MNG - Celebrity Blog

LOS ANGELES - After two months of negotiations, "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is close to finalizing a new salary pact that would make him the highest-paid comedy star in television today.

Sources said Sheen will earn about $350,000 per episode this season from producer of the CBS powerhouse, Warner Bros. Television. This represents a hefty increase from his previous payday in the low six figures.

Sources said CBS is kicking in some money for the pay raise for Sheen, as has become common practice for networks in high-level actor renegotiations deals.


Sheen also is known to have a significant profit-participation stake in the series, now in its fourth season. The top of the sitcom actor pay scale remains the nearly $2 million per episode Ray Romano pulled in for the final season of CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" in 2004-05.

Sheen began renegotiating his deal in July, shortly after Warner Bros. entered lucrative deals to sell the syndication rights to the Tribune Broadcasting stations (for broadcast) and to FX (for cable), effective 2010.

Representatives for Warner Bros., CBS and Sheen declined comment Wednesday.


Tags: Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen

While most people take to the bottle trying to cope with a broken heart, it seems that actress Kate Bosworth believes in smoking her away grief.

The Superman Returns star, who recently called off her on-again, off-again relationship with beau Orlando Bloom, was spotted puffing away while out on the town with pals.

A source revealed that a miserable looking Bosworth was out with pals on the weekend when they decided to stop at the East Village Brazilian restaurant Esperanto for a dinner.

However, the only thing on the actress' menu, was cigarette after cigarette.

"She was wearing very tight jeans, revealing the fact that her legs were the same size as her pinky. She looked miserable, especially noted from the look of death she was giving to anyone who looked in her direction," the New York Daily News quoted the source, as saying.

An increasingly gaunt looking Bosworth has already blamed her split from boyfriend Orlando Bloom on the 'Curse of Superman', after acting in the movie as the Man of Steel's love interest Lois Lane.

A friend of the actress revealed that though she and Bloom had always had difficulty maintaining a relationship, they had managed to do so despite hectic work schedules. However filming and then promoting this particular movie had proved to be too much for the couple.

"The stress of Kate filming and then promoting 'Superman Returns' was too much for her - especially with Orlando being so busy with 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' at the same time. It's something they had suffered before in their relationship but Superman was the one that broke them up," Contactmusic quoted the pal, as telling British newspaper the Daily Express.

As a result, Bosworth had now turned into a believer of the 'Superman' curse. "Kate never believed in the curse before, but she does now," the pal added.


Tags: Kate Bosworth,
Superman Returns
Superman Returns

Nicole Richie has posted a blog entry on her Myspace.com Web site denying CNN's allegations that she checked into a clinic for eating disorders.

"Contrary to CNN's false accusations, I did not check myself into an eating disorder rehab. I don't know why or how this rumor started, but I am home, in LA, and very happy. I do not have an eating disorder, and I don't know how many times I have to say it. I've repeated myself so many times, I feel like a broken record. Who ever started this rumor is evil and mean, but it's not true. I am happy, and healthy, and living my life," wrote Ritchie, reported Us Weekly.

Rumors of anorexia have been following "The Simple Life" star since she slimmed down in 2005.


Tags: Nicole Richie

Singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata grew up listening to Carole King, Roberta Flack, James Taylor, and the like, for music was the one thing in Yamagata's life that remained consistent. Although her parents divorced when she was two, she had a wonderful childhood and she credits her parents for doing such an amazing job. Finding a balance between her German-Italian mother's apartment in New York City and the Washington, D.C., home of her third-generation Japanese father was a task, but it readied Yamagata for a way of life that would eventually lead her to a professional singing career.

Tags: Rachael Yamagata

Christian vocal prodigy Rachael Lampa 's sweet singing was first featured on the Word Records release Live for You, which was issued on August 1, 2000. Featuring a duet with Aaron Neville, "There Is Still a Dream," the album was co-produced by Brent Bourgeois and Brown Bannister, who had discovered Lampa at a music conference in Colorado when she was 14

Tags: Rachael Lampa

Carefully tailored to service the soccer mom crowd racing between work and kids and shopping, "The Rachael Ray Show" is a syndicated daytime talk show-cum-pep rally targeting viewers who are double-parked.

It moves along in energetic rat-a-tat-tat style via a series of manic Rachael McNuggets that casts Oprah's very own handpicked youngster as a whirlwind of hyperkinetic charisma. Indeed, the opening hour depicts the former host of Food Network's wildly popular "30-Minute Meals" as a woman in need of Ritalin to slow it down, modulate her pitch and try a little less hard. Ray has an inherent likability and is certainly easy on the eyes, but she doesn't talk to us so much as screams and she might want to consider taking a more leisurely approach. As it is, it's all she can do to keep from using the adoring audience as her mosh pit.


Tags: Rachael Ray

Cori Yarckin - This former Showstopper is a rising singer and dancer. She has appeared on Broadway and the Disney Channel. Additionally, she was on Making The Band with O-town, and played Camile on the Disney show Noah Knows Best.

Tags: Cori Yarckin

Jenna Dewan is new star in "Step Up"

Step Up is not the best dance movie ever made. Step Up is not the best hip-hop based movie ever made. But Step Up is the clearest indication that hip hop has crossed over, all the way over to the lighter side of cool.

Step Up is essentially a hip hop fairy tale where both main characters are white.

Of course, the greatest sign that black culture has gone mainstream is when the black characters are reduced to the supporting role and that is exactly what takes place in Step Up. It is probably also the most significant thing in a flick that is alright enough, but never steps up to being astounding.

Directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Duane Addler and Melissa Rosenberg, Step Up stars Channing Tatum (Coach Carter and She's The Man) and Jenna Dewan. When done right, dance movies have a magic that is not easily approximated by other films. Whether it is the breakneck energetic moves of Beat Street, the joy of watching Fred Astaire groove, or the ecstasy of Dirty Dancing, when a movie about dancing gets it right, it struts in a whole new light.



Tags: Jenna Dewan
Channing Tatum
Step Up

Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Duff, Reese Witherspoon And Selma Blair and are among the 23 fashionable females who are selling off their designer handbags for charity. The ladies have handed over their MARC JACOBS, PRADA and CALVIN KLEIN bags to editors at teen magazine Seventeen, who are auctioning off the trendy items to raise cash for breast cancer research. All the bags go under the hammer on auction website eBay at a $100 (GBP55) starting bid today (14SEP06), and there are high expectations for LEGALLY BLONDE star Witherspoon's suede Prada bag, which comes with a stain made by the actress herself.

Tags: Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Duff, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Legally Blonde

Stars Hand Over Handbags For Charity: Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Duff, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Legally Blonde

"I guess I'm back on TV because the script was so good and THE WHOLE TEN YARDS was so bad." MATTHEW PERRY on why he decided to return to TV and star in his new series STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP.

Tags: Matthew Perry

"Debra Lafave, the former middle-school teacher who admitted having sex with a 14-year-old student, got a judge's permission to sit down for a national TV interview with NBC's Matt Lauer at a hotel. Lafave is serving three years' house arrest. She sought and was granted an exception to the guidelines of her sentence to meet Lauer for an interview Tuesday that will be broadcast later on the "Datellne" program. "


Tags: Debra Lafave

Superstar pop singer Janet Jackson recreates the infamous Superbowl nipple incident in a steamy photo shoot for FHM lad magazine...

Tags: Janet Jackson

"Bad Boy Records' red-hot girl group Danity Kane, stars of the hit MTV series "Making the Band 3," have exploded at retail outlets nationwide with their debut album, "DANITY KANE." The multi-talented quintet is the music industry's newest Cinderella story, as Danity Kane is now neck and neck with veterans OutKast and Christina Aguilera for the top spot on next week's national album chart. Danity Kane's first-week sales triumph is unprecedented for a new artist with little radio or video airplay.

Bad Boy CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs commented: "Many people wrote off these girls as just a 'made-for-TV' group, but I believed in their talent from the beginning. The fans have spoken, and with their love and support, Danity Kane's dream is coming true. Sometimes word of mouth is better than radio and video play. This is the best kind of success, one that comes straight from the people.""

Danity Kane is an American girl group signed to Bad Boy Records. Formed on the television reality show Making the Band 3, in it's third installment of the Making The Band series. Sean "Diddy" Combs set out to create an all girl supergroup. Danity Kane consists of Aubrey Morgan O'Day, D. Woods, Shannon Rae Bex, Dawn Angelique Richard, and Aundrea Aurora Fimbres. The group's first single is "Show Stopper". The music video for "Show Stopper" debuted on August 4, 2006 on Making the Video. The group's self-titled debut album was released on August 22, 2006. Producers on the album include Timbaland, Scott Storch, Jim Jonsin, Bryan Michael Cox, Rodney Jerkins, Rami, Mario Winans and Ryan Leslie.

Tags: Danity Kane, Diddy

Entertainment Weekly has interviewed new Bond girl Caterina Murino on her role in Casino Royale and other hot topics with the actress. It's ironic that you landed the role of horsewoman Solange, since a horse almost caused you to blow your audition. It was very funny because the day before, I had an accident with a horse. I was preparing for an Italian movie, and I fell down. I broke a rib on my right side. I was in the hospital. I was completely under drugs. I went there to the casting, and I couldn't walk. It was unusual; the Bond girl is so full of energy, and I can't walk! But Martin Campbell called me back to go to London and do the same scene with him. And I got the role.

Caterina Murino (born September 15, 1977) is an Italian actress.

Caterina Murino was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. She reached fourth place in the 1996 Miss Italy contest. In 1999 and 2000, she studied drama at the Cinema of Theatre of Francesca de Sapio, and appeared in stage productions of Richard III and Italian language plays. She began her career in television in 2002. She gained international fame when it was announced on January 14, 2006, that she would play a villain's girlfriend, Solange, in the 2006 adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale

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An unlikely source has broken the news that Jennifer Lopez is pregnant - teen singer Jesse McCartney (who?). At an in-studio appearance yesterday on Atlanta's Star 94, McCartney inadvertently blurted the news to on-air personalities Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke.

In an otherwise innocuous interview, McCartney disclosed that he is dating actress Katie Cassidy, daughter of baby boomer teen idol David Cassidy. He then spilled that his gal pal has been cast as Lucy Ewing in the big-screen adaptation of the 1970/1980s TV soap "Dallas." Then Locke inquired, "Oh, so I bet your girlfriend can give us the scoop on why Jennifer Lopez was fired from the movie?" Without thinking, McCartney replied, "She didn't get fired. She's pregnant."

Tags: Jesse McCartney, Jennifer Lopez

Nicole Kidman holds her stomach during a walk in Canada. Click enlarge to see the full picture

The Oscar-winning actress has refused to confirm rumours that she is pregnant by new husband Keith Urban, but these pictures show she's definitely showing a more rounded stomach than normal.

Aside from the baby bump, Nicole and Keith's relationship may also be in for a bumpy ride as whispers in Hollywood claim the two have fallen out over Keith's ex-girlfriend.

Nicole Kidman reportedly fumed after she found out country star Urban was still friends with model Niki Taylor.

"Nicole found a video he shot with Niki. She was mad because he hadn't thrown it out," an insider said.

It is not the first time Miss Nicole Kidman has been rumoured to be pregnant since getting together with Urban a year ago.

The pair were pictured in December with Urban, 38, gently patting her stomach as they introduced their parents to each other.

Tags: Nicole Kidman

Entertainment Weekly caught up with Italian actress Caterina Murino, who talked about her role as Solange in Casino Royale as well as Daniel Craig's 007. Here's a clip:Solange is not a typical Bond girl because she doesn't have an action scene. I have only the scene with the horse and the bikini on the beach. I don't try to kill James Bond. I tried to give some humanity to Solange. A lot of women have been hit by their husbands. I take revenge by sleeping with James Bond. Nice revenge! If all women who've been hit by their husbands can resolve in that way, it would be very nice.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
Tags: Caterina Murino

Despite other rumours that he’s back together with supermodel Gisele Bündchen, reports are circulating that Leonardo DiCaprio is dating TV presenter Cat Deeley.A source told the Daily Star: “Leo was attracted by Cat’s fresh-faced looks and English accent. She looks very different from an identikit Los Angeles girl.”The couple met when Leonardo heard Cat telling a friend she was considering posing nude for a magazine. The source said: “When he heard her talking about posing naked, he couldn’t help interjecting to advise her not to ruin her English Rose appeal.”But the source added that Cat’s motives for dating the star might not be purely romantic: “Cat is impressing the right people. Having Leo on her arm can’t do her any harm. She could be the next Catherine Zeta Jones.”

Tags: Cat Deeley