After her drug bust this past weekend actress Tatum O’Neal called up the New York Post to give a media-quote-friendly, upbeat, positive interview. A little too much so, in my opinion. I tend to be ridiculously optimistic, but by the end of reading O’Neal’s interview – in which she repeats every addiction cliché in the book – I was left feeling like she was reading from a script. She was just way too bubbly, everything considered. She even went so far as to say New York was “cool” for not giving her any special treatment, implying that she would have gotten it somewhere else. I doubt she thought it was cool while her ass was in jail.

Tatum also claims that she’s still sober, because she was buying drugs for the first time. So Tatum says she’s thankful she was arrested and didn’t actually relapse.

“I’m still sober!” she announced to me, two hours after being sprung from a night in jail, rumpled but far more rested and relaxed than I might look after a warm shower and heavy doses of caffeine. “Just when I was about to change that and wreck my life, the cops came and saved me!” Tatum crowed. “I was saved by the bell, by the guys in the Seventh Precinct.”

[From the New York Post]

Tatum once again blames her almost-relapse on the death of her 16-year-old Scottish terrier. She claims she was doing everything she was supposed to – visiting her psychiatrist, going to AA meetings daily – but that she just couldn’t handle the extreme grief she felt. She said she was wandering around aimlessly this weekend, without even intending to buy drugs, and then she did.

“One day, I’m walking aimlessly. I found myself doing the wrong thing.” Tatum, 44, told me how, in a funk, she met Alan Garcia, 33, “a drug addict who was panhandling,” and bought coke. I told her she was charged with buying crack, too.

“It’s both?” she asked, surprised. “I didn’t even know what I was buying!”

Tatum wants to reach out to the dealer, who was charged with a felony, while she faces a misdemeanor drug-possession charge. “I’m going to try to see if I can help him. He’s not a drug dealer. He’s a panhandler who sold drugs. I’m going to talk to my lawyer.”

[From the New York Post]

“It’s both?” Oh I love that. How naive and precious you are, Tatum O’Neal. I think that was the point in the article when I no longer bought it. Up until then I was still trying to go with the whole “the death of my dog made me want to use crack,” thing, even though I couldn’t imagine going there myself. But everyone has a right to their own emotions, and I’m sure some people are that attached to their pets. And I even tried to go with the whole, “I’m just wandering around, thinking about buying a soda, and I bought some crack instead,” idea. But to pretend to not even know what she was buying or know what she was charged with is utterly ridiculous. Come on, you had to find out from a Post reporter? Too far.

Get this. Tatum, who’s never been in jail before, is glad she was busted. “It was a shock to me, and a huge wakeup call. I’m eternally grateful, as sort of grim as the situation was, that I didn’t get to do what my disease was telling me to do. I’m still going to get my year on July 10!”

How can you not love her?

Eighteen hours behind bars wasn’t so bad. “I slept on a mattress with a couple of ladies because I was tired,” she giggled. “And they were nice! And I thought the thing that was cool about New York, no special treatment. No special cell.

[From the New York Post]

I really hope Tatum gets better, and does whatever it takes to keep her addiction under control. I’m guessing part of that will involve getting real with herself, which I don’t think she’s done yet.

Here’s Tatum O’Neal at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25th. PR Photos doesn’t list the people with her, but they look like her three kids with ex-husband John McEnroe. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Tatum O’Neil is like the female equivalent of Robert Downey Jr. The former child star has been battling substance abuse for years and comes from a family that’s filled with similar problems, including her half brothers, Griffin and Patrick, both of whom have served jail time for drug related charges. O’Neil lost custody of her children with tennis star John McEnroe due to her heroin addiction, and in the years since has worked hard to clean up her act for her kids’ sake. But it looks like she has slipped up again- big time. The actress was arrested in New York over the weekend for buying crack and cocaine.

TMZ has confirmed that Tatum O’Neal has been popped by the NYPD for allegedly scoring crack and coke last night.

The NYPD tells TMZ that O’Neal was “observed” allegedly buying crack on the Lower East Side near her apartment there. She was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and was held at the Seventh Precinct downtown. We’re told that she’s waiting to see the judge now to be arraigned at Central Booking in Lower Manhattan.

Tatum has admitted to battling drug addiction for years. Her rep couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

[From TMZ]

Hopefully, Tatum will get treatment and get back on track. But with the courts involved, her visitation with her children could be at stake. I don’t know how she could risk that over drugs- but then again, I’m not an addict.

I have liked Tatum since she was a kid in movies like “Little Darlings” and “The Bad News Bears.” I read her memoir, and her childhood sounds like it was no picnic- she says she was molested by one of her father’s friends, and both her parents had substance abuse problems. Not that these are excuses for her drug addiction, but there’s a definite pattern of drug use that she grew up around- as evidenced by the similar problems her brothers have had.

Note by Celebitchy: The Today Show had more details this morning. (This is nearly verbatim from the report below.) “She initially told police she was researching a role as a junkie, but when they found crack and cocaine on her she said this was her first relapse. She was arrested three blocks from her house during a drug sweep of the area, and was seen handing money over to a man thought to be a dealer. She was found with two dime bags and a crack pipe. She was arrested with the dealer and will face a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance.”

Tatum O’Neal is shown with her daughter Emily McEnroe on 4/25/08 at the Tribeca Film Festival, thanks to WENN.

Naomi Campbell should be locked up in a rubber room until further notice- either that, or sent into the mountains of Afghanistan to scare terrorists. The irrelevant British model was arrested in April at Heathrow airport after she threw a fit when her bags wound up lost. She got physical with a security officer and was taken into custody. No word on whether her cell phone was confiscated as a weapon of mass destruction. She was officially charged this morning with assaulting two police officers for that incident and must report to court on June 20 to face charges.

Naomi Campbell has been charged with assaulting a police officer at London’s Heathrow Airport, her lawyer told BBC News Thursday.

She has also been charged with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of using threatening, abusive words or behavior towards cabin crew.

The model, 38, was arrested in April aboard a British Airways flight when she threw a fit after her carry-on bags came up missing.

“Miss Campbell is bitterly disappointed that the prosecutors have advised her she is to be prosecuted for various offences,” her lawyer said in a statement after she answered bail at a London police station Thursday.

“She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously,” he said.

She is due in court June 20.

Last year, Campbell was ordered to spend a week mopping floors at a NYC warehouse for assaulting her maid with a cell phone.

[From Us Weekly]

What is this bitch’s problem? Look, we all know how much flying sucks. There’s the nightmare that is airport security, the endless flight delays, and the knowledge that your luggage is probably headed to Fiji while you are in Cleveland. But that doesn’t justify acting like a stark-raving lunatic and putting your hands on a cop! What’s so special about her that she gets to act like this? I’m glad she got charged - but I’d like to see her get in a lot more trouble this time. Someone needs to commit this hag before she really hurts someone. Just tell her that the padded room is a trendy new nightclub and the straightjacket is from the new Calvin Klein summer collection. Then throw away the key.

Note by Celebitchy: Naomi’s assault charges carries “a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000,” according to the Associated Press. Hopefully the judge will take her prior record into consideration and throw the book at her - hard.

Naomi Campbell is shown at Cannes on 5/21/08, thanks to WENN.

21 year-old Transformers star Shia LaBeouf was on David Letterman on Monday night and he explained his drunken Walgreen’s arrest. It was an hysterical story involving three visits to the drug store, two outfit changes, zit cream and cigarettes he forgot to buy after the first two visits in which the security guard made fun of him and distracted him. The video of the interview is below but in case you can’t watch it here’s the recap and a transcript.

The story goes that Shia was drunk and went to the drug store near his hotel to get some cigarettes. On the way down in the elevator he felt a zit forming on his forehead and decided to get some cream for it. When he was in the cosmetics aisle picking up the Clearasil, the security guard started laughing at him and he got pissed off and forgot his cigarettes. He decided to change his outfit and went back and got mocked again by the same guy. He again forgot the cigarettes and just came away with some gummi bears in his messed up state. The third time, in another outfit, is when he got into a mild confrontation with the guy, and got tackled by another security guard and arrested:

“So I go to Walgreen’s and I go to the cosmetic aisle,” LaBeouf recalled, “and I see the security guard and he’s looking at me, four in the morning, pretty disheveled, pretty messed up on the special magic sauce. And I get the pimple cream, and he’s looking at me, he’s kinda giggling to himself, and now I’m starting to feel like, `What? It’s really not that funny, guy, you know?’”

A bashful LaBeouf went back to his hotel and realized he’d forgotten to buy the smokes. The actor says he returned to Walgreen’s wearing different clothes: “I’m going, `Well, now the guy saw me, now what am I gonna do?’ So I do an outfit change.”

LaBeouf said the security guard noticed and said, “Hey, nice outfit,” to which he retorted: “Yeah, nice outfit to you, too.”

LaBeouf said he accidentally backed into the candy aisle, but tried to play it off like he did it on purpose. “So I grabbed these gummy bears, and I’m like, `yeah, THESE,’” he recalled.

He said he purchased the sweets _ and, once again, left without buying cigarettes. So he threw on a hooded sweatshirt and returned to the store a third time.

“I go back down, I got the hoodie on, he goes, `Really? Really? Really?’ And I’m like, `Yeah, really!’ He goes, `Well, what are you doing here?’ And I’m like, `Well buddy, it’s your worst nightmare,’” LaBeouf said.

He said at that point, another security guard put him in plastic handcuffs and took him to the ground, said LaBeouf, calling himself a “moron.”

LaBeouf was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing; the next day, Labeouf’s smiling mug shot splashed across Internet.

“It was a photo shoot, (the officer’s) like, ‘Let me take like 14 mug shots,’” LaBeouf said.

Prosecutors later dropped charges because Walgreen Co. and a security company indicated they didn’t want to continue the case.

[From The Huffington Post]

That was stupid, but LaBeouf owed up to it and he was damn funny on Letterman. Watch the video below if you’re able to, because you’ll be laughing out loud. He’s a young guy and has this geeky voice that sounds like he just passed puberty and is still fighting with it, but he has a great sense of humor and can sure tell a story.

Shia LaBeouf will next appear in Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull with Harrison Ford. It is out in the US on May 22.

Thanks to E! Online for the video below, and to WENN for these photos of Shia yesterday outside Letterman.

Dennis Farina, famous for playing detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order, was arrested today for trying to take a loaded handgun onto a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Police said the 64-year-old actor, a former Chicago police officer, told them he forgot that he had placed the .22-caliber gun in the case.

Farina was originally arrested Sunday morning on a misdemeanor charge of attempting to take a weapon onto a plane, said airport Police Sgt. Jim Holcomb. After officers learned the gun was not registered, the charge was increased to a felony, Holcomb said.

“He was apologetic and very cooperative, and he said he understood what was going to happen,” Holcomb said.

Farina was booked into a Van Nuys jail. His bail has been set at $25,000.

Los Angeles Times

Has this got to be the most stupid arrest ever – how can you forget that you are carrying a loaded gun? I don’t come from a gun culture (in Australia it is strictly no guns for private citizens, I have never even seen a real gun, but I don’t have a problem with gun ownership) but I am always surprised that someone can forget that they are carrying a gun, or forget that it was loaded. If I had a gun, I would tiptoe around it terrified of setting it off by looking at it. Which is probably why I don’t have one, because I seriously doubt one can be set off using the power of my mind.

Interestingly, Dennis Farina should be licensed to carry firearms, and he certainly has proper firearm training, as he was a police officer for 19 years with the Chicago police. Despite this, the gun was not registered and Reuters reports that the bail was raised to $35,000 after this was discovered.

Dennis Farina is shown at the premiere of What Happens In Vegas on 5/1/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

DMX’s life is really going down the crapper. On Tuesday he was arrested in Arizona for speeding over 100 MPH and driving with a suspended license. In January, a judge ordered him to pay $1.5 million in a defamation suit brought against him by the mother of one of his children. DMX had said in an interview that he didn’t cheat on his wife, because the woman had raped him. He also said he didn’t remember sleeping with the woman, and he’d remember, because she was ugly. So she must have raped him. And last summer, sheriffs took away twelve of the rapper’s pit bulls due to neglect and abuse. So the easy way to sum up DMX’s life right now is that he is physically incapable of doing even one thing right.

But apparently that wasn’t enough for the guy. On Friday, police went to DMX’s home to finally arrest him on animal abuse charges. Did the guy surrender like a normal person? No, he holed up in his room, refusing to come out, and forcing the police to call in the SWAT team.

…the actor-rapper was arrested early Friday at his Phoenix-area home on suspicion of animal abuse and felony drug possession following a search of the house and, before that, a brief standoff with police when he attempted to shut himself up in his bedroom. According to the Maricopa County sheriff’s office, a SWAT team executed a search warrant on DMX’s Cave Creek, Ariz., residence at about 3 a.m. in connection with a seven-month-old investigation into reports that the Cradle 2 the Grave star had a number of malnourished pit bulls on his property.

“A guy like this DMX character with all his money and fame has no excuse for not providing proper care for his animals,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “He has a long criminal history and obviously has no respect for the law.”

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, tried holing up in his room when the fuzz first arrived, but officers quickly talked him into cooperating, after which they discovered weapons, drugs and five pit bull puppies, which were taken to a nearby prison where female inmates will look after them (the pups, not the guns and drugs).

[From E! News]

DMX is due in court on the charges next week. He was also booked on four counts of drug possession. His lawyer gave some poorly worded speech about how the sheriff just had it in for DMX, because he was videotaped speeding and arrested. And apparently the lawyer thinks the sheriff somehow took that as a personal insult. Um… I’m guessing it definitely served to remind the guy to follow up on some legal issues with DMX, but I don’t think it’s exactly a personal affront.

“I think [that] Earl, when he was caught on video just this week speeding at 114 miles per hour, just rubbed it in [the sheriff’s] face, so the sheriff felt he had to do something. From what I hear, I would’ve been glad to bring Earl in if they ever requested it. I called the sheriff on numerous occasions and never, ever received a phone call.”

[From E! News]

All right then. Next time, it might be a better idea to advise your client not to keep breaking laws, instead of complaining when he gets arrested on new and old charges. Maybe feed your dogs, take care of them, treat them with dignity… and drive less than 114 mph. All those things are likely to keep a sheriff – even one with a personal vendetta – off your back.

Amy Winehouse is getting to be like Pete Doherty. It’s really difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with what she’s accused of and what she’s being arrested for. I saw the latest story that she’s been arrested, and thought that it must be mistaken, because wasn’t she just arrested like last week? It was a week and a half ago, I see, and she was arrested (or went in voluntarily, depending on who you believe) for an incident in which witnesses claim she hauled off and headbutted a guy outside a bar. She was also said to have smoked drugs on the sidewalk and to have deliberately knocked over tables and drinks in the pub. Police let her off with a caution for assault, which means it goes on her record or something but is not an official charge.

Now she’s finally been arrested for the video of her smoking crack that was published on The Sun’s website back on January 22. The next day reports came out that the video was turned over to police, so why did it take them over three months to finally call her in?

Just like the last time she was arrested, her rep is trying to spin it like it was “voluntary”:

“Amy Winehouse voluntarily attended a London police station today by appointment,” her rep said in a statement. “She was arrested in order to be interviewed and is co-operating fully with inquiries. The interview relates to a video handed to police earlier this year.”

[From US Weekly]

It’s doubtful that the police will do much to Amy for the drug-taking video as it’s hard to prove what exactly she was smoking. Amy’s music career is already in jeopardy, with her producer Mark Ronson saying “I’m not sure Amy is ready to work on music yet” and admitting that they weren’t able to finish the lead track for the new James Bond film. What will it take to get her to clean up?

She has a lot of demons to distract her. The Sun reported this weekend that her jailed husband, Blake, was plotting with his new girlfriend to try and extort money from Amy. He is said to be demanding a $6 million divorce settlement.

Thanks to Splash for these photos of Amy supposedly waiting for a pizza outside a recording studio yesterday. She’s an exhibitionist, or maybe her skin was so itchy she wanted to strip down for better scratching access. Why is she holding a jar of mayonnaise up to her face?

Mug shot via TMZ
CSI star Gary Dourdan pulled a George Michael and was found by police passed out in his car at 5:21 this morning in Palm Springs, California. Cops must have searched his vehicle because TMZ reports that he was arrested on suspicion of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs. He is now out of jail after posting bail of $5,000.

——–possible CSI Spoiler below——–

This week’s National Enquirer reports that Dourdan was canned from CSI for his drug and alcohol problem, but that he’s telling people he was fired:

“CSI” star Gary Dourdan claims he quit the show - but he was fired due to drug and alcohol abuse, say sources!

Gary - who plays criminalist Warrick Brown - is telling pals that he decided to walk away from the hit CBS drama, but show insiders insist that studio brass gave him the boot after weeks of tension on the set.

The 43-year-old actor has confessed in interviews to “reckless periods” when he abused drugs and alcohol, but claims he quit cold turkey in his 20s. Despite that, insiders say the show’s producers got fed with Gary’s drugging and boozing - and pulled the plug on his TV crime-fighting career.

When contacted by The Enquirer, CBS wouldn’t comment on the reasons for Gary’s departure.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 5, 2008]

The Enquirer reminds us that Dourdan pled no contest to misdemeanor battery in 2005 after it was alleged that he beat and raped a former girlfriend. And remember that video that TMZ posted last summer of Dourdan chasing and taunting a paparazzo instead of the other way around? Dourdan is said to have beat up the guy and smashed his head on the pavement, but it’s hard to tell from the videos they have up, which are pretty shaky because the victim is carrying the camera. There’s a lot of running and swearing going on, and whatever happened it’s clear that Dourdan is taunting the poor guy.

In response to Dourdan’s photographer beat down in mid July, 2007, CBS issued a statement that he had not been dropped from the show. It looks like he’s out of there at this point and that it’s not like getting busted for drug possession is going to affect his already-tanked career. Gary Dourdan’s bio is still up on the CSI website, but look for a statement from CBS about his employment status in light of his recent drug bust.

Alright, stop. Collaborate and listen. Vanilla Ice, aka Rob Van Winkle, has been arrested after yet another domestic dispute with his wife in which he pushed her around. Rob, who most recently appeared as his angry self on VH1’s “The Surreal Life” a few seasons back, was taken away to cool off in the clink after a heated argument with his wife, Laura.

Rapper and recent reality TV star Vanilla Ice was arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday night on a charge of simple domestic battery after his wife called deputies to say her husband was hitting and kicking her.

Deputies arrived at their Wellington home around 7:15 p.m. to find the 40-year-old star, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, on his motorcycle, two blocks from their home.

Back at the house on Trianon Place, Laura Van Winkle appeared uninjured and was less forthcoming, saying she did not want to deal with media attention but wants a divorce, according to a deputy’s report. She said her husband had not hit or kicked her, but had pushed her.

“He started yelling at me for going out to buy a bedroom set. In front of my daughter,” she told a deputy, the arrest report says. “I’m sorry I can’t say any more until I talk to an attorney.”

Her husband, in turn, told deputies that he and his wife had been arguing since the previous day.

He said his wife is bipolar and takes medication but still has irrational and argumentative episodes and had thrown a picture frame from a rear balcony to the ground, where it shattered near him and their 8- and 10-year-old children.

He denied pushing his wife, the report says. He said he left on his motorcycle so they could cool down.

It’s not the first time he has been arrested in South Florida. In 2004, he was booked into the Broward County Jail on a domestic battery charge, records show.

[From The Palm Beach Post]

Actually, that domestic battery charge in 2004 wasn’t his first time, either: the washed-up rapper was also arrested in 2001 for putting his hand over his wife’s mouth, hitting her and pulling chunks of her hair out. It sounds like this guy likes to physically intimidate his wife, and then blame it on her for being bi-polar. Maybe a divorce isn’t such a bad idea. Word to your mother.

Vanilla Ice is shown below in January, 2004 thanks to PRPhotos. His most recent mug shot is in the header.

Paris and Nicky Hilton’s little bro, Barron, was sentenced today for his Feb. 12 DUI arrest. The teen faces a suspended license for a full year, as well as probation. Which is more than Mischa Barton got for driving without a license, DUI and possession of a narcotic.

Barron Hilton pleaded no contest to DUI charges Wednesday in a Malibu, California, courthouse.

His license was suspended for a year, and he was placed on three years’ probation. He must also attend a three-month alcohol program.

In addition, Hilton, 18, is required to visit a Los Angeles County morgue and attend a lecture given by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Celebtv.com reports.

The younger brother of Paris Hilton was arrested February 12 for having a blood alcohol level of .14 — nearly twice the legal limit — unlawful use of a license and driving without a license.

[From Us Weekly]

I’m glad that this kid is being held accountable for his actions. Hopefully he will take it more seriously than his older sister did the first time around and keep himself out of trouble. It seems like his parents were a lot less accommodating to Barron than they were with Paris after her arrest- it’s reported that when Barron was arrested, his parents let him wait it out a while in the holding cell before bailing him out- and that Paris outright refused to bail him out.