People: Hey, princess—phone home
First daughter Jenna Bush wasn’t sure it was such a good idea when TV talk host Ellen DeGeneres asked her to call her parents.
“They’re going to kill me,” Bush said during the episode airing Wednesday. “I’m going to be in so much trouble.”
“No, they’re going to be thrilled,” DeGeneres replied. “Why wouldn’t they want to say ‘hi’ to everybody and say Merry Christmas?”
“They may have wanted some warning,” responded Bush, 26, who was promoting her new book, “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope.”
All was well, though, when she reached her parents on speakerphone.
“I’m just sitting here with daddy,” Laura Bush told her, as DeGeneres chimed in: “Oh hey! It’s Ellen. I wanted to say hi to daddy.”
When “daddy” got on the line, DeGeneres told him Jenna was “scared she’s going to get in trouble because I just said, ‘Is it easy to just pick up the phone and call your dad anytime?’ And now she’s scared she’s not going to get any Christmas presents.”
Replied the president: “I do want to say Merry Christmas to your audience, and I want to tell my little girl I love her.”
Revolver spin control?
Rock singer Scott Weiland, who has a history of drug problems, insists he wasn’t driving under the influence when he crashed his car.
The 40-year-old Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer has been charged with DUI from the November accident.
“Scott was not driving under the influence of a drug, legal or illegal,” his publicist says.
“He is anxious to get to court … and clear this matter up.”
Getting his wings clipped
Prosecutors have dropped charges against Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers after he expressed remorse, through his lawyer, for being drunk and abusive at Dublin Airport.
He was, however, given a legal caution – a probationary action under which he could face harsher penalties if he behaves that way again.
The Nov. 18 arrest came six months after Rhys Meyers checked out of a rehab clinic, and three days before the sudden death of his mother at age 50.
Raising a stink
Nicole Kidman says she’s suing The Daily Telegraph over the British newspaper’s claim that she prefers wearing Jo Malone’s White Jasmine and Mint scent to Chanel No. 5 – which she’s paid to front for.
Loose lips sink sponsorships
Teri Hatcher, meanwhile, is being sued for $2.4 million by a skin-care products company complaining that she promoted a competitor’s lip gloss.
Hydroderm says the “Desperate Housewives” star promised not to plug other products as part of an endorsement deal, but was also promoting CityLips, a competitor to Hydroderm’s Volumizing Lip Serum.
The suit says Hatcher has “been linked to so many competitors’ products (at least 17!) that it is anyone’s guess as to what product keeps her skin and lips youthful.”
The birthday bunch
Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is 87. Actress JoBeth Williams is 59. Actor Tom Hulce is 54. Comedian Steven Wright is 52. Guitarist Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 51. Actress Janine Turner is 45.