Tom Cruise
After zipping around Manhattan via helicopter, speedboat, subway train, sports car and fire truck, Tom Cruise arrived in an SUV Wednesday night to his final stop: the Ziegfeld Theater, where his Mission: Impossible III had its third premiere of the day.
Wearing a dark suit and pink shirt, Cruise climbed up through the sunroof to stand on the car, then spent about an hour signing autographs and posing for photos with fans, even as it started to rain.
Once the screening started, he came out of the theater to answer questions, but cautioned reporters, "I'm about to get on an airplane right now and go home."
Asked by PEOPLE what he planned to do first when he got home, Cruise replied, "Kiss. Loads of kisses. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Most definitely."
Who will get the first kiss: fiancée Katie Holmes or their 2-week-old daughter, Suri? "It would be Kate first." Before the Ziegfeld, Cruise attended a premiere at Harlem's Magic Johnson Theater.
There, he met up with Kanye West, who produced the movie's song, "Impossible." "When I met with him in the studio, man, you just can't tell Tom Cruise no," West told PEOPLE of agreeing to do the song.
Later, Cruise told reporters, "Harlem, to me, when I get to New York, that is a prominent part of the New York experience. I was honored to be able to go up there." At M:I3's first premiere of the day, at the Tribeca Film Festival downtown, Cruise arrived by motorcycle at 4 p.m. and spent 45 minutes signing autographs for teenage fans.
Even at the night's end, at Cruise's SUV started to pull away from the Ziegfeld theater, the actor rolled down his window to provide a few last autographs, and kept waving as screaming admirers hung on his car all the way to the corner. With the help of police escorts, the car ran a red light and disappeared – presumably to get Cruise home so the kissing could begin.
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Idol Bids Adieu to Paris
Paris Bennett is out, while Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee and Elliot Yamin are still standing on American Idol.
On Wednesday night's show, Ryan Seacrest told Bennett, 17, of Fayetteville, Ga., that she'd drawn the least number of votes among the nearly 46 million cast.
"I love you," Bennett told her family in the audience, including her grandmother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Ann Nesby.
The other member of the bottom two was Yamin. On Tuesday night, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul had praised Bennett's funky rendition of Prince's 1988 hit "Kiss," though Simon Cowell considered it "screechy" and "annoying." Bennet fared better with her second performance, a cover of Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You."
"I think she did rather well with that," Cowell admitted. Of Yamin's delivery of "On Broadway" on Tuesday's show, Cowell found it "disjointed." Cowell also said he was "just a little bit concerned" following Yamin's cover of Michael Buble's "Home."
"I'm not sure I would have chosen the lyrics, 'I want to go home,' " Cowell pointedly advised the 27-year-old. In other Idol news, American Idol Season 5 Encores, a compilation CD of songs by this season's top 12, will be released May 23.
Songs on the disc will include
Chris Daughtry's take on Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," Kellie Pickler's version of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight," Taylor Hicks's cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets," Paris Bennett's update of Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Kevin Covais's cover of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love."
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George Michael: I Want a Small Wedding
George Michael
George Michael, who recently announced his first tour in 15 years (including an American leg slated for 2011, a source tells PEOPLE), plans to marry partner Kenny Goss in a small ceremony – not an extravagant wedding like his rival, Elton John's. "I think we'll just do the formal legal thing and then we'll have a party," Michael told the audience of the British talk show Parkinson last weekend. "But no one's going to be getting into a dress!
Neither of us has the body for it, you know." Same-sex couples have been legally able to form civil partnerships in Britain since Dec. 21, 2005 – the same day Elton John married partner David Furnish in a brief service followed by a $2 million, 600-guest reception.
Of marrying Goss, Michael said, "I think from a legal point of view it's essential to have the same safeguards that straight couples have. We've been together for 10 years. I think we're entitled to that."
Michael has some other reasons to be optimistic these days: Tickets to his 25 Live European tour, which kicks off in Spain on September 27, sold out in three hours when they went on sale on April 23.
"He's thrilled. Just over the moon," says a source close to the singer. Additionally, an as-yet-unannounced American leg of the tour is expected to start next year, with dates and details to be revealed in the near future, the source tells PEOPLE.
Despite an arrest for drug possession in February and a car crash last month, Michael has been buoyed by the renewed interest in his music – and his happy love life. "I've felt good for the last year or so," Michael said. "I've felt great, which is why I decided to tour." Besides, Michael hopes touring will change his relationship with the media.
"If I can establish a live rapport with an audience again, I might not have to worry about releasing singles and putting myself in the way of the media the whole time."
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Tiger Woods Grieves Over Dad's Death
Tiger Woods(R) and his father Earl in 1997. The US golf ace announced on his website that his father, who inspired and moulded him into the golfing legend known as Tiger Woods, died at the age of 74 after a long battle with cancer.
Tiger Woods's father, Earl Woods, died at his Southern California home early Wednesday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer, the world's top golfer stated in a message on his Web site, saying he was "saddened to share the news."
Earl Woods was 74. "My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life," his son, 30, says in his posting. "He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend."
First diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, Earl Woods was said to have been in frail health in recent months as the cancer spread. He was too weak to attend the grand opening of the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 10.
Woods said he spoke to his father the night before the opening, and "he kept telling me how proud he was of what I was able to do, and proud of me for thinking of this. It's hard on all of us," ESPN reported.
Just last month, Woods took a self-imposed break from the PGA tour to be with his dad, saying: "It's kind of up in the air with the situation back home, so I don't know what's going to happen."
Earl, a former Green Beret, and his son had always been close, with Tiger first learning to swing from his dad when the toddler was only 9 months old. When Tiger was 2, Earl had the youngster on TV putting with Bob Hope on The Michael Douglas Show, where Tiger scored a hole in one.
"I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring," Tiger says on his Web site. Besides his son Tiger, Earl is survived by his wife, Kutilda, whom he married in 1969.
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Cruise Inspires Law in California, Frenzy in NYC
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise's decision to import an at-home sonogram machine to check out baby Suri's every move before she made her worldly debut may have seemed a little wacky to people. But one California lawmaker thinks it was a downright dangerous maneuver.
Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu has introduced a bill that would prohibit the selling, leasing or distributing of an ultrasound machine by California manufacturers to anyone other than licensed medical professionals. The state assembly is scheduled to debate the bill Thursday.
"If someone sees Tom Cruise buy one, they think this is the thing to do," Lieu said. "This is a public safety measure. There's really no medical reason for an untrained person to use this machine."
Although it seems difficult to believe that too many people are jumping on this particular Cruise bandwagon, as of Wednesday there was just such a device listed on eBay for $5,500. Hopefully whoever buys that also has the money to employ a fulltime doctor.
Doctors, nurses and medical technicians undergo years of training, not just to become licensed professionals but also to figure out all the knobs, switches and doodads on an ultrasound machine, which provides expectant parents with their first glimpse of a fetus's shape. Having a number of sonograms over the course of a pregnancy is recommended to monitor the baby's health in utero.
Ultrasounds are also used to check out adult's organs for irregularities and other problems and the machine needs to be set on a higher wave frequency to get the best view.
"There are a lot of settings on an ultrasound machine that you would only use on adults and not on a fetus," Dr. Miyuki Murphy, director of ultrasound for Radiological Associates of Sacramento, the largest private radiology practice in Northern California, told the Associated Press.
"Obviously, somebody enamored with their own child would want to use it all the time," Dr. Murphy said. The FDA has determined that "keepsake" fetal videos and pictures of a fetus qualify as an "unapproved" use of the machine.
Well, lucky for Suri she's out of the womb, because Cruise couldn't be more enamored of his baby girl. He appeared on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night gushing, as usual, about the lovely ladies in his life.
"She's a beauty--it's crazy," Cruise told his host. "Kate and I can't take our eyes off of her." He added that his mother and Holmes' mom, who reportedly was by her daughter's side throughout the later days of her pregnancy, are dishing out lots of childrearing advice to the happy couple.
Regarding his fiancee, Cruise sang his usual song. "She's magnificent," he told Letterman. "She has done so well… an incredible woman."
Meanwhile, with his ultrasounding days behind him for the time being, Cruise probably doesn't feel the need to concern himself with the California Assembly, especially since he's currently speeding through New York.
His whirlwind promotional tour of the Big Apple to promote Mission: Impossible III's Friday release jumpstarted Wednesday afternoon, with Cruise traversing the town by fire truck, helicopter, motorcycle, speedboat, sports car and subway train.
What, no hang gliders or horses were available?
After appearances on Live with Regis and Kelly and Good Morning America Cruise kicked off the six hour-long "Mission: NYC" surrounded by hundreds of fans in Times Square for a taping of MTV's Total Request Live, where he was told by host Vanessa Minnillo that he was "a wonder of the world."
When the fire engines arrived to pick him up, Cruise referred to the firefighters as his buddies. "These are my heroes," he said.
Somewhere along the line he switched his mode of transport to a motorcycle, on which he pulled up at the TriBeCa Performing Arts Center to greet the crowd assembled for the movie's first showing at the TriBeCa Film Festival.
After signing autographs and posing for pictures, he was off again behind the wheel of an orange sports car. Cruise was also scheduled to swing through Harlem and motorboat up the Hudson River before ending up at the Ziegfeld Theatre for Mission: Impossible III's official U.S. premiere, also in association with the TriBeCa fest.
“Tom has always enjoyed finding new ways to connect with the fans and we’re both excited to be sharing the movie with [the festival] on this incredible stage,” Paula Wagner, one of the film's producers, said in a statement
.
While that itinerary is enough to get anyone's heart pumping, we can only assume that Cruise is mostly excited for the plane ride he's set to take following his publicity jaunt, which will take him back to L.A. for a Thursday premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater and, most importantly, back into the arms of Kate and Suri.
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Denise Hurt by Heather's "Betrayal"
Denise Richards
Once Denise Richards started airing her grievances, it apparently became difficult for her to stop.
The actress, who's currently in the midst of an ugly divorce battle with Charlie Sheen, already spoke out in court papers about some of the specific issues she had with her estranged husband--the alleged death threats, kiddie porn addiction and dalliances with prostitutes, to name but a few.
Now she's taking her former best friend, Heather Locklear, to task over Locklear's supposed "betrayal."
"Heather knows why we aren't friends," Richards told TMZ.com.
The obvious reason for the end of the friendship would seem to be Richards' reported romantic involvement with Locklear's estranged husband, Richie Sambora, whom the former Melrose Place star is in the process of divorcing.
Locklear's rumored beau of the moment, David Spade, seemed to perpetuate that speculation when he told reporters last week that Locklear was "still nursing the knife wound in her back."
However, Richards claims Locklear knows "that there was nothing that happened during either marriage."
"Heather knows why and when her marriage ended with Richie and she knows why my marriage ended with Charlie," she told TMZ.com.
"It is a betrayal because a lot of it isn't true and they know that and that's what's hard."
Locklear, thus far, has refrained from making any public statements regarding Richards and Sambora.
As for Sheen, he recently told Extra that he was "horrified" by the allegations Richards made in her recent court declaration and that she had "radically violated" their agreement not to discuss the details of their divorce publicly.
"It's the most vile attack I've ever witnessed, period," he said.
"Why was I allowed any contact, on any level, with her or the children for the past year? Why, if that's who I am?" he asked.
Richards, on the other hand, told TMZ.com she was under oath at the time she made her claims and stands by her declaration.
"This is one of the hardest times in my life," she told Us Weekly. "I have done my best to try and keep this private. It's unfortunate that the court document became public. My priority all along has been to focus on my children and their well-being."
Apparently believing the warring couple could use a little parental guidance, Martin Sheen weighed in, calling for a "cease fire," and telling Access Hollywood he had "every confidence that Charlie and Denise will eventually become friends."
We're going to file that one under wishful thinking.
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Dion Returns to Performing After Illness
Celine Dion
Celine Dion has returned to performing at Caesars Palace after a viral infection that made her dizzy caused her to cancel six shows last month.
"I felt very bad," the 38-year-old French-Canadian diva told The Associated Press in a recent interview. The singer had labyrinthitis, an inflammation of the inner ear often accompanied by an impaired sense of balance.
Dion said she refused medication that could dry out her vocal cords, despite being told it could take her up to a year to heal.
When a doctor said jittery movements in her eyes had stopped, Dion said she "took a chance" and returned to performing.
She told the AP she's "95 percent" better now.
"It's hard to do a show, but it's harder not to do it," Dion said.
"When you come back, you're afraid. You're scared and you're like, kind of ashamed," she said. "You're like, `I'm sorry, you know?'"
"Then you talk to yourself and say, `You're a human being, it can happen.'"
Dion will put on her 500th show at Caesars Palace on Sunday. It is a benefit production to raise $1 million for 10 local charities.
The performer said she's excited about the benchmark performance. Some concertgoers have paid up to $10,000 for two front-row seats.
"It's amazing that people wanted to come and make a difference, too," she said. "It's rewarding. It's wonderful."
Dion began a three-year engagement at the 4,100-seat Colosseum theater in 2003. She's now performing about 165 shows a year. Her run has been extended through the end of 2011.
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98 Degrees Singer Jeff Timmons Arrested
This undated photo provided by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office shows former 98 Degrees band member Jeff Timmons, who was arrested in Florida on charges of drunken driving and driving without a valid license on April 23, 2011. Timmons was arrested and held on a $500 bond, which he posted the same day.
Jeff Timmons of '90s boy band 98 Degrees has been arrested on charges of drunken driving and driving without a valid license, Brevard County sheriff's officials said.
Authorities pulled over Timmons' white Mercedes on April 23 when they spotted him driving 60 mph in a 45-mph zone, according to a report.
Timmons, 33, said he was from out of town and didn't have his driver's license, the report said. Authorities said Timmons' eyes were "very glassy" and he told police he had "a lot" to drink. Later, he told deputies he only had two beers.
Timmons' attorney, Donald W. Wruck III, released a statement Wednesday: "We believe the incident is a result of a misunderstanding and that Jeff will ultimately be cleared of all charges."
The two passengers in the car "were very intoxicated," according to the police report. One passenger identified himself as Mitch English, host of the syndicated TV show "The Daily Buzz." English told police Timmons was driving his car for him because he had too much to drink, the report said.
English didn't return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.
Timmons was arrested and held on a $500 bond, which he posted the same day, said Brevard County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Andrew Walters.
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Rolling Stone Celebrates 1,000 Issues
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner poses for a portrait with a reproduction of the cover of the magazine's 1000th issue, Tuesday, May 2, 2011 in his New York office
NEW YORK - Rolling Stone magazine celebrates its 1,000th issue this week with a burst of rock 'n' roll excess: a glitzy Manhattan party with the Strokes as house band and a 3-D cover that mimics the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" sleeve and cost nearly $1 million to produce.
It's an audacious sign of how Rolling Stone, which has numbered its issues since Jann Wenner put out No. 1 in 1967, remains dominant even with changing times and music.
Rolling Stone loves to mark special occasions with special issues; this time, it's focusing on its covers. Dr. Hook once sang of the thrill musicians get when they're "On the Cover of Rolling Stone." At Wenner Media's office in New York, all the covers are lined up on hallway walls, starting with John Lennon on RS No. 1.
"The cover is iconic," Wenner said. "The cover, more than any other thing we do, resonates in people's minds. By and large the greatest things we've done, the greatest stories, have had the greatest covers."
The 3-D cover is pure Wenner. Much like Beatles fans pored over the pastiche of faces on "Sgt. Pepper," he wants readers to study his cover for their own cultural reference points. There's
Chuck Berry duck-walking, Madonna grabbing her crotch, Bono with a microphone and even — upon very close inspection — Waldo.
Wenner believes it's the costliest magazine cover ever. He denies with an expletive reports that the magazine's publisher, Steve DeLuca, left in February because his boss was pinching pennies on the party.
The issue is clogged with details like Wenner's favorite cover (Annie Leibovitz's portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken hours before Lennon was shot) and the most memorable cover headline ("He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead" about Jim Morrison). Mostly, it's a nostalgic look at a time when the magazine spoke for a generation and an art form.
Getting on Rolling Stone's cover "wasn't just publicity, the way all magazine covers have become," comic
Steve Martin writes in RS 1000. "It was in itself an artistic achievement."When he first saw his face upfront, Tom Petty said, "I felt I had arrived."
Although Rolling Stone's circulation has been flat the past few years at slightly more than 1.3 million, it still comfortably leads other music-oriented magazines such as Vibe (836,000) and Blender (693,000), according to the Capell Circulation Report.
"Rolling Stone is so clearly the big dog," said Alan Light, former editor of Vibe, Spin and the late Tracks magazines who did freelance work for this most recent RS issue. "They're the biggest player on the table and you can't go into that space without defining yourself in some way in relation to Rolling Stone — it's an urban Rolling Stone, or a younger Rolling Stone or it's not Rolling Stone."
The magazine tries to walk the tightrope of appealing to its original subscribers yet also attracting readers born two decades after "Sgt. Pepper" was released.
"The average age of our audience is 28 years old," Wenner said. "When I started it was 21. In 40 years, it's aged like seven years. We keep bringing in new readers and holding the old readers."
No other music magazine "has put a glove on us editorially," Wenner said.
"Our competitors — God bless them all — you can't think of one memorable article, interview or issue they've ever done, whereas Rolling Stone keeps knocking them out of the park," he said. "Can you think of one great Blender issue?"
Retorted Craig Marks, Blender editor in chief: "Of course I can.
"How about the issue we did featuring the pampered offspring of such baby boomer legends as
Art Garfunkel? " he said. "Oh, wait. That was Rolling Stone. OK, then, how about the one where we broke the news that Jim Hendrix was still dead?
"Shoot, that was Rolling Stone, too. Perhaps if Jann wasn't so busy reliving his magazine's bygone glory years, he'd realize that music fans — not to mention contemporary superstars U2,
Gwen Stefani and Coldplay, among many — have long ago turned away from their dad's publication and instead turned to Blender."
Marks wouldn't talk further about his competitor unless it was for an article that equally discussed Blender's fifth anniversary.
Blender clearly rattled Rolling Stone at the outset. While "it hasn't proven to be real competition," Wenner said, he admitted to stealing ideas like running more and shorter music reviews.
After briefly trying to reinvent itself and appearing lost as a result, Rolling Stone returned to its original template, said Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi journalism professor who publishes an annual guide to consumer magazines.
"We have nothing like it," Husni said. "We have nothing that really combines the music as the jumping point toward politics, national affairs, business. Rolling Stone is really unique in that respect."
Rolling Stone's interest in things besides music is key to its success and longevity, Wenner said. Hunter S. Thompson became famous because of his political and social reportage in Rolling Stone. So did P.J. O'Rourke.
It's all filtered through Wenner's distinctly liberal point of view; he has autographed pictures of
Bill Clinton and Al Gore hanging outside his office. RS No. 999's cover story had historians speculating whether George W. Bush was the worst president ever.
"There's no question in anybody's mind that the No. 1 story the last two or three years has been the war in Iraq and Bush," he said. "People are obsessed with it and furious. I am, personally. Beyond that, it's just good journalistic sense."
Rap, punk rock, emo, death metal, alt country — all are musical genres that emerged since Rolling Stone's birth and all have publications that cater to them. It's harder for Rolling Stone to have the impact it used to have because there's no real cultural center anymore and a voracious media is covering subjects that Rolling Stone virtually had to itself at the beginning, Light said.
But nothing has really replaced it.
"How can you be a general interest pop culture magazine when there isn't a general interest listener?" Light asked. "There's a bunch of stratified listeners with different interests. What would you do differently with that magazine? I have yet to have anybody come up with a really good answer."
The mercurial Wenner, who edited every piece in the anniversary tribute, is still an enthusiastic music fan who boasted of seeing Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Weezer, U2, the Rolling Stones twice and Bob Dylan three times in a four-month period.
He's also now 60, at the vanguard of his generation. He said he figures to have another five, 10 years in his current job, and insists he'll be able to lie on a beach somewhere as an old man and read a Rolling Stone that he had nothing to do with.
"It's important to me that the future is provided for, that it will keep going," he said. "You work all your life on something, you want to keep it going."
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Halle's Family Planning
Halle Berry
In just three short months, Halle Berry will hit the big 4-0, her self-imposed deadline to become a mom, but she insists there's no pressure to join Hollywood's ever-growing poopie-diaper brigade.
"There are too many babies being born," the Oscar winner laughs to "Extra." "No, no, now's not the time."
But when her biological clock starts ticking louder than Big Ben, she's open to all options, including pulling an Angelina Jolie (and Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Calista Flockhart, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ewan McGregor, Sharon Stone, Diane Keaton, Rosie O'Donnell, et al.) by opting for adoption.
"I will adopt if it doesn't happen for me naturally," reveals Berry. "I will definitely adopt. And I probably will adopt even if it does happen naturally.
"
If it does happen "naturally," will it be with her current squeeze, 30-year-old model Gabriel Aubry? The painfully pretty pair (both made People's "Most Beautiful" list) reportedly met on a Versace shoot last November, and in recent months have been spied out and about looking oh-so-lovey-dovey.
For now, Halle is keeping her lip zipped about the romance, although Aubrey's dad blabbed to People in February, "He told me he was in love."
Whatever happens with the hush-hush lovebirds, don't expect Berry to be a bride for the third time. After messy, tabloid-tastic divorces from baseball-er David Justice and crooner Eric Benet, she's sworn off the state of holy matrimony, declaring to Oprah in 2004, "I'll never get married again ... I mean it with every bone in my body."
During that same sit-down, she announced her intention to become a mom before her next birthday milestone, explaining that if "there's no real serious man [by age 40], whoever I'm dating at the time I'll say, 'Hey, would you like to have a baby?' I'll sign a paper that will say, 'I won't ask you for one red cent, one thing, but I need to have a baby and you're here, so let's do that.'"
Of course, when she said all this, she was attempting to drum up interest in the doomed cinematic hairball that was "Catwoman," so if she does change her mind, we'll try to keep the claw-baring to a minimum.
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DID LINDSAY STEAL PARIS' MAN?
Lindsay Lohan
What really came between Paris Hilton and Stavros Niarchos? Could it have been “Mean Girls” vixen Lindsay Lohan?
Partying heiress Hilton and shipping heir Niarchos have reportedly split — but just hours after Hilton recently left the U.S. for Australia, Niarchos was spotted “sipping cocktails and dirty dancing” at L.A. club Element with Lohan, according to Life & Style.
“Lindsay was all over Stavros,” a bartender told the mag. “At one point, he had his hand up her skirt!” Three days later, Stavros was reportedly seen leaving Lohan’s room at the Chateau Marmont.
Hilton is said to be “heartbroken” over the breakup, but the ever-resilient heiress is already busy mending her heart, and was spotted on the town with football star Matt Leinart.
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