Life sure is ‘wonderful’ for the ‘talent’ at rumor central

LET’S START A RUMOR: Nick Lachey and Kelly Ripa are an item. Well, no. And yes. They aren’t that kind of item, but they did both try to correct what they consider unfounded rumors while playing co-host on Wednesday of the syndicated television show “Live With Regis and Kelly.”

First of all, Ripa addressed the fact that her regular co-host, Regis Philbin, had gone missing. There have been reports that Philbin – who outlasted his former co-host, Kathy Lee Gifford – and Ripa don’t get along and that Philbin might be forced out.

“Regis is not fired,” Ripa said. “He’s just on special assignment. And we love each other.”

As for Lachey, well, his career hasn’t quite matched that of his wife, Jessica Simpson, star of “The Dukes of Hazzard,” which opens Friday. But the 31-year-old pop singer said that he’s not jealous of Simpson. No way.

Furthermore, he denied the ongoing rumors – those that keep fans of gossip lingering in supermarket check-out aisles – that there’s trouble with his marriage.

Everything is, Lachey said, “absolutely wonderful.”

Maybe. But let’s start a rumor. Fill in your suggestion here …

Just be careful when passing on those ‘rumors’

British football star David Beckham was awarded “substantial” libel damages (exact amount not disclosed) Wednesday from the British tabloid The People, which admitted that a story it ran under the headline “Becks phone fury: England ace plagues ex-nanny with hate calls” was false. Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, are also suing ex-nanny Abbie Gibson for telling another tabloid newspaper that their marriage was kaput – and getting paid $225,000 for the so-called scoop.

Vegas for now; can Branson be far behind?

Barry Manilow will continue to sing about the Copacabana through 2007, thanks to a new deal that he recently inked with the Las Vegas Hilton. Manilow’s original deal had the 59-year-old entertainer performing “Manilow: Music and Passion” for 24 weeks through 2005 and into 2006. The hotel-casino added 150 shows to the schedule, hoping to continue filling its 1,700-seat theater – at a price of $85 to $225 per ticket.

It’s not nice to mess with the IRS

Speaking of Vegas, a performing icon on the Vegas Strip, Wayne Newton, is in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service – again. Newton, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1992 to reorganize an estimated $20 million in debts, says the IRS is wrong about a new $1.8 million claim. “We believe the IRS owes him money,” Newton’s lawyer, A. Lavar Taylor, said on Tuesday.

Not only is Bice no ‘Idol,’ he’s not lucky

First Bo Bice finished second to Carrie Underwood in the 2005 “American Idol” competition. Then during the Manchester, N.H., stop of his concert tour on Sunday, he did a flip, landed awkwardly – and snapped his ankle. “It’s looking like no more running around for the rest of the tour,” Bice told MTV News. “I’m gonna be stuck trying to pull off a piano song or something.”

Here’s your obligatory royals news flash

Who would believe a grinning Prince William cast in wax? Uh, maybe anyone who has ever watched the stiff British Royal Family? The 24-year-old first-born of Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana Spencer is the latest royal exhibit at Madame Tussaud‘s waxwork museum.

The birthday bunch

Singer Frankie Ford is 66. Actor-comedian Richard Belzer (“Law & Order: SVU”) is 61. Actor Billy Bob Thornton is 50. Drummer Rob Cieka of Boo Radleys is 37. Actor Andy Hallett (“Angel”) is 30. Singer-actor Marques Houston of Immature is 24