People: Will they ever get the message?
Kim Basinger denies that she leaked a voicemail in which ex-husband Alec Baldwin calls their 11-year-old daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”
Baldwin left the message last week lambasting his daughter, Ireland, for failing to answer the telephone for a prearranged call.
After a tape surfaced online, the incident quickly made headlines around the world.
A Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner ordered Baldwin to stay away from his daughter pending a May 4 hearing.
Baldwin, who has been locked in a nasty custody dispute with Basinger since their 2002 divorce, blamed her for the leak and apologized for his behavior, explaining: “I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now.”
In her own statement, Basinger says: “Everybody is always asking why this custody battle has been going on for so many years, and now they have the answer. … (I)t is about his ongoing aggressive behavior.”
Basinger faces trial on 12 counts of criminal contempt for disregarding court orders concerning Baldwin’s visitation rights.
Which daddy’s little Angel?
Former Scary Spice Melanie Brown has finally decided on a name for her baby daughter: Angel Iris Murphy Brown.
“Angel, as she was my little angel through my pregnancy. Iris, as it’s my grandma’s name, Murphy because he’s the dad, and Brown, because I’m the Mum!” says Brown, who insists former boyfriend Eddie Murphy is the father.
Murphy, who has five children from a previous marriage, says he’s not so sure.
Blackball game
Laura Dern says she couldn’t get an acting job for more than a year after kissing Ellen DeGeneres in a 1997 episode of “Ellen.”
But Dern added on DeGeneres’ talk show Monday that she was grateful for the “extraordinary experience and opportunity” to be a part of the groundbreaking coming-out episode, which also guest starred Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore and Melissa Etheridge.
A few good men
In the upcoming “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” Adam Sandler and Kevin James play firemen posing as a gay couple in order to receive domestic partnership benefits.
“I know Kevin, and it’s kind of a strange thing to have to play. So to ease the tension, before the first day of shooting, we had sex with each other,” quips Sandler.
“We just got it out of the way so it wouldn’t be an issue. It’s an old tip I picked up from working with (Jack) Nicholson.”
One chin up
Movie critic Roger Ebert plans to attend his ninth annual Overlooked Film Festival starting tonight in his first public appearance since undergoing multiple cancer surgeries.
“I will be wearing a gauze bandage around my neck, and my mouth will be seen to droop,” Ebert wrote in his column Tuesday.
“I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers. So what?”
The birthday bunch
Actor Al Pacino is 67. Actress Talia Shire is 61. Actor Hank Azaria is 43. “Early Show” host Jane Clayson is 40. Actress Renee Zellweger is 38. Actor Jason Lee (“My Name Is Earl”) is 37.