From jail to prime time, Martha’s gone a fur piece
LOOKS LIKE HER five-month prison term had more effect on Martha Stewart than we previously thought. The 64-year-old felon (who served time in a West Virginia federal prison for lying about a 2001 stock sale) has followed Donald Trump‘s lead and is starring in her own “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” reality show.
In the meantime, she’s made nice-nice with PETA. She’s even gone so far as to make a video for the organization announcing that she’s given up fur.
“I used to wear fur, but like many others, I had a change of heart when I learned what actually happens to the animals,” Stewart says in the five-minute video, which can be found on PETA’s Web site, (www.peta.org).
Stewart’s turnaround came last spring when she began communicating from jail by letter with Dan Mathews, the vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“So much violence in the world seems beyond our control, but this is one cruelty we can stop by being informed consumers,” Stewart says.
That’s just Nelly bein’ Nelly
As if it weren’t enough that we had to watch Bobby Brown and wife Whitney Houston live lives of sublime carelessness, now plans are under way to let us witness “the day-to-day life” of the rapper Nelly. “I look forward to showing my fans what my world is about and bringing more attention to my nonprofit organizations,” said Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes Jr.
Heeeeerrrrrree’s the real Johnny, says Ed
Ed McMahon, best known as the sidekick to the late Johnny Carson of “Tonight” show fame, says he was closer to Carson than Carson’s brother. Speaking to a crowd in North Platte, Neb., on Tuesday, McMahon said that he and Carson ate dinner together several nights a week and talked about their lives. “Johnny once described our relationship by saying we were as close as two people could be without being married,” McMahon said.
Put that line to music and you’ve got a hit song
Speaking of the “Tonight” show, country singing star Trisha Yearwood, 41, postponed a Wednesday appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” following the death of her father. Jack H. Yearwood, 72, died early Tuesday in Monticello, Ga. “Please keep the Yearwood family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” said Amber Williams, a publicist for MCA Nashville.
But Ken, buddy, the sideshow is what interests us
It’s been less than a week since Renee Zellweger filed for an annulment from Kenny Chesney, but the country music star told fans, “There have been better times, but I’ll be OK.” In court papers filed Sept. 14, Zellweger listed “fraud” as the reason for the breakup after four months of marriage. “I’m tired right now, but by next year, I’ll be excited to get back to it,” Chesney said. “And it’ll be about the music again, not about the sideshow.”
The excuses that some celebs will come up with
Jason Statham, star of the new Guy Ritchie film “Revolver,” spent nearly an hour signing autographs in London at the movie’s premiere. So when Ritchie and wife Madonna didn’t give even a single autography, the crowd responded with boos. The 47-year-old singer did have her arm in a sling. Last month, she suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand in a horse riding accident.
The Birthday bunch
Actor Paul Lemat is 59. Singer David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Deep Purple) is 54. Actress Shari Belafonte is 51. Singer Debby Boone is 49. Singer Nick Cave is 48. Singer Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde is 48. Opera singer Andrea Bocelli is 47. Singer Joan Jett is 45. Actor Scott Baio is 44. Actor Tom Felton is 18.