Want to do some coke? Don”t ask Donatella
Donatella Versace has designs on staying sober after a trip to rehab last year. The fashion guru tells the May issue of Vogue that her addiction to cocaine began at age 32, when she mostly used the drug at parties in New York and Los Angeles.
“I had the best time of my life,” says Versace, now 50.
The murder of brother Gianni Versace in 1997 prompted her to temporarily clean up, but she soon started mixing cocaine with sedatives. She hit bottom after her women’s show in March 2004.
“I couldn’t understand when I was talking, people couldn’t understand me. I think if I didn’t go (to rehab) I would have died.”
Family and friends – including Elton John – used the 18th birthday party of Donatella’s daughter, Allegra, in Italy to stage an intervention. That night, Versace boarded a plane to Arizona, where she spent five weeks in rehab.
Now, she says, “I have all new habits. My day is totally different. … I don’t want to feel that way again.”
Elton’s altar ego
Elton John plans to marry his longtime partner, David Furnish, later this year or early next year.
Laws recognizing same-sex civil partnerships come into effect in Britain on Dec. 5, but John’s ceremony may be postponed until 2006, his publicist says.
John, 58, has publicly credited Furnish, 42, his partner of 11 years, with helping him to overcome addictions to alcohol and drugs.
At least she’s not brooding about it
The ex-girlfriend of Britney Spears‘ husband says she isn’t surprised to hear that the pop singer is pregnant.
“Hey, it was bound to happen,” actress Shar Jackson told MTV News in her first interview since Spears and Kevin Federline announced the pregnancy April 12. “It was a goal, and it was conquered, moving on.”
Jackson, who has two young children with Federline, says she is willing to let her kids have a relationship with Spears’ child: “I mean, they’re family, so if the other side of the family permits, then yeah.”
Too many skeletons in the closet
John Entwistle‘s skeleton has sold at auction – actually, both of them.
A pair of skeletons said to have been used by The Who’s late bassist to play pranks on houseguests sold for $840 at an auction near his home in England.
A snakeskin-covered tambourine went for $305, while a stained-glass chessboard decorated with Union Jacks and swastikas fetched $1,500.
“It was sad to see this stuff go, but we’ve got no room,” said Entwistle’s son, Chris.
And now, he-e-e-e-re’s mike-y
Meanwhile, an anonymous bidder has snatched a piece of TV history, offering $50,787 for the microphone that sat prominently on the desk of the late “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson until the 1980s.
The label on the 10-pound Shure model SM33 ribbon microphone bluntly declares: “Johnny’s Mic… Not Ed’s… Not Fred’s” – a reference to announcer Ed McMahon and producer Fred DeCordova.
The birthday bunch
Actress-comedian Carol Burnett is 72. Guitarist-songwriter Duane Eddy is 67. Singer Bobby Rydell is 63. Actor Giancarlo Esposito is 47. Actress Joan Chen is 44. Actor-singer Michael Damian is 43. Actor Jet Li is 42. Actor-comedian Kevin James (“The King of Queens”) is 40. Singer T-Boz (TLC) is 35. Actor Tom Welling (“Smallville”) is 28. Actress Jordana Brewster (“The Fast and the Furious”) is 25. Actress Marnette Patterson (“Something So Right”) is 25.