Gwyneth Paltrow needs to hire someone who will issue clear denials of the stupid things she supposedly says. She claimed she never said Americans were stupid and boring since they talk about how they work to make a living compared to what her British blue-blood friends, who don’t have to lift a finger in life, talk about. She did say something that was likely suggestive of that during a Spanish press conference. She’s pretty vague about what she actually said, and claims that her bad Spanish was to blame, but since she once bashed Americans for mourning 9/11, it’s likely she wasn’t all positive about how great America is.

“First of all I feel so lucky to be American. When you look at the rest of the world, we’re so lucky, and that’s something my dad always instilled in me,” Paltrow tells PEOPLE. “I feel so proud to be American.”

The actress has recently been criticized after she was quoted as telling the Portuguese newspaper Diario De Noticias, “The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans.”

“I felt so upset to be completely misconstrued and I never, ever would have said that,” says the 34-year-old Oscar winner. “I definitely did not say that I think the British are more intelligent and civilized than Americans. I am a New York girl, that’s how I always think of myself and see myself.”

Paltrow, who lives part-time in London with her British husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, and their two children, Apple, 2, and Moses, 7 months, says: “I live in England half the time because I’m married to an English guy. It’s not like I’ve left America.”

As for where the quotes came from, Paltrow says she did not give an interview to the Portuguese daily newspaper, though she did give a press conference – in Spanish – for an endorsement she did in Spain.

“This is what I said. I said that Europe is a much older culture and there’s a difference. I always say in America, people live to work and in Europe, people work to live. There are positives in both,” says the actress, adding, “Obviously I need to go back to seventh-grade Spanish!“

Yeah, she probably said that the Americans talk too much about work. It’s not like she’s wrong in that America is more work-focused, but she’s a public figure and her career depends on keeping in the public’s good graces. If she doesn’t want to stir up controversy she shouldn’t compare Americans to British unfavorably.

She gets a B grade for this denial. It’s adequate and she seems somewhat sincere, but in light of the crap she’s said in the past it seems like she did say something that was pretty similar to how she was quoted. I think a carefully worded statement from a publicist would have closed the matter a lot better.

I really hope this is one of those made up quotes and that Gwyneth didn’t actually say this. It sounds really arrogant and more than a little ignorant.

Oscar-winning US actress Gwyneth Paltrow feels dinner talk is far more interesting in her adopted homeland Britain than back in her native country.

“I love the English lifestyle, it’s not as capitalistic as America. People don’t talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner,” she told “NS,” the weekend magazine supplement of daily Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias on Saturday.

“I like living here because I don’t fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans,” the 34-year-old added.

It seems too obnoxious even for Gwyneth and I would be surprised if it’s an accurate quote.

Header picture is of Gwyneth at the Prince’s Trust Gala on 11/15 and is from Saving Face forum.

Germany’s most prestigious award show, The Bambis, were on last night and I watched them for a while. There wasn’t as much hype as American awards shows and they seemed rather subdued in comparison, although there were a lot of excellent musical guests. The German reality shows lack the manufactured drama of the American reality shows, so it’s not surprising that the awards are kind of matter-of-fact too. There were awards for sports, arts and culture as well as films and acting. Here’s an article in German with a list of winners.

Samuel L Jackson was honored for his film career. Victoria Beckham was also on hand to help present the fashion award to Roberto Cavalli. She sauntered on stage in a tight Cavalli gold metallic asian dress. She made a joke to Wetten Das presenter Thomas Gottschalk that his shirt matched her outfit and ended up doing a little dance with him on stage.

The most interesting thing that happened on camera was that she kind of half-tripped while walking down the stairs afterwards but caught herself. It wasn’t too obvious, but you could tell she was a little embarassed. It’s at the very end of the video below.

Here’s the video. I actually taped it, but Schmudo at YouTube has ripped it already:

TMZ is reporting that Victoria tried to get the Associated Press to sign some sort of confidentiality agreement that they wouldn’t publish her pictures from the event or reveal anything they learned about her or something. It sounds weird, but if you read between the lines it kind of suggests she’s preggo:

At the Bambi arts awards ceremony in Germany, Associated Press said “no thanks” to the Spice Girl by refusing to sign an agreement in which Posh would limit their coverage of the alleged fashionplate, seen here in a gold embroidered bedspread from the Osaka Hilton.

The document, which also raised eyebrows with Reuters and two German photo agencies, would have allowed Beckham to get copies of all photos, with the ability to use them for promotional purposes, while restricting photogs from revealing “confidential information” they might learn about the former Spice Girl during the ceremony. Gosh, Posh, what are you hiding?

The organizers of the event eventually came up with another agreement which would allow AP to cover the event as long as they promised not to take any pictures of Beckham. They shot down the agreement, forgoing coverage of the show. The other agencies agreed, but said they would purposefully not take photos of her in protest.

It’s also possible that the “confidential information” involves a seven pound weight gain. Posh no longer looks super-gaunt to me. It’s hard to tell if she’s got a baby bump though because of the busy print on the gown she’s wearing.

It’s not really true that all the other photo agencies shunned her George Clooney-style, because Splash News has pictures of the event. People are saying the dress is ugly and not worth photographing anyway, but she looked damn good on camera to me.

Most pictures from Splash News Online. Victoria is seen with Karl Lagerfeld, but presented an award to Roberto Cavalli.

Sorry for the two Lohan stories today, but just when I was wondering what the skank was up to at the GQ Men of the Year awards party, Page Six ran a pretty juicy header story about it. It turns out she threw a rather typical drunken fit after downing a bunch of champagne. She screamed at a bemused Jessica Biel when seeing her with an old assistant that left Lindsay months ago to enjoy a full night’s sleep and go work with Biel. Also, just as I kind-of speculated (I know I’m tooting my own horn, but who else is going to do it?) she tried to hit on Leonardo DiCaprio and failed miserably.

Oh, and her mom Dina was there too. Did she tell her to calm down or take her aside or anything? No, she just was grateful to be able to get in with Lindsay.

When the Lohans arrived at the exclusive dinner at the Sunset Tower - joining the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, Jay-Z, Jennifer Connelly and Magic Johnson - she “flipped out” upon seeing Jessica Biel, the luminous star of “The Illusionist,” there with her assistant.

Biel’s assistant used to work for Lohan and earned the “Mean Girls” star’s ire when she quit several months ago.

According to a witness, Lohan started screaming, “If she stays, I’m outta here! I can’t look at that girl! I can’t believe you would allow an assistant in here - she doesn’t belong in here!”

“It was really uncalled for,” said our spy. “Jessica and everyone else ignored her.”

A rep for Lohan said, “This does not sound like Lindsay.” A Biel friend said, “Jess didn’t steal anyone’s assistant - her assistant stopped working for Lindsay a long time ago. And whatever drama happened, Jess was no part of it. She is not part of [Lohan's] crowd - she is a professional.” A rep for Biel declined comment.

Lohan was shunned at the glittering affair by other celebs who are tired of her bratty antics and bad work ethic. Overhearing her tirade about Biel’s assistant, Will Ferrell turned to DiCaprio, Gore and Affleck and said, “Who cares about that freak anymore, anyway?” - setting off laughter. Later, Lohan, with a champagne glass in her hand, tried flirting with Leo, to no avail.

Also, Lohan called her ex, Harry Morton, who showed up and left with a bunch of his friends. He probably fears the inevitable stalking by Lindsay and is trying to keep her placated.

This is the girl who was said to be attending AA meetings and was seen proudly toting the group’s 12 step book and wearing a “friend’s” 90 days sober chip. As Page Six points out, Lindsay doesn’t seem to have made it to one week yet.

Here is Lindsay on the night in question. Pictures from Linds-Lo.com

Wow, Lohan isn’t defensive or anything in this appearance on The Tonight Show from November 11th. I remember reading about it at Gossip Rocks, but I didn’t find it on YouTube until yesterday.

Submitter Olivia720 at Gossip Rocks says:

Dayum! I’m just watching Leno right now and Lohan is on, promoting “Bobby”. She looks great, her hair looks really nice and she’s got a nice white dress on. Still has that goofy bandaged wrist.

So anyway, she’s really defensive and pissy and it made for a rather uncomfortable interview. She freaks out at Jay using the term “partying”.

“Oooh I hate that word!”

She looks like she’s at her wit’s end about people asking her about this. She looks seriously pissed when Jay makes a joke about Nicole Ritchie passing out from eating half a pea. Then she says something like “would you rather have her here to talk to??” MMMkay.

Here’s the video. Any shred of pity I had for Lohan for needing to go to AA disappears when watching her vain, defensive interview. Jay is not that great at keeping the interview friendly, but she should have played it off and tried to establish a rapport with him:

British rag The Sun is reporting that Lindsay owns 5,000 pairs of shoes. Remember on “Sex and The City” when Carrie was too broke to buy a condo and Carrie schooled her about how she had spent enough on shoes for a downpayment on a house? Lohan doesn’t own a house and just moved into a condo with pissed off neighbors. Maybe if she wasn’t so fond of shopping she would have a mansion. That would require settling down a little, so money probably isn’t the issue.

The header picture is of Linds at the GQ Men of the Year awards. She seems to have laid off the cutting as she’s not wearing a wrist bandage any more. I wonder if she talked to former VP Al Gore. I heard he was there and I would have been making a beeline for him, if only to get to Leo.

Michelle Williams, the surly chick who had Heath Ledger’s emo baby and used to be in Dawson’s Creek, not the Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child, had all her fan websites, bulletin boards and forums shut down. Apparently she and her people just don’t get the Internet. Or maybe they do and they think they can control it:

I learn[ed] that Michelle William went into a crusade to shut down her MediaBlvd forum and it looks like it worked. Her forum on MB is closed now. This is the message that appears:

Quote:This forum has been closed for legal reasons. We would ask that our registered users refrain from mentioning Ms. William’s name and do not link to any images that include Ms. Williams in any of the MediaBlvd Community forums or websites, in anyway. This would include avatars, signatures, etc, or any other method of including an image.

And even her center, which would be the equivalent of Katie Holmes Pictures, is also closed.
www.thewilliamscenter.com

Quote:CLOSED
Other Michelle Williams fan-sites rejoice!

The Michelle fan-site Monopoly is now over. The Williams Center–the longest running Michelle Williams fan-site on the net, with the most respect for her is now closed. We met a lot of nice people–and we are thankful to everyone for their help over the years. When the site was created, we were all 7 years younger. It’s time we move on.

If you still need a Michelle fix, there’s one other great fan-site out there for her that if you search for it on google, you’ll have no trouble finding.

Inquiries about having our old content/why the site closed may not be answered because we just deleted everything and our reasons are private. We never thought it would turn into what it did. It was a dream come true for awhile there. And it couldn’t have happened without you, the visitor…we’ll never forget ya.

Michelle Williams must not want any fans. It looks like her wishes are about to come true.

Madonna seems uncomfortable at first in this appearance on the Home Shopping Network. She soon gets into her haughty stride, talking down her nose in her faux-Brit speak about how Lourdes helped her with these books, and how she came up with her nefarious plan to convert a new generation of vulnerable young girls to her cult religion.

You can watch the rest of the interview on YouTube:
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Proceeds from the books are being donated to “Raising Kabbalahan Malawians” or whatever Madonna’s charity is called.

Thanks to moomies on Gossip Rocks for linking this.

Lindsay Lohan is looking rough and a little bloated lately. I’m not saying she’s fat by any means, she just seems like she’s been neglecting her health and it shows on her face and frame. She’s got that worn out look that comes with constant partying.

There have been a lot of stories about Lindsay this past week, and I just haven’t covered them because she’s a train wreck and seems to be going downhill fast.

Last night Lindsay told paparazzi agency X17 that Paris Hilton hit her arm. They have a video of her showing a faint bruise on her inner arm and saying the Paris was at a party at Lindsay’s friend’s house and that “she hit me with a drink and poured it all over me, and it hurts and it’s not OK.”

She also said “I’m sorry for everyone that thinks I’m crazy. I’m not, I’m just trying to act.”

Lindsay, you’re protesting too much. Let’s review the reasons why people think she’s crazy this week. We’re not including the fact that Lindsay flashes her kitty to the paps all the time, and is probably pissed that Britney is now using her tried and true strategy to greater effect.

• She hooked up with scumbag Calum Best while in London last week. The British rags had a field day with Lindsay, saying that she tried to get staff at the hotel where she were staying to lock Calum up in her room so he wouldn’t leave on a business trip.

  Calum promptly hooked up with another woman on his flight to Ireland in an attempt to move on as quickly as possible. He was also quoted by the Irish press as saying “I’m very definitely single.”
  

• Lindsay was snapped by the paparazzi while shopping at Planet Blue in Malibu, but was mighty pissed when they all bailed to get shots of Paris and Britney, who arrived together 45 minutes lately. Lainey’s gossip speculates that this may have prompted her little video confessional to x17 about Paris dousing her with a drink.
  

• The National Enquirer reported that Lindsay ODed on cocaine and painkillers on November 12 in her room at the Chateau Marmot, and that a doctor was called to treat her. He got rid of all the drugs in her room and told her to go to the hospital. Once Lindsay regained consciousness she refused further treatment.
  

• Lohan was in yet another car accident while in Londan last week. Her vehicle rammed into a police car, making it her fourth accident in a year and a half.

Britney and Paris might be vag-slipping weave-wearing trash sisters, but Lohan is of another breed entirely. She needs to call Ben Affleck and figure out how to lay low and reinvent herself while finding joy in the simpler things in life. There’s a rumor that she’s dying to play Stevie Nicks in an upcoming biopic, and considering that Nicks is a singer who admitted to a debilitating cocaine habit, it seems like a role Lohan would excel in. If she wants to get any other acting gigs, she needs to move out of Hollywood and go to rehab and therapy.

Pictures from Splash News Online and Celebrity Puke. Used with permission. Celebrity Puke wrote the jowls thing on Lindsay’s picture.

As you’ve surely heard and seen by now, Micheal Richards, the washed-up actor/comic formerly known as Kramer on Seinfeld, went on a racist tirade against two audience members who were talking at one of his comedy gigs. The whole thing was caught on tape and distributed by TMZ. What struck me was not his use of the forbidden “N” word, which is of course taboo and totally lame, but the fact that he made a lynching reference, saying “50 years ago we’d have had a fork up your ass.” Um, ok, so 50 years ago you would have had those guys tortured and killed for daring to talk over your shitty act? 14 year-old Emmett Till got murdered for whistling at a white woman 50 years ago. I’m sure you thought that was justified too.

Maybe if Richards had some decent comebacks he wouldn’t have resorted to the lowest common denominator and used a person’s race as an self-incriminating insult. As countless commentors on YouTube have pointed out, comics should be used to dealing with hecklers and talkers and losing your cool is unacceptable. Losing your cool and spouting epithets is a sure way to cement your status a a punch line for years to come.

Richards apologized on David Letterman last night, where his former co-star Jerry Seinfeld was already scheduled to appear. He said he’s not a racist and claims to have gone back on stage and apologized. A guy who was there says Richards never apologized, and is understandably upset about it in the video below:

You can watch the outburst yourself if you login to YouTube.

And here’s Richards’ apology, which just seems pitiful, but that doesn’t give him a pass for making a lynching reference:

David Blaine somehow offends and bores me at the same time. I find his stunts offensive because I have a chronic health problem and he puts his health at grave risk to get attention. At the same time, his stunts are formulaic and predictable. He brings his body to the limit and either that’s the stunt or he ads a twist by including some cap off that further challenges those limits. It’s not like the stuff he does is easy and he deserves credit for being willing to go through with it. It’s just dissapointing to me how much he hurts himself when he could be doing more entertaining magic.

His last trick of living in a human fishbowl in New York City’s Lincoln center was said to have given him liver damage and to have resulted in rashes and a loss of sensation throughout his body. When he failed to hold his breath for long enough to break the world record it wasn’t surprising and came off as rather pitiful.

Now he’s set to live in a spinning top in the air for two days that will leave him vulnerable to cold, rain and snow, and to top it off by trying to escape.

On Tuesday, Blaine will be locked spread eagle into the gyroscope, which will then be hoisted 15 metres (50 feet) into the air and spun at up to eight revolutions a minute until Thursday, when he will try to escape…

Blaine said one of his biggest concerns in the challenge, besides not eating or drinking, would be dizziness.

“Just to make it more difficult on myself, I added a motor (to the gyroscope), so even when I’m sleeping there’ll be continuous movement. … I think I’m going to have to stay awake the whole time,” he said.

“This one’s exciting for me. This one’s a fun one,” he said.

The gyroscope will also leave Blaine exposed to the elements, with the performer saying that he only hoped it wouldn’t rain or snow while he dangles above a vacant lot near Manhattan’s Times Square.

The event is being sponsored by Target in conjunction with The Salvation Army, which will give 100 needy children a shopping spree when the stunt is finished regardless of whether Blaine is successful or not.

Blaine announced in mid May after his failed underwater stunt that he was going to live in the Tanzanian jungle with just a film crew to document his idiocy. Focus groups must have rejected that idea since we never heard another word about it.