It’s just Mickey Mouse stuff
Christina Aguilera says she’s toned down the sexuality on her new double album, “Back to Basics,” but has no regrets about the sultry image she’s projected in the past.
“The sexuality coming forward on this record is more softened,” the 25-year-old singer says.
“It’s more pinup, tongue-in-cheek. It’s playful. People take sex far too seriously.”
Aguilera said she was proud of the image she projected on her last album, “Stripped,” in part because it elicited strong opinions.
“If you liked it, you wanted to root for me – ‘Look, she’s empowered.’ If not, well, you’d stick all those labels on me.”
Aguilera also denies that there was a feud between her and fellow former Mousketeer Britney Spears.
“We were like best friends,” she says, “but the media saw a navel and blond hair and had to create some drama.”
Lohan laid low
Lindsay Lohan was hospitalized for dehydration earlier this week after being overcome by heat on a Hollywood movie set.
Lohan, who had been filming in 105-degree weather for 12 straight hours, was given a vitamin B-12 shot and released.
She was hospitalized for exhaustion last year and lost a noticeable amount of weight.
Daughter figure
Lionel Richie says he’s hurt by the buzz about daughter Nicole Richie‘s dramatic weight loss.
“I must tell you, I’m the basket case,” the R&B singer says.
The younger Richie co-stars with ex-friend Paris Hilton in “The Simple Life” reality series.
Stealin’ in the years
Owen Wilson has issued a tongue-in-cheek response to criticism from Steely Dan band members that his new movie, “You, Me and Dupree,” ripped off their Grammy-winning song “Cousin Dupree.”
“I have never heard the song ‘Cousin Dupree,’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is,” Wilson says. “I hope this helps to clear things up, and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, ‘Hey 19.’ “
(For the young and/or uninformed, “Hey Nineteen” was a 1980 hit for the Dan.)
Horse of a different color
Daniel Radcliffe will strip off his Harry Potter eyeglasses and robes for his London stage debut next year.
The 17-year-old actor, who plays the schoolboy wizard in the “Potter” films, will star as a troubled stableboy in “Equus.”
Lost in translation?
Scarlett Johansson is denying claims that diva-like demands cost her the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s big-budget London revival of “The Sound of Music.”
Lloyd Webber says her reps “couldn’t understand why she would want to appear in the West End for $18,500 a week when she could be earning $10 million for a movie.”
But Johansson’s publicist points to her busy work schedule as the real problem.
The birthday bunch
Actor Robert Horton (“Wagon Train”) is 82. Filmmaker Ken Burns is 53. Actress Alexandra Paul (“Baywatch”) is 43. Country singer Martina McBride is 40. Actor Stephen Dorff is 33. Actress Allison Mack (“Smallville”) is 24.