People: To Brad, being dad is a gas
Brad Pitt says being a father has changed his priorities.
“Man, I got kids now,” Pitt said on Monday’s “Today” show. “It completely changes your perspective. And certainly takes the focus off yourself, which I’m really grateful for.”
Pitt is working with Global Green USA to solicit ecologically sound designs for rebuilding neighborhoods in post-Katrina New Orleans.
“I’ve had my day,” he said. “I made some films, and I’ve really had a very fortunate life. And it’s time for me to share that a bit.”
Pitt and his partner, Angelina Jolie, have a new baby, 6-week-old Shiloh, in addition to two children she previously adopted.
He calls being a parent the “best thing I ever did. You know, you can write a book, you can make a movie, you can draw, paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever taken on.
“And, man, if I can get a burp out of that (baby), that little thing, I’ll feel such a sense of accomplishment.”
Could be a real turkey
Jennifer Aniston, the former Mrs. Brad Pitt, says she would like to reprise her role as Rachel Green in a “Friends” reunion.
“The only thing I can think of doing is maybe for fun doing a Thanksgiving episode,” she says. “Our Thanksgiving episodes were really fun.”
“Friends,” which centered on the lives of six young friends living in Manhattan, ended its 10-year run in 2004.
They’re just … friends
Oprah Winfrey and gal pal Gayle King want to make one thing clear: They’re not gay.
“I understand why people think we’re gay,” Winfrey says in the August issue of O, the Oprah Magazine.
“There isn’t a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it – how can you be this close without it being sexual?”
Adds King, an editor of the magazine: “The truth is, if we were gay, we would tell you, because there’s nothing wrong with being gay.”
I pronounce you boi and wife
Avril Lavigne married fellow Canadian musician Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 over the weekend on a private estate in California.
During the largely traditional ceremony, Lavigne, 21, wore a Vera Wang gown, carried white roses and was walked down the aisle by her father to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.”
The couple began dating in early 2004 and bought a house in Los Angeles later that year.
Angel of mercy
A lunch date with Jessica Biel is up for bid today to help raise money for a Denver teenager who lost her leg in a prom night limousine accident.
The former “7th Heaven” star – Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive” – is a Boulder native.
Said one of the injured teen’s classmates: “Come on, it’s Jessica Biel. What guy wouldn’t want to win a date with her?”
The birthday bunch
Director Paul Verhoeven (“Basic Instinct,” “Showgirls”) is 68. Actor James Brolin is 66. Blues guitarist Lonnie Mack is 65. Singer Martha Reeves (Martha and the Vandellas) is 65. Country singer Ricky Skaggs is 52. Actress Elizabeth McGovern is 45. Actor Vin Diesel is 39. Actress Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”) is 26. Singer Ryan Cabrera is 24.