The Texas Tiger Chronicles

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Gossip, Tyra, and Superhead

Mood: Optimistic
Music: Jesus is a love song - Karen Clark-Sheard featuring the Clark Sisters
Motivation: Wanting to live a fabulous life
Munchies: Burger and fries......I love my George Foreman grill!
Gear: Levi's Low-Riders and a Banana Republic-knit polo, black B.R. sneakers
Eyes: I am rocking my glasses today, no contacts

Something nasty in the air as Karrine goes after Tyra

The claws are back out between Tyra Banks and Video Vixen Karrine Steffans.

Banks was hissing after Steffans, who admits she has been intimate with Jay-Z, Shaquille O'Neal, Usher, Ja Rule, Sean (Diddy) Combs, Vin Diesel and Fred Durst, claimed that she and Tyra "are not that different."

Now catwalker Tyra, who's promoting her fifth season on "America's Next Top Model," is refusing to go on John Salley and Ananda Lewis' L.A. radio show after Steffans used that forum to trash her.

"I heard they call Tyra 'Hollywood Hop,'" Steffans told Salley and Lewis, "for the many men in Hollywood who have bedded Tyra and moved on."

Salley, who's also on Fox Sports Network's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period," said he thought "Tyra was a friend" and just wanted to get her on the radio to promote her talk show. "I still want her on," he told our Jawn Murray.

Banks apparently has other issues with the radio crew. We hear she's not keen on the idea of seeing Salley's sidekick face to face after Tyra stole her -former boyfriend, basketball star Chris Webber, -several years back. "Yeah, she mentioned that she didn't want to come on because we had Ananda on," Salley added.

"There was a request, after Karrine did the show," Banks' rep Cindi Berger told us. "We weren't going to have Tyra do it, because she wasn't going to further publicity for Karrine, therefore the request for Tyra to do the radio show was denied."


Praying for silence

Anne Heche wants everyone to know that it wasn't the power of prayer that made her go straight. The actress is lashing out at her mother for using her name to promote Christian ex-gay events.

"This nonsense about my mother praying for me is really making me angry," the actress vents on her official Web site. "My mother never approved of my relationship with Ellen [DeGeneres]. Her hatred for our relationship is one of the many things that ultimately led to my breaking of all communication with her. (My mother, that is, not Ellen)."

Heche's mother, Nancy Heche, is speaking at a conference held by the Christian group Focus on the Family, which preaches that homosexuality is preventable and treatable. She is billed as "a single parent who experienced the international media rush during her daughter Anne Heche's highly visible relationship with Ellen DeGeneres."

Though Nancy claims the power of prayer led her daughter to abandon her lesbian relationship and marry a man, Anne says she and the talk-show host parted ways because they wanted "different things for our lives."

"The ex-gay events right now make me sick," Heche says. "And for anyone who ever thought that Ellen and I broke it off because of sexuality, you couldn't be more mistaken. And for anyone who thought my mother's prayers had anything to do with me marrying a man, forget it."


Rebecca & Jerry get engaged

After just over a year of dating, Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell are engaged to be married.

O'Connell, 31, proposed to the "X-Men" star in New York this weekend, reports Us Weekly.

"We couldn't be happier and are looking forward to the next chapter of our lives," the couple said in a statement.

It will be the first marriage for O'Connell, but Romijn, 32, was married for six years to "Full House" star John Stamos.

That divorce was finalized in March. O'Connell and Romijn hooked up last August.

Romijn and O'Connell worked together in the unreleased movies "Man About Town" with Ben Affleck and "The Alibi" with Selma Blair. O'Connell stars in NBC's "Crossing Jordan."

No wedding date has been announced.


Side dish

Those photos of Kate Moss snorting white powder just cost the now-in-rehab supermodel $4 million. H&M has canceled her ad campaign, saying she's "inconsistent with H&M's clear dissociation of drugs" … There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but for one lucky New Yorker, there's going to be a free apartment. CitiHabitats teamed up with New York magazine yesterday to give away one month's rent or mortgage. The winning code, 1714, was announced on www.nymag.com, but so far, no winner has stepped forward …

Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Kimora Lee Simmons and Wendy Williams stayed out of the pool at Sky Studios, but Jermaine Dupri dunked his legs as his bodyguard held his Courvoisier …

Which high-profile mag founder doesn't want his famous fiancée to find out about his extracurricular activities — especially his affair with his half-sister? The two have been sharing a bed, much to the chagrin of their father…

Rene Russo is crazy about Randy Coleman's songs. She helped set up a showcase at the Bitter End tonight for the composer, whose dad is actor Dabney Coleman.
Originally published on September 20, 2005


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From fellow Texan - Liz Smith

DR. PHIL HUFFS, PUFFS

 Print  Reprint September 21, 2005 -- 'IT IS not only the most difficult thing to know oneself, but the most incon venient one, too," said H. W. Shaw.

So, what's gotten into America's lovable, rationalist pop-culture shrink? I do mean Dr. Phil, a man who was unknown before Oprah gave him a forum. Now he is behaving like a Diva Deluxe. Last Friday, the good doctor was to speak at an obesity forum being held by California's first lady, Maria Shriver. As a condition of his appearance, Phil insisted the governor introduce him. In between, Arnold Schwarzenegger's calendar filled up and he felt he had to cancel.

Maria had Dr. Phil called, not once but twice, telling him the governor could not introduce him, just in case he wanted to back out. The day of the symposium, she arrived to find Dr. Phil sitting, pouting. He refused to speak. Finally she insisted he talk to her, and he said, "I am not happy." Maria said she was so sorry but they had called twice to advise him of the change. He stormed, "No one called me." An aide said nervously, "Yes, Phil, they did!" Dr. Phil was still irate: "No one told me!"

The great analyst of "getting along" continued to huff and puff. Someone said nervously that perhaps the governor could come by after all. Maria said, "No, we are not redoing the governor's schedule. Phil, I suggest you just leave if you feel this way." Dr. Phil insisted he had to use the bathroom first. Maria indicated it was down the hall. Dr. Phil said he could not use a public bathroom. Maria said calmly, "Well, that's the only one we have. Use it or not. Take your camera crew and go."

After the doctor availed himself of the facilities, he came back sheepishly and said, "I might as well stay now that I am here." Maria told him he didn't have to and she advised him, "My 7-year-old doesn't act the way you do." When Dr. Phil pled exhaustion from being absorbed in the Katrina rescues, Maria told him, "You're tired? How do you think those people feel?" So just in case you wonder, this exchange was not leaked by the first lady. Many people experienced this exchange, and it's the talk of California and TV land.

I noticed David Letterman, of all people, kissing Dr. Phil on the top of his bald head recently. I guess it's easier to get along with the doctor if one stands behind him.


THINGS ARE hopping down in Austin, the state capital of Texas! It is defi nitely a town to play in — as witness the youngest son of Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, John Ellis Bush, arrested last week for public intoxication and resisting arrest. Austin was also the playground of the George W. Bush twins, before they came of age. They loved Chuy's, the great place for Texas margaritas! But Austinites are more exercised over rumors that President George Bush might put his presidential library in Austin. (The city already has one presidential library, that of Lyndon Johnson.) The University of Texas is offering the president three locations, two in Dallas, but one could be on Lake Austin Boulevard next to the Deep Eddy Cabaret nightclub. Local columnist John Kelso says he has trouble with the concept of President Bush having a library in what he calls "hippie dippy Austin," where the motto is "Stay Weird!" He says the idea of a reading library for this president is too much irony even for Kelso. He suggests Bush needs a Presidential Game Room and a big-screen TV. And it shouldn't be built near what he calls "a beer joint." In general, Kelso also says, "The war protests and daily eggings of the library would get old pretty darned quick."







AUTO PILOT

SEN. John Kerry doesn't need to listen to President Bush to criticize him. Kerry sat down to dinner at Café Milano in Georgetown last Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with three other men, and never glanced at the TV set at the bar during Bush's address from New Orleans. "Mr. Bush's speech ended at approximately 9:25 p.m. local time," Washington Times columnist John McCaslin noted. "Lo and behold, when he was still seated at the table wiping squid from his chin, Mr. Kerry responded to the president's address with a statement of his own, issued at exactly 9:54 p.m." Buried in Kerry's statement was this nugget: "Americans want an end to politics as usual." Pass the calamari.




A cause of mass Wisteria


Overexposure has made Eva seem, well, 'Desperate.'
Can she turn her rep around?


By MARK ELLWOOD


Eva Longoria at the MTV Video Music Awards

Longoria (l.), in jest, gets grabby with Felicity Huffman's Emmy in front of Nicollette Sheridan.

Farrah's fate should be one Eva tries to avoid.
Not since "Sex and the City" or "The Sopranos" has there been a season opener as anticipated as Sunday's return of "Desperate Housewives."

During hiatus, the stars have been as busy as their characters, making movies, promoting the show overseas and even, in Marcia Cross' case, getting engaged.

But no one's made more headlines than the youngest, foxiest housewife, Eva Longoria, who plays campy, trampy - and now pregnant - Gabrielle.

And it's not necessarily a good thing.


Longoria is very close to becoming the latest victim of ADD - that's Attention-demanding Diva Disorder - the same disease that's felled such star-struck TV hotties in the past as Suzanne Somers, Farrah Fawcett and Shannen Doherty.

Some industry experts are concerned, for good reason: First, Eva was snapped wearing a cheeky "I'll Have Your Baby, Brad" T-shirt. Then she raved about how Brazilian waxing opened up "a whole new sexual side of me" before being spotted smooching Lindsay Lohan on the lips.

But it was telling Self magazine about her fondness for vibrators (she has two - a Pocket Rocket and a Rampant Rabbit) that made Eva true tabloid fodder, gaining her not just dozens of sex-toy gifts from fans but also a formal reprimand from her corporate bosses at Disney (which owns the network, ABC, on which "Housewives" airs).

Then Longoria went against accepted protocol by taping a segment for rival network NBC's "Dateline" show instead of ABC's own network newsmagazines - according to reports, she went with "Dateline" because that program focused a piece on her alone, rather than on all five of the catty co-stars.

Eva's party-hopping at the MTV Video Music Awards in Miami - not to mention the bizarre heels-and-bikini combo she wore onstage - was the natural climax of the Summer of Eva.

Image consultant John Battaglia, who's worked with everyone from Beyoncé to Usher and Jessica Simpson, says that Eva's VMAs visit was a major gaffe.

"I don't understand what she had to gain by being there, other than personally, and I'd recommend that she not be at the VMAs," he says. "I don't see how it fits into what she's doing now. And when you're on the brink of overexposure, you should stick to your industry."

Indeed, Longoria's love of the limelight could threaten to derail the "Housewives" juggernaut. "She's a bit of a bull in a china shop when it comes to publicity," says celebrity publicist Denise Dorman, who has a simple benchmark for clients worried about excessive coverage. "I think Kathy Griffin is the absolute bar for whether or not you're messing up in the media when you're a celebrity. And right now, Eva has to be very careful she doesn't become part of Kathy Griffin's material for her act."

Dorman believes Eva went into overdrive because of a snub. "When the Emmys overlooked her, she turbocharged and felt very threatened. So she had to get herself on some [magazine] covers."

While In Touch Weekly's Matt Sullivan admits Longoria has a tendency to "do the impulsive, attention-getting thing first and think of the consequences later," he also stresses that she's quick to apologize for any missteps (that Pitt-loving T-shirt, for one - she reportedly wrote Jennifer Aniston a note).

"She's the youngest of all the housewives, and the rest of them have been around the block and done the fame thing before," says Sullivan. "But at the same time, she's 30, so she's waited a long time for this, too. It's very exciting and you can't really blame her." After all, Teri Hatcher also told a men's magazine of her love for vibrators - but was neither chastised for it, nor sent battery-powered gifts.

PR exec Howard Bragman agrees that it's been a long, hot, Longoria-filled summer. But he holds the TV show accountable for her overexposure. "My philosophy is that careers should be cooked in a Crockpot and not a microwave," he says. "And I feel that, unfortunately for all the girls, the entire show's been microwaved a bit too much."

He calls this process the "piñata syndrome," where hot new stars are built up only so that they can later be knocked down. "The first time there's a ratings slip, the media will ask, 'Is "Housewives" fever over?'" predicts Bragman.

He believes Longoria's outré cheekiness is charming, rather than off-putting. Which means there's hope. "She's a beautiful girl, with a great body, and there's nothing wrong with her enjoying that and having fun."

Eva may even be trying to emulate Kim Cattrall, who so successfully merged her real-life persona with man-eater Samantha Jones of "Sex and the City" that she snagged book and TV gigs as a sexpert.

Here's hoping she doesn't come out with her own line of vibrators.


Advice for living happily ever after


Since Eva Longoria has charm and talent to spare, all's not lost - regardless of her bizarre behavior. Experts offer some simple fixes to turn her from tabloid-ready disaster to TV icon. In other words, here's how she can avoid becoming the next Farrah:

BECOME BENEFICIAL

"When I rep a celebrity, to me they're a brand, not just a person - and a brand has attributes and things it stands for," says PR exec Howard Bragman. "I'd say take some of the heat that's on her and turn it to something of value - say Katrina relief or breast-cancer awareness." (Longoria's just announced she'll auction her VMA bathing suit to raise money for Katrina relief).

TAKE A LESSON FROM ANGELINA

Publicist Denise Dorman suggests tweaking Longoria's personal life. "It's simple: less vibrator talk and more talk about marriage and children," she says. Angelina Jolie navigated a tricky personal storm by focusing publicity efforts on her kids and on her genuine passion for working with the United Nations.

GET YOUR FANNY IN THE FRONT ROW

Image Consultant Lucyann Barry suggestsLongoria turn to fall fashion; the collections are ideal for the sexy but sophisticated look Longoria should aim for. Her pick of the labels: Gucci, YSL and Alexander McQueen. "This fall, there's plenty of beautiful long lines, pencil skirts, which are very body-conscious but have an Old World sophistication about them."

M.E.

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