Morning Briefing:
Weird Lachey gossip item o' the week: Apparently there was more to the girl-on-girl action at the friend's bachelor party that Nick Lachey attended last year than just girl-on-girl action. At the time, Star magazine reported rumors that Lachey cheated on his wife with porn star Jessica Jaymes, who was putting on the show, but both Jaymes and Lachey denied the story. Now, Jaymes is changing her tune, maybe. As Page Six reports, Jaymes and her business manager are shopping the "real story" around to the tune of $1 million, but won't divulge details. Last year, the story, as Page Six has it, went like this: "At one point, Lachey got on the bed with the girls and seemed 'in a trance.' Eventually, Jaymes' male pal became 'so concerned' about something that Star doesn't specify, he 'intervened,' pulling Jaymes away from the bed -- to Lachey's 'dismay.'" What Jaymes is selling now has to do with what got Jaymes' friend so worried and made Lachey so dismayed. (Page Six)
And in other news: That's not the only story Lachey and his wife, Jessica Simpson, have to worry about this week. With the rumors that their marriage is a not-so-carefully constructed façade showing no signs of going away, Simpson's publicist, Brad Cafarelli, dumped her last week. As Gawker wrote: "Interestingly, we hear Cafarelli's final straw was utter exhaustion, the sort that comes from pretending, for the benefit of the press, that Simpson's marriage to Nick Lachey isn't a total sham." It didn't help matters much when the couple appeared together at a fashion launch party in Los Angeles over the weekend and spent the whole time not speaking. Despite an actual A-list crowd, a source tells the New York Daily News, "everyone was whispering and looking at Nick and Jessica." (Gawker, N.Y. Daily News)
Making an honest woman out of Christina": "Dirrty" girl Christina Aguilera and her boyfriend, music executive Jordan Bratman, were married over the weekend in Napa Valley, Calif. According to Us Weekly's meticulous account -- the magazine proudly trumpets that it's "the first media outlet in the world" to announce the good news -- the rehearsal dinner included guests like Sharon Stone and featured Japanese food, including the "Christina Aguilera Roll," a sushi roll wrapped in soy paper and stuffed with spicy tuna, rice, avocado and sweet eel sauce. (Us Weekly)
Celebrity blotter: A quick roundup of recent high-profile legal wrangling -- first, a Los Angeles jury has found Robert Blake liable for the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakely, and has ordered him to pay $30 million to Bakely's four children. Was it celebrity justice? At the very least, Blake's attitude on the stand didn't help his case. "We believe that Mr. Blake was probably his worst enemy on the stand," jury foreman Bob Horn said after the verdict was announced. Next: Russell Crowe was in court in Manhattan, where a judge ordered him to pay $160 and placed him on conditional discharge -- meaning he can't get into any legal trouble for a year -- after Crowe pleaded guilty to throwing a phone at a hotel employee. And a judge released Courtney Love from rehab, where in addition to getting clean, she's been busy writing songs for her next album, including upbeat titles like "My Bedroom Walls," "Depths of My Despair" and "How Dirty Girls Get Clean." She still has 60 days to serve on her sentence, which she'll do at home, with a 10 p.m. curfew. (E! Online, Associated Press, N.Y. Daily News, NME, ContactMusic)
Also:
After cutting short a press conference in China on Sunday, President Bush tried to make a quick getaway, but couldn't find the door out and admitted, "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work." See the video here. (Reuters) ... Paris Hilton has been ordered to give up her most recent pint-sized animal accessory, a kinkajou monkey she bought in Las Vegas named Baby Luv, because owning one is illegal in Los Angeles. (LondonNet) ... After months of low-profile strolls on the beach, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended their first public event together on Saturday, the gala grand opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky. (Star) ... Fox still hasn't been able to close negotiations to get Simon Cowell for another season of the network's most successful show, "American Idol" (N.Y. Times) ... Parents Television Council, the TV watchdog group that turned filing FCC complaints into a popular pastime, has released its latest report: The number of dead bodies on television has more than doubled in the last year, and that's not counting any Iraq coverage. (BBC)
Money Quote:
Keira Knightley on how yelling at Dame Judi Dench was the best part of filming "Pride & Prejudice": "I loved it -- what an opportunity, to tell off Judi Dench! You only get to do that once!" (N.Y. Daily News)
Turn On:
In an obviously sweeps-related move, "Medium" (NBC, 10 p.m. EDT) airs a special 3-D show tonight, so grab a pair of those blue and red glasses. "Edge of America" (Showtime, 8 p.m. EDT) is a made-for-TV sports saga based on a true story -- a black English teacher finds himself coaching a girls basketball team on an American Indian reservation. Ted Koppel, whose 28-year run as anchor of "Nightline" ends on Tuesday, appears in the first of two nights in conversation with "Charlie Rose" (PBS, check local listings).
-- Scott Lamb
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