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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shedding pounds one day at a time


Associated Press Valerie Bertinelli
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review

Valerie Bertinelli was used to hearing the f-word – as in fat, that is.

But the 47-year-old actress is enjoying a career rebound since she became a Jenny Craig spokeswoman and pledged to lose 30 pounds, which she has since revised to 40.

“It’s so funny,” she says. “If you say you’re fat, all of a sudden people like you! I’ve never had so many people be so kind and wonderful and giving and loving.”

Viewers tonight will see a heavier Bertinelli in her latest TV role, which she filmed before dropping more than 22 pounds.

She plays a widowed psychic who helps catch a serial killer in the Hallmark Channel movie “Claire” (9 p.m., cable channel 77 in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene).

Bertinelli, a former regular on “One Day at a Time” and “Touched by an Angel,” was inspired by fellow Jenny Craig spokeswoman Kirstie Alley to go public with her diet issues.

“If Kirstie was able to do it so boldly, with such a great sense of humor and be so successful at it, who am I to pretend that people don’t see that I’ve gained all this weight?” she said.

From Mrs. Big to …

Mr. Big and Carrie Bradshaw will be together again on the big screen.

Chris Noth, who played Sarah Jessica Parker‘s love interest on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” has agreed to appear in the feature film being spun off from the longtime TV series.

Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon also will reprise their roles in the big-screen version, set for a 2008 release.

Padding her resume

Jaime Pressly is back in shape and heading back to work after giving birth in May.

“I was back in the gym when he was 10 days old, working out with my trainer,” she says. “I’m almost back to where I was before.”

But she’ll still be pregnant onscreen in this fall’s early episodes of “My Name is Earl,” which resumes production Monday.

“I’m coming back in shape and I have to wear a fat suit,” she sighs. “Incredible.”

Babies having babies

It’s a boy for Spice Girls singer Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton, who delivered her first child Friday in London.

And Sara Gilbert, best known for playing surly teenager Darlene Conner on the hit ABC sitcom “Roseanne,” welcomed her second offspring, a daughter, last week.

Apples don’t grow on trees

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow says she’s not ready to have more babies – yet, anyway.

She and husband Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, have a 3-year-old daughter, Apple, and 1-year-old son, Moses.

“I have a dream version where I think, maybe in four years I’ll have two in a row really quickly again – how fabulous to have a whole bunch of them!” she tells W magazine.

“But then at that point, when everyone’s potty-trained and sleeping through the night, are you really going to go back?”

The birthday bunch

Actress-TV personality Arlene Dahl is 79. Wrestler-actor Hulk Hogan is 54. Singer Joe Jackson is 53. Actor Will Friedle (“Boy Meets World”) is 31. Rapper Chris Kelly (Kris Kross) is 29. Singer J-Boog (B2K) is 22.