HASSELBECK STAYING ON THE VIEW
Barbara Walters confirmed yesterday that Joy Behar would be leaving The View, but she also denied rumors that Elisabeth Hasselbeck was fired from the show. Walters called the reports that surfaced over the weekend, "a particularly false story" and specifically denied that Hasselbeck’s co-stars had had enough of her right wing political opinions. "The truth is we love Elisabeth...We value and appreciate her point of view," Walters said, "it's important to us." She then added, "We have no plans for Elisabeth to leave the show."
HARPER HOLDING OUT HOPE
Valerie Harper told the Today show that even though she’s been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer, she’s still hoping for a miracle. Harper told Savannah Guthrie that when people hear the word “incurable,” they “hear it as a death sentence,” but she’s “more than hopeful,” adding, “I have an intention to live each moment fully. I’m not dying until I do. I promise I won’t.” Harper, 73, adds, “The thing I have is -- is very rare and it's serious and it's incurable ... so far. So I'm holding on to the 'so far.'"
BIG NAME CELEBS HACKED/FINANCIAL INFO POSTED ONLINE
TMZ reports that a hacker gained access to the computers of several big name celebrities and leaked sensitive financial information to an unidentified website. Stars allegedly victimized by the hacker include Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Ashton Kutcher, Mel Gibson and Paris Hilton, as well as political figures like Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. The figures’ social security numbers, credit card details and banking matters were all posted to the site. LAPD and the FBI are said to be looking into the matter.
WILDE DIDN’T FEEL PRETTY ENOUGH FOR SUDEIKIS
Olivia Wilde tells Marie Claire that some positive things came out of her split from husband Tao Ruspoli. “I'm so grateful for the pain and the heartbreak,” she said. “It gave me the courage to leave and brought me the great love of my life." Wilde is now engaged to SNL funnyman Jason Sudeikis, but she wasn’t sure they’d work out when they first started dating. "I thought, 'He won't be interested in me; I'm not a contender.’ He was so cool, so funny – I was such a fan of his and had always fancied his speed and his intelligence. He's a brilliant actor with a brain like lightning," she says. "I thought 'I'm not beautiful enough or his type.'” But on their first date, Wilde says they “closed down the restaurant at 2 am” and while she and Jason “didn’t kiss,” she knew she was “madly in love.”
ELLE ENGAGED
Elle Macpherson has gotten engaged to billionaire hotel heir Jeffrey Soffer. The couple had been dating for two years, but broke up last March. They reportedly rekindled their romance in November after Soffer, 43, was injured in a helicopter crash. This will be the 49-year-old Macpherson’s second marriage. She was previously married to fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon. She also has two sons with ex-boyfriend Arpad Busson.
OSBOURNE AWAITS DIAGNOSIS
Kelly Osbourne is still hospitalized in California as doctors try to diagnose what exactly caused her to have a seizure Thursday on the set of E!’s Fashion Police. “My life is now like an episode of House = the impending fight against death and the look of fear in everyone’s faces,” she tweeted Sunday. Over the weekend, TMZ claimed doctors thought her seizure could have been caused by epilepsy, but her rep denies it. “There’s absolutely no confirmed diagnoses regarding Kelly’s condition at this time,” said the rep. “She is under doctor’s care and they are continuing to run tests. Kelly is fine and thanks everyone for their continued support.”
LAUER UNFAIRLY BLAMED FOR CURRY FIRING
Matt Lauer has been blamed for Ann Curry’s ouster from Today, but a former exec at NBC says contrary to what the press reported, Lauer was actually in Curry’s corner. In fact, a new article claims Lauer offered to resign if it would help the show, but the network wouldn’t have it and informed him that Ann would be the one to go. "He was quietly and publicly a supporter of Ann’s throughout the entire process," Steve Capus, the former NBC News president, tells the Daily Beast. "It is unfair that Matt has shouldered an undue amount of blame for a decision he disagreed with." In the same article, Matt admitted that Ann wasn’t his first choice for the co-anchor gig, and that he actually approached his former co-host Katie Couric about coming back. Regardless, he blames the network for the whole Curry debacle. “I don’t think the show and the network handled the transition well," said Lauer. "You don’t have to be Einstein to know that... It clearly did not help us. We were seen as a family, and we didn’t handle a family matter well."
HILLS STARS LIED ABOUT CAVALLARI’S DRUG PROBLEM
Kristin Cavallari doesn’t have a lot of fond memories of her time being the bad girl on MTV’s The Hills. "I had two lives," Cavallari told E!’s Giuliana Rancic. "I had the public Kristin and then I had the real me." Cavallari, who is mom to seven-month-old Camden with fiancé Jay Cutler, says that her co-stars were encouraged by MTV producers to make up lies about her drug use. She adds that one producer even tried to bribe her co-stars with $10,000 Birkin bags to make up stories about her having a drug problem. (She insists she never had substance abuse issues.) “I felt so used,” she said. “And I realized at that moment that I didn’t matter. None of us mattered. It was all about ratings.”
RADCLIFFE RETURNING TO UK STAGE
Daniel Radcliffe is heading back to the theater. The Harry Potter star, who has already appeared on the UK stage in Equus and on Broadway in Equus and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, has signed on for the London production of the comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan, written by In Bruges’ author Martin McDonagh. Radcliffe will star as Billy, a disabled orphan in 1930s Ireland, who harbors a dream of Hollywood stardom. His 12-week run will begin in June.
ANOTHER BOOK FROM GREY AUTHOR
On May 1st, Fifty Shades of Grey author E. L. James will release Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess, which is described as a journal based on her best-selling trilogy, offering “readers and aspiring writers a place where they can record their innermost thoughts.” It includes a foreword by James, writing tips and a playlist of music that inspired the author.
HEWITT JOKES ABOUT INSURING HER BREASTS
Jennifer Love Hewitt knows what her best assets are – her boobs. The Client List star joked to USA Today that they are so valuable, she’s thought about getting them insured. "I need, like, an insurance invitation. If somebody was like, 'Hey, you know what? We would like to insure your boobs for $2.5 million dollars,' I'd be like, 'Do it. Love it! Why not?'" she said. She then pointed to her chest and added, "These things right here are worth $5 million!"
ANOTHER DUGGAR ON THE WAY
The Duggar family is expanding once again. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s eldest son Josh and his wife Anna have announced they are expecting their third child this summer. They are already parents to daughter Mackynzie, 3, and son Michael, 21 months.
HUMPHRIES AUNT CALLS WEDDING A SHAM
Kris Humphries’ aunt Dedria is slamming his estranged wife Kim Kardashian and the lavish Santa Barbara wedding she threw. “It was a sham,” Dedria told The Sun. “My understanding of marriage is people are going to give it more than 72 days unless there’s serious abuse.” Dedria, who attended the affair with husband Michael, says she understands why her nephew is trying to get an annulment rather than a divorce. “If I felt somebody duped me and used me in front of the whole world, I would be very angry,” she said. “An annulment says it wasn’t valid in the first place. She should admit that it was a sham at the very least.”
CSI: NY STAR PLEADS GUILTY TO DUI
CSI: NY’s Carmine Giovinazzo (Detective Danny Messer) pled guilty last week to DUI in Arizona, but won’t spend any time behind bars. Carmine was arrested in Scottsdale in January after cops saw him swerving all over the road. The 39-year-old made a deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to plead guilty and all he has to do is complete an alcohol training program by May 3rd. Should he fail to complete the program by the deadline, he’ll have to spend 10 days in jail.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT MOVIE WILL HAPPEN
Arrested Development fans are anxiously awaiting the 14-episode Netflix season that will begin in May, but that’s just not enough. When asked at the SXSW Festival whether an Arrested Development movie will ever happen, creator Mitch Hurwitz replied, “I’m confident that we will succeed in that.” Hurwitz added that the Netflix season serves as a launching off point for a movie, explaining, “There is a bigger story out there that does exist.”