Morning Briefing:
Pitt caught with his pants down? The new cover of Vanity Fair sports a shirtless Brad Pitt, but the magazine's decision to use the image on its cover came as a complete surprise to Pitt. A source tells TMZ the image came from a project Pitt did with artist Robert Wilson last year -- for which Pitt signed a waiver granting Wilson the rights to the photo -- but Pitt had no idea it would end up on the cover of a magazine. In a statement, Pitt's busy lawyers said: "We are very disappointed that Vanity Fair has chosen to put an unauthorized cover on their magazine. It seriously makes me question their integrity and motives." (TMZ)
Dowd on Colbert and Stewart: Maureen Dowd has a long interview with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the new issue of Rolling Stone, focusing on the permeable membrane separating real news from fake. Dowd writes: "At last, they turn their attention to me. Their gazes are not, as I'd expected, full of respect. They regard with amused disdain the old-fashioned, phone-book-size Radio Shack tape recorder I'd put on the floor between them. 'I had one like that in 1973,' Colbert notes. 'I thought it was a chaise,' Stewart says. 'I was going to lie down on it. I suppose there are two gerbils in there slowly paddling, and that's moving the wheel.' He asks if I also brought a calligrapher." (Rolling Stone)
Ryan was cheatin' on Reese? The National Enquirer says it has found out the reason why Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe split up earlier this week, and her name is Abbie Cornish. Phillippe met the Australian actress recently during the filming of "Stop Loss," and there have been various gossip reports involving the two and the word "canoodle." The Enquirer says Witherspoon ended the marriage after she discovered e-mails between her husband and another woman on Phillippe's BlackBerry. (National Enquirer)
Madonna offered father help: In an interview with Meredith Vieira airing today, Madonna says she offered her adopted son's father money so that he could raise the boy himself, but he turned her down: "I offered that in court when I met him. I couldn't really understand that decision ... I believe he remarried and had moved to another village and was kind of getting on with his life." She says she took his refusal as "my sign that ... it was my responsibility to look after him," and that she does plan to teach her son about Kabbalah: "I believe in Jesus and I study Kabbalah. So, I don't see why he can't, too." (New York Daily News)
Also:
Anna Nicole Smith was hospitalized on Tuesday in the Bahamas for pneumonia, staying in the same hospital where she recently gave birth to her baby and lost her son. (National Enquirer) ... Is Angelina Jolie pregnant again? A source in India where Jolie's currently filming "A Mighty Heart" tells Star that she can't keep down food, has gone off birth control and has started on prenatal vitamins. (Star) ... Katie Couric's ratings as anchor of "The "CBS Evening News" remain mired solidly in third place -- she has an average 7.3 million viewers, compared with 8.4 million for ABC and 8.9 million for NBC -- even an interview with Michael J. Fox last week bumped up her viewership to only 7.4 million. (Associated Press) ... Alec Baldwin says he walked away from his involvement on a forthcoming documentary about California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger because the filmmakers were too harsh, including Nazi imagery in their film: "The people of California have the right to reelect an unqualified man to lead their state, and they have the right to do so without unfair and ultimately offensive images of the Third Reich thrown in for bad measure." (Huffington Post via Deadline Hollywood Daily) ... U.S. publishers are wary of Sacha Baron Cohen's plans for a book written as his character Borat, worried that the book, which will include "100 compromising Polaroids" of women on toilets, will be refused by Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers. (N.Y. Daily News) ... Several photo agencies and celebrity weeklies are reportedly mulling legal action against gossip blogger Perez Hilton for the unauthorized use of paparazzi photos on his Web site -- one mag is considering a class-action suit, which could have a huge impact on the celebrity blogging world. (Radar)
Money Quote:
Kevin Federline on why he wants to go to Africa: "I think it's a place where you can go and really, really help people and make a difference. And it's also a place I want to see -- I'm into the safari animals and all that stuff. I grew up watching the Discovery Channel." (Perez Hilton)
Turn On:
Fox debuts a new game show, "The Rich List" (9 p.m. EDT), on Wednesday night, Madonna's on "Dateline" (NBC, 10 p.m. EDT) to talk about her adoption, and "Bones" (Fox, 8 p.m. EDT) returns from hiatus.
On the Talk Shows:
Larry King (CNN, 9 p.m. EDT): Katie Couric
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Gary Sinise, Joanne Carson, Jim Norton
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT): Emma Thompson, Spencer Breslin, Regina Spektor
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Sacha Baron Cohen, Mastodon
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Barry Pepper, Amy Sedaris, Carlos Alazraqui
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT): Sharon Osbourne, Josh Radnor, the Wreckers
Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EDT): John Mueller
Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Penn Jillette
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