Madonna is back in the saddle
Madonna says she’s “strong again” after breaking nine bones in a horse riding accident at her country home outside London last year.
“It was a very tumultuous year,” the pop diva tells Harper’s Bazaar. “I felt like I came out of my disco ball like most people get shot out of a cannon.
“Forget about riding a horse again – I didn’t know if I was going to be able to dance again.”
She suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand after falling off a horse on her 47th birthday on Aug. 16.
“When I shot the video (for ‘Hung Up’) none of the bones had gone together. Pharmaceuticals and my will got me through the shoot,” she says. “So to come out of that, I felt so much inspiration and so much joy just to have my body back and to feel strong again.”
Sounds self-inflicted to us
Former Creed singer Scott Stapp thinks a recently released sex video showing him and Kid Rock with several strippers is part of a plot to sabotage him.
“Obviously someone wants to hurt me and doesn’t want me to be successful in my solo career,” says Stapp, who claims the tape, made following his divorce from his first wife, was stolen from him.
It came to light just days after he married former Miss New York Jaclyn Nesheiwat on Feb. 10 – which was followed Feb. 11 by his arrest for public drunkenness at Los Angeles International Airport.
Oh, he always has bad taste
Shock jock Howard Stern says his former employer, CBS Corp., is “bullying” him by suing him for breach of contract.
The suit claims Stern improperly discussed his pending move to Sirius Satellite Radio while he was still employed by CBS, and benefited financially because his new contract grew along with Sirius’ subscriber base.
“I’m offended,” Stern says. “I don’t deserve it. … It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Paging Dr. McReadme
“Grey’s Anatomy” star Patrick Dempsey revealed on Wednesday night’s Barbara Walters special that he was diagnosed as being dyslexic when he was 12.
Dempsey, 40, who plays Derek “Dr. McDreamy” Shepherd on the hit ABC hospital show, says he still struggles while reading scripts and memorizing his lines.
“I think that’s when I get the most insecure … it’s very hard for me to read it off the page,” he says. “I need to memorize it, in order to go on.”
Cigars? Not even close
Actor Joseph Fiennes helped launch a new stogie called the “Short Churchill” at Cuba’s annual cigar festival this week, but admitted he had a long way to go to catch up with the former British prime minister – who reportedy smoked more than 200,000 Cuban cigars during trips to the island.
Said Fiennes: “I cannot compete with Winston Churchill because sadly, I am only here for three enchanting days.”
The birthday bunch
Bluegrass musician Doc Watson is 83. Actor John Cullum (“Northern Exposure”) is 76. Singer Lou Reed is 64. Actress-comedian Laraine Newman is 54. Singer Jay Osmond (The Osmonds) is 51. Singer Jon Bon Jovi (Bon Jovi) is 44. Singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 29. Actor Robert Iler (“The Sopranos”) is 21.