People: Some hairy times before Harry
J.K. Rowling says she contemplated suicide as a single mother in her mid-20s struggling to establish a literary career, according to an interview with a student journalist.
“We’re talking suicidal thoughts here, we’re not talking, ‘I’m a little bit miserable,”’ the “Harry Potter” author was quoted as saying in an interview posted online by Adeel Amini.
Amini, who said Rowling granted him the interview after a chance meeting at an Edinburgh coffee shop, provided The Associated Press with an audio file of their 29-minute conversation.
Parts of the interview were published in the Edinburgh University student magazine.
Rowling’s agent didn’t immediately respond to requests Monday for comment.
She has previously acknowledged suffering from depression and said the characters called Dementors were inspired by her illness.
“I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never,” Amini quoted her as saying.
“What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that.”
Meeting Mother Earth
Britney Spears‘ wardrobe from her guest appearance on Monday’s “How I Met Your Mother” is being sold at an online auction to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council.
A half-dozen Spears-worn items are available in the weeklong auction, including a navy print Juicy Couture dress, a yellow Nannette Lepore dress and a cream Nannette Lepore cardigan with blue flower details.
She was hot to trot
Marissa Jaret Winokur didn’t have to be swayed into being on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I keep hearing these stories how people turned it down a few times,” says Winokur, 35, who won a Tony Award in 2003 for playing Tracy Turnblad in Broadway’s “Hairspray.”
“I banged on their doors – ‘Please let me do this show. Please! Please! Please!’ It’s lived up to all my expectations.”
A French toast to them
French President Nicolas Sarkozy‘s ex-wife remarried at New York City’s famed Rainbow Room, French newspapers reported Monday.
Le Figaro and Liberation said Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz married events planner Richard Attias on Sunday night, wrapping up three days of private festivities.
The wisdom of Salomon
Pamela Anderson‘s latest husband, Rick Salomon, has agreed that their two-month marriage should be annulled because of fraud.
Salomon, previously married to actress Shannen Doherty, is best known for making a sex tape with then-girlfriend Paris Hilton.
The birthday bunch
Film critic Gene Shalit is 76. Singer Anita Bryant is 68. Singer Aretha Franklin is 66. Actor Paul Michael Glaser (“Starsky and Hutch”) is 65. Musician Elton John is 61. Actor James McDaniel (“NYPD Blue”) is 50. Actress Brenda Strong (“Desperate Housewives”) is 48. Actress Marcia Cross (“Desperate Housewives”) is 46. Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton (“The Practice”) is 44. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 43. Actor Lee Pace (“Pushing Daisies”) is 29. Singer Katharine McPhee is 24. Singer Aly Michalka (Aly and AJ) is 19.