Taking desperate measures
Four years ago, Teri Hatcher told the police a secret she had hoped to keep – that she was sexually molested by her uncle as a child.
Now the “Desperate Housewives” star is telling the world about it in the upcoming Vanity Fair magazine.
Hatcher, 41, says she was sexually abused by the uncle for three or four years, starting at age 5. She never told anyone about it until she learned in 2002 that another of his victims, a 14-year-old girl, had committed suicide.
After she went to prosecutors with her story, the man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
“This is something I’ve tried to hide my whole life,” Hatcher tells the magazine.
However, she says, “I was just blown away by this young girl’s pain. I thought, boy, that’s really close to being me. … I haven’t tried to kill myself, but I’ve certainly thought about it.”
America’s felonious home videos
Two men have pleaded guilty to charges of secretly videotaping Michael Jackson in 2003 as he flew to California to surrender in a child-molestation investigation.
Jeffrey Borer and Arvel Jett Reeves admitted they installed two digital videorecorders to record Jackson and his lawyer as they traveled on a private jet from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, planning to sell the recordings to the media. Each faces up to five years in prison.
Jackson was acquitted of the charges by a jury last June.
Will he come out a man?
Boy George has agreed to enter a drug rehabilitation program and perform community service in a plea bargain deal that spares him possible jail time on cocaine charges.
The former pop star, whose real name is George O’Dowd, was arrested in October after he called 911 to report a burglary in his Manhattan apartment and officers found a small pile of cocaine next to a computer.
O’Dowd previously entered rehab following a 1986 heroin possession arrest after two of his friends overdosed.
His drug woes reportedly led to the collapse of the Culture Club, which had the hit singles “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”
Toeing the party line
Finally, a Los Angeles court commissioner has signed off on an unusual restraining order against Paris Hilton, ordering her to stay at least 100 yards away from an event producer who claimed she threatened him – unless they’re at a party together.
Brian Quintana was granted the three-year restraining order against Hilton last month after he testified that she harassed and threatened him after their friendship soured.
The order stipulates that when they attend the same parties, “the stay-away distance may be shortened to 25 feet.”
The birthday bunch
Singer-actress Keely Smith is 74. Actress Joyce Van Patten is 72. Country singer Mickey Gilley is 70. “Good Morning America” host Charles Gibson is 63. Actress Linda Fiorentino is 46. Actress Juliette Binoche is 42. Actor Emmanuel Lewis (“Webster”) is 35. Actress Jean Louisa Kelly (“Yes, Dear”) is 34. Actor Kerr Smith (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 34. Rapper Chingy is 26. Actress Brittany Snow (“American Dreams”) is 20. Rapper Bow Wow is 19. Actor Luis Armand Garcia (“George Lopez”) is 14.