing Kate Moss drug "scandal" has hit the Web, or at least a version of it has. The four minutes of grainy footage is accompanied by an Italian narration, with occasional words like "Babyshambles" popping up (though the editors helpfully include little red indicators to point out Moss, Pete Doherty, the white powder, beer, wine and a glass of what looks like whiskey). And yes, Moss does sort and snort, and though it's impossible to say with 100 percent certainty that the white powder is actually cocaine, the narration does drop out at one point to hear her say something about "too much skunk." (iFilm)
Also:
For poor George Clooney, rumors about a Brangelina wedding have become to his promotion of "Good Night, and Good Luck" as the TomKat fiasco was to Spielberg's "War of the Worlds." Asked yet again whether he would be hosting a wedding for the two at his villa on Lake Como, he had to again insist the answer is no. "I would know, and I can tell you there's not going to be a secret wedding" The online betting site Bodog is taking wagers on Oprah's fortitude in the face of a Scientology onslaught: "Will Oprah Winfrey announce that she has converted to Scientology before December 31, 2005?" If so, your $100 bet will get you $200 Is Stevie Wonder going to get his sight? He has been contemplating the possibility of participating in an experimental sight-restoring surgery, saying, "I've been tested and there was some possibility that I could maybe be a candidate" J. Lo is apparently unfazed by PETA's recent attempts to change her fur-wearing, meat-eating ways. After the animal rights groups targeted her use of fur in her fashion line, J. Lo has been talking up one of PETA's other targets, KFC. She claims she eats it all the time, because "you get free cake." A PETA spokesperson wonders, "Is there not an ounce of compassion in this woman?" Gerard Depardieu, known best for his bumbling French charm in "Green Card" and outsized nose in "Cyrano de Bergerac," has a nasty side that would make Russell Crowe blush: He's accused of sending a paparazzo to the hospital after head-butting him in the face in Florence, Italy. Dario Orlandi, who got treatment for a bleeding face after trying to snap a photo of Depardieu, says, "It was completely over the top. He head-butted me in the face."
Money Quotes:
Sharon Stone, during a press conference announcing she'll be the new face of Christian Dior, on Kate Moss, forgiveness and loyalty: "I understand that she has apologized and is changing her life. And I think that that is the most important thing that's happened. I think that we have to be aware that people are allowed to make mistakes in their life ... Whether or not a (fashion) house stands with her or not through it says more about the house than it does about her." (WENN via IMDB)
Joan Rivers on Katie Holmes' future prospects: "Each woman has done very well by him -- Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz. So this one, Katie Holmes, who doesn't seem to have much talent, is probably the luckiest of all. I saw her in 'Batman Begins' and, let's just say, she better hang on to Tom for a while!" (ContactMusic)
Turn On:
At 8 p.m. (EDT), it's the season premiere of "One Tree Hill" (the WB), and at 9 p.m., Kevin Smith makes a cameo on "Veronica Mars."
-- Scott Lamb
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