Rodman in rehab just to ‘decompress’
Dennis Rodman checked into an alcohol-rehabilitation center to reevaluate his life, not give up drinking.
“I needed to decompress from all the things I was going through,” Rodman said Friday by phone from Miami. “I was trying to get this game going and get everything going in North Korea.
“It was a lot.”
Rodman recently spent three weeks in a New Jersey-based facility when he returned from his latest trip to North Korea. He organized a group of retired NBA players to travel to North Korea for that exhibition game. He suffered an angry meltdown during a CNN interview and also sang “Happy Birthday” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the start of the friendly game.
Rodman said he will return to the rehab center every six months “to see where I’m at.”
The 52-year-old Rodman, who won five championships with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls and was one of the NBA’s fiercest rebounders and most colorful personalities, denied he was an alcoholic.
“I don’t need to drink,” he said. “I don’t need to do anything. I went to rehab just to sort things out. That’s it.”
He said he could curb his drinking and did not have a problem because he doesn’t drink every day.
McHale tapped for media dinner
It’s still unknown if the TV show “Community” will reach its long-stated goal of six seasons and a movie, but Joel McHale will at least get an opportunity to plead his case to President Barack Obama. The “Community” star and host of “The Soup” has been announced as the host of this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The annual dinner in Washington, hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association, has had an increasingly Hollywood bent to it in recent years, with more and more celebrities appearing as guests.
McHale will sit at the head table, along with the president and first lady, and will perform a comedy routine for the association’s centennial dinner on May 3. The WHCA was founded in 1914.
Hosts in recent years have included Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Jay Leno. The president usually performs a little comedy himself, getting in digs at various members of his staff and the press.
On Twitter, McHale told fans, “My material will be equally offensive to all & over within 30 min – just like a Congressional work year.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Claire Bloom is 83. Songwriter Brian Holland is 73. Actress Jane Seymour is 63. Singer Melissa Manchester is 63. Actress Lynn Whitfield is 61. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is 60. Actress Sarah Wynter is 41. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 38. Blues-rock musician Gary Clark Jr. is 30. Actress Natalie Morales is 29. Actress Amber Riley (“Glee”) is 28.