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

McPhee handling weight of fame


Katharine McPhee
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review

Katharine McPhee may have struggled with bulimia for five years, but she says she’s not counting calories on the “American Idols Live” tour.

“My diet?” the latest “Idol” runner-up told Us Weekly. “Because I’m on tour, it’s not very healthy. But I’m not controlling (about) my weight anymore, I don’t do any weird, disordered eating things anymore, thank God.”

In June, the 22-year-old McPhee revealed that she sought treatment for her bulimia last fall after successfully auditioning for the Fox talent contest. She enrolled in an eating-disorder center in Los Angeles and spent three months in therapy.

“I’m not working with a food coach anymore, but I do have people with whom I check in,” she told Us.

McPhee lost the “Idol” sing-off to Taylor Hicks.

Real life hits reality star

Mikalah Gordon, who reached the finals of the 2005 “American Idol” singing competition, was “in a panic” but unharmed after being robbed at gunpoint, her mother said Thursday. Victoria Cavaricci said robbers accosted her 18-year-old daughter and a male friend early Wednesday on a sidewalk in a neighborhood about seven miles northwest of the Las Vegas Strip. Cavaricci said the robbers took a cell phone and $5.

Two words: head case

For anyone interested, People magazine is reporting that Brittany Murphy‘s on the market again. The 28-year-old actress has broken off her engagement to Joe Macaluso, a grip she met on the set of the 2003 film “Little Black Book.” Murphy played coy at the recent Teen Choice Awards, saying only, “Everything is going wonderful, thank you. I’m just living every moment, you know, enjoying my day.”

A sweet deal for Biel

How much would you pay to have lunch with the “Sexiest Woman Alive”? A guy, who wished to remain anonymous, paid $30,000 to lunch with Jessica Biel, Esquire magazine’s “Sexiest Woman Alive.” The couple ate at Denver’s Palm restaurant, said Jeanne Lee, a Denver-based publicist. The stunt raised funds for Molly Bloom, an 18-year-old woman who lost a leg in a May 13 accident.

Pretty woman gets Gere

Richard Gere lives a charmed life. The 56-year-old actor has been signed to make a movie titled “The Expat” with Bollywood star and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen. That, at least, is what the 30-year-old actress told the Times of India newspaper on Thursday. Crowned Miss India in 1994, Sen went on to win the Miss Universe pageant and act in more than 25 films in India’s prolific and popular Hindi-language film industry.

The birthday bunch

Singer Vic Dana is 64. Singer Valerie Simpson of Ashford and Simpson is 60. Singer Bob Cowsill of the Cowsills is 57. Bandleader Branford Marsalis is 46. Country guitarist Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio is 45. Actor Chris Burke (“Life Goes On”) is 41. Singer

Shirley Manson

(Garbage) is 40. Guitarist Dan Vickery of Counting Crows is 40. Drummer Adrian Young of No Doubt is 37. Actress Melissa McCarthy (“Gilmore Girls”) is 36. Actor Macaulay Culkin is 26. Actress Keke Palmer (“Akeelah and the Bee”) is 13.