Amy Winehouse is absolutely determined not to hide her drug habit – from anyone. For a moment I want you to look back over the course of history and think of the people who refused to hide something they were proud of. They displayed whatever it was for everyone to see, and eventually they forced the backwards-thinking world to accept that they were right. The gay couple who refused to hide their love… the interracial couple who refused to hide their love… and in Amy Winehouse’s case, the drug abuser who refused to hide her love… for crack. Amy Winehouse so obviously flaunts her drug use that one can only assume she’s actually trying to promote it. And apparently the United Nations agrees with me (as they often do).

Celebrities such a s Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss are glamorizing cocaine use and fueling problems in Africa, according to the UN’s drug chief. The Rehab singer, 24, and supermodel Moss, 33, were singled out by Antonio Maria Costa as he warned that drug use in Britain directly contributed to the ‘complete collapse’ of some West African countries where drug cartels corrupt vulnerable governments.

“Rock stars like Amy Winehouse become popular singing, ‘I ain’t going to rehab;. A sniff here and a sniff there in Europe are causing another disaster in Africa. Europeans now understand they should not buy blood diamonds, or clothes made in sweatshops. Yet with cocaine, the opposite occurs.”

Colombian drug barons are sending scores of “mules” to Europe every week from countries such as Nigeria and Ghana where local officials can be bought off, he claimed.

[From the Metro]

I’m pretty sure Amy Winehouse is actually a drug mule. You know that woman could suck a golf ball through a garden hose. Hell, she could probably snort one. She’s probably also responsible for at least half of the collapse of West African countries due to drug cartels. The amount of drugs that woman consumes is astronomical. Of Amy’s concert last night, the Daily Mail noted:

After the disastrous opening night of her UK tour, one might have thought Amy Winehouse would be trying to keep her nose clean. But judging by the white powder lodged in her nostril, that seems to be far from the case.

[From the Daily Mail]

I’m going to assume the best, and believe that Amy Winehouse just has a serious Afrin addiction like me. Sometimes when your allergies go crazy, you use so much that it can congeal with the other crazy stuff going on in your sinuses… okay well no. I mean it can, but it still looks like what it is, not like cocaine. But I’m tired of Amy Winehouse’s crazy drug issues, so I’m going to start spreading the rumor that she has allergies and chronic sinusitis. Because I think the UN is right, in her own weird way, Amy’s glamorizing drug use and trying to make it sexy. And I guarantee you, NOTHING is less sexy than a sinus infection with allergic rhinitis. And that’s my good deed of the day.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Amy demonstrating the glamorous result of drug abuse. Images thanks to PR Photos. Header at her sell-out show at the Winter Gardens yesterday. Images thanks to the Daily Mail.

Amy Winehouse’s life is pretty much going to Hell in a hand basket. The British Britney Spears’ husband, Blake Fielder-Civil was arrested last week for witness tampering. Blake beat a guy up last May, and had apparently tried to bribe people involved in the case. He’s been held in Pentonville prison since then. When Amy went to visit him, police officers searched her beehive for drugs. Does that sentence make anyone else really, really happy?

Amy Winehouse’s beehive hairpiece was checked for drugs when she went to visit her husband Blake Fielder-Civil in prison.

Police officers at Pentonville prison, where Fielder-Civil has been remanded in custody, were suspicious of the singer when she went to the jail yesterday.

According to The Sun, Winehouse was asked by a warden to run her fingers through the famous hair-do to prove that she did not have any drugs stashed in it, but nothing was found.

[From Digital Spy]

That doesn’t seem that weird to me. When I was in college, I volunteered at a state prison. The list of things you could and couldn’t wear was lengthy. Let me tell you, the last thing you want to do is work with male offenders and not be able to wear your underwire bra.

Amy’s manager has finally quit. You’d think it’s because she’s totally crazy, her husband is in jail, they’re both unrepentant drug users and alcoholics, or she never shows up to performances. And while none of those things helped, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when manager Thom Stone went to the doctor and tested positive for heroin. Amy and Blake smoked it on the bus, and Stone managed to get enough through passive smoke that it actually showed up on a drug test. I know most people would think, “Yeah, right,” but I believe this for two reasons. 1: Amy Winehouse smokes heroin in her sleep, underwater, and will somehow manage to do it from the grave and 2: Why would Thom Stone lie about that? He could give one hundred other legitimate reasons to quit if he wanted to come up with something. Amy Winehouse’s life is so crazy and soap opera-like that anything and everything seems true.

AMY WINEHOUSE’s tour manager has quit — saying doctors found HEROIN in his system after he inhaled it passively on their bus. Thom Stone said working with drug-addled Amy and her husband was harming his health. It was revealed just a day after the singer went into meltdown on stage, slurring her words and insulting fans as hundreds walked out.

Stone hit breaking point when Amy, 24, and hubby BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL were arrested with cannabis in Norway last month. He produced a doctor’s note which revealed traces of heroin — known as “smack”. Last night Stone would not comment on the doctor’s note, but confirmed he had quit. A source said: “He was constantly bailing her out. He was watching them get off their heads on drugs and wondering whether Amy was even going to get up on stage. It was a nightmare job.”

[From the Sun]
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While I never thought I’d say this about something in The Sun, I absolutely believe every single word of that. Though I wonder, when officers checked Amy’s beehive, what didthey find? You know there had to be some random bramble in there. I imagine they pulled out some baby birds who’s mother mistook Amy’s hair for her nest. And Amy thought all hat chirping was just a side-effect from the drugs! Though I don’t know how she made sense of the bits of worm constantly falling into her eyes. Baby birds are such pranksters.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Amy at the Thames Magistrates Court in London on November 10, 2007. Image thanks to PR Photos. Header image of Amy from at her disastrous concert on Wednesday night. Hundreds of fans walked out as Amy continued to drink throughout the show. According to WENN “Fans booed before walking out of the gig - the opening night of her UK tour - enraged by Winehouse’s incoherent performance. Fans were also unimpressed when the singer stumbled on stage half an hour later than billed, before crashing into a guitar stand. However, Winehouse was unfazed by the booing from the crowd - and threatened them with the wrath of Fielder-Civil. She told the audience, “Let me tell you something. First of all, if you’re booing you’re a mug for buying a ticket. Second, to all the people booing - just wait till my husband gets out.” After performing hit Back To Black, she said, “Nothing’s going to bring my husband back.” Winehouse then dedicated track Wake Up Alone to Fielder-Civil, announcing, “This is for my husband.” Impressive. Image thanks to WENN.

One of Mel Gibson’s seven kids is having problems that mirror his dad’s, but at least he’s getting treatment early. 25 year-old Edward Gibson entered Cri-Help treatment facility in late September to try and conquer his demons. Edward is determined to quit using drugs and alcohol and it sounds like he made a personal choice to go to rehab and wasn’t forced into it. He is also refusing all visitors, and will not see his family.

Edward’s twin Christian was arrested for DUI in 2005, but Edward has yet to run afoul of the law and he plans to keep it that way.

“Mel is devastated,” a source told The Enquirer. “He feels so helpless because Edward won’t see him.

“Edward’s drugs of choice are alcohol and cocaine,” said the source. Sadly, his father’s fame is only adding to Edward’s problems, said the source. “He’s very self-conscious and finds it difficult to speak about his background, which is thwarting his recovery,” the source divulged…

Edward tried to kick his addictions on his own, but he just couldn’t, the source added.

“Edward was terrified he’d be caught under the influence driving a car like his dad - or worse - killing someone at the wheel,” said the source.

He’s not refusing visitors, especially his father, “because he doesn’t want any distractions or to cause any disruptions for hte other patients,” said the source.

“Edward told a pal: ‘I know my dad loves me, but this is something I have to do by myself for myself. My dad is just going to have to chill.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 12, 2007]

The article goes on to say that Edward fears being lumped in the same category as other celebrities’ kids who just go wild. He is also said to speak frequently about how he doesn’t want to end up like his dad.

Maybe he will beat his addictions early and come away with the tools to avoid long term alcoholism like his father. Mel Gibson is shown here at the American Gangster screening last week, and he definitely doesn’t look sober. According to Cinema Blend, Gibson is next going to star in a police thriller with Denzel Washington called Under and Alone. Maybe that’s why he showed up to support Denzel, although he would have done both of them a favor by keeping his drunk ass on the bar stool instead. No wonder his kid is avoiding him while he’s trying to get sober.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.

Lindsay Lohan’s new minders must be a hell of a lot less sycophantic than the last bunch. Apparently they’ve gone around to a bunch of her old haunts and told the servers not to give her alcohol – no matter how much Lohan asks. One would hope that if she were really serious about her sobriety, she wouldn’t be hanging out at those types of places in the first place. But that’s the conundrum that is Lindsay Lohan. Why be totally safe and sober when you can just act like you are?

Lindsay Lohan’s aides are going out of their way to make sure the actress/singer stays sober after spending much of the summer in rehab, they’ve told staff at all her old hangouts not to let her drink alcohol. The Mean Girls star found this out for herself when she tried to order vodka at Los Angeles’ Viceroy hotel on October 19.

A staff member at the hotel reveals Lohan spent an hour sipping water, but felt the need for something stronger as her friends started to get tipsy. A source tells Life & Style magazine, “She was fine at first, but it was obviously too soon for her to be around people who were drinking, because she later asked the server for a vodka. “But her people had called ahead and servers were told not to give in no matter how often Lindsay asked for alcohol.”

Despite denials about the incident from Lohan’s publicist, a guest at the Viceroy, who overheard the exchange between the actress and a waitress, tells the publication, “I heard the waitress say that she was sorry but she wasn’t allowed to serve her. Lindsay walked out soon after, looking embarrassed.”

[From ABC affiliate WWTI]

I’m genuinely surprised Lohan would try to order a drink. I’m not being sarcastic this time: everyone on the planet knows she’s been in rehab a billion times (or three, which is about the same thing). She would have to know that ordering a drink in public right now is tantamount to calling the National Enquirer herself. And though I know she’s pretty stupid, she’s dumber than I thought to put herself in a position of such temptation. Clearly she’s not serious about her sobriety. Not that I thought she was, but I assumed she’d at least try to keep up the façade for a bit longer. Should we start a Celebitchy betting pool for dates when Lindsay will be seen publicly intoxicated and/or committing some type of illegal act while under the influence? I’m betting $25 on the day after Thanksgiving.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Lindsay Lohan returning to her favorite pizza restaurant on the second day in a row today. Lindsay was also wearing a necklace of handcuffs with the key. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

The Britney ban has been lifted, but we’ve vowed not to get carried away and report on her every little misadventure: “Britney goes to the deli!” “Britney forgets to wear shoes!” “Britney swats fly off arm!” “Britney goes to the deli and forgets to wear shoes and swats a fly off her arm!” But we will occasionally write about her - never more than once a day, with a goal of three times a week max. I have to admit to have a slight BS infatuation: such a public downward spiral is a bit addictive to watch. Plus you have to think back on when she was “normal” and ask yourself if she’s always been this crass and crazy (remember when she called everyone ma’am?) or did it just kick in a few years ago? These are the questions that keep me up at night. So with that caveat: our one Britney story of the week.

Britney Spears invited a man to snort cocaine off her chest during a wild party at her Hollywood mansion just two days after losing visitation rights to see her sons, it has been reported. Scott Kohler, 29, claims he and a group of 10 other strangers were invited to join Spears for a night of heavy partying on October 19, when the troubled star drowned her sorrows with vodka and cavorted with the men in her jacuzzi. And musician Kohler alleges the 25-year-old singer accepted an offer of cocaine from a fellow partygoer, after he “joked he wanted to do a line off (Spears’) chest, and she agreed”, reports British newspaper The Sun.

Kohler adds, “(Spears) was in a great mood. She didn’t have a care in the world.” The latest revelations will be a blow to Spears as she fights her ex-husband Kevin Federline for custody of two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James. She has since won back visitation rights to see her two boys three times a week, but must comply with an earlier court order to undergo mandatory drug and alcohol tests and well as attend joint parenting sessions with dancer Federline. The former couple’s next custody hearing is set for November 26.

[From Starpulse]

Well I guess that explains more of Spears’ “Eat It, Lick It, Snort It, F**k it” comment to reporters last week, when asked how her case was going. I’m pretty sure that she tends to do all of those things at least twice an hour. Sometimes if she doesn’t have any cocaine or a guy around, she has to substitute one for the other, but Britney Spears is nothing if not industrious, right?

In other related news, Brit’s new album is actually getting some pretty good reviews, and is expected to perform decently, considering she won’t be doing any promotion for it. But she can use the CD to snort her cocaine from.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Britney driving home from a Halloween party at Park Beverly estates with her two sons Jayden James, Sean Preston and a friend. She appears to have attended at least three separate parties: Splash noted:. When Britney left the party an hour later her youngest son Jayden James looks quite visibly upset in the back seat of her car. Header image of Britney arriving at Heidi Klum’s Halloween party in Hollywood. There was also a third party where she donned a sombrero and harlequin mask. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Newly sober Lindsay Lohan has backed out of a commitment to host a party on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas. Reports that she would be the guest of honor at LAX nightclub were true, but she scrapped plans to be there, probably as a result of the bad publicity it was generating. Her rep tells US Weekly that “Lindsay will no longer be hosting New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas.”

Lindsay and her people might not have been the deciding force behind the issue, though. This week’s Star Magazine reports that Lindsay is under strict new contractual orders from the producers of the tango-themed film she’s working on Dare to Love Me that give guidelines meant to ensure that she doesn’t drink or do drugs. Along with stipulating that she must be under constant supervision from a sober companion and that she can’t drive, she is living in a “safe house” in LA and being treated with a controversial anti-addict drug regimen that some doctors consider dangerous and unproven:

Star can exclusively report that [Lindsay’s] participation [in a controversial anti-addiction treatment] is just one of several no-nonsense clauses that she had to agree to in the contract for her new film Dare to Love Me. An insider tells Star these clauses include:

Submitting to regular drug and alcohol testing;

Being assigned a new bodyguard and 24-hour sober companion;

Having her movements restricted and monitored, and having visitors agree to a possible search;

Being forbidden to drive a car!…

The insider tells Star that Lindsay’s contract calls for her to be stashed in the same LA “safe house” she occupied for 10 days before checking in Cirque Lodge. She will be under the care of Matthew Torrington, MD, medical director of the PROMETA Center, an outpatient clinic in Santa Monica specializing in treating alcohol, cocaine and metamphetamine addictions.

The PROMETA system is at the center of a major controversy within the medical community. Under the program - which costs $15,000 for the one-month treatment and includes nutritional supplements as well as “psychosocial or other recovery-oriented therapy” - Lindsay would receive a specific series of intravenous and oral doses in a combination from among three drugs. They are flumazenil, a medical used to treat overdoses of benzodiazepine drugs like Xanax and Valium; hydroxyzine, used to control nausea; and gabapentin, an anti-seizure medication. These drugs have been approved by the FDA individually but not in combination - and not for treating drug addiction!

[From Star Magazine print edition, November 5, 2007]

There is only anecdotal evidence that this treatment works for addicts, and Star quotes several doctors as saying it’s dangerous and likening it to “snake oil” treatments.

It sounds questionable to me, and there are drugs that are approved for addicts like antabuse and naltrexone that might be a better choice for Lindsay. Since I have no medical background I am not qualified to make a judgment about it though.

What bothers me is that she’s been given so many chances and is still getting high-paid roles, even with these rules that constitute baby sitting. She should have pissed away any chance she had at a career by now, and I hope that this movie tanks. Maybe I should be giving her credit for staying sober for this long, but when there are so many struggling young actresses who are more deserving and less full of shit than Lindsay, why should she be given yet another break?

Lohan is shown out shopping on 10/29/07, thanks to Splash News.

Six months pregnant Nicole Richie has denied yesterday’s report from The NY Post that she was seen smoking outside of two different restaurants in NY. She says through a rep that not only did she not smoke, she also was nowhere near NY recently and has been out of the country:

Richie’s rep tells Extra that accounts of Richie smoking are “irresponsible and untrue.” And while columnist Cindy Adams claims Richie lit up outside New York restaurants DaSilvano and Nobu (with fiance and father-to-be Joel Madden, even), Richie and Madden are reportedly abroad and nowhere near New York.

[From USWeekly]

Richie has said that she wants a natural birth and told Diane Sawyer that she doesn’t allow people to smoke around her and has given up anything that could possibly harm the baby, including caffeine and sushi. While there is only hearsay to back up reports of a pregnant Nicole behaving irresponsibly, there’s another pseudo celebrity in Britain who can’t deny pictures of her smoking after going on a drinking bender three months into her pregnancy. Former Atomic Kitten member and “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” winner Kerry Katona, who recently announced that she is due with her fourth child in May, was photographed smoking after she reportedly downed four martinis and a shot of vodka:

Kerry, twice Celebrity Mum of the Year, downed FOUR MARTINIS and a slug of VODKA in a pub with pals—despite being 12 weeks into an already troubled fourth pregnancy.

Then she popped to a restaurant over the road for a Chinese meal—and puffed greedily on a ciggie outside in the cold. One surprised drinker said: “Everyone knows Kerry’s pregnant so it was a bit of a shock to see her drinking and smoking.

“But she just said, ‘What the hell, a couple can’t hurt’.

“She went to the bar and ordered pints for the others and Martini for herself. It was the same round when the others were buying—and she also had a shot of vodka. She knocked it back in one, winced and then wiped her hand across her mouth and put the glass down.”

Her behaviour is even more shocking after her pregnancy with Heidi was beset by a string of miscarriage scares before the litle girl was born in February.

And the 27-year-old ex-Atomic Kitten star was also rushed into hospital last month—on the day she announced she was pregnant again. At first Kerry—who is married to ex-cabbie Mark Croft, 37, and also has daughters, Molly, six, and Lilly-Sue, four, by her first husband, former Westlife star Brian McFadden—was told she’d lost the baby.

But when she returned later the same day still feeling unwell, doctors discovered its heartbeat.

[From News Of The World via Gossip Rocks]

News of The World isn’t the most reliable source, and while Katona was photographed smoking, they may have embellished the part about how much booze she downed. There was a lot of controversy over a statement that Rachel Weisz made last year about how European doctors said that it was ok to drink while you’re pregnant - except not in the first three months while the fetus was most vulnerable. I had my only pregnancy in America, and my doctors told me not to drink at all. Once a midwife said I could have a glass of wine if I was in labor and I looked at her like she had two heads. Some obstetricians will tell you that an occasional glass is fine, especially in Europe, but it doesn’t seem worth the risk to your baby to me.

There was a recent study that found that moderate drinking posed no ascertainable risk to the baby after three months, and British associations are rethinking a ban on alcohol during pregnancy. When there’s no benefit to the baby from drinking though, why would you risk your baby’s health?

So Kerry Katona is supposedly downing shots and martinis when she’s barely three months’ pregnant, and she’s justifying smoking by making the ridiculous statement that stress from not smoking is worse for the baby! Commentors on ONTD on the post about Nicole Richie smoking brought up this photo that appeared in The Roanoke Times about a woman worrying about stress to her fetus from nearby construction noise - while she was smoking a cigarette. Snopes.com verifies that this is an actual newspaper clipping that was not doctored.

It looks like Nicole Richie is having trouble being true to her word and fighting her addictions. I know, I’ll wait while you pick up your jaw from the floor. Nicole vowed to Diane Sawyer that she had cleaned up her act due to her pregnancy. And we all know telling Diane Sawyer is pretty much the same thing as swearing on a revered, holy book. People expect you to stick with it.

Sounding neither defensive nor particularly alarmed, Richie, 25, said, “Just like any mother, you know, you want to take the best care of yourself, especially while you’re pregnant. And I’m definitely eating healthier now, and I’m really playing by the rules.”

By that, Richie said, “I do not drink caffeine at all, cut out sushi” – and, in response to questions from Sawyer, who had also mentioned Richie’s cocaine and heroin use – “No alcohol … No marijuana … No pills … Nothing … No smoking around me.”

[From People]

So that all sounds good. Sounds like Nicole Richie is thinking about someone besides herself and being relatively nice, normal and sane about the whole thing. Except that it was all bull.

MOMMY-to-be Nicole Richie. 3:30 p.m. Pony tail, black jeans, waistcoat. Exits DaSilvano with one young girl, one middle-age lady. On the sidewalk, after checking who’s at which outdoor tables, she lights up. They jump into a waiting black Caddy Escalade, Nicole into the front seat. Still smoking.

Three days later, 7:30 p.m., Nobu. For somebody who doesn’t eat, she sure frequents lots of restaurants. She’s there with the baby in the bun’s father. They leave. Outside she lights up again

[From the New York Post]

I’m sure it sucks to quit smoking, and I would bet it’s a lot harder when you’re pregnant and having a ton of cravings and/or mood swings to deal with. But I can’t imagine anytime where it would be more imperative to slap on a Nicoderm patch and do your best. I guess it’s possible Nicole was doing her best and just couldn’t quit, but from most reports about her personality, she’s not exactly the most mature, kind, or nice individual. The kind of rude and inappropriate comments she says to people make Paris Hilton look like Miss Manners. Something tells me that she hasn’t suddenly matured like she wants everyone to think. I’m kinda worried that in about a year everyone will be comparing her parenting to Whitney Bears. Except Nicole’s kids will probably already be able to give the paps the middle finger while lighting up a Newport Light.

Picture note by Jaybird: Header image of Nicole arriving to a surprise baby shower for her at Katsuya restaurant in Hollywood yesterday. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Boy Amy Winehouse’s issues really are just right on the surface. I’m sure there’s a lot of crazy going on below that too, but there’s so much crazy that she can’t hide it, even in her saner moments. She says that most often, she can’t remember any of the crazy things she does in her drug-fueled rampages, like running through the streets of London crying and bleeding, being photographed buying drugs, having huge fights with her do-nothing husband Blake Fielder-Civil, and getting arrested for pot possession.

Interviewed in Hamburg prior to a concert there last week, Winehouse found the German reporter staring at the scars on her arms. “Those are wounds, old wounds. You know. I wasn’t well in August,” she said. But when the reporter asked if she was now clean of drugs, she snapped: “That’s none of your business.” Just days later, the couple were arrested in Norway on Oct. 18 for alleged marijuana possession.

Winehouse also admitted the haze that life has become for her. “Lots of times I have no idea what I’m doing. Not until the next day do I have any memory,” she said. “Blake tells me later what happened. And then I’m infinitely ashamed.”

Winehouse said she she’s sometimes shocked at the situations she gets into. “I recently saw a picture of me when I got out of the hospital. I didn’t even recognize myself,” she said. But, she added, she feels she needs the excesses. “I believe that the pain makes me feel alive. Being willing to suffer for something means that I’m not just apathetic about them.”

[From People]

Well that sounds all around unhealthy to me, in about 10 different ways. Amy Winehouse is so far beyond messed up that I do really feel badly for her. She’s completely lost touch with reality and sanity. We haven’t heard from her parents in a while, though her husband’s parents are always more than willing to talk to the press about how messed up Amy is – though not how their son is just as messed up, and often supplies and encourages Amy in her drug habit.

Within the month [of Amy’s overdose], Winehouse’s in-laws opened up about the hospital dash, and their daughter’s [in-law’s] problems with substance abuse. “We are in hell,” Georgette Fielder-Civil told PEOPLE. He added “People who take drugs don’t care about other people [but only care about their next fix].”

[From People]

Amy, always Blake’s unconditional champion, said that Blake saved her life that night. Well he might have, in that he took her to the hospital and didn’t just leave her dying in the gutter. But he also tagged along with her to rehab afterwards, then encouraged her to leave because he didn’t enjoy it. Since Amy’s overdose, Blake has frequently been reported using drugs with her. So he saved her life that night, but it seems likely he’ll probably play at least an enabling role in ending it one night too.

David Hasselhoff was disappointed to learn that there’s going to be a movie version of his campy 80s show Knight Rider, and that producers aren’t even considering him for the lead part he used to play. He says he hopes he’ll get some kind of bit part in the film.

David Hasselhoff is furious after missing out on a role in the big-screen remake of his hit 1980s television show Knight Rider. The 55 year-old actor hoped to reprise his role as police officer Michael Knight for the film - but the movie’s producers have informed him the character is to be re-cast. However, Hasselhoff is confident he will make at least one appearance int he movie, if just to thank fans of the original show. He says, “I think fans will demand that I at least pop up in a cameo. I made the show and fans deserve it.”

[From Contact Music]

It makes sense that they wouldn’t want to cast Hasselhoff in the lead because he’s not really big screen material at this point. He would do well in an ongoing role in a sitcom, maybe even one in which he’s the lead, but a movie might bomb with him as the star and producers must realize that.

Still, this is the first I’ve heard of a movie version of Knight Rider. I think the article might be mistaken, because there is going to be a Knight Ryder remake, but Variety reports it will be on television for NBC and will be directed by Transformers director Doug Liman.

Hasselhoff also is said to have temporarily beaten his demons after being hospitalized to detox off alcohol following a recent relapse. He talked about his issues to People Magazine, saying that it was just a 24 hour problem that he took care of immediately. He said “I was doing great, and it just happened, and it took me 24 hours,and I just said, ‘You know what? Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!’” Hasselhoff explained that he didn’t do it to indulge himself, he just slipped up.

According to The National Enquirer, Hasselhoff’s relapse was worse than that. They say he was already in detox for two days and that he got out, got drunk again, and had to start all over again:

“David felt terrible that he’d let his family down by falling off the wagon again in a big way,” said the source.

“But after two days he wanted out. He left the hospital, but he didn’t get far.”

David “got ripped again” soon after leaving Cedars-Sinai, says the source.

“He was readmitted the very next day and was sick as a dog. Doctors had to start the detox process all over again.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, October 29, 2007]

While Hasselhoff may be facing a tougher battle than he’s admitting, he seems to be off booze for now and he does have the support of his girlfriend Michele Lilley. The Enquirer reports that she was by his side throughout his hospital stay and that “she’s completely devoted to him.”

Hasselhoff’s custody of his two teenage daughters, Taylor-Ann, 17, and Hayley, 15, does not seem to have been affected by his relapse. Keep your chin up, Hoff.

David Hasselhoff is shown at celebrity hotspot The Ivy on 10/17/07. It is thought that he went to the paparazzi-friendly restaurant to let everyone know he was OK after his relapse. Thanks to Splash News for this picture.