We love Paris when she falls
For most celebrities, getting smacked with a DUI is an instant image crisis. But for Paris Hilton, it could be a career boost.
Hilton was arrested by Los Angeles police officers in Hollywood early Thursday on suspicion of driving under the influence.
“Paris Hilton being arrested just makes her more famous,” says veteran publicist Michael Levine. “She has devoted her entire adult life to appearing to be the princess of parties.”
“She’s been known to have a drink or two,” says her publicist, Eliot Mintz, adding that he doesn’t expect the incident to hurt her career.
Hilton, 25, said she had “one margarita” at a charity event Wednesday night, and admitted to possibly “speeding a little bit” on her way to grab a burger after not eating all day.
She called the arresting officers “really nice.”
A police spokesman said Hilton was stopped for “driving erratically.”
Her blood-alcohol level was .08 percent – the minimum to warrant an arrest, Mintz said.
Paris when she fizzles
Perhaps a bigger problem for Paris Hilton is the slow sales of her debut album, “Paris.”
It moved a lackluster 75,000 copies in its first week of release – and was pranked by a British guerrilla artist known as Banksy.
The mysterious mischief-maker altered 500 copies of the CD – adding such song titles as “Why Am I Famous?” “What Have I Done?” and “What Am I For?” and replacing the music itself with remixes – and hid them among legitimate versions in stores across Britain.
‘Times,’ it is a-sellin’
Bob Dylan is back at the top of the charts – for the first time in 30 years.
His new album, “Modern Times,” reached No. 1 on the album sales chart, selling 192,000 units in its first week of release.
The critically acclaimed disc is Dylan’s first No. 1 album since 1976’s “Desire.”
Bree breeds
On TV, she’s a desperate housewife. But in real life, Marcia Cross is an expectant mother.
The redheaded actress, who plays Bree Van De Kamp on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” expects to give birth to her first child in April.
Cross, 44, and her stockbroker husband, Tom Mahoney, married in June.
Later and greater?
David Letterman apparently is planning to outlast Jay Leno in late-night television.
CBS Corp. and Letterman have tentatively agreed to a four-year contract extension for Letterman’s “Late Show” through the 2009-10 television season, according to executives familiar with the negotiations.
That would keep Letterman, 59, on the air past NBC’s planned 2009 “Tonight” show hand-off from Leno to Conan O’Brien.
No big wheels here
The father of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin has declined Australia’s offer of a state funeral, calling his son “just an ordinary bloke.”
Irwin, 44, was killed Monday in a stingray attack. Says Bob Irwin: “That’s a lot better than getting hit by a bus.”
The birthday bunch
Comedian Sid Caesar is 84. Singer Aimee Mann is 46. Singer Neko Case is 36. Actor David Arquette is 35. Actor Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) is 35. Singer Pink is 27. Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas (“Home Improvement”) is 25.