Soft-pedaling the news cycles
Lance Armstrong says his relationship with rocker Sheryl Crow taught him a lesson: He won’t talk about his personal life in public anymore.
“We are not going to talk about whoever is involved or whoever is in my life. If somebody takes a picture they can put two and two together,” the seven-time Tour de France bicycling champion says.
Armstrong and Crow split last February. The couple met in October 2003 and announced their engagement in September 2005.
“It’s so hard,” the 35-year-old Armstrong says. “It puts too much strain and unrealistic expectations on a relationship when you put it out there.
“It’s tough when you love somebody and you want to be with them, you want to talk about them. It’s not easy, but I think it is by and large better not to talk about it.”
Armstrong, who has retired from cycling, also says he plans to run the New York City Marathon this fall for a second time.
For one more movie
Mitch Albom is working with Oprah Winfrey‘s Harpo Films for a TV movie based on his latest best-seller, “For One More Day.”
The book tells the story of a former baseball player who plans to end his life but finds redemption when he gets the chance to spend another day with his dead mother.
The movie is tentatively scheduled to air in December on ABC. It will carry the “Oprah Winfrey Presents” title, as did the 1999 TV film adaptation of Albom’s “Tuesdays With Morrie.”
Break-in news
The Hollywood Hills mansion of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill was burglarized over the weekend, police said Tuesday.
The home was broken into between Friday and Monday when no one was home, according to the authorities.
They would only say an unspecified amount of money was taken and that they had no immediate suspects.
The house is not the principal home of the celebrity country music couple, both 39, who live in Nashville, Tenn.
I’m shocked at Sharif
Omar Sharif pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor battery and was ordered to take an anger management course for punching a parking valet.
The 74-year-old actor also was placed on probation for two years. An April 18 hearing was set to determine restitution to the victim, Juan Anderson, who’s seeking $17,000 in damages for a broken nose.
Sharif allegedly was belligerent and intoxicated during the June 2005 incident at a Beverly Hills restaurant and called Anderson, a Guatemalan immigrant, a “stupid Mexican” when he refused to accept a 20 euro note.
The Egyptian-born actor is best known for his starring roles in “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia.”
In 2003, he was convicted of striking a police officer at a casino near Paris.
The birthday bunch
TV news personality Hugh Downs is 86. Actress Florence Henderson is 73. “Access Hollywood” host Pat O’Brien is 59. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 59. Actor Ken Wahl (“Wiseguy”) is 50. Actress Meg Tilly is 47. Singer Rob Thomas is 35. Actor Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland”) is 15.