Elizabeth Taylor has been hospitalized for treatment of congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
"She is currently being kept in the hospital for monitoring," said Sally Morrison.
The 78-year-old actress was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the past couple of days, Morrison said. Taylor disclosed her heart condition in November 2004.
Taylor's family appreciated the support from fans, Morrison said, but asked for privacy to allow the medical team space to do its work. She didn't know how long the Oscar winner would be in the hospital.
Taylor had been scheduled to attend an amfAR benefit gala Wednesday night in New York, where she was to receive an award alongside former President Bill Clinton and designer Diane von Furstenberg, celebrating their dedication to AIDS research.
Elton John accepted the award in her honor, passing along a message from Taylor that said, in part, "I am there in spirit."
Elton John and Billy Joel have been publicly sparring since John gave Joel some "tough love" in a Rolling Stone article, deriding him for giving creativity a backseat to alcoholism, but Friday the two musicians seemed to reach some sort of truce.
John spoke out to the magazine out of frustration over the years, saying the musical pair have had to cancel tour dates because of illness and alcoholism on Joel's part. The bespectacled British musician practically scolded Joel in print, saying that going to "rehab light" wasn't the same as traditional rehab. John, who also had his run with drugs and alcohol, said he got clean because he went to programs that required him to clean floors, not watch TV.
"At the end of the day, he's coasting," John said. "I always say, 'Billy, can't you write another song?' It's either fear or laziness. It upsets me. Billy's a conundrum... I love you, Billy, and this is tough love. Billy, you have your demons and you're not going to get rid of them at rehab light. You've got to be serious. People adore you, they love you and respect you. You should be able to do something better than what you're doing now."
John said he got an angry private message from Joel, who also responded publicly last week saying, "I've worked with Elton for such a long time and I've enjoyed our relationship too much to let something as random as these comments change my affection for him. Elton is just being Elton."
But the latest twist came today, when Joel talked back -- again. This time he was responding to John's interview with Matt Lauer on Thursday. Lauer brought up the subject when John was promoting "Gnomeo and Juliet," the film he produced and provided music for.
"I'm only trying to help," John said on Today. "Maybe I should have done it privately, but I’ve been so frustrated over the years."
"He's going to hate me. It comes from a place of love, and it's tough love. You don't take a dog to rehab," the 63-year-old added. "I'm saying it because I really want Billy to live a long life and be happy, and that's where it came from. I understand if he's pissed with me, and I can take that on the chin.... He may want to punch my face in at the moment, but it's OK."
So on Friday, through his publicist, Joel provided this enumerated response:
1. I do not hate Elton John. 2. I do not want to "punch him in the face." 3. If he wants to call me, my number is still the same. 4. Good luck with the movie. -- BILLY JOEL
Photo: Elton John, left, and Billy Joel enter the stage at the Honda Center in Anaheim to begin their joint concert on March 28, 2009. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times.
While Justin Bieber's fame and fortune easily make him the biggest catch in the teen world, someone thinks the Biebs is the lucky one to be taking up with starlet Selena Gomez.
That would be the singer's "Never Say Never" director, Jon Chu, who caught up with the Ministry while promoting the pop phenom's 3-D flick.
"I just thought, 'Wow, she looks like a movie star!' " Chu said, admitting he was star-struck over Gomez at Tuesday's premiere, which was also attended by Usher, Diddy, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Miley Cyrus, to name a few.
"I think Justin's very lucky," the director said about the pair's much discussed relationship.
But, lucky for what? Owning the most epic teen love story to ever grace Twitter? Sushi dates in between stops on his world tour?
"[Lucky] to have such a good friend," Chu said.
Fine, be cagey. But perhaps Chu still sees the child in the pop star, the one who needs not concern himself with affairs of the heart just yet.
"There are those times when it's 2 in the morning and he's playing video games and his mom is yelling at him to go to bed," Chu said of the boy inside Bieber's bravado, "And when he got sick, he needed help, and not like an adult, like a kid who is sick and needs to lean on his mom and grandmom."
Leave your thoughts on all these sweet Biebs deets in the comments section below.
Photo: Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber, both smiling wide at the premiere of "Never Say Never." Credits: Kevin Winter / Getty Images, left; Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images, right.
Miley Cyrus has signed up to host "Saturday Night Live," and the Ministry wants to know: Will the "SNL" writers be free to write bong jokes? Or is that, like, pretty uncool?
People didn't mention whether the March 5 monologue would mention salvia but did confirm that there will be a separate musical guest who is not Miley Cyrus — possibly freeing her up to also make an appearance on "SNL's" "The Miley Cyrus Show," a sketch that mocks, well, Miley Cyrus.
The whole salvia-bong thing back in December, though legal and not radically unusual, was a mistake, she told Marie Claire recently. "I'm disappointed in myself for disappointing my fans," Cyrus said, noting that in contrast to many others her age who might consider salvia smoking no big deal, she's a role model.
"So for me it was a bad decision, because of my fans and because of what I stand for."
Miley fans who can't yet stay up late enough to watch "SNL" can see their idol sing with Justin Bieber at Madison Square Garden in "Never Say Never," the just-opened 3-D movie of his life.
It's a very Hollywood favor to ask, but still sweet that Tom Hanks got Conan O'Brien to do him a solid by hosting an annual charity event.
The Entertainment Industry Foundation's "An Unforgettable Evening" went down Thursday in Beverly Hills, where Hanks' bride Rita Wilson, along with event chairs Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, welcomed guests to raise cash for EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund.
"Thank you for doing this Conan, and giving our families some time off," Wilson said, noting that Hanks has hosted the bash for some five years.
Conan admitted he was hesitant to host anything in the last year after his NBC disaster, but was persuaded by Hanks and Wilson to take the gig. (Click here or click the pic for more photos from the event.)
More persuasion had been required when previously announced singer Rihanna, slated to perform five songs at the bash, dropped out due to the flu. "Forget You" singer Cee Lo Green stepped up at the last minute for a few numbers at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Honorees included Annette Bening, nabbing the organization'sNat King Cole Award, and comedian Martin Short, who took the courage award on behalf of his wife Nancy Dolman, who died in August.
In a collected but touching speech, he commended Nancy for her optimism and unending love.
"As my hilarious wife always said, 'It is better to have loved a Short than never to have loved a Tall.'"
Other attendees included Tobey Maguire and Jen Meyer, Leona Lewis, Kirk and Anne Douglas, Buzz Aldrin, Rosanna Arquette and Billy Crystal.
Photo: Martin Short, left, and Conan O'Brien, who hosted "An Unforgettable Evening" event benefiting women's cancer research. Short accepted the 2011 courage award on behalf of his wife, who died of cancer in 2010. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press
Snooki is a laid-back girl, not the "drunken meatball" you think she is, according to the story she told David Letterman on Thursday night.
Oh, how she's been misunderstood.
The self-proclaimed "guidette" shot to fame because of MTV's "Jersey Shore" and stopped by "The Late Show" for the second time this year to plug ... well, herself, as our sister blog Show Tracker reports.
Snooks, whose real name is Nicole Polizzi, sat through a series of awkward questions wearing what we can only assume are battery-operated light-up stilettos. Speaking of unusual footwear, Letterman donned her Snooki slippers, which the 23-year-old will use to promote her brand in her "Shore" afterlife. But we digress....
Letterman took jabs at the show, which has already aired several episodes of its third season, including Snooki getting arrested on the beach for being drunk in public and a nuisance. So, the prickly host asked her whether she had a drinking problem.
"Do you think, uh, um, maybe you need to abstain?" Letterman asked.
"I definitely don't think I have a problem. I mean, when we're not filming I hardly go out. I hardly drink. It's just, you know, it's summer. It's time to enjoy yourself," she said.
"People don't understand who I really am ... they see me as this party animal or whatever. I'm not like that all the time... I'm just a laid-back girl that'd rather stay in and watch movies at night than go to a ... club."
So, Letterman asked why the other impression?
"Well, you're at the shore, obviously you want to go out," she said.
We wonder if her new book "A Shore Thing" has the same air of confusion. The book has become an extended New York Times bestseller. We don't know how or why. But if you still haven't bought it, here are 10 reasons why you should (or shouldn't).
Jennifer Hudson has slimmed down to a size 6 from a size 16, overcoming family tragedy while winning a Grammy and an Oscar.
The girl's been working hard, that's for sure.
Hudson is prepping for the March release of her third studio album, "I Remember Me," and while doing the rounds she admitted to Oprah that she'd shed 80 pounds through Weight Watchers.
"After being pregnant for I felt like forever ... you want your body back. And then I realized when I was pregnant I wore these same clothes before I was pregnant. So what does that say? I don’t really like this. Most of all I wanted my body back, so I made up my mind while I was pregnant."
Oprah, ever the most gracious host, then gifted three Weight Watchers plans to each audience member so they and two friends could also whip themselves into shape like the "Dreamgirls" star.
(We would have preferred the brand new car, but whatevs, health is important too.)
Even Tim Gunn graced the couch to praise her transformation and dub the star, who got her start as an "American Idol" finalist, one of Hollywood's best dressed women.
The defendant wore white, and boy was it skintight: Lindsay Lohan's white dress turned more than a few heads during her court appearance Wednesday.
But while the judge was declaring that Lohan was "no different than anyone else," the Ministry noticed that the $595 Kimberly Ovitz design won't be available to "anyone else" until mid-April. So, that makes Lilo a little different, yes? (Kimberly is a bit different too: Her dad's none other than Mike Ovitz, the Creative Artists Agency co-founder and onetime Walt Disney Co. president.)
The actress reportedly went with all white to signify her innocence on a charge of felony grand theft, TMZ said.
Lohan has slipped a bit in the manicure department since the four-letter faux pas she flaunted in court last July, but that's probably for the best. The only message being sent was the "Shhh" tattoo on her right index finger -- possibly to discourage anyone from saying too much about the shabby paint job on her digits.
Oh man, we're just being catty now, aren't we? But you're welcome to join in, or defend Lindsay, as long as you keep it clean -- that's what comments are for.
Top photo: Lindsay Lohan navigates a crush of media on her way into the Airport Courthouse on Feb. 9, 2011. Credit: Mike Nelson / European Pressphoto Agency
Left photos: Lohan's manicure and tattoo, left, at her Feb. 9, 2011, arraignment, and a very different manicure, right, at her July 6, 2010, appearance at the Beverly Hills Courthouse. Credits: David McNew / Associated Press, left; Mario Anzuoni / Reuters, right.
Right photo: In her white dress, Lohan arrives at the Airport Courthouse for her arraignment. Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images.
Some girls have all the luck, as evidenced by a radiant Dianna Agron premiering her new movie "I Am Number Four" in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The "Glee" star's action flick also costars her beau, Alex Pettyfer. Throw the knockout Vivienne Westwood gown on top, and we're almost jealous.
Almost -- as plenty more exciting names turned up for on the red carpet for the screening at Mann's Village Theatre in Westwood.
DreamWorks honcho Steven Spielberg was in the house, as was producer Michael Bay, greeting "Four" supporting stars Teresa Palmer and Callan McAuliffe. (Click the pics to see more photos from the premiere.)
"Modern Family"'s Ariel Winter was the perfect little lady in a black cocktail dress, while "Tree of Life" actress Jessica Chastain and Amanda Michalka went for more adult evening wear.
Did you hear the one about Mark Sanchez and the 17-year-old girl? Yeah, that Mark Sanchez, of USC Trojans and New York Jets football fame — who reportedly had a one-night stand with just such a girl, who of course bragged to her friends about the whole sitch on Facebook, then told a website, then decided through her dad's lawyer that she shouldn't talk about it.
The two met on New Year's Eve at the Manhattan nightclub Lavo, where she gave the 24-year-old quarterback her number, the website Deadspin reported. They didn't hook up, she said, until later in January, after he gave her and a friend tickets to the last regular-season Jets game, and they went out for dinner a few days later.
Deadspin detailed the flirting at Lavo, as told by the girl, whom the site referred to by her initials:
"You know I'm 17, right?" she remembers saying. Sanchez kept his cool. "Well, we can still talk, but I can't see you until you're 18," he said. "Actually," E.K. replied, "17 is legal in New York." Poise all around.
The website fielded a stern note from an attorney representing E.K. after she'd spoken, but any interactions between Sanchez and E.K. appear to have been legal — well, except for the underage-in-a-club-on-New-Year's-Eve part. But the young lady in question, identified as Eliza Kruger, apparently has been clubbing with her mom, Marie McCormick Kruger, since she was 15, a source told the New York Post.
"We went back to his place in Jersey after dinner," the blond told Deadspin, right before mentioning that she'd checked the age of consent in New Jersey in advance (It's 16). "He lives on a golf course. There was a big storm."
Deadspin also broke the story about Brett Favre's alleged improprieties (that's code for sending naked pictures) regarding Jenn Sterger when both were employed by the Jets and brought to light foot-fetish videos linked to Jets coach Rex Ryan.
This post has been corrected. Please see the note at the bottom.
The cast of "Friends" is back to making headlines, this time with Matthew Perry leading the way with ratings love for the debut of his new sitcom, "Mr. Sunshine."
Thanks to a lot of hype and a lead-in from "Modern Family" on Wednesday night, 10.57 million viewers tuned in to watch the premiere of the ABC show, according to overnight ratings from Nielson Co.
The show stars Perry as a San Diego stadium owner and Andrea Anders as his love interest, who is his "Friends" costar Matt LeBlanc's real-life girlfriend.
(The 9:30 p.m. Wednesday premiere bar had been set pretty high in 2009 by another "Friends" alum, Courteney Cox, whose "Cougar Town" on ABC drew 11.28 million viewers in September of that year.)
Flip the channel to NBC, where LeBlanc shattered many a heart -- including Jay Leno's -- when he visited "The Tonight Show" and revealed that he'd started dyeing his hair black while "Friends" was in full swing. The star of Showtime's "Episodes" said he started dyeing the sides of his now salt-and-pepper locks in his mid-20s.
"Dyeing it on the show would take like an hour and a half," he said — so he got some Just for Men and started coloring it himself. It "takes five minutes, but then about a half-hour of paint-thinner to get the black off your ears," he said, laughing.
"This is shattering for those of us that loved the show," Leno said.
Another "Friends" fun fact: LeBlanc said he shut down production on the Emmy-winning show during "The One Where No One's Ready." He blew out his shoulder while performing "the safest stunt," in which Joey had to jump over the coffee table and land in the down chair that he and Chandler were fighting over.
Jennifer Aniston will be battling Justin Bieber at the box office this weekend when her new comedy, "Just Go With It," with Adam Sandler, opens against the Biebs' documentary, "Never Say Never."
Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer, where you at?
For the record, 5:35 p.m.: This post originally said "Mr. Sunshine" had bested "Cougar Town's" premiere-night ratings, with numbers given only for the Matthew Perry show. "Cougar Town" in fact premiered with 11.28 million viewers to "Mr. Sunshine's" 10.57 million.
Photos, from top: Matthew Perry portrays Ben Donovan in a scene from "Mr. Sunshine." Matt LeBlanc as himself in "Episodes." Jennifer Aniston attends the premiere of "Just Go With It" in New York. Credits, from top: Michael Desmond / ABC; Colin Hutton / Showtime; Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images.
Kelsey Grammer is officially divorced from Camille Donatacci Grammer as of Thursday, though the property settlement between the sitcom actor and his newly minted real ex-wife of Beverly Hills has yet to be worked out.
Kelsey pushed through a bifurcation of the case — separating the divorce from the property deal — so that he could marry wife No. 4, Kayte Walsh, as soon as possible. That leaves in limbo, at least for now, the fate of shared assets such as the exes' house in Bridgehampton, N.Y., and other trifles in the estimated $100-million estate they accumulated during 13 years of marriage.
Kelsey did have to post a $2.3-million bond to guarantee Camille's rights to her share of his pension, TMZ said.
Camille, 42, filed for divorce on July 1, shortly before stories surfaced about Kelsey's new stewardess girlfriend. News that Walsh was pregnant with Kelsey's child went public in August; in October they announced that she'd miscarried. Kelsey, 55, and Kayte got engaged in early December.
Though the "Frasier" actor had no comment through his rep, onetime Playboy model Camille said in a statement Thursday that she hoped she and Kelsey could "improve our communication" and co-parent their two children.
"I wish Kelsey and Kayte love and happiness in their new marriage," said "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star.
Jane Fonda may have been the above-the-marquee draw at Wednesday’s opening night for “33 Variations” at the Ahmanson Theatre, but pre-curtain, all eyes were trained on the “In Bruges” star and, two rows up from him, Cher. In fact, the center orchestra section of the downtown L.A. theater was paparazzi heaven (minus the cameras, thank you).
In the play, by Moises Kaufman, Fonda plays a musicologist researching the origins of Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations,” while grappling with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and her shaky relationship with her daughter (played by Samantha Mathis). Heavy stuff.
So one would expect to see Fonda’s brother, Peter, and her son, Troy Garity, show up. But Chelsea Handler? And Anjelica Huston, Christian Slater, Rosanna Arquette, Carla Gugino, Penny Marshall, “True Blood’s” Carrie Preston and “Southland’s” Benjamin McKenzie? All there, within hug-and-kiss reach. (Click on the photo gallery to see who was there.)
Also taking in the show was writer-director Richard LaGravenese (seated with Cher), Tony Award winner Ben Vereen, “Smallville’s” John Glover, Tony winner Adriane Lenox, Michael Emerson (the creepy Ben from “Lost”), Corey Stoll of "Law & Order: Los Angeles," Joan Van Ark and Mary Hart.
Absent from the evening’s event was Lindsay Lohan, who starred with Fonda in 2007’s “Georgia Rule.” The troubled actress had RSVPed for the performance, but apparently Lohan had other things on her mind Wednesday and wasn’t able to make it.
Kate Middleton's wedding to Prince William is rapidly approaching — time for lunch with her future in-law.
Middleton and William's stepmother, Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, dined Wednesday at Koffmann's — a swanky French spot in London's Berkeley Hotel.
In a simple tan blazer (a little drab for us) and a bold print skirt, Middleton indulged in a chat with Parker Bowles that seemed to include advice for the bride-to-be: Kate reportedly had a notebook out on the table.
She could be jotting down pros and cons on wearing two bridal looks come April 29 and perhaps debating on William's own wardrobe options, like the scarlet red suiting attached to his title of colonel.
What do you think the women discussed at lunch? Tell us in the comments section below.
Ashlee Simpson's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Pete Wentz, didn't want their marriage to end.
The couple filed for divorce Tuesday citing "irreconcilable differences," but sources are telling TMZ that Wentz, 31, was against the split and tried to talk his wife out of filing papers.
Sources have said that Simpson, 26, has wanted out of their nearly three-year marriage for a while. She and Wentz grew apart, they said, and she could no longer handle the rocker's "erratic behavior," so the singer-actress is now joining big sis Jessica Simpson in the young divorcees' club.
It's too bad -- we hoped this match made in black-eyeliner heaven was indelible.
Both Simpson's and Wentz's Twitter accounts had been aflutter with lovey-dovey tweets, and the two were recently spotted strolling in West Hollywood with their 2-year-old, Bronx, seemingly without an end-of-marriage care in the world.
Over Super Bowl weekend, however, Wentz was partying it up in Dallas, while Simpson was back in L.A. with their son, of whom she is seeking physical custody. A sign of things to come? Stay tuned...
Photo: Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz at a screening of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" in Hollywood on May 19, 2010. Credit: Fred Prouser / Reuters
