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

Stewart’s role in sequel uncertain

From Wire Reports

Universal Pictures is continuing to pursue a sequel to “Snow White and the Huntsman” in the wake of Kristen Stewart’s affair with the film’s director.

Universal co-chairman Donna Langley said in a statement Wednesday that the studio is “currently exploring all options to continue the franchise” and that reports of Stewart’s exit “are false.”

A beleaguered Stewart got a public defense Wednesday by Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster, who co-starred with a then-11-year-old Stewart in the 2001 move “Panic Room.”

Foster wrote an essay for the Daily Beast in which she blasted the “gladiator sport of celebrity culture” and claimed that if she were a young actor today she would quit before she started.

“If I had to grow up in this media culture, I don’t think I could survive it emotionally,” she writes. Of life as a target of paparazzi and criticism, she added: “We seldom consider the childhoods we unknowingly destroy in the process.”

Late-night’s Kimmel engaged to writer

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t have to look too far for his new fiancee.

The ABC funnyman is newly engaged to Molly McNearney. His spokesman, Lewis Kay, said Wednesday that Kimmel popped the question during a recent vacation in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

McNearney is the co-head writer for the network’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” They started dating in 2009, after Kimmel’s breakup with comic Sarah Silverman.

Reality star’s ex thinks union was fake

Kim Kardashian’s divorce has engulfed her family and network, literally.

Attorneys for her estranged husband sought detailed records Wednesday about her reality shows and details of depositions with her mother and current boyfriend Kanye West to prove her 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries was a fraud.

The legal bickering means it is unlikely the couple will be granted a divorce, or annulment, as Humphries desires, before next year, attorneys and a judge said during a testy hearing.

Kardashian’s attorney Laura Wasser accused Humphries’ team of overreaching in the effort that has already resulted in $250,000 in legal fees for the model-actress.

The birthday bunch

Sportscaster Frank Gifford is 82. Actor Reginald VelJohnson (“Family Matters”) is 60. TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford is 59. Director James Cameron is 58. Actress Angela Bassett is 54. Singer Madonna is 54. Actor Timothy Hutton is 52. Actor Steve Carell is 50. Country singer Emily Robison (The Dixie Chicks) is 40. Singer Vanessa Carlton is 32. Singer Greyson Chance is 15.